Explore the vast range of titles available.

Climate change poses serious risks to Indian agriculture as half of the agricultural land of the country is rainfed. Climate change affects crop yield, soil processes, water availability, and pest dynamics. Several adaptation strategies such as heat- and water stress-tolerant crop varieties, stress-tolerant new crops, improved agronomic management practices, improved water use efficiency, conservation agriculture practices and improved pest management, improved weather forecasts, and other climate services are in place to minimize the climatic risks. The agriculture sector contributes 14% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) from the country. Mitigation of GHG emission from agriculture can be achieved by changing land-use management practices and enhancing input-use efficiency. Experiments in India showed that methane emission from lowland rice fields can be reduced by 40–50% with alternate wetting and drying (AWD), growing shorter duration varieties, and using neem-coated urea according to soil health card (SHC) and leaf color chart (LCC). Dry direct-seeding of rice, which does not require continuous soil submergence, can reduce methane emission by 70–75%. Sequestration of carbon (C) in agricultural soil can be promoted with the application of organic manure, crop residues, and balanced nutrients. India has taken several proactive steps for addressing the issues of climate change in agriculture. Recently, it has also committed for reducing GHG emission intensity by 45% by 2030 and achieving net zero emission by 2070. The paper discusses the major impacts of climate change, potential adaptation, and mitigation options and the initiatives of Govt. of India in making Indian agriculture climate-smart.

Nutrient budgeting for cropland is a crucial tool for assessing nutrient mining or excess application. We estimated the nutrient budget of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in cropland for South Asia during the last five decades (from 1970 to 2018) using equation-based empirical methods. Nutrient budget for the last five decades shows a negative balance of N (3.94 million tons, Mt), P (23.87 Mt), and K (247.23 Mt). Inorganic fertilizer remained the major input source for N and P, and its decadal average share increased for N (from 27.9% to 72.8%) and P (from 72.1% to 94.5%) from 1970 to 2010s and the share of manure, deposition, and crop residue to N, P and K input decreased. Deposition remained a major source of K input and its share decreased from 64.0% to 35.5% during the period. The share of crop removal to the decadal output of N (58.6% to 53.4%) and P (49.0% to 23.1%) decreased, and K (72.5% to 76.0%) increased from 1970 to 2010s. The higher losses of fertilizer N, and accumulation of P and K fertilizers in soils, resulted in decreasing partial factor productivity of N (from 72.2% to 16.9%), P (from 217.0% to 42.2%), and K (from 480.3% to 113.8%) from 1970 to 2018. Nutrient budget helps in identifying the regional imbalance (mining/accumulation) of the major nutrients, it will provide valuable information on the present status of country-level nutrient use for reorientation of their nutrient/fertilizer use policies.

Nitrogen (N) use in agriculture substantially alters global N cycle with the short- and long-term effects on global warming and climate change. It increases emission of nitrous oxide, which contributes 6.2%, while carbon dioxide and methane contribute 76% and 16%, respectively of the global warming. However, N causes cooling due to emission of NO x , which alters concentrations of tropospheric ozone and methane. NO x and NH 3 also form aerosols with considerable cooling effects. We studied global temperature change potential (GTP) of N use in agriculture. The GTP due to N 2 O was 396.67 and 1168.32 Tg CO 2 e on a 20-year (GTP 20 ) and 439.94 and 1295.78 Tg CO 2 e on 100-year scale (GTP 100 ) during years 1961 and 2010, respectively. Cooling effects due to N use were 92.14 and 271.39 Tg CO 2 e (GTP 20 ) and 15.21 and 44.80 Tg CO 2 e (GTP 100 ) during 1961 and 2010, respectively. Net GTP 20 was 369.44 and 1088.15 Tg CO 2 e and net GTP 100 was 429.17 and 1264.06 Tg CO 2 e during 1961 and 2010, respectively. Thus net GTP 20 is lower by 6.9% and GTP 100 by 2.4% compared to the GTP considering N 2 O emission alone. The study shows that both warming and cooling effects should be considered to estimate the GTP of N use.

Spatio-temporal trends of rainfall during the last 119 years (1901 to 2019) in different meteorological sub-divisions of India were analyzed using gridded rainfall data. Innovative trend analysis (ITA) was performed for detecting the trends in seasonal and annual rainfall. The results of long-term trends and their magnitudes obtained from the ITA method were compared with traditional Mann-Kendall (M-K), modified Mann-Kendall (mM-K), and linear regression analysis (LRA) methods. Significant trends in seasonal and annual rainfall were detected in almost all the sub-divisions of India. The monsoon and annual rainfall showed increasing trends in most sub-divisions of the peninsular and northwest India, whereas decreasing trends were observed in the central northeast part of the country. Winter rainfall showed decreasing trends in most of the sub-divisions of the country. Results of M-K/mM-K and LRA concurred with the trends detected by ITA. However, the ITA is more sensitive in detecting hidden trends missed out by the traditional M-K/mM-K and LRA tests. This study will provide scientific reference for assessment and proactive mitigation of climate change impacts on water resources to manage the risk of climate variability.

This study examined the spatio-temporal trends and variability of seasonal and annual rainfall for 36 districts of Maharashtra, India. For this purpose, 118 years (1901 to 2018) gridded rainfall data of India Meteorological Department (IMD) were analyzed using Mann-Kendall (MK), modified Mann-Kendall (MMK), Sen’s slope (SS), Spearman’s rank correlation (SRC), simple linear regression (SLR), and innovative trend analysis (ITA). Auto-correlation coefficient was calculated at lag-1 and tested at 5% level of significance. Rainfall variability was examined using the coefficient of variation (CV). The analysis revealed significantly decreasing trends for winter and pre-monsoon rainfall in districts of Maharashtra. Monsoon, post-monsoon, and annual rainfall had both increasing and decreasing trends. Out of 185 time series analyzed, ITA detected trends in 168 (90.8%) time series. All the trends detected by MK/MMK, SRC, and SLR were captured by ITA, along with trends in additional 103 (55.6%) time series which were not captured by any of the aforesaid methods. Rainfall variability was very high in all the districts for winter, pre-monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons. The trends and variability analysis of rainfall in the state along with their maps would be useful for the local stakeholders for planning efficient use of water resources.

Development of multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major deterrent in the effective treatment of metastatic cancers by chemotherapy. Even though MDR and cancer invasiveness have been correlated, the molecular basis of this link remains obscure. We show here that treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs increases the expression of several ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters) associated with MDR, as well as epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers, selectively in invasive breast cancer cells, but not in immortalized or non-invasive cells. Interestingly, the mere induction of an EMT in immortalized and non-invasive cell lines increased their expression of ABC transporters, migration, invasion, and drug resistance. Conversely, reversal of EMT in invasive cells by downregulating EMT-inducing transcription factors reduced their expression of ABC transporters, invasion, and rendered them more chemosensitive. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that the promoters of ABC transporters carry several binding sites for EMT-inducing transcription factors, and overexpression of Twist, Snail, and FOXC2 increases the promoter activity of ABC transporters. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation studies revealed that Twist binds directly to the E-box elements of ABC transporters. Thus, our study identifies EMT inducers as novel regulators of ABC transporters, thereby providing molecular insights into the long-standing association between invasiveness and MDR. Targeting EMT transcription factors could hence serve as novel strategies to curb both metastasis and the associated drug resistance.

Understanding the long-term trends in temperature is crucial for assessing the impacts of climate change on agriculture, human and animal health, and natural habitats. An in-depth analysis of long-term spatio-temporal trends of monthly maximum and minimum temperatures along with Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) from 1951 to 2022 in various Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZs) of India was performed using newly introduced Innovative Polygonal Trend Analysis (IPTA) and Innovative Trend Analysis (ITA) along with traditional Mann-Kendall (MK) or modified Mann-Kendall (m-MK) tests. The MK/m-MK and IPTA assessments detected significant trends in 44.6% and 86% of the time series data, respectively, while the ITA method detected significant trends in every time series data. The southern, western, and central parts of India are consistently experiencing rising monthly maximum and minimum temperatures. The western dry region, Central Plateau & Hills, East Coast Plains & Hills, Gujarat Plains & Hills, West Coast Plains & Hills, Southern Plateau & Hills, Western Plateau & Hills and Eastern Himalayan Region predominantly show increasing trends in both maximum and minimum temperatures in all months. The Indo-Gangetic Plains (Middle, Trans, Upper and Lower) exhibit decreasing trends in maximum temperatures during January, February, May, and June. The DTR showed increasing trends in the northern and western parts, while it has increasing trends in the central and southern parts of the country. The results of this study provide valuable information to assist in precise and informed decision-making on agricultural resource management and socio-economic policies.

Chemical fertilizer has contributed significantly in increasing food grain production in India. However, there are emerging concerns of environmental pollution at local scale, climate change at global scale, and sustainability of chemical fertilizer-dependent agriculture. Budgeting of nutrient is a valuable tool in assessing the nutrient use efficiency, nutrient mining, and environmental pollution. We constructed a field level top-down nutrient budget for food grain production in India since the onset of the Green Revolution in the country, i.e., 1970 to 2018, using equation-based empirical methods. Total nutrient input to Indian agriculture was 666.4 million tons (Mt) of N, 189.1 Mt of P, and 244.8 Mt of K during 1970–2018. Chemical fertilizer contributed 68.1% of N, 91.3% of P, and 28.8% of K towards the inputs. Nutrient budget for the last 48 years showed that there was positive balance of N (12.2 Mt), accumulation of P (11.7 Mt) but negative balance for K (157.9 Mt). Further, with the business-as-usual scenario, there would be positive balance of 276.2 Mt N, accumulation of 20.9 Mt P, and negative balance of 202 Mt K from Indian agriculture soils by 2050. The nutrient budget provides valuable information on the present status and balance of nutrient use and the trends with time, which will be helpful for reorienting the fertilizer use policies for sustainable agriculture. Graphical abstract

Aurora kinase A (AURKA) localizes to centrosomes and mitotic spindles where it mediates mitotic progression and chromosomal stability. Overexpression of AURKA is common in cancer, resulting in acquisition of alternate non-mitotic functions. In the current study, we identified a novel role for AURKA in regulating ovarian cancer cell dissemination and evaluated the efficacy of an AURKA-selective small molecule inhibitor, alisertib (MLN8237), as a single agent and combined with paclitaxel using an orthotopic xenograft model of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Ovarian carcinoma cell lines were used to evaluate the effects of AURKA inhibition and overexpression on migration and adhesion. Pharmacological or RNA interference-mediated inhibition of AURKA significantly reduced ovarian carcinoma cell migration and adhesion and the activation-associated phosphorylation of the cytoskeletal regulatory protein SRC at tyrosine 416 (pSRC Y416 ). Conversely, enforced expression of AURKA resulted in increased migration, adhesion and activation of SRC in cultured cells. In vivo tumor growth and dissemination were inhibited by alisertib treatment as a single agent. Moreover, combination of alisertib with paclitaxel, an agent commonly used in treatment of EOC, resulted in more potent inhibition of tumor growth and dissemination compared with either drug alone. Taken together, these findings support a role for AURKA in EOC dissemination by regulating migration and adhesion. They also point to the potential utility of combining AURKA inhibitors with taxanes as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of EOC patients.

The historical rainfall data of 110 years (1901–2010) of the two neighbouring basins of Brahmaputra and Barak of Assam, Northeast India were analyzed for monthly, seasonal and annual trends. The Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope model were used to identify the trends and estimate the magnitude of change, respectively. The analysis revealed significant decreasing trend of rainfall during monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in the Barak basin during 1901–2010. Annual as well as monsoon rainfall during the recent 30-year normal period decreased significantly in both the basins. The last decade (2001–10) was the leanest decade in both the basins. Recent rainfall fluctuations with larger amplitudes indicate greater degree of uncertainties of heavy floods or short spell drought events.