Agriculture is the most important sector and the backbone of a developing country’s economy. Accurate crop yield prediction models can provide decision-making tools for farmers to make better decisions. Crop yield prediction has challenged researchers due to dynamic, noisy, non-stationary, non-linear features and complex data. The factors that influence crop yield are changes in temperature and rainfall, plant disease, pests, fertilizer, and soil quality. The paper discusses the factors affecting crop yield, explores the features utilized, and analysis deep learning methodologies and performance metrics utilized in crop yield prediction.

Urbanization is intrinsically connected to economic progress. India’s rapid economic and population growth has increased its carbon footprint and traffic congestion. A long-term strategy is essential to preserve the balance and alleviate the issues arising from the expansion. Integrating land use and transportation planning has been acknowledged as a means to achieve sustainable urban development worldwide. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is one such strategy. TOD is a planning and design strategy for promoting urban development by clustering jobs, housing, services, and amenities around public transport stations. This strategy can help achieve sustainable communities and improve the quality of life. This research paper assessed the land use characteristics of an urban fringe area in Trivandrum city and completed a land suitability analysis using GIS software tools. A potential node for re-development was identified by looking at various traffic, demographic, and land use parameters. Detailed TOD recommendations for the area surrounding the transit node were proposed based on its development potential.

The increasing volume and complexity of waste associated with the modern economy pose a serious risk to ecosystems and human health. Due to the intensive increase in computation, Machine learning is popular. Intelligent solid waste management motivates the Swachh Bharat mission to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of astrapita Mahatma Gandhi. In the context of smart city development, an innovative means of implementing smart solid waste collection is to improve daily solid waste collection at the household level. An intelligent solid waste collection system will be implemented in the Smart City to improve solid waste collection. It is required to educate households about solid waste handling. Municipal Corporation can implement an innovative PPP model as part of an independent India campaign to motivate startup ntrepreneurs, which will generate jobs in India. The city of Pune is in a phase of intelligent urban mobility development to improve citizens’ living standards. Ensure safe traffic management, adequate water supply, smart amenities, and services such as the intelligent collection, transport, and processing of solid waste. RFID and IoT base IT solutions have the potential to develop sustainable, innovative technology to achieve 100% household collections and transportation and treatment of waste so that to minimize waste to send landfill side.

The present study collected anaerobic sludge from a paper mill operating a UASB reactor on agro-based raw material (wheat straw) washings for biogas production. After determining the sludge profile and methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludge, it was further used to determine the anaerobic biodegradability of RCF-based kraft paper mill effluent. The sludge profile of collected anaerobic sludge was found w.r.t. Suspended Solids (SS) 60 g.L-1, Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS) 23 g.L-1, Inorganic content 62% & Organic content 38%. The presence of effective microbes in anaerobic sludge was confirmed by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). Degradation of organic matter present in effluent by anaerobic digestion leads to the production of biogas (methane & CO2), a renewable energy source. The sludge profile and methanogenic activity findings supported the anaerobic treatment of kraft paper mill effluent and were positive. The methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludge was determined as 0.832 gCOD.gVSS-1×Day, and the average anaerobic biodegradability of RCF-based kraft paper mill effluent was found to be 71.5%.

In the present work, degradation of the herbicide metribuzin (C8H14N4OS) has been performed. A novel metribuzin-degrading bacterium, Olivibacter oleidegradans strain SP01, was isolated from the metribuzin-contaminated soil by an enrichment technique. To investigate the effect of various parameters on metribuzin degradation, various experiments were performed at an initial concentration in the range of 20-100 mg.L-1, a pH of 5-9, and a temperature of 25-40°C. Around 85% of the highest percentage degradation of metribuzin was obtained at a concentration of 20 mg.L-1 in 120 h under optimized conditions. The current work for the Metribuzin degradation study fits well with first-order reactions. Also, at higher concentrations, i.e., 100 mg.L-1, only 40.3% degradation of metribuzin was observed. The Olivibacter oleidegradans strain SP01 has the potential to be extremely beneficial in the removal of Metribuzin from the environment.

Scientifically delineating ecological function zones is essential for national territory spatial planning and comprehensive management. In this study, we evaluated five ecosystem services, habitat quality, water yield, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and food production, in Fuping County, China, and introduced the application of the topographic position index in exploring the topographic gradient effect of each service. We next applied the K-means clustering algorithm to identify the ecosystem services bundles and analyze the dominant type of ecosystem service in these bundles. A particle swarm optimization-support vector machine model was also constructed to identify the boundaries of ecological function zones and complete the ecological function zoning. The results are as follows: (1) In Fuping County, the high-value areas of habitat quality are distributed in the west, north, and southeast; those of soil conservation are in the northwest, northeast, and southwest; those of water yield are in the east and south; those of carbon sequestration are in the west, and those of food production is in the east. (2) The habitat quality first decreases and then increases with an increasing topographic gradient; food production and water yield decline with increasing topographic gradient; carbon sequestration and soil conservation increase with increasing topographic gradient. (3) Four types of ecosystem services bundles were identified. The dominant ecosystem functions of Type I, II, and III bundles are food production and water yield, carbon sequestration, and soil conservation, respectively. Type IV bundles generally have low levels of ecosystem services in the study area. (4) Four ecological function zones were delineated: food production zone, ecological conservation zone, potential restoration zone, and critical restoration zone. The research findings can provide a theoretical and practical basis for formulating and implementing ecological spatial management policies in the Taihang Mountains of China.

Environmental sustainability encompasses various problems, including clean air, renewable energy, climate change, safe environments, and the capacity to live in a healthy community. One possible strategy for addressing these global problems is the circular bio-economy. Cleaner and lower-carbon environments may be fostered via the production of bioenergy and biomaterials, which can also help to maintain the energy-environment connection. To improve sustainability and the state of the planet, scientists are looking at renewable energy sources like ethanol. Compared to gasoline, ethanol has a reduced carbon footprint and a greater energy density, making it a viable alternative fuel. This study gives an overview of ethanol as a possible alternative fuel for flex-powered power generators in India to meet the goals of the circular bio-economy. This paper details the results of flex-fuel testing conducted on a light-duty power generator using an ethanol-gasoline mix. The findings reveal improved thermal efficiency and lower fuel consumption rates than basic fuel. The emissions of both carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons were shown to be reduced.

An endeavor has been made to understand the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater from shallow aquifers of the PG1 watershed (latitudes 19°38’30” to 19°50’30” N and longitudes 79°04’00” to 79°11’00” E). The appropriateness of groundwater has also been checked for various purposes. The groundwater from the study area is alkaline and slightly saline. The Ca2+ ˃ Mg2+ ˃ Na+ ˃ K+ and HCO3- ˃ SO42- ˃ Cl- ˃ NO3- was the ascendancy of cations and anions. The earth metals (Ca + Mg) exceeded the alkali metals (Na + K). The positive correlation interpreted from the interrelationship of Na+ vs Cl- exhibited a silicate weathering process for the liberation of ions in groundwater at the rock-water interface. In addition to the non-lithological source, anthropogenic inputs were inferred, indicating the agricultural fertilizers and domestic wastewater. All the groundwater samples from the study area are suitable for drinking and domestic use. The groundwater from the study area is also suitable for irrigation with negligible exceptions.

Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica indica) is one of the four subspecies endemic to India (Abdulali 1952), common to northern and central Western Ghats among species Ratufa indica belonging to Subfamily Ratufinae. The study was designed to analyze the nest tree preferences of animals in the dry deciduous forests of the Umblebyle range, Shimoga, Karnataka (South India) during February, March, and April 2021, surveying 20 transects covering a distance of 47.7 km. Nest tree preferences were assessed by observing 406 dreys (nests) on 385 trees covering an area of 8350.89 ha. The nest trees came from 20 families and 41 species, with 12 tree species in the Family Fabaceae and 84 trees in the Terminalia paniculata having the highest preference. The Squirrels showed the highest preference for deciduous trees over semi-evergreen and evergreen trees. The most preferred tree height and nest height ranged between 11-20m, including 87.53% of nesting trees and 83.89% of nests, respectively. The average nest height was estimated to be 14.73 (±3.311) m, with a minimum and maximum height of 7 m and 28 m, respectively. The difference between average tree height and average nest height was 1.512m.

The increase of nitrogen and phosphorus causes eutrophication in water bodies. Using submerged plants to decrease the pollution from water bodies is an effective way. In this research, three common submerged plants (Vallisneria natans, Hydrilla verticillata, and Ceratophyllum demersum) and their combinations were used to purify eutrophic water. The control treatment did not contain any plants. The removal effects and dynamic regulations of the three plants with their combinations of nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) in water were analyzed. All three species and their combinations above could grow in the eutrophic water and efficiently remove aquatic nutrients. All the treatment groups had a higher pollutant removal rate for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) than that of the blank control. In these treatment groups, treatment F (50 g Vallisneria natans plus 50 g Ceratophyllum demersum) had the highest removal rate of TP at 57.53%; treatment B (100 g Vallisneria natans) had the best removal rate of TN at 92.04 %. Among these plants and their combinations, Vallisneria natans and Ceratophyllum demersum showed better purification ability; the combination of these two submerged plants and the combination of three submerged plants were more applicable for the restoration of eutrophic water.