Better Cotton Initiatives

New evidence from Chinese government documents and media reports shows that hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority laborers in Xinjiang are being forced to pick cotton by hand through a coercive state-mandated labor transfer and “poverty alleviation” scheme, with potentially drastic consequences for global supply chains. Xinjiang produces 85 percent of China’s and 20 percent of the world’s cotton.
Chinese cotton products, in turn, constitute an important basis for garment production in numerous other Asian countries.

The content of this article studies a phenomenon known as Industry 4.0, which refers to a new Industrial revolution leveraged by a set of new technologies, especially by cyber-physical systems. The main objective of this research is to obtain an overview of the state of art of Industry 4.0 initiatives among governments of the member countries of the OECD, as well as looking for the most representative architectures of development of Industry 4.0 to establish an analysis of similarities and differences between them in a subsequent investigation. These initiatives are made possible through programs either established completely by governments or by the collaboration of both public and private organizations with the objective of taking advantage of the phenomenon that Industry 4.0 supposes. The method used to identify Industry's 4.0 initiatives establishes 34 OECD member countries plus 5 in process of accession as a population and uses a standard search through conventional internet search engines based on the bibliographic study methodology, emphasizing governmental portals of economy and technology.

Pilgrimage tourism in India is an inseparable part and parcel of their life. India’s tradition, legacy, culture and other pious beliefs are the most determinant factors of undertaking pilgrimage tours across the many religions. More than 1/3rd of the total population in India is conventionally having the habit of undertaking pilgrimage tourism to fulfill their religious vows and also to perform some rituals for their forefathers especially in Varanasi and Rameshwaram Hindus traditionally performing yagas for their parents. Most of the Pilgrimage centres in India are the most attracting tourism spots as well as the recreation centres which would force them to make trips regularly in a year. Pilgrimage is popular in all regions in all strata of people without any cohesion. Their own traditional beliefs and way of life is also one among the adding of factor of undertaking tourisms. Important pilgrimage centers like Madhura, Ayodhya, Ajmer, Velankkanni, Kanchipuram, Amritsar and Langodhriare the living spots of holy people, burns and customary old aghoris which are following mystical standards. The author brings out an elaborate effort to trace the importance of pilgrimage tourism and recently implemented PRASAD and HRIDAY schemes role of rejuvenating and also how far the programs are acted as a catalyzing agent for the promotion pilgrimage tourism and initiatives are discussed below under some important heads. Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation drive a public venture formed by the Union Ministry of Tourism.

Genomics–based approaches offer unprecedented opportunities for crop improvement. Mapping of the chromosomal regions affecting qualitative and/or quantitative traits using molecular markers is receiving a growing attention in the last few decades. We used 50 EST, 18 EST-SSR, 36 SSR primers and 64 AFLP primer combinations to develop a molecular linkage map of cotton employing F2 segregating population obtained through an interspecific cross between Giza 45 (G. barbadense) and Tamcot Luxor (G. hirsutum). Analysis of segregation among the resulting 60 F2 individuals was performed using 1 EST, 4 EST-SSR, 14 SSR primers and 10 AFLP primer combinations that revealed consistent polymorphic patterns and were employed for constructing a genetic linkage map that included 210 molecular markers located on 26 linkage groups and spanning a total length of 3503.8 cM. We detected 81 significant QTLs related to earliness, high yield, and fiber quality, which is promising for a better understanding of the cotton crop. Our map is covering ~75.2% of the total recombinational length of the cotton genome with an average marker interval of 16.7cM. SSR markers were used to assign the linkage groups to specific chromosomes. Seven linkage groups were assigned to chromosomes. This map represents the first map for the intercross between Giza 45 and Tamcot Luxor and could be considered as a framework map to overcome the limitations of conventional breeding for the improvement of cotton yield, earliness and fiber quality related traits.

The hydrolysis of cotton bolls, an important agricultural residue in Egypt, with 72% sulphuric acid has been investigated. The cotton bolls were easily hydrolyzable; the rate of hydrolysis was dependent on temperature of reaction and liquor ratio. The optimum saccharification was obtained at 30°C. solid: liquor ratio 7: 1 and reaction time of 30 min. and 60 min in case of cotton bolls and sheaths fraction respectively. The maximum yield of sugar obtained were 58.5% and 38% (based on the original weight) in the case of hydrolysis of cotton bolls and sheaths fraction respectively. The sugar produced from hydrolysis may be fermented to produce ethanol on industrial scale. The sugars produced from hydrolysis may be fermented to produce ethanol on industrial scale (bio-ethanol or bio-fuel).

Based on mainly primary data collected from 302 farmers in Punjab province of Pakistan, this study analyzed inputs use efficiency of and financial return from “better cotton” and conventional cotton. It also sought reasons for cultivation and non-cultivation of “better cotton” based on farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics and their direct responses to related questions. The findings of analyses revealed “better cotton” better than conventional cotton in terms of both inputs use efficiency and financial return.Despite being less efficient in terms of inputs use efficiency and financial return, farmers were growing conventional cotton primarily because the government agency responsible for agricultural extension had not paid attention to promotion of “better cotton” as in the BCI project area. Important policy conclusions are drawn and broad recommendations are made for the promotion of “better cotton” in Punjab and elsewhere.

The present experiment was carried out in insectary farm, Section of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Nagpur during 2016-2017 to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments (chemicals, botanicals and microbials viz. Imidacloprid 17.8 SL, Spiromesifen 22.9 SC, Neem oil 2%, Neem seed extract 5%, Tobacco leaf extract 10%, Metarhizium anisoplie 1x10 8 CFU/ml, Verticillium lecanii 1x10 8 CFU/ml and Beauveria bassiana 1x10 8 CFU/ml) against sucking pest complex of cotton. Highest reduction in mean nymph population of sucking pests (except whitefly) was recorded with Imidacloprid 17.8 SL (aphids-79.55%, 78.28%; jassids-77.32%, 75.50%; thrips-78.94%, 77.88%) followed by Spiromesifen 22.9 SC (aphids-73.18,70.90; jassids-73.05, 71.82; thrips-76.30,74.20) after 5 and 10 days of all three sprayings respectively. Whereas, highest reduction in the population of whitefly was observed in Spiromesifen 22.9 SC (82.27%, 80.57%) followed by Imidacloprid 17.8 SL (78.32%, 77.90%). Among botanicals, Neem oil 2 per cent, Neem seed extract 5 per cent and Tobacco leaf extract 10 per cent were found effective towards reduction of sucking pests. Whereas, amongst the microbials Metarhizium anisoplie 1x10 8 CFU/ml was found promising for controlling jassids and Verticillium lecanii 1x10 8 CFU/ml against aphids, whitefly and thrips.

The present experiment was carried out in insectary farm, Section of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Nagpur during 2016-2017 to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments (chemicals, botanicals and microbials viz. Imidacloprid 17.8 SL, Spiromesifen 22.9 SC, Neem oil 2%, Neem seed extract 5%, Tobacco leaf extract 10%, Metarhizium anisoplie 1x108 CFU/ml, Verticillium lecanii 1x108 CFU/ml and Beauveria bassiana 1x108 CFU/ml) against sucking pest complex of cotton. Highest reduction in mean nymph population of sucking pests (except whitefly) was recorded with Imidacloprid 17.8 SL (aphids-79.55%, 78.28%; jassids- 77.32%, 75.50%; thrips- 78.94%, 77.88%) followed by Spiromesifen 22.9 SC (aphids- 73.18,70.90; jassids-73.05, 71.82; thrips- 76.30,74.20) after 5 and 10 days of all three sprayings respectively. Whereas, highest reduction in the population of whitefly was observed in Spiromesifen 22.9 SC (82.27%, 80.57%) followed by Imidacloprid 17.8 SL (78.32%, 77.90%). Among botanicals,...

The experiment was laid to analyze genetic features, genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients, path analysis with regression analysis among yield contributing traits in a selected F3 populations of upland cotton including parents. In this research experiment ANOVA showed significant difference among all individual plants in F3 populations. Monopodia per plant and bolls per plant possessed maximum value of PCV% and GCV%. Maximum broad sense heritability (≥ 90) was found in all recorded traits except seeds per boll, fiber length and lint percentage. Correlation studies revealed that Seed cotton yield positively correlated with all yield contributing traits i.e. plant height, monopodial branches per plant, Number of bolls per plant, boll weight, lint weight, seed index, lint index, seeds per boll, fiber fineness, fiber strength and fiber uniformity at both genotypic and phenotypic level whereas it depicted negative relationship with staple length. Path coefficient analysis showed that maximum direct positive effect was found of lint weight (2.6005) on seed cotton yield followed fiber fineness (1.2628), seed index (1.1449) and bolls per plant (1.0027). Regression study exhibited that maximum value of R2 for lint weight (0.9509) and boll weight (0.3735) depicted that 95.09% and 37.35% variation in the seed cotton yield, due to its relationship with lint weight and boll weight. It is concluded that there is a great genetic potential in F3 populations for mostly yield contributing traits for further enhancing yield. So those traits should be used as selection criteria during breeding for yield

We present a machine vision system for simultaneous and objective evaluation of two important functional attributes of a fabric, namely, soil release and shrinkage. Soil release corresponds to the efficacy of the fabric in releasing stains after laundering and shrinkage essentially quantifies the dimensional changes in the fabric postlaundering. Within the framework of the proposed machine vision scheme, the samples are prepared using a prescribed procedure and subsequently digitized using a commercially available off-the-shelf scanner. Shrinkage measurements in the lengthwise and widthwise directions are obtained by detecting and measuring the distance between two pairs of appropriately placed markers. In addition, these shrinkage markers help in producing estimates of the location of the center of the stain on the fabric image. Using this information, a customized adaptive statistical snake is initialized, which evolves based on region statistics to segment the stain. Once the stain is localized, appropriate measurements can be extracted from the stain and the background image that can help in objectively quantifying stain release. In addition, the statistical snakes algorithm has been parallelized on a graphical processing unit, which allows for rapid evolution of multiple snakes. This, in turn, translates to the fact that multiple stains can be detected and segmented in a computationally efficient fashion. Finally, the aforementioned scheme is validated on a sizeable set of fabric images and the promising nature of the results help in establishing the efficacy of the proposed approach.

Human rights NGOs and the press argued for years that Uzbekistan’s cotton industry amounts to a slave business. Until now, little has been written about how cotton export revenues are managed and distributed in Uzbekistan. This report exposes the political economy that drives the system of forced labor in the Uzbekistan’s cotton sector. The report reveals that the profits go into a black box called the Agro-Fund and its extra-budgetary account that is controlled by a narrow circle of top officials. Unlike sovereign wealth funds run by other resource-rich countries, the Agro-Fund administrators have no obligation to report to parliament or the public on Agro-Fund revenues or expenditures. The report provides clear recommendations on reforms that could be implemented if the political will existed.

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), being a cash and fiber crop is of high significance in Paki-stan. Numerous insect pests and viral diseases in Pakistan and around the world attack cotton crop. Genetically modified cotton (transgenic, resistant to lepidopteran insects), hereafter written as 'Bt-cotton' has been introduced in many regions of the world to combat bollworms. However, cultivars differ in their pest susceptibility, yield response and fiber quality traits. Nonetheless, recent studies have indicated that lepidopteran pests are evolving resistance against 'Bt-cotton'. Several 'Bt-cotton' cultivars have been developed in Pakistan in the past decade; however, limited is known about their pest susceptibility, seed-cotton yield and fiber quality traits. This two-year field study evaluated pest susceptibility, yield and fiber quality traits of thirteen newly developed 'Bt-cotton' cultivars in Pakistan. The cultivars differed in their susceptibility to sucking insects during both years of study.