October 2013
Farming in the West African Sudan Savanna: Insights in the context of climate change
Farming is the main livelihood activity in semi-arid rural West Africa, involving the largest portion of the population, contributing significantly to the regional economy and intimately intertwined with current environmental problems. Key vulnerabilities of the Sudan Savanna include its ecological fragility, institutional weakness, high levels of poverty and food insecurity, and political and economic instability, now...
October 2013
Myth and mystery of soil mycorrhiza: A review
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are soil borne fungi forming symbiotic relationship with majority of higher plants providing a direct link between soil and plant roots. AM fungi undergo a multi-step colonization process before benefiting the host plant. The strong glue glomalin is a glyco protein produced by an AM fungi. The deposition of glomalin on soil particles leads to buildup and stabilization of aggregates,...
October 2013
Combining ability and gene action studies for horticultural traits in garden pea: A review
Identification of genetically superior parents is an important prerequisite in garden pea for the development of elite strains. The combining ability analysis has been the most important and efficient tool in choosing the desirable parents for hybridization programmes. The attraction of combining ability is that this provides an empirical summary of complex observations and a reasonable basis for forecasting the...
October 2013
Biochar-boon to soil health and crop production
Soil health is defined as the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem and land use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health. Primary functions of soil include sustaining biological productivity, regulating water flow, storing and cycling of nutrients, filtering, buffering, and transforming organic and inorganic materials. The decrease in...
October 2013
Prediction of population development of melon fruit fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae Coq.) on pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.)
Study on melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coq. was taken up during 2007 to 2008, 2008 to 2009 and 2009 to 2010 at Central Research Farm, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India on pointed gourd. To forewarn the fruit fly population, the data of first two years were used for the formation of predictive equation and that of last year were used for validation purpose. The maggot population was found to...
October 2013
Screening Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss)] germplasm for seedling thermo-tolerance using a new screening protocol
An experiment was conducted to study the genetic variability for seedling thermo-tolerance in the Indian mustard germplasm. 165 genotypes of Indian mustard were sown in two seasons (2011 and 2012) in the early conditions when the soil temperature is in the range of 40 to 42°C. The same set of genotypes were screened in the controlled growth chamber using a screening protocol that simulates the temperature...
October 2013
Effect of integrated nitrogen management with vermiwash in corn (Zea mays L.) on growth and yield
This study was undertaken at instructional Farm, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, India (20.95°N 72.93°E, elevation of 10 m above sea level) during winter season of 2010 to work out nitrogen (N) management through organic and inorganic sources to increase corn yields and its components with resilient performance under irrigated conditions. The nitrogen treatments tested were 100% N through chemical...
October 2013
Adoption and impacts of an irrigation technology: Evidence from household level data in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia
The occurrence of frequent droughts due to low and erratic rainfall poses high uncertainty and agricultural production risks leading to wide spread poverty and food insecurity. Hence, for agricultural intensification, water is an entry point implying that irrigation development especially small holder irrigation and adoption of water saving technologies is very important. This paper aims at indentifying factors that...
October 2013
Correlation studies in fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)
The present investigation was undertaken during the years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 at Vegetable Farm, JNKVV, Jabalpur (M.P.). The experimental material involved one hundred and two accessions of fenugreek collected from different fenugreek growing regions of India. The pooled results illustrated that seed yield plant-1had highly significant and positive association with days to 50% flowering (0.388), days to 75% maturity...
October 2013
Enhancing early blooming and flower quality of tulip (Tulipa gesneriana Linn.) through application of plant growth regulators
A study was carried out to investigate the effect of plant growth regulators on growth and flowering of tulip using two cultivars viz, Apeldoorn and Golden Oxford. The bulbs were given dip treatment in three different growth regulator solutions viz., indole acetic acid at 750, 500, and 250 ppm; 2-choloroethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride at 750, 500 and 250 ppm; 2,3,5 triiodobenzoic acid at 200, 150 and 100 ppm) along...
October 2013
Fluorescent Pseudomonads mediated disease management of Macrophomina phaseolina inciting Coleus forskohlii (Briq.), a root rot pathogen
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial (PGPR) strains were tested for their efficacy against the Coleus root rot pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina under in vitro, glasshouse and field conditions. Among the thirty isolates ofP. fluorescens screened under in vitro condition, six isolates viz., Pf1, FP 7, COTP-20, COGP-30, TDK-1 and AH-1 were effective in reducing mycelial growth of the...
October 2013
Sulfoximine: A novel insecticide for management of rice brown planthopper in India
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are soil borne fungi forming symbiotic relationship with majority of higher plants providing a direct link between soil and plant roots. AM fungi undergo a multi-step colonization process before benefiting the host plant. The strong glue glomalin is a glyco protein produced by an AM fungi. The deposition of glomalin on soil particles leads to buildup and...
October 2013
Isolation and identification of Mycogone perniciosa, causing wet bubble disease in Agaricus bisporus cultivation in Kashmir
Button mushroom is an important edible fungus cultivated in Kashmir, but it is often attacked by disease causing organisms, including fungi, bacteria and viruses. Some of them cause huge losses by reducing the yield significantly or result in serious crop failures, depending upon the severity and stage of appearance. One of the mycoparasite, Mycogone perniciosa, the cause of wet bubble disease, was observed in...
October 2013
Litter production and nutrient cycling in two plantations and a Podocarpus falcatus dominated natural forest ecosystems in south-eastern highlands of Ethiopia
The production of litter plays a fundamental role in the biogeochemical cycle of organic matter and mineral nutrients in forest ecosystems. The amount of litter produced and nutrients returned, and their accumulation in the organic layers of Eucalyptus globulus and Cupressus lusitanica plantations, and an adjacent Podocarpus falcatus dominated natural forest were monitored over a one year...
October 2013
Response of dry bean to pendimethalin applied preplant incorporated or preemergence
There is little information on the tolerance of dry bean to pendimethalin applied preplant incorporated (PPI) or preemergence (PRE). Five field studies were conducted over a two-year period (2009 and 2010) in major dry bean growing areas in Ontario, Canada to evaluate tolerance of black, cranberry, kidney, and white bean to the pendimethalin applied PPI or PRE at 1080 and 2160 g ai ha-1. There was minimal injury in...
October 2013
Persistence and decontamination of bifenthrin residues in okra fruits
Residue levels of bifenthrin were determined in unprocessed and processed okra fruits to evaluate the effect of different household processes on reduction of bifenthrin residues. Bifenthrin (commercial formulation) was applied at 25 g a.i. ha-1 (single dose T1) and 50 g a.i. ha-1 (double dose T2) in field. Okra fruits samples were collected on 0, 1, 3, 7, 10, 15 and 30 days and at harvest (60 days...
October 2013
Establishing seed standard for seed health test in groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) for Aspergillus flavus
The relationship of Aspergillus flavus infection on seed quality was studied by artificial inoculation of A. flavuson seeds of groundnut cultivar VRI 2 collected from three major groundnut growing areas of TamilNadu viz., Vridhachalam, Thindivanam, Villupuram. A. flavus spores isolated from groundnut kernels were inoculated with 0, 0.25 and 0.5% infection on seed coat of disease free groundnut...
October 2013
Assessment of functional properties of different flours
The present research was carried out to study the functional properties of different flours, that is, wheat flour, rice flour, green gram flour and potato flour. The functional properties (swelling capacity, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, emulsion activity and stability, foam capacity and stability, least gelation concentration, gelatinization temperature and bulk density) and moisture content of...
October 2013
Genetic parameters and genotype x environment interaction for productivity, oil and protein content in soybean
The objective of this work was to evaluate the interaction between genotypes and environments for productivity and content of protein and oil, as well as to estimate the genetic parameters and genetic variation among 18 genotypes of soybean grown in four environments. The experiments were set up in the 2006/2007 agricultural year in a randomized block design with three repetitions. The content of protein and oil in the...
October 2013
The cultivation of Agaricus bisporus on the spent substrate of Flammulina velutipes
A large amount of spent substrate produced from the commercial culturing of edible mushrooms is becoming an environmental pollution issue. Here spent Flammulina velutipes substrate, supplemented with unfermented cow dung, gypsum, and calcium superphosphate, as the main compost constituent for the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus were tested. Compared to the conventional culturing method using rice...
October 2013
Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates as an inducer of physiological activities of faba bean (Vicia faba)
Plant protection is an important area which needs attention since most of the hazardous inputs added into the agricultural system are in the form of plant protection chemicals. Production of the crop is, however, constrained by fungal plant pathogens infections. The present study was also carried out for estimation of total phenols and flavonoids present in fresh faba bean leaf extract with ethanol....
October 2013
Variability studies for grain quality characters in upland rice (Oryza sativa L.)
To study the variability, 22 promising genotypes along with two checks that is, ‘Parag’ and ‘Avishkar’ were evaluated for grain quality characters. Analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences among the genotypes for grain quality characters like length:breadth ratio, relative density, water absorption, gel consistency, amylose content and protein content. The genotypes...
October 2013
Field evaluation of some insecticides and bio-pesticide against tur pod bug, Clavigralla gibbosa (Spinola) in long duration pigeonpea
The study was carried out to evaluate some insecticides against tur pod bug, Clavigralla gibbosa (Spinola) in long duration pigeonpea during kharif 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 at Agriculture Research Farm, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in percentage population reduction at every observation days. The...
October 2013
Technology adoption studies on different extension methods for enhancing fruit production in District Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir
Fruit cultivation plays a major role in the economic scenario of the Jammu and Kashmir. For sustainable fruit production, it is important to understand the technological needs of farmers and to develop such communication methodology that supports the operational aspects of fruit growers. To fill the gap between technology generation and its dissemination with the latest information tools, the present study was conducted...
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