Soil testing of rhizosphere

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 22, 2026 | Science

A new soil testing solution that can extract multiple nutrients simultaneously has been jointly developed by BARC Mumbai, GB Pant University of Agriculture, Pantnagar; and Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, under a research project supported by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences. The technology has been patented and is expected to be useful to farmers, soil testing labs and the fertilizer industry.

The extractant is based on the understanding that plants absorb nutrients not from the bulk soil as a whole, but from the immediate zone around their roots — called the rhizosphere. Nutrient availability depends more on the chemical conditions in this root zone than on overall soil chemistry.

For the first time, scientists have created a soil extractant that mimics this rhizospheric environment. It provides more accurate estimates of the nutrient available to plants — rather than just the nutrient in the soil.

The formulation uses organic acids with low molecular weight, along with a chelating agent (EDTA), and a buffering compound called MES, adjusted to a pH of about 6. A non-ionic, water-soluble polymer is added to help particles settle (flocculation). Care has been taken to ensure that none of these chemicals interfere with the measurement of nutrients.

Researchers also found that the method can be extended to estimate soil nitrogen, specifically ammonium and nitrate forms, when used alongside measurements of easily oxidisable organic carbon. The technique may further be adapted to assess pollutant elements such as nickel, cadmium, lead, chromium and arsenic.

Novel cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Researchers have developed a novel cathode material that dramatically enhances the performance and stability of aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, which use water-based electrolytes, are hailed as safe, cost-effective and environmentally benign contenders for storing energy from renewable sources like solar and wind. Zinc offers high theoretical capacity, abundant reserves and is used directly as the anode. However, the development of high-capacity, long-lasting cathode materials has been a key challenge.

Researchers at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, have “synthesised sulphur vacancy-induced 1T-phase molybdenum disulphide (1T-MoS₂), a material that promises to make zinc batteries more viable for largescale grid storage”, says a press release.

The team comprising Ganesh Mahendra, Dr Rahuldeb Roy and Dr Ashutosh Kumar Singh used a carefully controlled hydrothermal method to produce sulphur deficient 1T-MoS₂ nanoflakes.

This metallic-phase material possesses a high surface area and enhanced conductivity, which facilitates faster electrochemical reactions and greater charge storage.

The study aimed to optimise the electrochemical potential window, the voltage range within which the battery operates stably. They identified 0.2 to 1.3 volts as the ideal operational window.

The fabricated zinc-ion battery demonstrated cyclic stability, retaining 97.91 per cent of its initial capacity after 500 continuous charge-discharge cycles at a high current density. The device exhibited a coulombic efficiency of 99.7 per cent, indicating highly reversible zinc-ion insertion and extraction with minimal side reactions.

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Published on February 23, 2026

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How sea microbes can protect agri fields

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 22, 2026 | Science

LATE BLOOMER. Biofertilizers show return on investment only after sustained use over multiple seasons
| Photo Credit:
Pongsak Sapakdee

Today, agriculture faces pressure from soil degradation and the climate crisis. Our oceans can serve as a large laboratory for solutions to help plants withstand such stresses. Marine biotechnology, which has contributed significantly to the pharmaceutical sector, has the potential to disrupt the fertilizer and pesticide markets.

Prof Radhakrishnan Manikkam of the Centre for Drug Discovery and Development at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology says marine microbes hold promise in agricultural biotechnology. He has worked on isolating actinobacteria — the organisms responsible for numerous antibiotics — from environments that haven’t been fully explored, such as the deep sea. Unlike terrestrial microbes, the marine variants are adapted to survive highly saline environments, pressure and temperature, making them ideal catalysts for plant growth and stress resilience in crops.

In a paper titled ‘Plant growth promoting properties of marine bacteria, actinobacteria and fungi’, published under the compilation ‘Marine microbiome and microbial bioprospecting’, Manikkam refers to innovations such as synthetic microbial communities, where compatible microbes are “rationally assembled, as opposed to using just one strain — for example, one strain promotes plant growth, another helps fight pathogens, while yet another is tailored to counter environmental pollution”.

In a conversation with businessline, Manikkam says using microbes extracted from nature helps preserve land fertility, unlike chemical fertilizers that harm the soil.

He points out that microbes are used as fertilizers in Asian countries such as Thailand, China and Vietnam, where microbe-assisted organic farming systems are practised for high-value crops like durian and dates.

Marine microorganisms support agriculture through several direct and indirect mechanisms.

Marine microorganisms that promote plant growth act as natural biofertilizers. For instance, marine bacteria like Bacillus subtilis convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, a form that plants can easily absorb. The microbes also make nutrients available to plants by secreting organic acids that solubilise insoluble phosphates. They enhance the availability of calcium and magnesium in the soil. Moreover, sea microbes produce phytohormones, which assist in root development and shoot elongation.

Key to soil health

They protect crops indirectly by producing siderophores, which make iron unavailable to pathogens, and secreting enzymes that degrade the cell wall of fungal pests. Research shows that certain strains derived from oceans, such as Pseudomonas fluorescens, can help suppress diseases such as wheat sheath blight. Compared to fast-acting chemicals, sea microbes work ‘slow but steady’ and help restore long-term soil health.

M Gomathy, an Associate Professor at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), says lack of awareness and hesitancy of end-users are major hurdles in the progress of bio-innovation. At an international conference on ‘Microbial biotechnology for sustainable development in environment and agriculture’ organised recently by Sathyabama Institute, Gomathy said biofertilizers improve soil biological activity and nutrient-use efficiency over time. On the other hand, long-term intensive chemical use “may reduce soil organic carbon and microbial diversity”.

Also, biofertilizers take longer to show return on investment, requiring sustained use over multiple seasons. She added that organic inputs release nutrients gradually through microbial activity, improving nutrient retention and supporting soil microorganisms. The long-term economic incentive is significant, she pointed out. When used consistently, biofertilizers can reduce chemical fertilizer requirement by 15-30 per cent in several cropping systems. Further, organic certified products often fetch premium prices.

Despite the advantages, large-scale adoption remains a challenge. Though biofertilizers are supported under various government schemes that provide subsidies to small and medium farmers, usage is generally driven by ‘progressive and large farmers’ or village heads whose success with bio-agents, such as increased crop yields or latex yields in rubber estates, creates a ripple effect in the community.

Gomathy highlighted her team’s contribution in developing a yeast-based microbial consortium to enhance rice yield, which is being readied for technology release via TNAU. “Ongoing work includes a high-density liquid arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) inoculum developed via root organ culture, which achieved more than 2 lakh propagules per ml,” she said.

The fungi enhance nutrient uptake, improve water-use efficiency and stress tolerance, and strengthen overall plant resilience.

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Published on February 23, 2026

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Why India should choose to build not just powerful, but also governable AI

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 22, 2026 | Science

Three protocols that can safe-keep democratic rights for a billion-strong people in the age of data mining

The India AI Impact Summit took place last week and, as India accelerates AI deployment at unprecedented scale, the critical question is not just about technical capability but also institutional capacity to govern algorithmic power.

The choice is stark. India can build systems that are efficient but opaque, fast but unaccountable, and powerful but uncontestable. Or we can build systems that are efficient and transparent, fast and accountable, and powerful and governable.

If India demonstrates that democratic governance can work at the scale of a billion people in the age of AI, we provide proof of concept for the entire world.

Here are three protocols that matter.

Licence plates for AI agents

Within two years, AI systems will routinely act on behalf of organisations and individuals, conducting transactions, filing returns, bidding on contracts. Who authorises them? What are they permitted to do? How is that authority verified?

India needs a protocol for AI agent identity, similar to how UPI handles payment authorisation. Every agent operates under a specific time-limited mandate — “This agent can submit procurement bids up to ₹5 lakh in defined categories for 90 days”. When the mandate expires, the agent stops. No auto-renewal. The system forces periodic human review.

This is not surveillance. It is accountability infrastructure. Just as UPI verification is federated (banks verify mandates, not the government), AI agent verification would operate peer to peer. India has already built Aadhaar and UPI. We know how to create protocols that work at billion-person scale.

The decision packet

When a UPI payment fails, you receive an immediate error code: U30 for “Transaction declined by receiver’s bank”. Algorithmic decisions in governance need a similar infrastructure.

Every rejection must emit a ‘decision packet’ containing the outcome, the factors that drove it and, critically, a counterfactual explanation. Not “rejected because of income criteria” but “your declared income is ₹3 lakh; to qualify it must be under ₹2.5 lakh”.

This gives citizens agency. They can identify data errors and take corrective action.

Appeals must move at system speed. If an algorithm can reject in five seconds, the remedy cannot take 30 days. Three tiers: Automated error correction in seconds; borderline cases reviewed in 24 to 48 hours; and contested decisions resolved in seven days or auto-approved.

Statistical tripwires auto-suspend systems when reversal rates (how often appeals succeed) exceed 5 per cent. The data becomes the regulator. This extends India’s RTI tradition into the algorithmic age: From the Right to Information to the Right to Understand.

The data passport

A District Magistrate spends three years learning about his region: Groundwater patterns, migration cycles, why certain projects fail.

Then they transfer. That knowledge walks out. Six months later, an AI system deploys with zero contextual knowledge and repeats solved mistakes.

India needs protocols that enable institutional memory to compound rather than reset. Data passports work like international travel: Data stays with the ministry that collected it but can move for specific purposes under time-limited visas — “This data can travel to Ministry of Health for aggregate malnutrition analysis for 90 days.”

Protocol guardians (data trusts) do not store data. They verify requests, stamp passports, maintain audit trails. Like immigration officers verify travellers but do not store their details.

This is the best way to navigate Centre vs State vs local government data jurisdictions without changing the defined or designed dynamics of those relationships. Helpful to navigate between departments and regulators and other bodies as well.

Invisible architecture

But protocols alone are not enough. Infrastructure is useless if the people interacting with it cannot understand what they are seeing.

Every technological revolution produces two types of infrastructure. First comes the visible: The fibre-optic cables, server farms. Then comes the invisible: The shared mental models that allow a society to govern the new power it has created.

Citizens need to know that every automated rejection should come with a decision packet and that systems refusing to explain themselves are defective.

Bureaucrats need to understand that when a vendor promises 99 per cent accuracy, the question is: “What was your reversal rate in pilots?” Journalists need to learn to read algorithmic dashboards the way financial reporters read balance sheets.

Most critically, we must teach the next generation algorithmic civics. Not just coding, but also auditing the systems that govern their lives.

Imagine a civics class where students not just read about the Constitution but actively audit a local scholarship algorithm or housing waitlist. They ask: “Who collected this data? Whose voices are missing? Where does optimisation hide bias?”

India’s advantage

We built the world’s largest identity layer. We built the world’s largest payments layer… without creating surveillance infrastructure.

The question is whether we recognise AI governance as the same category of challenge. Whether we build authorisation, accountability and knowledge infrastructure, not eventually but now, while the choices are still being made… whether we will spend the 2030s governing algorithmic power or being governed by it?

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Published on February 23, 2026

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CMFRI achieves captive breeding of threatened mangrove clam

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 9, 2026 | Science

In its efforts towards reviving declining bivalve resources, the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has successfully achieved captive breeding of the mangrove clam (Geloina erosa). The scientific breakthrough opens up new possibilities for community-managed estuarine aquaculture integrated with mangrove conservation, offering a sustainable pathway for restoring this threatened species.

Mangrove clams, commonly known as mud clams, are an ecologically and economically important but rapidly dwindling resource in estuarine and mangrove ecosystems across South and Southeast Asia. Despite the sharp decline in natural stocks, the species continues to be a prized local delicacy in several parts of the country, particularly in northern Kerala. Locally referred to as Kandal Kakka, the clam inhabits organic-rich muddy substrates in intertidal mangrove zones.

Scientists from CMFRI’s Mariculture Division successfully induced spawning of the mangrove clam and completed its full embryonic and larval development under controlled hatchery conditions. Successful spat settlement was recorded from the 18th day after spawning, marking a crucial milestone in the species’ life-cycle completion in captivity.

The breakthrough marks one of the very few documented instances globally of induced breeding, larval rearing and spat production of the mangrove clam. The scientists are now working to standardize larval rearing and nursery management protocols to enhance survival rates and enable large-scale seed production.

CMFRI scientists said that the development of hatchery technology and grow-out farming in suitable estuarine systems could pave the way for low-input farming. According to them, the stock of this resource can be sustainably enhanced through ranching of hatchery-produced seeds in critical mangrove ecosystems, thereby supporting the clam restoration and mangrove conservation.

This achievement is expected to open new avenues for sustainable livelihoods and nutritional security of mangrove-dependent communities, particularly in coastal regions of Kerala. Farming activities using hatchery produced seeds will help restore depleted natural stocks, reduce pressure on wild populations and strengthen livelihood opportunities for coastal communities.

In India, particularly along the east coast and in island regions, wild stocks have been steadily declining due to indiscriminate harvesting, habitat degradation, pollution and coastal development. The absence of scientific stock assessments, size limits and seasonal fishing restrictions has further aggravated the depletion, with noticeable reductions in both abundance and shell size.

One of the largest mud clams in the world, reaching shell widths of up to 10 cm, it plays a crucial ecological role by recycling nutrients and stabilizing sediments, while also supporting the food security and livelihoods of mangrove-dependent communities.

e.o.m.

Published on February 9, 2026

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10 years on, NALCO yet to start gallium extraction project

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 8, 2026 | Science

It was back in 2016 that the public sector aluminium manufacturer, NALCO, signed a memorandum of understanding with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for technology used to extract gallium, a useful rare metal, from Bayer (sodium aluminate) liquor, which is produced during alumina refining.

“Extraction of gallium from Bayer liquor will be NALCO’s first R&D project with BARC, with an objective to develop indigenous technology for this strategic metal, in national interest,” Tapan Kumar Chand, chairman of NALCO, had said in a 2016 press release. Bayer liquor typically contains some gallium.

Ten years down the line, nothing has happened. In a recent report on NALCO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said the company told analysts that “a pilot plant is being set up to evaluate technical and commercial feasibility”.

Gallium is an important metal — “strategic”, as Chand said.

Emerging role

It has a major emerging role in semiconductors, as a superior alternative to silicon, because of which it also has a significant role in defence. Gallium nitride-based silicon chips can be 95 per cent smaller than silicon chips of the same functionality. For example, a 1,200 V device working on 30 amp current would be 30 sq mm with silicon; with gallium nitride (GaN), it would be just 2 sq mm. GaN chips also enable radars to “see” farther, as they can send more powerful signals. Since GaN can handle higher voltages and currents, it can transmit and receive stronger pulses — which means the radar’s signal travels farther into space to detect more distant targets.

NALCO is uniquely positioned to produce this critical metal for India, because the bauxite ore from Odisha that the company mines for aluminium production contains higher concentrations of gallium.

NALCO has not replied to businessline’s queries, despite repeated requests — so we do not have the details.

However, it is learnt that bauxite could hold 30-80 ppm of gallium. At a conservative estimate, about 20 tonnes of gallium production per year is not infeasible.

According to the website Strategic Metals Invest, the price of gallium has been rising year after year, from $274 a kg in January 2018 to $2,101 a kg today.

At a production rate of 20 tonnes a year, this translates into a revenue of about ₹400 crore. This is not much for a company whose turnover was ₹16,787 crore in 2024-25, but the production of gallium in India is of national “strategic” importance.