Agroclimate

Background: Urban malaria is considered to be one of the most significant infectious diseases due to varied socioeconomic problems especially in tropical countries like India. Among the south Indian cities, Chennai is endemic for malaria. The present study aimed to identify the hot spots of malaria prevalence and the relationship with other factors in Chennai during 2005-2011. Methods: Data on zone-wise and ward-wise monthly malaria positive cases were collected from the Vector Control Office, Chennai Corporation, for the year 2005 to 2011 and verified using field data. This data was used to calculate the prevalence among thousand people. Hotspot analysis for all the years in the study period was done to observe the spatial trend. Association of environmental factors like altitude, population density and climatic variables was assessed using ArcGIS 9.3 version and SPSS 11.5. Pearson's correlation of climate parameters at 95% and 99% was considered to be the most significant. Social parameters of the highly malaria prone region were evaluated through a structured random questionnaire field survey. Results: Among the ten zones of Chennai Corporation, Basin Bridge zone showed high malaria prevalence during the study period. The 'hotspot' analysis of malaria prevalence showed the emergence of newer hotspots in the Adyar zone. These hotspots of high prevalence are places of moderately populated and moderately elevated areas. The prevalence of malaria in Chennai could be due to rainfall and temperature, as there is a significant correlation with monthly rainfall and one month lag of monthly mean temperature. Further it has been observed that the socioeconomic status of people in the malaria hotspot regions and unhygienic living conditions were likely to aggravate the malaria problem. Conclusion: Malaria hotspots will be the best method to use for targeting malaria control activities. Proper awareness and periodical monitoring of malaria is one of the quintessential steps to control this infectious disease. It has been argued that identifying the key environmental conditions favourable for the occurrence and spread of malaria must be integrated and documented to aid future predictions of malaria in Chennai.

Weather and climatic parameters and their impact on farming plants are one of the foremost effective factors on improvement of crop yield. The potential facilities of various regions may be determined with agroclimatic study and exploit maximally from these facilities. In order to evaluate agroclimate of Canola cultivation throughout the selected substations at Kermanshah province in this current investigation, the statistics data related to daily temperatures within a 10- year statistical period were employed. Deviation from Optimum Percentage (DOP) technique, Growing Degree Day (Active Day Temperature), and thermal gradient methods have been adapted for computation and agroclimatic analysis. The results of this study indicate that the optimal date for cultivation of autumnal Canola in high and cold- weather lands (Kermanshah and Eslamabad West) is the end of October. Temperature gradient analysis and DOP technique in various heights at the studied region may show that there is one month postponement in deviation from the optimum conditions for optimal cultivation per 100m increase in height of given region. This point is important in terms of date of cultivation and production of commercial product. According to the acquired farming calendar, end of October is the most appropriate time for autumnal cultivation in this area and thus date of harvest will be the end of August.