Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Studies on genetic variability, correlation and path analysis in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under protected conditions
Get PDFTwenty-eight genotypes of lettuce including check cultivars viz., Simpson Black Seeded and Great Lakes were grown in a RCBD with three replications during Rabi 2011-12 and 2012-13 at Vegetable Experimental Research Farm, Nauni, Solan H.P. to estimate the parameters of genetic variability, correlation and path analysis undernaturally ventilated polyhouse. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among genotypes for all the characters under study. Variability revealed that phenotypic co-efficient of variation (PCV) in general were higher than the corresponding genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters. High co-efficient of variability were found for heading percentage (37.00% and 36.01%), incidence of sclerotinia rot (63.49% and 61.475%), gray mould (90.13% and 88.08%) and yield per plot (39.55% and 33.09%) indicated wider range of variation and offer better scope for improvement through selection. High heritability estimates coupled with moderate genetic gain were observed for yield and other horticultural traits. Correlation study indicated that yield per plot was positively correlated with gross and net head weight, seed germination, seed vigour index-I & II, 1000-seeds weight and also showed maximum direct effects towards yield per plot. The path co-efficient analysis revealed that net head weight has maximum positive direct effect on yield per plot followed by gross head weight, days to marketable maturity, seed germination, 1000-seeds weight, head shape index and incidence of sclerotinia rot. While, negative direct effect of number of non-wrapper leaves and incidence of gray mould was observed on yield. The new multicoloured cultivars indigenous and exotic mostly procured from CGN, Netherlands , identified for commercial cultivation under protected conditions in the mid hills of North Western Himalayas, may act as a substitute to the old cultivars with good quality and higher yielding potential
Prediction of agroforestry adoption among farming communities of Kashmir valley, India: A logistic regression approach
Get PDFThe study investigated the socioeconomic and psychological variables that influence the agroforestry adoption in farming communities of Kashmir. The data were collected from 142 households of 5 villages selected in Baramulla and Kupwara districts utilizing multi-stage random sampling. The results revealed that regarding agroforestry adoption majority (52.11%) of the respondents belonged to medium category followed by low (27.47%) and high (20.42%) categories. The socioeconomic variables specified that the rural people are in underprivileged condition while they are in prosperous condition regarding psychological variables. The correlation analysis (r) indicated that among explanatory variables, education, social participation, family composition, size of land holding, main occupation, housing status, farm power, farm implements, livestock possession, wealth status, gross annual income, knowledge about agrforestry, attitude towards agroforestry and level of aspiration had shown positively significant correlation with the agroforestry adoption, while, the age had a non-significant correlation. All the explanatory variables jointly accounted 90.80 % (R2= 0.908) variation on the agroforestry adoption and among these, nine variables viz., education, size of land holding, main occupation, farm power, livestock possession, wealth status, knowledge about agrforestry, attitude towards agroforestry and level of aspiration were statistically significant (p < 0.05) in influencing the agroforestry adoption. The study recommends that recognition and exploitation of explanatory variables that predict agroforestry adoption, needs due consideration among policy makers, researchers and extension providers as prominent strategy for agroforestry promotion and development
Identification of insect community inhabiting Kaas plateau, Western ghats through cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene
Get PDFKaas Plateau is located in Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. The region is one of its kinds being a biodiversity hot spot declared by UNESCO representing rich biodiversity of Western Ghats in India. However, insect biodiversity of this region has not been studied in detail so far. Thus, the present study was aimed at identification of insect community based on mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (MT-CO1), for quick and reliable identification. During a collection trip, several insect specimens were collected, which belonged to seven insect orders, viz., Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Orthoptera and Thysanoptera. Based on their morphological characteristics, specimens collected were delineated in to various orders and families. This resulted in determination of possible 15 different insect species, of which 7 could be identified up to species level. Remaining 8 sequences were matched with existing GenBank database that was > 96%, therefore, were considered as putative species. One specimen could be identified up to genus level, viz., Cicindela sp. and one up to family level - Pentatomidae and six up to order level only, i.e., Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera and Thysanoptera (2 specimens). The results suggested that 50% of the community could be identified to species level with MT-CO1 gene and at least about 8 specimens could possibly be new species for India. The insects thus collected from Kaas plateau were molecularly identified and at least 50% of collections were delineated to species level on the basis of their DNA barcodes for the first time
Effect of different planting geometry and herbicides for controlling the weeds in direct seeded rice
Get PDFThe efficacy of selected herbicides along with the planting geometry for weed control in direct seeded rice was evaluated under tropical conditions of Pantnagar during rainy season of 2013. Pendimethalin (1kg active ingredient (a.i.) ha-1 3 days after sowing) + bispyribac-Na (25g a.i. ha-1 28 days after sowing) + one hand weeding at 45 days after sowing and bispyribac-Na (25g a. i. ha-1 28 days after sowing) + one hand weeding at 45days after sowing had a mean grain yield of 47.95 and 37.68 while continuous drilling at 20cm and 20 x 10cm had a mean grain yield 34.72 and 34.14 qha-1 , respectively which is significantly superior than wider (25 x 25cm) spacing. Wider spacing (25 x 25cm) among planting geometry and weedy check among the weed control treatments resulted in higher uptake of nitrogen. Among the spacing, continuous drilling at 20cm and Pendimethalin (1kg a.i. ha-1) + bispyribac- Na (25g a.i. ha-1) + one hand weeding at 45 days after sowing among weed control practices proved most profitable with net returns of ` 40576 ha-1 and ` 40633 ha-1 and benefit:cost ratio of 1.7 and 1.8, respectively. It was revealed that all the weed control treatments were superior to weedy conditions
Phosphate solubilizing activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens PSM1 isolated from wheat rhizosphere
Get PDFA study was designed to screen and analyze the efficient phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSBs) from wheat rhizosphere. Five biovars of Pseudomonas fluorescens (PSM1, PSM2, PSM3, PSM4 and PSM5) were isolated from wheat rhizosphere and Bacillus megaterium MTCC 8755 procured from microbial type culture collection (MTCC) Chandigarh, India. The P. fluorescens biovar PSM1 was observed to be most efficient phosphate solubilizer. Inoculation of P. fluorescens PSM1 and B. megaterium MTCC 8755, alone and in combination, caused the highest phosphate solubilization at pH 5. At this pH, maximum phosphate solubilization was observed with B. megaterium MTCC 8755 inoculation (8.2 mg mL-1) on sixth day of incubation with P. fluorescens PSM1 (8 mg mL-1) on seventh day of incubation and with dual bacterial treatment (10.5 mg mL-1) on the fourth day of incubation. A correlation coefficient of linear regression equation of phosphate solubilization with pH indicated that pH value of the medium was directly correlated with tricalcium phosphate solubilization. The study will help in choosing soil pH specific PSB inoculant for optimizing plant growth
Effect of climate change in Meghalaya as perceived by the scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Meghalaya, India
Get PDFA study was conducted to assess the adverse effect of climate change as perceived by the scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra,Megahlaya. Data were collected from 25 scientists by questionnaire method in the month of October,2012 to January,2013. For this purpose five important components viz. Environment, Hill agriculture and allied, Human and animal health, Forest and wildlife and Hydrology and water resources were identified and presented to the scientists in pairs, in 10 possible combinations, and the scientists were requested to select one component from each pair separately which would be more adversely affected, than the other component due to climate change. For analysis of data the method of Paired Comparisons was followed.It was found that due to climate change Hill agriculture and allied may be severely damaged with highest scale value of 1.513 followed by hydrology and water resources(0.629),environment(0.418),forest and wildlife(0.029) and least affected component is Human and animal health(0.00).The findings revealed that Hill agriculture will be most adversely affected due to climate change in Meghalaya.One of the main reason is practising of jhum cultivation. Therefore,the scientists and the government of Meghalaya may adopt some necessary steps for controlling jhum cultivatio
Estimation of wheat crop evapotranspiration using NDVI vegetation index
Get PDFThe evapotranspiration of the wheat crop grown in Tarafeni South Main Canal (TSMC) irrigation command area of West Bengal, India was estimated based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from LANDSAT images. The crop evapotranspiration (ETc) of wheat crop was estimated using the crop coefficient (Kc) maps and the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) in the TSMC irrigation command area. The ETo was estimated from the well known temperature based ETo estimation method, i.e. FAO-24 modified Blaney-Criddle method using measured maximum and minimum air temperatures data during January 2011 in the command area. The Kc maps were mapped in ARC GIS software using procured LANDSAT images for the study period. The area under wheat crop was clipped from land use/land cover map generated from LANDSAT image of January, 2011 for winter season. Further, the crop evapotranspiration map was obtained by multiplying Kc map with the estimated ETo value i.e., 5.76 mm/day for a particular day. The maximum crop evapotranspiration computed for Rabi crop was 5.57 mm/ day, whereas minimum was 1.59 mm/day for the TSMC command area
Growth and yield of summer groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) as influenced by foliar application of water soluble fertilizer
Get PDFThe field experiment was undertaken at the District Seed Farm, Kalyani at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal during summer season of 2012 and 2013 to study the growth and yield of summer groundnut as influenced by application of water soluble foliar grade fertilizer. Application of liquid grade fertilizerat early growth stage up to 45 DAE did not influence the plant height and dry matter production significantly, but towards maturity varied significantly (P ? 0.05). Crop growth rate was faster at early part of the crop age and gradually slows at later part towards maturity. Foliar application of water soluble fertilizer along with RDF 85% had the significant (P ? 0.05) influence to increase the number of pods per plant, but shelling percentage and hundred kernel weight did not vary significantly. Liquid grade fertilizer either starter dose or booster dose or in both had the positive response to increased the groundnut pod yield up to 4-6 % over RDF only. The crop was equally responsive in increasing the pod yield, when RDF was reduced by 15% along with foliar application of liquid grade fertilizer. The foliar application of water soluble fertilizer was not the substitute to soil applied inorganic fertilizer. Instead, foliar supplementation of nutrients showed positive response to increase the pod yield, in addition to the fertilizers added to soil. Gross return decreased with reduction in amount of RDF applied for the crop, but gross return increased, when water soluble foliar grade inorganic fertilizer was supplemented with RDF. The maximum gross return of `150399 was obtained. The results obtained from correlation analysis carried out to examine the linear relationship between pod yields with different plant characters. Data obtained in case of dry matter of the plant was 0.995 and 0.997 in the respective years at 1% level of significance. Thus, it was concluded that dry matter content of plant is solely responsible over the yield increase in groundnut and foliar application of inorganic fertilizers in addition to that in soil has helped in better adsorption of nutrients in adequate amount by the crop
Evaluation of fungal pathogens, Fusarium semitectum Berk. and Ravenel and Hirsutella thompsonii Fisher against red spider mite, Tetranychus neocaledoni-cus (Andre) of okra under laboratory and greenhouse conditions
Get PDFEfficacy of fungal pathogens, Fusarium semitectum Berk. and Ravenel and Hirsutella thompsonii Fisher was evaluated against red spider mite, Tetranychus neocaledonicus (Andre) of okra under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Among the treatments evaluated under laboratory conditions, the highest mortality of 78.20 and 88.34 percent adults and immatures, respectively was recorded at 2.10 x 109 spores per ml of F. semitectum, whereas it was 82.05 and 92.31 per cent adults and immatures, respectively in case of H. thompsonii at 4.60 x 108 spores per ml. Among the twelve treatments evaluated under greenhouse conditions, H. thompsonii 4.60 x 108 spores per ml, F. semitectum 2.10 x 109 spores per ml + H. thompsonii 4.60 x 108 spores per ml, H. thompsonii 4.60 x 108 spores per ml + dicofol 0.025% and F. semitectum 2.10 x 109 spores per ml + H. thompsonii 4.60 x 108 spores per ml + dicofol 0.025% were found to be on par with each other with a cumulative percent mortality of 81.20, 81.48, 81.21 and 82.59 percent, respectively. By testing the field efficacy of F. semitectum and H. thompsonii against T. neocaledonicus, these fungal pathogens can be used as potential biocontrol agents for the sustainable management of mites on okra. Hence the present study evaluates the potentiality of F. semitectum for the management of T. neocaledonicus by comparing with the well-known acaricidal fungus, H. thompsonii
Symbiotic characters, thermal requirement, growth, yield and economics of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) genotypes sown at different dates under Punjab conditions
Get PDFA field experiment was conducted during kharif (rainy season) 2008 and 2009 at research farm of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to study the effect of four/three sowing dates (1 May, 15 May, 1 June and 15 June in 2008 and 15 May, 1 June and 15 June in 2009) on the symbiotic characters, thermal requirement, growth, productivity and economics of four pigeonpea genotypes (AL 201, AL 1507, AL 1578 and AL 1593). Days taken to 50% flowering, physiological maturity, and various agroclimatic indices i.e. AGDD, AHTU, APTU and HUE decreased with delay in sowing. The crop sown on 15 May recorded the highest nodule dry weight plant -1. The grain yield was significantly higher for the 15 May sowing compared to the 15 June sowing. During the two years, the crop sown on 15 May registered on average 6.7 and 48.0 percent higher grain yield than the1 June and 15 June sowings, respectively. The crop sown on 15 May gave the maximum gross returns, net returns and benefit-cost (B:C) ratio. Among the genotypes, AL 1507 recorded the highest nodule number plant-1 and AL 1578 recorded the maximum nodule dry weight plant-1.Genotypes AL 1507, AL 1578 and AL 1593 registered on average 19.4, 19.2 and 20.0 percent higher grain yield relative to AL 201, respectively. The genotype AL 1507 in 2008 and AL 1593 in 2009 performed better in terms of heat use efficiency for grain yield