North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology

About: North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology is a education organization based out in Itanagar, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Raman spectroscopy. The organization has 813 authors who have published 1429 publications receiving 16122 citations.

Identification of critical erosion prone areas in the small agricultural watershed using USLE, GIS and remote sensing

Abstract: In the present study, Karso watershed of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand State, India was divided into 200 x 200 grid cells and average annual sediment yields were estimated for each grid cell of the watershed to identify the critical erosion prone areas of watershed for prioritization purpose. Average annual sediment yield data on grid basis was estimated using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). In general, a major limitation in the use of hydrological models has been their inability to handle the large amounts of input data that describe the heterogeneity of the natural system. Remote sensing (RS) technology provides the vital spatial and temporal information on some of these parameters. A recent and emerging technology represented by Geographic Information System (GIS) was used as the tool to generate, manipulate and spatially organize disparate data for sediment yield modeling. Thus, the Arc Info 7.2 GIS software and RS (ERDAS IMAGINE 8.4 image processing software) provided spatial input data to the erosion model, while the USLE was used to predict the spatial distribution of the sediment yield on grid basis. The deviation of estimated sediment yield from the observed values in the range of 1.37 to 13.85 percent indicates accurate estimation of sediment yield from the watershed.

Essential Oils: Sources of Antimicrobials and Food Preservatives

Abstract: Aromatic and medicinal plants produce essential oils in the form of secondary metabolites. These essential oils are having a diverse way of application in the food system, perfumery, and cosmetics. The use of essential oil as antimicrobial and food preservative agents is of great concern because of several side effects of synthetics. These oils have a potential to be used as food preservative including cereals, grains, pulses fruits, and vegetables. In the current review, we have briefly reviewed the literature and summarizing the uses of essential oils with special emphases on the antibacterial, bactericidal, antifungal, fungicidal and food preservative properties. These essential oils have pronounced antimicrobial and food preservative properties because essential oils consist of various active constituents (terpenes, terpenoids, carotenoids, coumerines, curcumines) with great significance for food industries. Thus, these properties of essentials oils offer a possibility to substitutive natural, safe, eco-friendly, cost-effective, renewable and easily biodegradable antimicrobials for food commodities preservation in near future.

Soil Erosion Assessment in a Hilly Catchment of North Eastern India Using USLE, GIS and Remote Sensing

Abstract: In the present study, soil erosion assessment of Dikrong river basin of Arunachal Pradesh (India) was carried out. The river basin was divided into 200 × 200 m grid cells. The Arc Info 7.2 GIS software and RS (ERDAS IMAGINE 8.4 image processing software) provided spatial input data and the USLE was used to predict the spatial distribution of the average annual soil loss on grid basis. The average rainfall erositivity factor (R) for Dikrong river basin was found to be 1,894.6 MJ mm ha−1 h−1 year−1. The soil erodibility factor (K) with a magnitude of 0.055 t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1 is the highest, with 0.039 t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1 is the least for the watershed. The highest and lowest value of slope length factor (LS) is 53.5 and 5.39 respectively for the watershed. The highest and lowest values of crop management factor (C) were found out to be 0.004 and 1.0 respectively for the watershed. The highest and lowest value of conservation factor (P) were found to be 1 and 0.28 respectively for the watershed. The average annual soil loss of the Dikrong river basin is 51 t ha−1 year−1. About 25.61% of the watershed area is found out to be under slight erosion class. Areas covered by moderate, high, very high, severe and very severe erosion potential zones are 26.51%, 17.87%, 13.74%, 2.39% and 13.88% respectively. Therefore, these areas need immediate attention from soil conservation point of view.

Assessment of ground water quality for drinking purpose, District Nainital, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: The ground water quality of District Nainital (Uttarakhand, India) has been assessed to see the suitability of ground water for drinking and irrigation applications. This is a two-part series paper and this paper examines the suitability of ground water including spring water for drinking purposes. Forty ground water samples (including 28 spring samples) were collected during pre- and post-monsoon seasons and analyzed for various water quality constituents. The hydrochemical and bacteriological data was analyzed with reference to BIS and WHO standards and their hydrochemical facies were determined. The concentration of total dissolved solids exceeds the desirable limit of 500 mg/L in about 10% of the samples, alkalinity values exceed the desirable limit of 200 mg/L in about 30% of the samples, and total hardness values exceed the desirable limit of 300 mg/L in 15% of the samples. However, no sample crosses the maximum permissible limit for TDS, alkalinity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and fluoride. The concentration of chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and fluoride are well within the desirable limit at all the locations. The bacteriological analysis of the samples does not show any sign of bacterial contamination in hand pump and tube-well water samples. However, in the case of spring water samples, six samples exceed the permissible limit of ten coliforms per 100 ml of sample. It is recommended that water drawn from such sources should be properly disinfected before being used for drinking and other domestic applications. Among the metal ions, the concentration of iron and lead exceeds the permissible limit at one location whereas the concentration of nickel exceeds the permissible limit in 60 and 32.5% of the samples during pre- and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. The grouping of samples according to their hydrochemical facies indicates that majority of the samples fall in Ca–Mg–HCO3 hydrochemical facies.