Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute

About: Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute is a facility organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Small area estimation. The organization has 454 authors who have published 870 publications receiving 7987 citations.

Measuring disaggregate level food insecurity via multivariate small area modelling: evidence from rural districts of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: In recent times, India has achieved significant advancement on several health indicators while the state of food security in the country still needs sustained efforts to accelerate attainment. Existing data based on socio-economic surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) produce precise measures of food security status at state and national level. However, these NSSO surveys cannot be used directly to produce reliable district or further smaller domain level estimates because of small sample sizes which lead to high level of sampling variability. As food security is often unevenly distributed among the subsets of relatively small areas, the availability of disaggregate (e.g. district) level statistics for target oriented effective policy planning and monitoring is the need of the hour for decentralized administrative planning system in India. But, due to lack of district level estimates, the mapping and analysis related to food and nutrition security measures are restricted to state and national level. As a result, disaggregate level dissimilarity and variability existing in food and nutrition security are often masked. This article delineates multivariate small area estimation (SAE) technique to obtain reliable and representative model-based estimates of food insecurity indicators at district level for the rural areas of state of Uttar Pradesh in India by combining latest round of available Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011–12 data of NSSO and the Indian Population Census 2011. The empirical evidence indicate that the estimates generated by SAE approach are reliable and representative. Spatial maps showing district level inequality in distribution of food insecurity in Uttar Pradesh is also produced. The disaggregate level estimates and spatial maps of food insecurity are directly relevant to sustainable development goal indicator 2.1.2 - severity of food insecurity. The estimates and maps of food insecurity indictors are anticipated to offer irreplaceable information to administrative decision-makers and policy experts for identifying the regions requiring more attention. Government of India has recently launched number of schemes for the benefit of rural population in the country and these estimates will be useful for fund allocation as well as in the monitoring of these schemes.

Inheritance study and stable sources of maydis leaf blight (Cochliobolus heterostrophus) resistance in tropical maize germplasm

Abstract: Maydis leaf blight (MLB), a serious foliar fungal disease of maize, may cause up to 40% losses in yield. The present studies were undertaken to identify the stable sources of MLB resistance, its inheritance study, and testing of MLB resistance linked markers from diverse background in the Indian adapted tropical maize genotypes. A set of 112 inbred lines were screened under artificially created epiphytotics conditions at three hotspot locations. Analysis across multi-locations revealed significant effects of genotypes and environments, and non-significant effects due to genotypes × environment interaction on disease incidence. A total of 25 inbred lines with stable resistance were identified across multi-locations. Inheritance of resistance was studied in six F1s and two F2s of resistant and susceptible parents. The null hypothesis of segregation of resistance and susceptible for mono and digenic ratios in two F2 populations was rejected by Chi-square test. The non-significant differences among the reciprocal crosses depicted the complete control of nuclear genome for MLB resistance. Partial dominance in F1s and normal distribution pattern in F2s of resistant and susceptible parents suggested polygenic nature of MLB resistance. Correlation studies in F2 populations exhibited significant negative correlation between disease score and days to flowering. Five simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers, found associated to MLB resistance in different studies were unable to differentiate amongst MLB resistance and susceptible parents in our study. This emphasizes the need of fine mapping for MLB resistance in Indian germplasm. The identified stable sources of resistance and information on inheritance study can be used further in strengthening of resistance breeding against MLB.

Efficacy of rhizobial and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to ameliorate shade response on six pulse crops

Abstract: Beneficial effects of bio-inoculants on growth and yield of plants grown in sunlight have been reported world over but information on their effect under shade is meagre. Therefore, to assess the effect of shade on bio-inoculants, viz. rhizobial (RB) and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB), and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which are associated with intercrops in agroforestry systems, a study was carried out on important rainy (Glycine max, Phaseolus mungo, and Vigna radiata) and winter season pulses (Cicer arietinum, Lens culinaris, and Pisum sativum) under 25% (shade) and 100% (no shade) full sun light. The results showed that plant height was higher under the shade in G. max, P. mungo, L. culinaris, and P. sativum, and lower in V. radiata and C. arietinum. Dry weight and yield plant−1 were lower under the shade than the corresponding values in the open for all pulses. In general, bio-inoculants increased plant height, dry weight, and yield plant−1 in all pulses, barring a few exceptions. The efficiencies of bio-inoculants in terms of percent increase of yield over respective control were more or less comparable under shade and no shade for most pulses. The shade reduced rhizobial nodulation and AMF colonization in all crops with a few exceptions. Application of bio-inoculants increased the nodulation and the colonization in most of the treatments. Maximum yield plant−1 was recorded in dual and/or triple inoculations under both shade and no shade suggesting that the bio-inoculants used in our study worked synergistically with each other. Thus, the studied bio-inoculants were effective in the open as well as in the shade and can be utilized to overcome the adverse effect of shade to some extent in agroforestry systems.

Density-effect and economic threshold of purple nutsedge ( Cyperus rotundus ) in soybean

Abstract: Purple nutsedge (~nutsedge) is an important perennial weed, which infests soybean in India and causes high yield losses. Selective pre-emergence herbicides hardly control nutsedge. Post-emergent application of imazethapyr is effective against nutsedge with almost 70 % efficiency. Information on the interference effect of nutsedge across densities on soybean and its economic threshold (ET) is hardly available, but would be useful for its management, and saving herbicide treatments with lower densities. An experiment was designed to evaluate the interference of nutsedge in pure stands, and that of natural weed infestations on soybean. Moreover, it was aimed to determine ET of nutsedge in soybean. The dry weights of weeds in the treatments ‘natural weeds including nutsedge’ and the one of nutsedges in the pure stand density of nutsedge 200 plants/m2 were similar and higher than weed biomass in other nutsedge densities. The ‘natural weed infestation both including and excluding nutsedge’ and the treatment of 200 nutsedge plants/m2 caused greater reductions in soybean yields and were the most competitive. The ET of nutsedge in soybean was 19–22 (~mean 21) plants/m2, considering 70 % efficiency of the herbicide imazethapyr. It predicts that a density of 21 nutsedge plants/m2 can cause 9.1–11.5 % yield losses, which are an economic loss under this situation. This ET would help in making decisions for nutsedge management and fitting models and could be used for other similar sites with nutsedge dominance. This ET, considering several production factors, is more precise and reliable than the ET determined with only yield losses.