International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology

181-198

Authors: Bishal Bista

Rice (Oryza sativaL.) is a major staple food crop that feeds around 60% of the world’s population. It is a major food crop in terms of production, economy and is grown in all ecological zones of Nepal. In Nepal, traditional method of rice cultivation is widely accepted in which 20-25 days old seedlings are transplanted in the puddled field. Looming water scarcity, water-intensive traditional method of rice cultivation, escalating labour costs pressurize the development of alternative which is highly sustainable and profitable. Direct-seeded rice (DSR) offers a very good opportunity that can cope up the global need and reduces the water use to 50%, labour cost to 60% and increases productivity by 5-10%. It involves sowing of pre-germinated seeds into wet soil surface (wet seeding), dry soil surface (dry seeding) and standing water (water seeding). Weeds are the major constraint in direct-seeded rice (DSR) reducing the crop yield upto 90% and sometimes even crop failure. Enhanced nutrient use efficiency and integrated weed management can produce comparable yields to that of transplanted rice (TPR) encouraging many farmers to switch to DSR. Methane gas emission is significantly lower in DSR than in conventionally tilled puddled transplanted rice mitigating the world’s threat of global warming. Blast disease and root-knot nematode (RKN) are other important problems associated with DSR. Based on the evidences collected, the article reviews integrated package of cultivation technologies associated with DSR, advantages, constraints and likeliness of DSR to be the future of rice cultivation in Nepal.

207-214

Authors: Roshan Dhakal, Ritesh Kumar Jha, Rita khadka, Roshan Koirala, Rojina Neupane

This research is a study to examine whether a “feminization of agriculture” has occurred in the study area through the household survey of the local farming system and the gendered division of agricultural labour and managerial responsibilities at Madi, Chitwan in 2018. According to the household survey (n=60), a strong gendered division of agricultural works exist in this area, thus men and women have clear responsibilities and restrictions. In activities like ploughing, irrigating, threshing and applying chemical fertilizer, men are mostly participated whereas in the most of the other activities like weeding, sowing, collecting firewood, collecting fodder, hoeing, manuring, milking, female are mostly involved. Average of about 208 rupees is paid higher to men than female in some agriculture works. Through the use of various fieldwork methods, it was observed that that women in some cases have to take on tasks that are generally considered “men’s work”. Although women are in charge of various managerial decisions related to the agricultural production, any major decisions are still controlled by men. The real influence of women as decision makers can therefore be questioned. The effects of different factors like caste, education and training has been analyzed which showed that with the increase of education and training, feminization in decision making role is increased. But if women get more work and just involved in the feminization of labour and no influence in decision-making processes the “feminization of agriculture” will be just a female exploitation not a feminization.

220-226

Authors: Lila Bahadur Magar, Saraswoti Khadka, Jay Raj Raj Joshi, Uttam Pokharel, Nabin Rana, Puspa Thapa, Kishan Raj Sharma Raj Sharma, Uddav Khadka, Bishnu Prasad Marasini, Niranjan Parajuli

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has risen continuously in atmosphere due to human induced activities, and has been considered the predominant cause of global climate change. Paulowina tomentosa Steud. (P. tomentosa), a multipurpose tree is popular around global market for its timber and its potential role in CO2 sequestration. In this study, the total biomass carbon of five years old and newly planted P. tomentosa has been estimated. The results indicated that the average total biomass carbon of five years old plant was found to be 4.52±0.53Kg C Year-1 per tree i.e. 9.04±1.06-ton C ha-1 Year-1 (assuming 2000 plants per hector). Likewise, the average total biomass carbon of newly planted P. tomentosa within 4 months was found to be 6.07±0.38 Kg in remote village area in Nepal. The estimated biomass carbon in one year of newly planted plants was found to be 18.21±1.14 Kg Year-1 i.e. 0.36-ton C ha-1 Year-1. These findings reveled that short rotational trees like P. tomentosa can be implemented in agroforestry system to reduce the green house emission in cities and emphasizes the carbon storage potential of agroforestry. In vitro micro propagation technique could be implemented to produce genetically uniform clone of P. tomentosa and can be applied in agroforestry system for the adaptation and to mitigate global climate change.

232-237

Authors: Sudikshya Shrestha, L.P. Amgain, R. Subedi, P. Shrestha, S. Shahi

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) being the most important staple crop of Nepal its production and productivity is significantly reduced by old-aged seedling transplantation and imbalanced nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium application. A field experiment was conducted at Sundarbazar, Lamjung to evaluate the performance of 38 days old US-312 hybrid rice seedling under fully rain-fed condition with six precision nutrient management practices [Nutrient Expert® -Rice (NE) recommendation, Farmers Fertilizer Practices (FFP); Government Recommendation (GR); Leaf Color Chart (LCC) N and FFP (P & K); NE (N) and FFP (P & K); and LCC (N) and NE (P & K) replicated four times in RCBD design during July to December, 2017. The statistical results showed that there was a significant difference between the treatments in terms of plant height( 105.38cm),leaf area index(4.26), crop growth rate (3.55),effective tillers m-2(374.25), tiller panicle conversion index (94.93%), panicle length (25.31cm), panicle weight (4.25g), fertility (82.35%), yield at 14% moisture (5.79t/ha), straw yield (7.96t/ha), net and gross revenues (Rs122503.1 and Rs272337/ha), B:C ratio (1.81), partial factor productivity(0.958) and total factor productivity (0.091).The grain yield increased by 37.62% in NE-Rice recommendation over the FFP, more than the NE estimated attainable yields (5.5t/ha) that signified further validation of Nutrient Expert –Rice Model under the mid-hill agro-ecological region of central Nepal.

244-251

Authors: G.M. Gberikon, I.I. Adeoti, I.O. Ogbonna

Bacteriological profiles of surface water samples treated with solar radiation, Moringa oleifera powder and water guard was carried out to ascertain their effectiveness in water treatment. Bacterial loads of the surface water collected from Umur and Bele streams in Gwer East Local Government area samples were determined before and after treatments and characterised using biochemical and molecular methods. Single and synergistic effects of these treatments on water quality were also examined. Bacteriological analysis showed that Umur stream had the highest bacterial loads of 4.47 x 103 cfu/mL while Bele had the lowest counts. There was significant reduction in the mean viable counts recorded for all the water samples (p ˂ 0.05). In the daily bacteria counts, the control water samples gave extremes values. There were no bacteria count recorded following combine treatment in water samples from Bele stream on the fifth day. Molecular analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed bacterial strains to be phylogenetically close to bacterial strains which are capable of causing infectious diseases to man. Normal pH values were recorded in Umur stream while low pH values were recorded in Bele streams. Treatment impacted significantly on the pH of the water samples from Umur stream (p ˂ 0.05) while no significant difference was observed with water samples from Bele stream (p > 0.05). Treatment impacted significantly on turbidity in water sample from Umur stream (p ˂ 0.05). Sulphate was found to be within the permissible limit except for water sample from Bele stream which gave mean values within the range of 51.00 to 68.00 mg/L. Treatments impacted no significant difference on sulphate (p > 0.05). Surface water in these rural areas should be thoroughly treated before use.

255-260

Authors: R.K. Chaudahary, A. Devkota

The aim of this research was to analyze physical and chemical characteristics of low altitude lake of Jagadishpur Reservoir, a Ramsar site in central Nepal lies about 197 m altitude. The reservoir water was studied for three seasons (rainy, winter and summer) to compare the changes in the parameters. Water quality in reservoir was found less favorable to aquatic organisms, with low pH and transparency, low dissolved oxygen (DO), and high nutrient concentrations (Nitrogen). The reservoir was found eutrophic in nature by nitrogen concentration and transparency criteria. The findings created a database for present status of low land water reservoir of Nepal, which can be used for the management of lakes as well as to study the impact on water quality.This study provided useful information for decision makers aimed to the conservation and sustainable management of the reservoir.

265-269

Authors: Sunil Kumar Chaudhary, Santosh Marahatta, Manisha Chaudhary

The research was conducted to study the comparison of farmers’ weed management practice in rice with chemical control and Sesbania co-culture. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and five different weed management practices. The five treatments were Farmers’ practice (two hand weeding first at 28 DAS and another at 40 DAS), Chemical practice (Bispyribac sodium as post emergence @ 25 g a.i. ha-1 at 25 DAS), Sesbania co-culture (100 kg Sesbania ha-1 and knocking down at 28 DAS), Weed free (Hand removal of weeds at 10 days’ interval) and Weedy check (No weed management). The individual plot size was 5 x 4 m2. The Sesbania co-culture and farmers’ practice were found more or less similar performance for all observed parameters but as better as compared to weedy check and chemical treatment. Sesbania co-culture was found less costly than farmers’ practice for weed management. The experiment clearly demonstrated the importance of brown manuring on effective control of weeds in rice field under dry direct seeded rice.

274-278

Authors: Sunil K. Yadav, Renuka Pathak, Rekha K. Singh, Ram Vinod Mahato

The objective of this study is correlation of body mass index with waist circumference, random blood sugar and dietary pattern to predict diabetes in university boys (18-25years). A study of random blood glucose, waist circumference and body mass index of 50 subject’s age (18-25years) was carried out. The nutritional dietary pattern of the subjects using the 24 hours dietary recall techniques was done Data was collected with a structured questionnaire. Subjects were measured for waist circumference and weight and height determent for BMI. Estimation of random blood glucose with the help of ACCU- CHECK indicated that all the boys had normal level. Subjects consisted of 50 university boys, the mean participant’s average weight is 68.21±9.31kg, average height is 173.76±7.43cm and average BMI 22.50±2.23kg/m2. Normal BMI (18.5-22.9kg/m2) was found in (48%), underweight (2%), overweight (34%) and obese (16%) of the subject studied. The mean waist circumference of participants is 85.16±6.38cm. The abnormal waist circumference (WC) was observed in 28% (n=14) and normal waist circumference is 72% (n=36) of the subject studied. The mean random blood sugar is 122.88±9.51mg/dl. The random of the subject blood sugar method is 100% normal. The nutrition intake of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates is there mean of participants is average of energy 1786.41±335.17kcal, protein 62.70±17.4gm, fat 47.18±14.00gm and carbohydrates 256.37±59.38gm. There was a statistically positive correlation between waist circumference, body mass index and random blood sugar . Therefore, waist circumference, non-invasive techniques has a good correlation with BMI and therefore abdominal obesity is a predictor of diabetes.