Varietal Release, Notification and Denotification System in India

Agriculture is the backbone of India and improved agricultural practices principally depend on the use of newly evolved improved variety. In the Indian scenario, a statutory varietal release system is working where notification and denotification process are playing a crucial role in quality regulation of seed. Crop research institutes of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), SAUs (State Agricultural Universities) and private seed companies are the main pillars to develop improved varieties in India. The thumb rule is, the improved variety must have a higher yield compared to the existing one (national and state check varieties) and this is ensured via several multilocational evaluations at a different level. This article covers the Indian regulatory system of variety release, evaluation process at a different level, and the importance of notification and denotification. This information will help the scientific community in regards to suggesting improved variety for general cultivation by farmers.

L'evoluzione dei controlli sulla spesa pubblica dei Ministeri in Italia

- In this short article the author illustrates the checks carried out on the state expense distributed by the Ministries at central level. After explaining the former means of assessing, the author presents the new laws of expense controls, dating back to ‘90ie. The offices charged of monitoring, once called "Ragionerie centrali", have been named Central offices of balance. These offices, linked to the Ministries, control the state expense at central level; the "Ragionerie territoriali" of the State check it at local level. The Central offices of balance refer to the Department of the Central State "Ragioneria", which is one of the four Department the Ministry of Economics and Finance consist of. The Central offices make an inner public administration check, the "Corte dei conti" makes an external assessment. Moreover the article describes the checks of estimated and final balance carried out by "Corte dei conti" and illustrates the inner assessment due to "Decreto Legislativo" nr.286/99. Finally this essay remarks some experts'opinions about budget controlling and the Industrial Plan to reform the public administration by the Minister of Public Administration and Innovation.

Occurrence and Quality of Florunner Peanuts with Purple Testa Discoloration

Occurrence and quality of Florunner peanuts with purple testae from combined Federal-State check grade samples were examined. The number of purple peanuts varied inversely with seed size, with up to 6.7% weight in the commercial grade size “other edible.” Exposure of viable peanut pods to light affected the development of purple testae. The percentage of No. 1 grade size peanuts with purple testae increased from 0.86 to 8.53 when pods on growing plants were exposed to direct sunlight. Misting freshly harvested peanuts for 10 days in the windrow also increased the occurrence of purple testae. Except for oil color, only slight differences were found in objective quality determinations between purple testae and normal (no purple testae) peanuts of the same size. Peanut butter from normal peanuts was judged better flavored than that from purple testae peanuts but no difference was detected between normal and a sample containing 7.5% purple, although purple testae peanuts increased the tendency toward grayness of the peanut butter. These data indicate the need for reevaluation of the “damage” designation of peanuts with purple testae.