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PurposeThis paper examine beneficiary women's awareness of the harmful effects of traditional cooking fuels and the benefits of cleaner cooking fuel (LPG) in the Indian state of Haryana after the inception of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.Design/methodology/approachDescriptive statistics, factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test were used for the data analysis.FindingsThe paper finds that the women of the scheduled caste were highly aware of the hazards of traditional cooking fuel. They perceived that the usage of LPG led to significant health and environmental improvements. However, the refilling was low among the respondents. So, the only low awareness was not the cause of the low refilling of LPG among Ujjwala beneficiaries.Research limitations/implicationsTechnological advancement, accessibility and successful adoption require convergence with socio-economic and institutional aspects. It was evident that focus on technology might not necessarily serve developmental purposes if it is not integrated correctly with socio-economic and institutional factors. These should have conversed with the household's needs, preferences, affordability, social structures, policy support and delivery mechanism, as it was observed that, in different cases, high-end technologies have limited access.Originality/valueThis study shows that the low awareness is not the barrier to the adoption of cleaner cooking technologies in India. So, the policymakers have to revive and further investigate the real cause of the low adoption of cleaner cooking technologies in India.

The effects of feeding a cassava (Manihot esculenta) rich diet on alcohol induced peroxidative damages were investigated in male albino rats. Rats were divided into four groups and maintained for 60 days as follows. (1) CONTROL GROUP: cassava free diet, (2) alcohol group: cassava free diet+ethanol (4 g/kg body wt/day), (3) cassava group: cassava diet and (4) alcohol+cassava group: cassava diet+ethanol (4 g/kg body wt/day). Results revealed that alcohol induced significant lipid peroxidation, since the lipid peroxidation products malondialdehyde (MDA), hydroperoxides and conjugated dienes were elevated in the liver. The activities of free radical scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione reductase were reduced and glutathione content was decreased in the liver. But the co-administration of a cassava rich diet increased the activity of free radical scavenging enzymes and glutathione content. The level of lipid peroxides in the liver was also decreased on co-administration of cassava. But the oxidative damage caused by cassava was potentiated by alcohol administration. These studies suggested that consumption of alcohol along with cassava offered some protection against the alcohol induced oxidative stress. So we isolated the cyanoglycoside rich fraction from cassava and its impact on rats administered alcohol was also investigated. The results revealed that alcohol induced oxidative stress was potentiated by the co-administration of cyanoglycoside rich fraction. These studies suggested that the fiber and antioxidant vitamins present in the cassava may be playing a protective role against the alcohol induced oxidative stress.

The observations reported in Part I of this paper are discussed in detail here. It has been argued that the agricultural village of Ungra is an open, dependent, land-humans-livestock ecosystem. Simple expressions have been derived for the carrying capacity of the ecosystem with respect to cereal crops, the pasture land-crop land ratio, the number of draught animal pairs, the human to draught-animal pair ratio and the human to cattle ratio. The agreement between the calculated and observed parameters has been taken as evidence that there is a rationale underlying the ecosystem. The energy aspects of the ecosystem, in particular draught power, and cooking fuel, have been discussed in terms of enhancing the productivity and/or self-sufficiency of the ecosystem. Some of the important limitations of the study have been identified in order to indicate the directions of recent work. It has been concluded that an understanding of the logic of village agricultural ecosystems should be the basis of rural development.

The ever-increasing demand of energy has made it imperative to increase the production of renewable fuels like ethanol. Many studies have reported increase in ethanol production by reducing fermentation by-products like glycerol. Deletion of structural genes like gpd1and gpd2 leads to an increase in ethanol by reducing glycerol; however, it makes the yeast osmosensitive that is not desirable for industrial strains. In this study, genes in the HOG pathway which regulates glycerol synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were targeted for improving ethanol yields in fermentation of sugarcane molasses. Deletion strains of ssk1, hot1, and smp1 were tested and they did not show osmosensitivity. Δssk1 and Δsmp1 recombinant strains showed consistent improved ethanol yields. As a result, a double-deletion strain, Δssk1Δsmp1, was also constructed, which showed a synergistic effect leading to 6% increase in ethanol yield and 35% decrease in glycerol yield. It was also observed that there was a significant decrease in acetic acid yields of all the recombinant strains. Overall, the study demonstrates an industrially viable technique of engineering the HOG pathway resulting in decrease of glycerol and no loss of osmotolerance. These S. cerevisiae strains showed a significant increase in ethanol yields.

AbstractIn view of current problems such as global warming, high oil prices, food crisis, stricter environmental laws, and other geopolitical scenarios surrounding the use of fossil feedstocks and edible resources, the efficient conversion of cellulose, a non‐food biomass, into energy, fuels, and chemicals has received much attention. The application of heterogeneous catalysis could allow researchers to develop environmentally benign processes that lead to selective formation of value‐added products from cellulose under relatively mild conditions. This Minireview gives insight into the importance of biomass utilization, the current status of cellulose conversion, and further transformation of the primary products obtained.

AbstractGradual depletion of world petroleum reserves and the impact of environmental pollution of increasing exhaust emissions lead to the search for a suitable alternative fuels for diesel engines. The substitution of conventional fuels (gasoline, diesel) by renewable biofuels is considered a potential way to reduce pollution and to support the sustainable development of a country. Direct use of vegetable oil and animal fat is a promising alternative to solve these problems. An exhaustive review of the experiments in this area, carried out by several researchers in last three decades, is presented here. Different problems associated with the direct use of vegetable oil and animal fat and potential solutions from both public and private sectors are discussed. Some engine manufacturers have started to launch full‐warranty engines with vegetable oil as fuel. It is expected that the competitive engine market will witness more intense research, resulting in the launch of more vegetable‐oil engines with full warranties. The steep rise in food prices in recent years is concerning policy‐makers and has raised the old ‘food vs fuel’ debate. It has been concluded that vegetable oil can probably only substitute small to medium portions of petroleum‐based fuel due to future severe land‐usage competition from food sector. This calls for intense research initiatives into the production of suitable fuel from non‐edible vegetable oil, grown in wasteland. In this regard, genetic engineering may prove to be extremely effective in developing ‘designer fuel’. © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Cow is one of the most common livestock of Indian farmers. Small farm households are strongly dependent on livestock for income as it contributes nearly 16% of their total earnings. As much as two-thirds of rural community depends on livestock for their livelihood. Farmers in India maintain a hybrid farming system, that is, a combination of crop cultivation and livestock, which are complementary to each other. Traditionally, the output of one enterprise is the input of another enterprise. Recent research suggests that in addition to milk, urine and dung obtained from cow are valuable resources of bioactive compounds, which can be converted into value-added products. In this review, we provide an outline for the physicochemical composition and valorization of cow urine and dung. They are utilized in agriculture as a pesticide, manure, and acts as a soil rejuvenator. Cow dung is used for bio energy production by fermentation and gasification. Medicinal and cosmetic products are prepared following ayurvedic formulations described in ‘Panchagavya’. Cow dung ash is used as adsorbent, construction material, mosquito repellent and electrolyte. A case study of manufacturing unit producing arrays of products from cow urine and dung is also presented.

Abstract Single-stage cultivation strategy is more favorable than two-stage cultivation owing to the lesser technical obstacles and being more cost-effective in the microalgal biodiesel production. Hence, in this study, mixotrophically grown Chlorella minutissima MCC 27 biomass was optimized for synergistic maximization of biomass yield and intracellular lipid accumulation using Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD). The effect of mix-carbon sources (glucose + acetate), nitrate concentration and culture time on biomass accumulation and lipid content (% DCW) was evaluated separately using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Out of the three strategies, viz., biomass optimization (BO), lipid content (% DCW), and simultaneous production of biomass and lipid content and their maximization, the third strategy was found to be most effective to obtain the maximum lipid productivity (108.81 mg L−1 d−1), which was approximately 10-fold higher than the autotrophically grown C. minutissima culture. The optimized conditions for maximum lipid productivity were found to be 5.96 g L−1 glucose, 4.12 g L−1 acetate, 0.73 g L−1 nitrate and incubation period of 10 days. Palmitic acid was the principal FAME composite followed by oleic acid and the ratio of saturated fatty acids (SFA):monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was found to be 1.9:1.8:1. Accordingly, simultaneous biomass and lipid content optimization was found to be a better strategy for the maximization of lipid yield as compared to the other strategies followed in the present study.

Intraspecific variability in nitrogen use has not been comprehensively assessed in a natural poplar species. Here, a nitrogen isotope mass balance approach was used to assess variability in nitrogen uptake, assimilation and allocation traits in 25 genotypes from five climatically dispersed provenances of Populus balsamifera L. grown hydroponically with either nitrate or ammonium. Balsam poplar was able to grow well with either ammonium or nitrate as the sole nitrogen source. Variation within provenances exceeded significant provenance level variation. Interestingly, genotypes with rapid growth on nitrate achieved similar growth with ammonium. In most cases, the root:shoot ratio was greater in plants grown with ammonium. However, there were genotypes where root:shoot ratio was lower for some genotypes grown with ammonium compared to nitrate. Tissue nitrogen concentration was greater in the leaves and stems but not the roots for plants grown with ammonium compared to nitrate. There was extensive genotypic variation in organ-level nitrogen isotope composition. Root nitrogen isotope discrimination was greater under nitrate than ammonium, but leaf nitrogen isotope discrimination was not significantly different between plants on different sources. This can indicate variation in partitioning of nitrogen assimilation, efflux/influx (E/I) and root or leaf assimilation rates. The proportion of nitrogen assimilated in roots was lower under nitrate than ammonium. E/I was lower for nitrate than ammonium. With the exception of E/I, genotype-level variations in nitrogen-use traits for nitrate were correlated with the same traits when grown with ammonium. Using the nitrogen isotope mass balance model, a high degree of genotypic variation in nitrogen use traits was identified at both the provenance and, more extensively, the genotypic level.