Twelve lacustrine sediment samples from a relict lake in the Kalla Glacier valley were co-dated using AMS radiocarbon (14C) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating methods. In general, the radiocarbon ages of bulk organic matter were older by a minimum of 1500 years compared to (age depth) modeled luminescence ages after fading corrections. This is observed for the first time in the lake sediments of High Himalayan Crystalline zone. A combination of lipid n-alkane data, Raman spectra and geochemical proxies suggested that this was due to ancient organic carbon (OCancient) that is a mixture of pre-aged (OCpre-aged) and petrogenic (OCpetro) organic carbon within older glacial moraine debris that served as sediment source to the lake. Raman spectra suggest the presence of moderate to highly graphitized OCpetro in all the profile samples. The OCpetro contributed 0.064 ± 0.032% to the sediment and the lake stored 2.5 ± 0.7 Gg OCpetro at variable rates during the last 16 kyr, with the mean burial flux 160 kg OCpetro yr−1. This study implies (1) employing another independent dating method in addition to radiocarbon method using bulk sediment organic matter, if the carbon content is low, to observe any discrepancy, and (2) a need to investigate on the fate of OCpetro as many such small lakes become relict in this region.

In the face of climate change, developing resilient crops is crucial for global food security in the 21st century to feed a growing population. Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) plays a vital role in ensuring global food and nutritional security. Traits like early flowering enable the crop to mature faster, thereby shortening the growing window and reducing yield losses caused by moisture and heat stresses during the reproductive phase. However, issues like limited genetic diversity in this trait remain unaddressed. To address this gap, our study aims to comprehensively assess genetic variability and trait associations in 158 lentil accessions. In the present study, we observed significant variations for days to 50% flowering (67–90 days), days to maturity (109–122 days) and 100 seed weight (1.69–2.68 g) throughout a period of two consecutive years (2020–2021 and 2021–2022). The observed variability in these traits offers a valuable avenue for the improvement of lentil yield through targeted selection and hybridization. Additionally, correlation analysis showed negative correlation between days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant, while plant height had a significant (P < 0.01) positive correlation with all traits except yield per plant. Furthermore, we identified specific germplasm with exceptional traits that hold significant potential for future breeding programmes. The genotypes EC 223197-A and EC 267696 were identified for early flowering with high yield, and other genotypes that were identified for various traits would serve as breeding material for the introgression of these traits into elite cultivars.

The quantification of fossil-fuel derived carbon dioxide (CO2ff) emissions is critical for regional carbon budgets. Radiocarbon (14C) is an effective tool to estimate the contribution of CO2ff to the total atmospheric CO2. In the present study, we have determined the spatial distribution of fossil fuel derived CO2 across Delhi using 14C measurements in Peepal tree leaves from April 2016 to March 2017 at city scale. Our analysis results show that the Δ14C values vary between –67.78‰ to 5.61‰ and corresponding CO2ff values are varying from 1.63 ppm to 33.34 ppm. CO2ff values from campus sites vary between 6.99 ppm to 16.38 ppm with an average value of 10.22 ± 3.20 ppm, while CO2ff values vary from 2.41 ppm to 33.34 ppm with an average value of 13.32 ± 9.40 ppm for sites located in the parks. Further, we observed the higher contributions of fossil fuels in the CO2 from northwest Delhi, central Delhi, and some parts of east and southwest Delhi. In the absence of real-time CO2 monitoring, the results of this study provide a potential method for analyzing the contribution of CO2ff values over the urban landscape to total CO2 over the study region.

Bottom-up assembly of nanomaterials using solution-processed methods is ideally suited for use in fabrication of large-area optoelectronic devices. Tailorable visible and near-infrared absorption in shaped nanostructured noble metals is strongly influenced by localized plasmon resonance effects. Obtaining sharp and selective absorption with solution-processed methods is a challenge and requires suitable control on the growth kinetics, which ultimately results in appropriate size and morphology of the final product. In this work, a photo-assisted multigenerational growth process for synthesis of silver nanotriangle ink with narrow linewidth absorbance is developed. This technique combines photochemical and seed-mediated growth approaches. The resulting ink exhibits a sharp absorption at 700 nm with full width at half maximum of ∼170 nm, verified by absorption as well as dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy measurements. Numerical modeling using finite-difference time-domain calculations yields a close match with observed absorption and is used to examine electric field distribution and enhancement factor resonating at 720 nm. The synthesis technique is potentially useable for production of highly selective absorbers in solution phase.

Low genetic diversity acts as a major bottleneck in garden pea breeding, and diverse parents are required to generate new genetic material. The diversity of parents utilized in hybridization programme was ascertained following simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Thirty-six homozygous F7 progenies were isolated from three intervarietal crosses through shuttle breeding programme over a period of 6 years (2009–2014). Two experiments were conducted for two consecutive years 2014/15 and 2015/16, for evaluating the agronomic performance of progenies along with four commercial control cultivars. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that genotype, growing year and their interaction had significant effects on most of the traits. Line ‘DPP-SP-6’ recorded significantly higher pod yield/plant in comparison to all other genotypes in 2014/15, 2015/16 and for pooled over years. In addition, ‘DPP-SP-22’, ‘DPP-SP-7’ and ‘DPP-SP-17’ also performed statistically at par with best-performing check ‘Pb-89’ during both the years. These superior lines, in general, showed better pod filling, green pod colour, high shelling, sweetness and resistance to powdery mildew disease. These superior progenies could act as an alternative to the popular check varieties after their exhaustive evaluation over environments.

Radiation resistant ferrite materials have potential applications in space station. Mg-Mn spinel ferrite was choosen for this study because of its radiation resistance and potential for use as an insulator in radiation environments. The radiation damage expected in these environments can be quickly and conveniently simulated using ion irradiation. The results of swift heavy ion irradiation induced modifications in the magnetization behavior of the Mg-Mn ferrite nanoparticles have been investigated using 100 MeV Ni8+ ion irradiation. To ensure the singlephase spinel structure of the system powder x-ray diffraction patterns has been performed. The powder samples were irradiated at three different fluences in the range 1×1012-5×1013 ions/cm2. Isothermal dc magnetization studies have been performed using SQUID and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) on the pristine as well as on the irradiated samples at 20 K and 300 K. With irradiation saturation magnetization remains almost constant with ions irradiation. The coercivity values of the materials decreased about 5% with the fluence 1×1013 ions/cm2 as compare to the pristine nanoparticles. The results have been explained on the basis of the existence of surface defects produced by swift heavy ions, which generate orientational disorder of surface spins. The behavior of saturation magnetization with irradiations makes these nanoparticles suitable for memory devices in the space research.