Srinivasrao Ch.

• M.Sc (Agriculture), PhD (IARI), Post-Doctoral Fellow (Tel-Aviv University) Israel
• Director and Vice-Chancellor at Indian Agricultural Research Institute

The impending challenges posed by climate change along with the consequences it will have on soil health, water quality, and food production highlight the need for revolutionary changes in Indian agriculture. This book chapter spotlights the critical need for carbon farming to reduce global warming and improve agricultural sustainability through va...

Poor nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) is a predominantly faced problem in semi-arid regions that limit the crop production. This problem can be addressed with the application of zeolite that is a naturally available mineral with very high cation exchange and water holding capacity, which aids in improving NUE and WUE. Mo...

Introduction Nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions are crucial in addressing malnutrition and promoting food security. The Farmer, Farm, Innovation, Resources, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Program is a national-level agricultural intervention program that was started in 2016 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Its pri...

Climate Change-Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions; Net Zero Emissions, Soil Management, Crops, Agro-forestry, Livestock Sector, Crop Residue Management, Biochar, Food Loss Reduction, Nutrient Management, Efficient Rice Systems, DSR, SSNM, Precision Farming, Water management, Net zero Carbon, Land degradation Neutrality, Paris Agreement, Net Zero Emissi...

MOOC on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture (Training of ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad, India)

India is an agrarian country with 160 million ha of arable land, wherein agriculture is predominantly (86%) practiced by small and marginal farmers with less than 2.00 ha area. The country's public extension system, which has so far carried the maximum burden of catering to these farmers' extension needs, is now seeking to explore new approaches an...

Terrestrial plant systems are an integral part of Earth’s land resources. Resources are mutually connected via the nutrient exchange phenomena. Thus, plant nutrition is crucial in managing soil fertility and land productivity. Soil organic carbon is one of the critical indicators for assessing the viability of land, and hence soil carbon sequestrat...

Globally, zinc (Zn) deficiency in soils, and subsequently crops, has emerged as one of the most prevalent among micronutrients, resulting in a severe decline in crop yields and nutritional quality and in adversely affecting animal and human health. Worldwide, more than half of the agricultural soils are inherently deficient in Zn, and the health of...

Maize is one of the important cereal crops grown in rainfed regions of northwestern Himalayas, however, persistent use of chemical fertilizers coupled with poor soil nutrients and water holding capacity due to coarse textured soils poses serious threat to sustaining maize yield and soil health. To address these bottlenecks, a long-term experiment w...

The potential of Indian agriculture in atmospheric CO2 capture and its role in enabling farmers to monetize C credits is critical to climate change mitigation strategies. This potential is especially significant given the vast and diverse agricultural landscapes across India, which inherently possess the capacity for considerable C sequestration. T...

Building Successful Agri Startups in India-A Success Story of a-IDEA, Technology Business Incubator of ICAR-NAARM presents the successful startups and their details in the publication

Job Creation through Post Graduate Diploma Course on Agri Business Management of ICAR-NAARM presented as a Success Story. ABM Program of NAARM running successfully for the 15 years with 100 per cent placements in Agri Industry in India

The Academy holds a 15 year old rich history of implementing innovative digital learning models and building the capacities of NARES (National Agricultural Research and Education System). The e-courseware developed under NAIP(National Agricultural Innovation Project) and subsequent online course methodology which combines hardware and software in a...

Research and Technology Advancements in Agriculture: Edited book contributed by Young Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Scientists of ICAR with mentorship of Faculty/Scientists of NARES. This books covers various aspects of research and technological advancements of recent years. This is the part of technical editing exercise for FOCARS 112 bat...

Maize-based crop systems are promoted in large scale in South Asia because they are more sustainable and efficient than rice-based systems. In the present study, using two combinations of crop residue management practices (CRM) with four precision nitrogen (N) management (PNM) systems, we assessed the impacts on soil physicochemical characteristics...

Indian agriculture, performed by 14 crore farm families, predominantly (more than 80%) small and marginal farmers, is under transition from being commercial to addressing sustainability, climate resilience, resource-use efficiency, conservation of natural resources (land and water), inclusiveness, and profitability. As agriculture in India is an ag...

Climate change and variability are increasingly affecting agriculture and livelihoods in developing countries, with India being particularly vulnerable. Drought is one of the major climatic constraints impacting large parts of the world. We examined the effects of drought on crop productivity, evaluated the effectiveness of technologies in mitigati...

The scientific consensus on climate change is unequivocal, with a more than 50% chance of global temperatures surpassing 1.5ºC by 2040. Human-induced factors, such as increased greenhouse gas emissions, are driving unprecedented alterations in climate, leading to severe impacts like prolonged droughts, floods, cyclones, heat waves, and rising sea l...

Storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in the soil profile is a current global challenge. Despite greater attention to research investigating the buildup of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the surface soil layer (0-0.2 m), information on C sequestration rates in subsoil layers (0-1.0 m) is scanty in tropical upland crop production sy...

The imminent challenges presented by the changing climate and its resulting impacts on soil quality, and food production highlights the necessity for transformative shifts in Indian agriculture. This review emphasizes the role of carbon farming towards mitigating climate change, enhancing agricultural sustainability and achieving sustainable develo...

The quality of soil plays a crucial role in sustainable agriculture. To better understand the changes in soil quality across different agroecosystems, long‐term experiments are considered as the most effective approach. Moreover in spite of their significance, there is paucity of information pertaining to long‐term impact of fertilizer and manure a...

In addition to being nutrient exhaustive, rice-wheat rotation is plagued by excessive water usage and divergent input requirements. We hypothesized that applying biochar along with polymer would improve soil properties, increase water use efficiency and contribute to higher crop productivity. This study focused on developing water-efficient and eco...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a critical role in crop yield, soil health, and agricultural sustainability. It also acts as a major sink for atmospheric CO2 , mitigating climate change. This study explores carbon-farming practices that enhance SOC sequestration. These practices, including crop rotation, minimal tillage, and cover cropping, not onl...

Climate change poses significant challenges to Indian agriculture, impacting crop yields, water availability, and overall food security. To address these challenges, a combination of adaptation and mitigation strategies is crucial. Adaptation measures involve adjusting agricultural practices to changing climate conditions, such as altering planting...

Climate change poses significant challenges to Indian agriculture, impacting crop yields, water availability, and overall food security. To address these challenges, a combination of adaptation and mitigation strategies is crucial. Adaptation measures involve adjusting agricultural practices to changing climate conditions, such as altering planting...

Drought Proofing by improving water storage in rest zone with enhanced soil organic matter is dealt in this chapter

Climate change poses a significant threat to global agriculture with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events affecting crop yields and food security. Agronomical interventions are crucial for both adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change in agriculture. Adaptation strategies include the develop...

In agricultural systems, significant nitrogen (N) losses from traditional fertilizers pose risks to food security and economic stability. An emerging approach to mitigate these losses involves nanoparticles (NPs) coatings onto urea, aiming to enhance N availability and consequently boost crop yields. To explore the most effective and sustainable N...

Finding an appropriate balance between crop intensification and agriculture sustainability is one of the key objectives in overall of agriculture and food systems. Three key factors i.e., the exponential growth in global population, climatic unpredictability, and soil degradation, are essential factors that require the development of novel agricult...

The policy paper deals with organized sheet and goat meat sector in India towards food security, nutrition and SDGs.

NAAS Policy Paper 124 convenership of Dr Ch Srinivasa Rao presented the Challenges and Opportunities of Puplic Private Partnership in Agriculture sector. Research, education, extension, infractructure etc are dealt in the policy recommendations.

Climate Change and its impacts needs ecosystem based solutions. Climate Change Impacts Quality of Life.. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation needs Technology Innovations, Policy, Programmes and Community Participation.

Biochar can be used for multifunctional applications including the improvement of soil health and carbon storage, remediation of contaminated soil and water resources, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and odorous compounds, and feed supplementation to improve animal health. A healthy soil preserves microbial biodiversity that is effective in...

Water storage in soil with improving soil organic carbon under rainfed dryland ecosystems are presented; Critical in crop management during mid season droughts or intermittent droughts periods.

Soil management has a key role in climate change mitigation and reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from Agriculture and Food Systems. Dr B. Ramamoorthy memorial lecture note covers the management strategies of soil, potentially contribute CO2, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide emissions from Agriculture.

During the summer and rainy seasons (April-October) of 2020 and 2021, two consecutive field experiments were conducted at the research farm of the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. In this study, we examined the effects of summer green manuring crops (GM) and a variety of zinc fertilizers (ZnF) on Basmati rice (Oryza sa...

The farming system of Assam is principaly characterized by rice based mono cropping by small and marginal farmers and is essentially dependent on rain and greatly influenced by type of soil, crops, and socioeconomic condition of the farmers. Farmers of the state are relatively resource-poor with low adaptive capacity; therefore, weather aberrations...

Land use change (LUC) has direct and indirect consequences on soil quality. To gain insight into how LUC influences the physical properties of soil, it can be advantageous to compare undisturbed ecosystems with those that have naturally evolved over time, as well as to use soil quality indices to pinpoint the sensitivity of each ecosystem and land...

In the current study we have undertaken the scientometric analysis to map research publications from 19 different animal science research institutions under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), for a period of two decades (1998 to 2020), using the Web of Science (WoS) platform of Clarivate Analytics. We analyzed different scientometr...

CRISPR is important because it is a component of the bacterial immune system that can cleave DNA and once the molecular mechanism behind its DNA-cleaving ability was discovered, it quickly evolved into a genome-editing tool and adopted widely. Web of Science, a platform for scientific and scholarly research based on citation index, showed an increa...

Conservation agriculture practices have been globally recognized for improving soil quality by enhancing soil organic carbon, mitigating climate change, and boosting resilience, thereby supporting food security. However, declining soil organic carbon (SOC) is reported as a significant issue in Indian soil, particularly in Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP)....

Strategy paper presents the strategies and critical needs of inter-disciplinatry research in agriculture research in solving or meeting the current day challenges in food production, agriculture sustainability, food security, sustainabile development goals.

Organic farming is emerging oppurtunity towards quality food production and soil health management. However, several critical needs such as soil fertility, nutrient requirements of field crops, horticulture, etc; pest and disease managment, varietal requirements etc to be assessed for sustainable organic farming management. Markets and farmer group...

Calcareous Soils-Distribution, Characteristics and Management (Advances in Agronomy 2023)

This Policy paper gives insights about the need for a paradigm shift to Foster the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Indian State Agricultural Universities; The current status of Agripreneurial ecosystem in India; how we can Augment the Entrepreneurial ecosystem at Agricultural Universities; A proposed model for realising the Agripreneurial Ecosystem at...

Soil microbial communities are important drivers of biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, organic matter decomposition, soil organic carbon, and Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs: CO2, N2O, and CH4) and are influenced by crop and soil management practices. The knowledge on the impact of conservation agriculture (CA) on soil bacterial diversity, nutrien...

Microbes are an integral part of our biosphere. Their existence has invariably influenced the environment in which they are found. In agriculture, microbes play undeniable role in governing the soil and crop health which is important to develop a sustainable agriculture. However, the traditional methods used to study microbes are primarily cultu...

Identifying appropriate nutrient management options is crucial for reversing the yield plateau and enhancing the nutritional status of basmati rice under the basmati rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP). Alternative to the conventional chemical fertilizer, ZnO nanoparticles as carrier material for the micronutrient Zn has sho...

The conventional method of intensive tillage alters the soil environment, destroys soil aggregates, depletes soil organic carbon (SOC), emits more carbon, requires higher energy, alters microbial activities and ultimately degrades the soil health. These ill-effects of conventional tillage can be severe in rainfed soils with poor work-ability such a...

Identifying appropriate nutrient management options is crucial for reversing the yield plateau and enhancing the nutritional status of basmati rice under the basmati rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP). Alternative to the conventional chemical fertilizer, ZnO nanoparticles as carrier material for the micronutrient Zn has sho...

Rainfed agriculture, which accounts for about 40% of India’s food basket, plays a critical role in ensuring the country’s food security and in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a critical factor that determines soil health and crop productivity. Declining SOC content in rainfed ecosystems has become a seri...

Critical potassium requirements of crop plants, soil potassium fertility status, K role in plant stress management, K recommendation and management strategies are presented in the review paper

Decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration in cropland are necessary to achieve carbon neutrality at national scale. The major objective of this study is to quantify the GHG mitigation potential of adopted climate resilient (CR) practices in CR villages using ExACT tool developed by Food and Agriculture Or...

Accelerating land-use change (LUC) in the Nilgiri Hill Region (NHR) has caused its land to mortify. Although this deterioration has been documented, the destruction of buried gem soil has not been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the impact of LUC on soil-carbon dynamics in the six major ecosystems in the NHR: croplands (CLs)...

Accelerating land-use change (LUC) in the Nilgiri Hill Region (NHR) has caused its land to mortify. Although this deterioration has been documented, the destruction of buried gem soil has not been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the impact of LUC on soil-carbon dynamics in the six major ecosystems in the NHR: croplands (CLs)...

Agriculture sector is the mainstay of the Indian economy, it contributes about 20.2 percent gross domestic product (GDP) increasing from 19.9 percent recorded in 2020-21, and more importantly, about half of India's population is significantly dependent on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. The contribution of agricultural secto...

Pulses are an important source of energy and protein, essential amino acids, dietary fibers, minerals, and vitamins, and play a significant role in addressing global nutritional security. The global pulse area, production, and average productivity increased from 1961 to 2020 (60 years). Pulses are usually grown under rainfed, highly unstable, and c...

Agricultural development and farmers’ welfare occupy a central place in the development goals of India. Various pathways which have evolved over the years have been implemented in the country to propel agricultural growth by shifting its focus from achieving food sufficiency to sustainable income and inclusive growth. The Farmer FIRST Programme (FF...

Large-scale deforestation and increased land use change (LUC) over the past few years have shattered the ecological balance of the Western Ghats by deteriorating the soil quality and essential ecosystem services. This study was conducted in part of the Western Ghats comprising three different ecosystems, viz., agro ecosystem (AE), tea ecosystem (TE...

Thinking process and techniques of stress management and wellbeing in work place in the Organization is presented. Helpful to the all the staff, stallholders, students, researchers, job holders for higher work efficiency, organizational growth while keep staff happiness.

Capacity Building and Training activities for Agriculture Scientists, University faculty, KVKs, Agri Industry, Startups, Farmer Producing Organizations, Students and Farmers, Head of the Divisions, Directors and DDGs of ICAR are presented. Details of Think Tank Research Policy activities are summarized in the Newsletter of ICAR-NAARM (October-Dece...

Climate models project that many terrestrial ecosystems will become drier over the course of this century, leading to a drastic increase in the global extent of arid soils. In order to decrease the effects of climate change on global food security, it is crucial to understand the arid environment and the constraints associated with arid soils. Alth...

Almost one-fourth of the global population live in South Asia (SA) countries with 14% of cultivable land. Most of the countries in the South Asian region are facing multiple challenges like high population growth, declining farm land area, and low productivity in primary and secondary sectors leading to limited employment opportunities. Consequentl...

Citation: Naorem, A.; Jayaraman, S.; Dang, Y.P.; Dalal, R.C.; Sinha, N.K.; Rao, C.S.; Patra, A.K. Soil Constraints in an Arid Environment-Challenges, Prospects, and Implications. Agronomy 2023, 13, 220. https:// Abstract: Climate models project that many terrestrial ecosystems will become drier over the course of this century, leading to a drastic...

The study analysed the temporal changes in the perceptions of students of agricultural higher education due to disruption of the COVID 19 pandemic and recommends strategies to deal with it. An online survey was conducted involving students of agricultural higher education at two intervals to capture their perceptions on the academic, physical, and...

Agricultural Soil Sustainability and Carbon Management presents long-term research in the field of sustainable soil use and management to guide in the prioritizing the multifunctional value of soil health and addressing interdisciplinary links between major issues such as biodiversity and climate change. As soil is the largest terrestrial carbon po...

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a massively parallel sequencing technology that has revolutionized genomic research. The goal of genomics is outlining the genetic composition, collective characterization, and quantification to describe a particular phenotype. NGS has enabled the sequencing of thousands of genomes to study diversity within or be...

Profitability, risk analysis and farmers perception were worked out for the Eucalyptus and Subabul based agroforestry growers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. A total of 465 farmers were considered under the survey in both states. Establishment cost of Subabul was considerably lesser but the maintenance cost was almost similar as compared to Eucaly...

This is the NAAS Policy Paper, towards Road Map for rehabilitation of 26 Mha degraded lands in India by 2030. Recommendations and Policy Interventions presented.

Competency enhancement programmes, research and developmental activities, think tank research policy, a-IDEA Technology Business Incubator, Post Graduate Diploma in Agri Business Management, off campus trainings and other major events of NAARM presented.

The carbon (C) problem and its impact on climate have been attracting attention for many decades. The last few decades have seen tremendous changes in agriculture and the world’s food chain. New and modern agriculture techniques result in more depletion of C from the soil and cause a remarkable increase in C concentration in the atmosphere. Increas...

The importance of soil health and balanced fertilizer application based on soil test results must be taken into account in various agricultural community programmes and initiatives. In India, a programme on soil health management, integrated nutrient management and organic farming has been launched to improve soil carbon (C) management by incorpora...

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) is severely depleted in rainfed dryland ecosystems of India and World. Depletion of SOC further aggravates to Land Degradation and Sustainability of Ecosystems. Sequestration of carbon in soil contributes to soil health, nutrient use efficiency and climate change adaptation with co-benifits of mitigation of GHGs. Current c...

Incubation Activities, Acceleration, Agri Business Management Sensitization, MoUs, Immersion Programme, a-IDEA of NAARM and NABARD Projects, BIRAC, NIDHI, DBT, DST, DAC, Agri UDAN-5.0; IDEATION, Trainings and Competency Enhancement Programmes, Farmer Producing Organizations, Startups, Think Tank Research Policy Activities of a-IDEA of NAARM.