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What is a mealy bug?

It is an insect coming under the group bugs. You will also remember that Some people may call an ant as a bug, (the movie. a bug’s life, but it is not. It is an ant, and is a relative of the honey bee. The general bug family includes the cicada, bed bugs, assassin bugs, coreid bugs and almost all bugs that produce a noxious smell when you have disturbed them). But a mealy bug is different. Here, the fellow does not move actively, and is covered by a white powdery (mealy) coating. They do not even look like an insect, but as a cottony mass. They do grow in size, and secrete a sweet substance, that attracts ants. Just see a mealy bug and find out if you have thought it out as a fungus (Many learned people think that way) or as a spit or anything else. Some examples of mealy bugs are the papaya mealy bug, Pink hibiscus mealy bug, pepper mealy bug, mango mealy bug etc.

Major nutrients are needed in bulk. Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potash (K) are major nutrients. Another 10 (excluding carbon, hydrogen and oxygen which the plants accumulate from the atmosphere) are needed in very small quantities and constitute the minor elements in plant nutrition

This depends on photosensitivity and pest /disease incidence for the season. Ask an experienced farmer or Ag. Functionary to select the variety that is locally suited which will give the best yield and avoid pests/diseases.

What is the horse power for a  pump set is needed to irrigate one hectare of land area?

Usually a one HP(Horsepower) pump set will suffice for one ha of crop land.

What is the maximum moisture content allowable for cattle feed / poultry feed?

Cattle feed 10 % Poultry feed 11% by Indian standards

See photo.

 These are relatives of mealy bugs, and are small creatures with soft body. Their young ones are also sedentary, but the adults do fly. The photo shows cotton whiteflies on the leaf of bitter gourd. Greenhouse whitefly, tobacco whitefly, spiralling whitefly and many others are other species.

Cottony cushion scale on citrus, the black scale, coffee green scale, and many others resemble the mealy bugs, but come under scales. These are also closely related to mealy bugs.

What is a tissue culture plant?

Plant tissue culture is the technique of growing plant cells, tissues and organs in artificial media under aseptic conditions. This has wide uses in agriculture and other plant sciences. This is usually done by micro propagation, where small tissues which are ideal for the species is multiplied in culture media and then in the outside, to make them into full grown, small plants that can later grow to completely viable, normal plants and yield normally. They do have the added advantage of high yield or disease or pest resistance etc. based on the purpose for which it is made. Another common method is meristem culture. There are still other methods like embryo rescue, anther culture, somatic embryogenesis, protoplast fusion etc.

They contain nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potash (K) or other plant nutrients in various proportions. 8:8:16 NPK means a mixture of these at the above concentration and proportion.

Don’t get carried away by the excellent aquariums that you see every day. It is not simple to have a grand aquarium. And, before jumping into big aquariums, do it yourself on a small scale if you want to say that it is yours. You can ask somebody to do it and also to upkeep it, but if it really has to be yours, then do it by yourselves, learn the tricks the hard, slow way and then enlarge the venture based on your experience.

Bamboos, (you would remember that bamboo is not a tree, but just a big grass) Eucalyptus and a lot of other soft wood species that grow fast.

Kacholam (Rhizome),Thippaly (dried fruits), Leaves of Neelamari, Roots of chethikkoduveli, root tubers of asparagus, and stem of pathimukham are some. Traditional ayur veda utilizes many parts of thousands of herbs, trees and shrubs, and it is a lifetime of strenuous studies, acquisition and practice that makes a physician the best.What are home remedy herbs in ayurveda?Grow thulasi, neem, brahmi, vayambu, panikkoorka, asokam ginger, kastoorimanjal and a lot of other small herbs for temporary respite as home remedies.

A counter question is – How do humans belonging to different races identify their own race? Except for subtle differences, it is easy. You can easily sift out between Japanese, Asians, Africans, and Europeans. Within each, it may need fine tuning based on other factors. Such fine tuning exists in insects also. This is decided by colour, smell, size and a host of other factors just as in the case of humans.

Diseases caused by fungi are blast, leaf spots, sheath blight, sheath rot, etc. A major bacterial disease is bacterial leaf blight. Grassy stunt and ragged stunt are virus diseases

First, you have to identify the disease. Then, if it is fungal, use a fungicide. A bacterial disease is managed with antibiotics and sometimes by other management practices. A virus disease is controlled by removing the diseases part and managing the vector or carrier of the virus, usually by using insecticides.

It is a non-synthetic organic insecticide that can be used against thrips, aphids, mealy bugs, and mites in kitchen gardens and home gardens. For making one litre of this, dissolve 2.5 g of soap in 25 ml of hot water and add 45 ml kerosene. Shake well and add water (approximately 930 ml) to make up to one litre. Use immediately.This can be sprayed on the plants.

Cashew production is severely restricted by the attack by a pest called as Tea mosquito bug.  The young ones and nymphs of this pest drain the sap from new flushes, flowers and inflorescences. Spraying of insecticides like quinalphos, or carbaryl will reduce the pest very much and increase production.

This is caused by the eating of the contents by the larvae of a small beetle called as the sweet potato weevil. Even though spraying is also recommended, there are also synthetic attractants called as pheromones, which will help in attracting the adults of these insects. Use the pheromones in traps to attract and kill them.

This technology relies on the application of molecular biology for modifying higher plants. Isolated genes for specific needs are transferred from one plant to a different plant species, in the usual case or, from the wild relative, but always not so.

Use a vaccine as recommended by a qualified veterinarian.

They indicate the toxicity levels. A Red triangle is the most toxic, followed by yellow, then blue and then the least toxic, the green triangle.

Your local aquarium stall. They will also give you tips on the best way to maintain your aquarium. About 35 % of the world trade in aquarium fishes is farm cultured and raised.

The average yield can be around 2000-3000 kg, a better yield is around 5-6000, and there are hybrid rice and others who give around 10,000 kg per ha under good management.

It is the first generation or F1 of a cross between two distinct varieties, and the characters of the parents are usually the best that we want, so that the progeny gives the best results. The seeds of the hybrid will not be the same as that of the hybrid mother stock.

Plantations can have a spacing of 7 x7 and can go up to 8x8 metres, if you want a wider spacing.

Systemic means those that are absorbed by the plant, and then usually converted inside the system into a form that is toxic, and is distributed throughout the plant, so that the effects are available anywhere inside. This has the advantage that even if you are applying it in only one part, the effects can be had everywhere in the plant, so that either insects or fungi in any part of the plant can be controlled. Contact poisons, on the other hand, will have limited effects, only on the parts where you have applied it. Both types have their own specific uses, advantages and disadvantages.

These are chemicals that are used to kill unwanted plants. They are employed in farmlands. The types of chemicals can be those that are used before a crop is sown,(Pre emergence), or post emergence. Here also, there are some that will kill all vegetation, so that after this, you can sow the specific crop seed like rice or wheat. There are others that are selective, so that in rice or wheat, you can kill broad leaved plants that are weeds, without causing any damage to the growing rice crop. Here, the selectivity is based on the type of the plant system as monocots, dicots etc.

60-65%.

Approximately two third (about 67%).

If you mean entomopathogenic nematodes, then, they are used for the biological control of crop pests, and is currently gaining popularity as one of the important bio control methods.

Orchid cultivation can be a fascinating hobby or a remunerative avocation. The types of orchids include epiphytes and terrestrials. Epiphytes grow on the branches of trees and are usually supposed to get their nutriment from outside, independently cooking their food and using the host only for support. Vanda and dendrobium come under this group. Terrestrials like paphiopedilums grow on the forest floor and other decaying organic debris.

It is probably the ideal vegetable that you can grow in high rise apartments / flats. They are grown by using the seed material known as spawns and are easily grown with minimal care.
With little bit of experience and care, you can be a good mushroom man. Agaricus(white button), Pleurotus(oyster)and volvariella are some species that are popular. Most of them are grown on waste materials like paddy straw.

Vermicompost is advantageous for two reasons. They allow waste disposal into useful products, and also clean the environment. The species that is used are not the common type of underground earthworms, but specially identified species that occupy the above ground portion, and includes two very commonly available species i:e;Eudrillus eugeniae and Icenia foetida.

Commercial agriculture utilizes many readymade chemicals for uses such as rooting, induction of uniform flowering in crops like pineapple and mango, and for other uses like ripening, as also for retarding the growth to induce flower induction etc.