Current Science

Anup Raj ¹, Sanjai K. Dwivedi ²

Affiliations
1 High Mountain Arid Agriculture Research Institute, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies of Kashmir, Leh, Ladakh 194 101, IN
2 Defence Research and Development Organisation, DIBER, Haldwani 263 139, IN

Abstract

Situated at an altitude of about 3000 m amsl, Ladakh, J&K, India is known for its extremely harsh climate for crop growth. Extremely low temperatures, extreme aridity, large diurnal variation and uncertain weather changes are characteristic features of the climate in Ladakh. These coupled with agriculturally marginalized land which is poor in its physical, chemical and biological properties have resulted in an inherently poor agriculture production system.

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Jadab Rajkonwar ¹, Ajitabh Bora ¹, Sanjai K. Dwivedi ¹

Affiliations
1 Defence Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organization, Post Bag No. 2, Tezpur 784 001, IN

Abstract

North East (NE) India, represented by seven sister states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, is a biodiversity hotspot and is ecologically represented by the Eastern Himalayan biome. This region is rich in diversity of a number of endemic flora and fauna. Noted level of biodiversity is present in the rivers and lakes of this region, and the valuable ecosystem provides livelihoods to millions of people. These water bodies harbour many species of microalgae, including cyanobacteria, some of which are beneficial while some others are harmful as they are known to produce cyanotoxins, which are injurious to humans and animals. Though this biodiversity-rich region comes under Indo-Burma hotspots (except Assam), its algal diversity record is minimal and there are no substantial data available on the assessment of toxicity of the cyanobacterial population of the region.

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