Ecology and equity: key determinants of sustainable water security

Trends in water consumption indicate that demand for water for household and industrial uses in developing countries could double as a proportion of total water demand in the next 25 years. Scope for expansion of water supply will, at the same time, be limited because development of irrigation and urban water supplies is becoming increasingly expensive, and often involves high costs in terms of environmental degradation and human resettlement. Without fundamental reform of water management, the rapid growth in urban water demand will require large transfers of water from irrigated agriculture, thereby threatening food security. Hence, water supply and demand should be managed in an integrated fashion, simultaneously considering all uses and sources. This will call for the establishment of community centred food and water security systems and national water trusts. Once such systems and Trusts are established there could be a legally binding Global Water Convention on the model of the Global Convention on Climate and Biodiversity. The details of such a Global Water Conventions can be finalized at one of the future Stockholm Water Symposia. There are uncommon opportunities today for a water-secure world through synergy between technology, public policy and peoples' participation.

An evergreen revolution

The term 'Green Revolution' was coined in 1968 to indicate revolutionary improvements in crop yield in several Asian countries. Many of these improvements came at the cost of adverse environmental effects in areas subjected to intensive farming. However, where population pressure is high, there is no option except to produce more food. Productivity must increase, but in ways which are environmentally safe, economically viable and socially sustainable. This has been christened an 'Evergreen Revolution'.

Magnitude of hybrid vigor retained in double haploid lines of some heterotic rice hybrids

Sixty one double haploid (DH) lines were evaluated for yield components and yield and compared with the three corresponding hybrids from which they were derived through anther culture. Analysis of a 6×6 diallel experiment led to the selection of these hybrids based on their high heterosis and revealed the nature of gene action of the characters under evaluation. The DH lines along with the hybrids and parents were planted following a simple lattice design with two replications. The results show that in DH lines the values of the characters expressing predominantly additive genetic effects could reach the heterotic level of the hybrids. For characters including yield showing predominantly dominance effects, values in the DH lines were significantly lower than those of the corresponding hybrids. The promising DH lines, however, possess a higher yield potential than the better parents.

An analysis of genes for resistance against two Indian cultures of stem rust races of two bread wheats

Two bread wheat accessions, E5008 and E6160, have been genetically analysed for resistance genes effective against Indian cultures of stem rust races, 15C and 122. The inheritance of resistance to each race has been determined from the F1 and F2 of the crosses (resistant parents with the susceptible variety, 'Agra Local') and F2 progenies from the backcross to 'Agra Local'. Tests have been performed to see if the two varieties carry common genes/s for resistance. The identity of the genes for resistance has been established from relevant crosses with single gene lines carrying known genes for resistance.A single dominant gene effective to race 15C in E5008 has been demonstrated to be Sr9b. Of the two recessive genes, each producing distinct infection types (0; and 1-3) against race 122, one gene has been inferred to be Sr12 and the second to be a hitherto undesignated gene.The resistance of E6160 against race 15C is controlled by two genes, one dominant and one recessive. The dominant gene has been identified as Sr9b. The recessive gene has been inferred to be a new gene. Similarly, a dominant gene effective against race 122 in E6160 has been observed to be different from those so far designated. In addition, the presence of modifier gene/s in the variety, E6160 has been suggested.

Mode of inheritance of dwarf stature and allelic relationships among various spontaneous and induced dwarfs of cultivated rice Oryza sativa L

Genetic study of spontaneous and induced dwarfs included the mode of inheritance of dwarf stature and the allelic relationships among various dwarfs. Qualitative genetic analysis involving crosses of fourteen dwarfs with a common tall variety 'IARI 11124' showed that the degree of dominance in the F1 hybrids varied with the cross. With the exception of the crosses of IARI 6579 and IARI 10560 with the tall variety, all crosses exhibited incomplete dominance. The segregation pattern in F2 populations of height classes showed dwarfness to be a monogenic recessive trait functioning, however, in association with modifier complexes of varied strength. From F2 behaviour of all possible crosses involving the fourteen different dwarfs, the allelic relationships were deduced. Three major groups of dwarfs could be recognised. Group I, comprised of FF 36, IARI 5842, IARI 5906-2B, IARI 5923, IARI 10061, IARI 10560 and IARI 11445, was allelic to I-geo-tse and Dee-Gee-Woo-Gen with modifiers of predominantly negative effects, while group-2, comprised of dwarfs IARI 5901-2, IARI 5924, IARI 6579 and IARI 7312B, was also allelic to Dee-Gee-Woo-Gen and I-geo-tse but with large and equal number of modifiers of positive and negative effects. The induced mutant, Central Africa Mutant (CAM) which constituted the third group seemed to possess a dwarfing gene that was non-allelic to those of the above mentioned two groups of dwarfs, with equal strength of modifiers of plus and minus effects. Unlike the dwarfs of spontaneous origin, which are invariably allelic to 'Dee-Gee-Woo-Gen', the induced dwarf was nonallelic. Thus, induced mutagenesis appears to give rise to dwarfing genes different from those found in the naturally occurring dwarfs.

A Study on the nature of genetic divergence in rice from assam and North East Himalayas

A representative group of 190 rice types collected from North-East India along with four standard varieties, three of which were indicas and one japonica, was studied to understand the nature of genetic divergence. Preliminary grouping was done by canonical analysis and the resultant 42 groups were further classified using the D(2) statistic.The final grouping resulted in nine divergent clusters. The three indica standards were found in three different clusters indicating the wide available variability among them. The japonica standard formed a separate group by itself. A majority of the North-East Indian types formed clusters with indicas, whereas some were intermediate and still others were closer to japonica or indica, thus indicating a series of intergrades bridging indica and japonica.Height followed by leaf area was found to be important for primary and 100-grain weight, followed by amylose content for secondary differentiation. It appears that natural selection as well as human selection might have operated for characters differentiating rice types in Assam and North Eastern Himalayas. Geographical distance was not found to be related to genetic divergence. The study suggests that O. sativa contains innumerable but divergent forms, and its classification into definite varietal groups on an arbitrary basis such as isolation barrier, sexual affinity or geographic distribution would be far from reality.

Mutations: Incidence in Drosophila melanogaster Reared on Irradiated Medium

An increase in the rate of mutation has been found in Drosophila melanogaster reared on a basic medium that was irradiated with a sterilizing dose (150,000 rads) of cobalt-60 gamma rays. In Muller-5 tests, sex-linked recessive lethals occurred only in the F(2) progenies of the male test flies obtained from breeding the parent flies on irradiated medium, while visible changes occurred in experimental cultures from both the control and irradiated media. The frequency of sex-linked recessive lethals was 0.35, 0.55, and 0.8 percent in three independent experiments. Visible changes were two to six times more frequent in the irradiated series than in the controls.