Ghulam Sarwar

The main aim of present study was to evaluate the possibilities of composting different organic substrates i.e. crop residues, leaves of trees, vegetables and fruit wastes. Decomposed organic matter was used in rice-wheat crop production in normal soil (Organic C = 0.33%, Available P = 5.72 µg g-1, K = 5.7 cmolc L-1, pHs = 8.19, ECe = 2.35 dS m-1 and SAR = 7.20). Compost (12 and 24 t ha-1) was applied without and with chemical fertilizer (Rice: 100-70-70 and wheat: 140-110-70 NPK kg ha-1) to investigate the probable effects of compost on crop yields. The grain yield and yield components (plant height, number of fertile tillers and 1000 grain weight) of rice and wheat increased significantly with the application of organic material in the form of compost at both the levels. The combination of compost with chemical fertilizer further enhanced the biomass and grain yield of both crops. This treatment proved economical over others. On the basis of experimental results, a recommendation for the farmers was formulated that they should compost the crop residues to apply in their soils for the increased sustainable crop production. In this way, the soil fertility can be improved with a net improvement in land productivity.

The agricultural policy agenda in the United States, Canada, and in Western Europe has been increasingly influenced by concerns for the sustainability of agricultural production systems. National, state, and provincial governments in North America are becoming increasingly sensitive to the environmental and human-health risks associated with current modes of agricultural production and policy actions, including restrictions on the use of certain agricultural chemicals and inducements to encourage the use of alternative production practices. Many restrictions and inducements have been undertaken or are currently under consideration in many jurisdictions.

Protein efficiency ratio (PER), relative PER (RPER), net protein ratio (NPR), relative NPR (RNPR), and nitrogen utilization (NU) methods were investigated in an interlaboratory rat growth study. Six collaborating laboratories studied 7 protein sources (ANRC casein; minced beef; soya assay protein, SAP; pea flour; whole wheat flour, WW; rapeseed protein concentrate, RPC; and egg white solids, EW), and their 10 supplementary or complementary mixtures (casein + Met, SAP + Met, pea flour + Met, WW + Lys, WW + casein, WW + beef, WW + SAP, WW + pea flour, WW + RPC, WW + EW). Test protein(s) were added at the 8% level (N X 6.25). Casein + Met was used as the reference protein. Interlaboratory variation (estimated as between-laboratories coefficients of variation) of PER (up to 17.2%) was greater than that of RPER (up to 14.9%), NU (up to 9.5%), NPR (up to 7.0%), and RNPR, which had the lowest variability (up to 4.7%). In most cases, intralaboratory variation (estimated as within-laboratories coefficients of variation) for all the methods was less than 5%.