Asian Journal of Advances in Agricultural Research

A Big Data Curation Framework for Precision Agriculture: Actions, Actors and Challenges in the Indian Context

Suresh Kumar Sharma — 2026-09-28

Precision agriculture produces large volumes of heterogeneous data from IoT sensor networks, satellite imagery, unmanned aerial surveys, crop registries and weather stations. India has committed substantial public investment to agricultural data infrastructure under the Digital Agriculture Mission, which by August 2026 had generated more than 10.31 crore Farmer IDs and surveyed over 31 crore plots. No published framework specifies what curation these data require, which institutions are responsible for each activity, or what obstacles arise in the Indian operating environment. This study develops such a framework through a systematic review of 214 sources published between January 2015 and August 2026, drawn from five bibliographic databases and supplemented by Government of India policy documents. Two coders agreed on 88.5 per cent of coding decisions for a random subsample of 50 records. The framework specifies curation actions at eight stages of the agricultural data lifecycle, assigns each action to one or more of nine institutional actor categories, and documents the associated challenges. Three findings distinguish precision agriculture from the general big data case: raster imagery requires curation procedures with no counterpart in text or sensor-stream data; machine-learning models function as curation objects rather than analytical tools alone; and metadata operating only in English cannot support a national agricultural data system in a country with 22 scheduled languages, a requirement now given legal force by the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025. Those Rules, notified in November 2025, impose consent, erasure and breach-notification obligations that apply across the full data lifecycle rather than at the point of collection alone. The framework gives agricultural universities, ICAR institutes and state departments a basis for assigning data management roles and planning curation training. Because it rests on published literature and policy documents, it has not yet been tested against current institutional practice.

Synthesis and Application of Phosphate Glass Fertilizers as Sustainable Slow-Release Nutrient Sources for Baby Corn Production

Gouranga Saha — 2026-09-26

The excessive application of conventional fertilisers often results in rapid nutrient loss, low nutrient-use efficiency, and adverse environmental impacts. To address these challenges, phosphate-based glass fertilisers were synthesised using the conventional melt-quenching technique as environmentally sustainable slow-release nutrient sources. The glass compositions were melted at 750–800 °C with a soaking period of 30 min and rapidly quenched to produce homogeneous amorphous glass fertilisers. Five glass formulations (GS-1 to GS-5) containing essential macro- and micronutrients were prepared and evaluated for baby corn (Zea mays L.) cultivation in alluvial soil in a pot-culture experiment arranged in a completely randomised design (CRD) at Ambika Kalna (23.2175° N, 88.3525° E) during the winter season of 2025. The synthesised phosphate glass fertilisers exhibited controlled dissolution behaviour, enabling the gradual release of essential nutrients, including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), zinc (Zn), and molybdenum (Mo), throughout the crop growth period. Soil analyses revealed significantly higher nutrient retention in alluvial soil than in laterite soil due to its superior nutrient-buffering capacity. Among the developed formulations, GS-4 and GS-5 demonstrated the most sustained nutrient-release characteristics, leading to enhanced nutrient availability, improved plant uptake, and reduced nutrient leaching. Baby corn cultivated with the glass fertilisers showed improved growth performance and nutrient utilisation without causing significant alterations in soil pH, confirming the environmental compatibility and agronomic effectiveness of the developed materials. The findings demonstrate that phosphate glass fertilisers synthesised by the melt-quenching method can serve as efficient slow-release fertilisers, improving nutrient-use efficiency while minimising nutrient losses and environmental contamination. These environmentally sustainable glass fertilisers offer a promising alternative to conventional fertilisers for baby corn production and have considerable potential for application in precision agriculture and long-term sustainable crop management.

Comparison of the Transmission Efficiency of Two Cucumber Mosaic Virus Isolates by A. spiraecola and M. persicae in Calabar, Nigeria

Emmanuel E. Ekpiken — 2026-09-26

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is transmitted non-persistently by numerous aphid species, but transmission efficiency is strongly influenced by vector abundance and the timing of virus acquisition and inoculation. This study compared two CMV isolate–source-host systems, designated Ocimum and Passiflora, transmitted by Aphis spiraecola and Myzus persicae. Three separate transmission experiments evaluated aphid density (1, 4, 6 and 9 aphids per plant), post-acquisition interval (1, 10, 15 and 20 min), and matched acquisition/inoculation access periods (1/1, 8/8, 10/10 and 15/15 min). Four aphids per plant were maintained in the two time-based experiments, and each experiment was conducted across five independent trials. Transmission generally increased with aphid density but declined progressively with increasing post-acquisition interval and longer acquisition/inoculation access periods. Trial-level analyses showed that these treatment-response patterns were consistent across the five trials, whereas interaction tests provided limited evidence that treatment responses differed systematically between CMV isolate systems or aphid vector species. Dose-response modelling showed higher post-acquisition 50%-transmission intervals (ST50) for the Passiflora system (15.95 min with A. spiraecola and 15.17 min with M. persicae) than for the Ocimum system (10.26 and 6.18 min, respectively). However, because the isolate × post-acquisition interval interaction was not significant and the isolates were maintained in different source hosts, the ST50 difference is interpreted as evidence of potentially longer apparent transmissibility rather than an intrinsic isolate-specific retention mechanism. Overall, vector abundance and the temporal relationship between virus acquisition and inoculation were the most consistent determinants of CMV transmission, emphasising the epidemiological importance of aphid probing and rapid movement between infected and susceptible plants.

Digital Transformation and Crop Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

Peter Makieu — 2026-09-30

Digital transformation can reduce information frictions and expand access to markets, extension services, and financial tools, but its relationship with agricultural outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains sensitive to measurement and econometric specification. This study examines the association between a connectivity-based Digital Transformation Index (DTI) and crop production in 40 SSA countries over 2000-2022 (N = 769 country-year observations). The DTI combines mobile-cellular subscriptions, internet use, and fixed-broadband subscriptions, while the outcome is the natural logarithm of the FAO Crop Production Index (2014-2016 = 100), an aggregate production index rather than an input-normalised productivity measure. Entity fixed effects (FE) provide the main static estimate, while pooled OLS, random effects, two-way FE, System GMM, Difference GMM, component-level models, income-group estimates, and a quadratic specification are used for sensitivity analysis. Entity FE yields a positive DTI coefficient (beta = 0.948, p < 0.001), whereas the estimate is smaller and only marginally significant with year effects (beta = 0.523, p = 0.095). In the dynamic models, System GMM produces a positive but imprecise DTI estimate (beta = 0.031, p = 0.409), while Difference GMM yields a negative and imprecise estimate (beta = -0.059, p = 0.581). Separate income-group FE models show a larger coefficient in low-income countries (beta = 1.841) than in lower-middle- and upper-middle-income groups (approximately 0.48), although no formal cross-group coefficient-equality test is reported. The quadratic FE specification is concave and implies a sample-specific turning point near DTI = 0.709, located in the upper tail of the observed distribution. Overall, the results support a positive long-horizon within-country association in the static FE model, but the weaker time-controlled and dynamic estimates warrant cautious, non-causal interpretation.

Influence of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Sulfur on the Growth and Yield of Advanced Kenaf Breeding Line KBL-73

Muhammad Tanvir Rahman — 2026-10-05

A field experiment was conducted in 2020 at the Jute Research Regional Station, Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, to determine the response of the advanced kenaf breeding line KBL-73 to nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S). Ten fertiliser treatments were arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replications. The treatments (kg N-P-K-S ha-1) were T1=0-0-0-0, T2=75-10-20-10, T3=75-20-30-20, T4=75-30-40-30, T5=100-10-20-10, T6=100-20-30-20, T7=100-20-40-30, T8=125-10-20-10, T9=125-20-30-20, and T10=125-30-40-30. Plant population, plant height, basal diameter, green biomass, dry biomass, fibre yield, and stick yield were assessed. Treatment effects differed across traits. T3 produced the tallest plants (358.27 cm), whereas T6 produced the greatest basal diameter (21.35 mm), green weight (3.41 kg plot-1), and dry weight (2.75 kg plot-1). The highest fibre yield (1135.7 g 9 m-2) and stick yield (1912.0 g 9 m-2) occurred under T10 (125-30-40-30 kg N-P-K-S ha-1). Compared with T1, T10 increased fibre yield by 116.6% and stick yield by 93.4%. Fibre and stick yields were strongly correlated (r = 0.93). Principal component analysis showed that the first two components explained 80.1% of the variation among treatment means, with PC1 accounting for 57.0% and PC2 for 23.2%. The results identify T10 as the strongest yield-performing treatment for KBL-73 under the reported experimental conditions, while T6 was superior for stem diameter and biomass accumulation. T10 (125-30-40-30 kg N-P-K-S ha-1) is therefore recommended for further multi-location evaluation; replicated multi-location trials and economic analysis are required before a broadly applicable fertiliser recommendation is finalised.

Studies on Integrated Weed Management in Transplanted Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Shubham Dashrath Pardhi — 2026-10-08

The present investigation was carried out during the Kharif season of 2024–25 at the Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, AKS University, Satna (M.P.), with the objective of evaluating the effects of different integrated weed management (IWM) practices on the growth, yield, and quality of transplanted rice. The experiment was laid out in a Randomised Block Design with ten treatments. The treatments were: T₁ – Weedy check, T₂ – Weed free (up to harvest), T₃ – Manual weeding at 20 and 40 DAT, T₄ – Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl 10% WP @ 200 g/ha (PE), T₅ – Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl 10% WP @ 200 g/ha (PE) + one hand weeding at 45 DAT, T₆ – Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl 10% WP @ 200 g/ha (PE) + conoweeder at 45 DAT, T₇ – Pretilachlor 37% EW @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha (PE), T₈ – Pretilachlor 37% EW @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha (PE) + one hand weeding at 45 DAT, T₉ – Byspyribac Sodium 10% SC @ 200 ml/ha (PoE) at 20 DAT, and T₁₀ – Byspyribac Sodium 10% SC @ 200 ml/ha (PoE) at 20 DAT + one hand weeding at 45 DAT. The study revealed that integrated weed management practices significantly improved the growth, yield, and profitability of transplanted rice compared with the weedy check (T₁). Among the treatments, Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl 10% WP @ 200 g/ha (PE) + one hand weeding at 45 DAT (T₅) was highly effective, producing taller plants (86.82 cm), a greater number of tillers (9.60 per plant) at 90 DAT, higher grain yield (4191.34 kg/ha), straw yield (4849.83 kg/ha), and improved carbohydrate content (65.78%). Furthermore, higher gross return (₹106,100.40 ha⁻¹) and net return (₹65,685.64 ha⁻¹) were recorded under T₅ (Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl 10% WP @ 200 g/ha (PE) + one hand weeding at 45 DAT).

Characterization and in vitro Management of Alternaria alternata Causing Leaf Spot Disease of Strawberry

S. S. Nibe — 2026-10-17

Leaf spot disease poses a constraint to strawberry cultivation, and preliminary characterisation of the associated pathogen and assessment of potential biological antagonists are relevant to disease-management research. This study investigated the morphological and cultural characteristics of a fungal isolate obtained from symptomatic strawberry leaves and compared its growth on six solid media. Four microbial bioagents were also evaluated using a dual-culture assay under in vitro conditions. Symptomatic leaf material was collected from strawberry fields in Dhule District, and fungal cultures were obtained by tissue isolation on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), followed by hyphal-tip purification. The isolate was identified morphologically as Alternaria alternata, producing dark olive to black colonies, septate, branched mycelium and brown, muriform conidia. Among the tested media, PDA supported the greatest colony diameter (90.00 mm), followed by Oat Meal Agar (88.90 mm), whereas Czapek’s Agar supported the lowest colony diameter (40.16 mm). In the bioagent assay, Trichoderma harzianum achieved 72.08% inhibition of radial growth and T. viride achieved 70.00%. The corresponding inhibition values for Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens were 57.64% and 51.11%, respectively. These findings indicate that medium composition influenced fungal growth and that the two tested Trichoderma species suppressed the isolate more strongly than the bacterial bioagents under the conditions evaluated. Further confirmation of pathogen identity and testing under plant-based conditions are warranted before practical disease-control performance can be inferred.