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Environment and Disaster Management › Conservation initiatives

हिन्दी — Read in Hindi

Sustainable agriculture

Farming that saves soil, water and fertiliser: natural farming, new fertilisers, soil health, rice grown with less water, millets and agroforestry. Agriculture and its environment is part of the GS3 syllabus.

Foundation note: Sustainable agriculture

Heat stress and milk yield

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Prelims and Mains

Heat stress in dairy animals is the fall in milk yield that comes when heat and humidity act together.

  • It cuts milk yield in buffaloes and crossbred cattle, while indigenous breeds such as Sahiwal and Hariana hold their yield.
  • That makes breed choice part of adaptation in livestock.

What changed

  1. 6 Jul 2026BriefA study in north western India finds that temperatures above 38°C with humidity above 70 per cent in July and August cut milk yield in buffaloes and crossbred cattle by 20 to 30 per cent. Mains: adaptation in Indian agriculture has to include livestock breeds and not only crops. The Hindu, 6 Jul 2026: Milk production in Gangetic plains has nosedived due to climate change (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere

  • Fertiliser registration and nutrient use efficiency · on Inputs: fertiliser, seed, water, credit and insurance

    New fertilisers are registered under the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985: a dossier, two season bio efficacy trials by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State universities, and Central Fertiliser Committee review.

  • Pollinators and beekeeping · on Plants, insects and newly described species

    Pollinators are infrastructure for farming: the Food and Agriculture Organisation credits bee pollination with almost a third of global crop output.

  • Stubble burning and crop residue management · on Air pollution

    Stubble burning is the burning of paddy residue in the fields of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh after harvest, in October and November.