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Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) is considered one of the most important sub-tropical fruits of the world. In the western part of Odisha, India, litchi growers are facing problems of unstable and lower marketable yield and inferior quality due to a higher incidence of fruit cracking, fruit drop, low sugar content, and higher fruit acidity. Keeping in mind the positive effects of nutrients and bioregulators, the current study was conducted to elucidate their impact on fruit yield and quality in the farmers’ field of Jamankira block in Sambalpur district of Odisha, which is under the care of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, India. For this study, eight-year-old litchi trees were selected. With 12 treatments, the experiment was set up in a Randomized Block Design replicated thrice, as follows: T1: spray treatment with Borax—0.5%; T2: spray treatment with Borax—0.3%; T3: spray treatment with ZnSO4—0.75%; T4: spray treatment with ZnSO4—0.5%; T5: spray treatment with CaCl2—0.5%; T6: spray treatment with CaCl2—0.1%; T7: spray treatment with humic acid—1.5%; T8: spray treatment with humic acid—1%; T9: spray treatment with seaweed extract—0.5%; T10: spray treatment with seaweed extract—0.1%; T11: foliar spray with NAA—20 ppm; and T12: control (Water Spray). The current study compared foliar feeding treatments comprising different nutrient and bioregulators, which were applied during the first week of December, just after the completed formation of new leaves and the untreated control. The highest total number of fruits per plant was recorded in plants sprayed with 0.5% ZnSO4 (T4) followed by those treated with 1% humic acid (T8). The highest total fruit yield was recorded in plants subjected to foliar feeding with 0.3% Borax (T2) which was found to be statistically similar to plants treated with 0.1% seaweed extract (T10) and 0.5% seaweed extract (T9). Among the treatments, a better response, i.e., a higher number of marketable fruits and marketable yield, was recorded in litchi plants treated with 0.3% Borax (T2) followed by 0.5% zinc sulphate (T4), 1% humic acid (T8), and 0.1% CaCl2 (T6). The application of 1% humic acid (T8) followed by 1.5% humic acid (T9) enhanced fruit setting (%) and fruit retention rates (%) and reduced the fruit drop rate (%). The enhanced fruit size (fruit length and fruit width) and higher fruit weight was obtained in litchi plants treated with 0.3% Borax. The foliar application of 0.3% Borax (T2) also resulted in a higher TSS, total sugars, reducing sugar content, lower acidity, the highest aril weight, and lower seed weight in litchi cv. Bombai. In this research, among the five principal components, only PC1 demonstrated approximately 45.14% variability within the influential axes. PC1 contributed the highest proportion (48.9%) to the overall variability, followed by PC2 with 29.1%, PC3 with 11.9%, PC4 with 0.59%, and PC5 with 0.20%. Consequently, the outcomes of the principal component analysis indicate the presence of extensive variability among treatments.

Under small and marginal farm conditions, allocation of land exclusively for forages is not possible. Hence, integration of forages in existing crop geometry can ensure production of grain and fodder, simultaneously under rainfed conditions. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different nutrient management practices on rice and fodder intercropping systems under rainfed conditions during 2015–2017. The intercropping system comprised (i) sole rice (R), (ii) rice and cowpea (5:2) (CP) and (iii) rice and ricebean (5:2) (RB) whereas the different nutrient management practices comprised (i) application of farm yard manure (FYM) at 5 t ha–1 (farmers’ practice) (N1), (ii) application of inorganic fertilizer (recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) of rice, 60:30:30 kg ha–1 of N:P2O5:K2O) (N2) and (iii) application of both FYM at 5 t ha–1 and 50% of RDF inorganic fertilizer (N3). The results of the experiment revealed that the growth attribute such as leaf area was influenced significantly when fodder crops were taken as intercrops because rice plant was getting more nitrogen from soil due to nitrogen fixation of leguminous fodder crops. Among the nutrient management practices, significant differences in leaf area were found beween N2 and N1, and between N3 and N1 treatments. However, regarding total number of effective tillers, significant differences were found neither between nutrient management practices nor between cropping systems. The rice equivalent yield (REY) based on price (REYP) was found to be significantly lower in CP (2 615 kg ha–1; –6.4%) and RB intercropping systems (2 571 kg ha–1; –8.0%) than in R monocropping system (2 794 kg ha–1). However, the REY based on energy (REYE) of CP (2 999 kg ha–1; +7.3%) and RB (2 960 kg ha–1; +5.9%) were found to be significantly higher than that of R (2 794 kg ha–1) irrespective of nutrient management practices. Between different nutrient management practices, the N3 treatment recorded the highest REYP and REYE which was at par with the N2 treatment and significantly higher than the N1 treatment irrespective of cropping systems. The combined application of both organic and inorganic sources of nutrients helped to supply nutrients throughout the growing season, which led to improved growth parameters and rice yield. The R monocropping system resulted in more income and rain water use efficiency (RWUE) closely followed by rice and fodder intercropping systems. However, the REYE and energy use efficiency (EUE) of rice and fodder intercropping systems were higher than those of R. Also, fodder helped to meet the requirement of cattle feeding in the off-season. Hence, the intercropping system is advocated in the study zone. Further study can be done on ecosystem services and carbon sequestration potential of the intercropping system, as well as the system’s coping ability in response to short drought through observing periodic soil moisture regime in root zone.

Summary: Background: The increase of geriatric population, as well as their age-related problems, is of great concern for the society and for the governments all over the world and also in India. The main objectives were to overview and find the prevalence of Oto-rhino-laryngological problems in the geriatric population. Method: A prospective study of geriatric patients was undertaken in ENT & HNS Department, S.C.B Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack, India, from November 2014 to August 2016.Inclusion criteria –The patients of age 60 yrs & above who attended ENT outpatient department were studied. Among 3563 patients studied, 363 patients were admitted. The patients were segregated according to sex (male/female), ages (60–64 yr group, 65–69 yr group, 70 yr & above), disease ratio, and prevalence of diseases, associated co-morbidities, and socio-economic aspects. Results: Total patients studied were 3563. The otological problems were being prevalent in geriatrics among study population (51.77%) in which presbycusis was the highest with 17.71% of total and 34.21% of otological problems. The problems related to nose were 13.03%, among which epistaxis was 4.98% of total and 37.60% of nasal problems. The neck and throat problems were 35.20%. The problems were more in males (63.65%) than in females (36.35%). Conclusion: The hearing loss is the most prevalent diagnosis amongst all otologic problems and epistaxis amongst nasal symptoms. The emergence of head & neck cancers among the geriatric population is a great concern in a developing country like India. Keywords: Oto-rhino-laryngological problems, geriatric populations