Papers by V.S.Santhosh Mithra
The domestication of animals and plant cultivation through the adoption of systematic farming pra... more The domestication of animals and plant cultivation through the adoption of systematic farming practices, as well as the green revolution brought on by the invention of chemical fertilizers and the introduction of hybrid varieties a few decades ago, are just a few of the revolutions that have occurred in agriculture. Now it is the phase of agriculture revolution 4.0 triggered by the exponentially increased use of ICT in agriculture. The smart farming with the help of ICT technologies could bring out possible solution to the challenges faced in agriculture sector that includes lack of resources, climate change etc. The objective of the present investigation was to compare the yield and nutrient requirement (NPK) for cultivating sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) unDer smart farming and farmer's practice as a field trial in a farmer's plot at Nedumangad block of Thiruvananthapuram district. Under smart farming practice, the agro advisory for cultivating the crop was given through SMS to the farmers in every ten days' interval. The advisory was generated based on the field's real-time weather parameters, crop stage, and initial soil analysis. Results revealed that smart farming plots recorded higher yields with lower nutrient application. This technology can be replicated in any crop including rice.
Journal of Agrometeorology, May 25, 2023
Aroids are an important group of tropical root and tuber crops, which mainly constitute elephant ... more Aroids are an important group of tropical root and tuber crops, which mainly constitute elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson) and taro (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum (L.) Schott). Among tropical root and tuber crops, aroids are getting the least attention even though they are considered as local staple food crop in the rural tribal areas of India (Ravi et al., 2011, Singh et al., 2016). They are superior in dry matter production per hectare compared to the major food grain crops and are also rich in carbohydrate as well as mineral nutrition (Bradbury and Holloway, 1988) which make them as supplementary food to overcome malnutrition in rural tribal areas and in developing countries. Philippines, India, Malasia, Indonesia, China, and Sri Lanka are the major producers of elephant foot yam (Sunitha et al.,
Journal of Root Crops, Jul 8, 2020
Agricultural Research, 2021
The present study was conducted to identify the climate resilience of two widely used varieties o... more The present study was conducted to identify the climate resilience of two widely used varieties of cassava in one of the major cassava growing areas in Kerala, India. The future projections for 2030, 2050, and 2070 were derived using the Long Ashton Research Station-Weather Generator (LARS-WG) with integrated global climate models (GCMs). The projections for the representative concentration pathway-4.5 (RCP-4.5) were tested in the crop model, World Food Studies (WOFOST) to assess the resilience of cassava varieties. The future projections in the study region indicated an increase of up to 2.1 and 2.3 °C for maximum and minimum temperatures respectively, followed by solar dimming. The crop yield predictions based on the outputs from the GCMs indicated that the yield of the long duration cassava var. H-226 increased during 2030 from 8.6 to 12% and that of short duration var. Sree Vijaya increased from 3.6 to 5.5%. With the 2050 scenario, the yield increased from 3.3 to 6.7% for var. H-226 and −4.3 to 1.9% for var. Sree Vijaya, respectively. Whereas, during 2070 was a decrease in the yield for vars H-226 and Sree Vijaya ranging from −9 to 3.8% and −10 to −5.2% respectively. The results indicated that var. H-226 is more resilient to the changing climate than var. Sree Vijaya. As an outcome of this study, the var. H-226 can be considered as climate-resilient, and this information can assist the decision makers in selecting an appropriate crop variety to ensure food security.
Potential yield of cassava vary greatly from one place to another. This variability is mainly due... more Potential yield of cassava vary greatly from one place to another. This variability is mainly due to the variation in weather parameters like maximum temperature, minimum temperature, sunshine hours and precipitation. Computation of potential yield of cassava of a place using the cassava simulation model SIMCAS requires weather and plant parameter data as input. When this is repeated for another location, the entire process should be repeated and it becomes cumbersome. Hence a simple algorithm based on fuzzy logic concepts is proposed here. All the spatial parameters and potential yield of cassava are divided into fuzzy sets and fuzzy inference rules (FIR) are formed on these sets. These fuzzy sets are arranged in the form of cells of Indian horoscope and potential yield is predicted based on FIR and these fuzzy sets. The algorithm was validated with values of simulated potential yield and this algorithm is found to about 90% accurate.
Tuber crops had always helped to overcome the catastrophies of famines and provided relief from h... more Tuber crops had always helped to overcome the catastrophies of famines and provided relief from hunger. Under the present conditions of shrinking cultivable area and increasing population, tuber crops provide great opportunity for increasing production, productivity and profitability because of their high photosynthetic efficiency. The higher biological efficiency and the highest rate of dry matter production per day per unit area make tuber crops an important component in our food security systems. They are also recognized as the most efficient converters of solar energy. Sweet potato produce about 240 X 103 kcal/ha of energy as compared to 176 X 103 kcal/ha for rice and 110 X 103 kcal/ha for wheat and 200 X 103 kcal/ha for maize. Cassava is more efficient than sweet potato producing about 250 X 103 kcal/ha of energy. Crop simulation models are of great help for faster agricultural development. For simulating the growth and yield of sweet potato no models exist today.
Current Horticulture, 2021
Journal of Root Crops, 2014
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are RNAs of~24-nucleotide in length which by binding to the 3' untranslate... more MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are RNAs of~24-nucleotide in length which by binding to the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the target mRNA, bearing complementary target sequences or degrading mRNA by cleaving at single site, cause translational suppression and thereby down–regulate gene expression. The study of the relationship between miRNAs and their target mRNAs is now an attractive area in bioinformatics. Predicting miRNAs, which target mRNAs using experimental methods is a challenging task as it is time consuming and costly. In the present study, for predicting the target sequences in mRNAs, a computational method namely “miRNA target plot” was developed using an efficient R program involving data input, target prediction and plotting. The mature miRNA sequence and specific mRNA sequence information were entered and the sequence information was read using seqinR package. Input data sequences were further processed in two steps. In the first step, the user input miRNA sequence as...
Agricultural research, 2021
A study was carried out to test the SIMCAS (growth simulation model for cassava) model over major... more A study was carried out to test the SIMCAS (growth simulation model for cassava) model over major cassava-growing regions in India with different agro-climatic conditions to understand the wider acceptability of this model. The study locations included the major growing areas of cassava in India, viz. Thiruvananthapuram, Salem, Navsari, Ratnagiri, and West Godavari. Two varieties, H-226 (long-duration) and Sree Vijaya (short-duration), were used to validate this model. The crop growth parameters for calibrating the model were derived by conducting field experiments at the five locations under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Tuber Crops. The model verification score and agreement index during yield simulation in the case of H-226 and Sree Vijaya were ranged from 0.69 to 0.99 and from 0.52 to 0.59, respectively. The values of normalized objective function (0.10–0.26) and normalized root mean square error (excellent to fair simulations) also showed the reliability of the ...
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2018
Electronic Crop (e-Crop) is an electronic crop simulator. The device computes how much food is pr... more Electronic Crop (e-Crop) is an electronic crop simulator. The device computes how much food is produced by the plant using the given sunlight, water and other factors. It informs the farmer about the status of the crop, its input requirements to realize targeted yield as well as about the forecasts regarding the crop and scheduling of irrigation, nutrient applications, agronomic and plant protection operations. Forecasting of yield of the crop can be done more accurately at local, regional and national level. Device gives information to the farmer in the form of SMS. This device can be used for giving real-time agro advisory on any crop to reduce yield gap and to achieve targeted yield. One device is sufficient for different crops grown in a continuous geographical area with uniform weather conditions. It is a single point solution for many problems in agriculture. The main advantage of this IoT device is that it retrieves real time information about the various soil and weather par...
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, 2016
Biosciences, Biotechnology Research Asia, 2015
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Papers by V.S.Santhosh Mithra