International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology

153-160

Authors: Bishal Bista, Devashish Bhandari

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the major vegetable crops of Nepal. Potato is grown all over the globe and consumed as either vegetable or staple food depending upon the crop production scenario. It is also an integral part of human diet. Potato is a high nutrient mining crop and needs higher fertilization for economic tuber production. Despite sufficient application of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P2O5), low replenishment and widespread potassium deficiency are limiting the potato production in Nepalese condition. Growth parameters such as plant height, leaf area and chlorophyll% was positively correlated with potassium application. Potassium alleviated stresses of frost and drought and reduced incidence of diseases like late blight, black scurf and hollow heart. Potassium also decreased the reducing sugar content and improved chips color and quality. Similarly, potassium application before harvest was found to increase storage life of potato tubers. Furthermore, potassium application significantly increased the yield of potato tubers and quality parameters such as Vitamin C content and specific gravity. Source of potassium and method of potassium application also affected growth, yield and quality parameters. Soil application of potassium in splits coupled with foliar spay was found to perform better. Optimum dose of potassium was recommended for economic tuber production.

167-173

Authors: Devashish Bhandari, Bishal Bista

Our study primarily focused on permaculture for sustained agriculture. Permaculture can be a best alternative for modern industrial and commercial based agriculture which has given a good yield at present but, it is deteriorating soil quality and other environmental aspects. More ever it can lead to a global threat in the future due to overuse and somewhere due to unutilized resources which may give rise to the food and economic insecurity. By compiling the different literatures, we reviewed that permaculture enriches soil quality by increasing organic matter in soil thus increasing water retention capacity, infiltration, nutrient availability, microbial activities and decreasing the erosion. Thus, it increases physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. It provides food and economic safety by providing diverse crops, increasing yield and income of farm and providing least cost inputs with increasing output. It is an efficient in terms of resource use as it utilizes renewable resources and makes connections like a web among resources. This review can be useful information for students, research topic for permaculturists for making it smoother and other environmental enthusiast.

184-194

Authors: Sapana Ghimire, D.B. Thapa, A. Paudel, N.R. Adhikari

Bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) is third major cereal crop of Nepal where cereal based foods represent the largest proportion of the daily diet. Lack of diverse food habit in the country is resulting micronutrient deficiency. This could be addressed by introducing biofortified bread wheat genotypes. This field research was conducted at Agriculture Botany Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur to study the variability of biofortified bread wheat genotypes for grain zinc, iron, yield, yield attributes and identify high yielding genotypes with high grain zinc and iron concentration. 50 wheat genotypes (47 biofortified, 3 checks) were tested in alpha lattice design with two replications. Data on grain zinc, iron, yield and yield attributes were recorded and analyzed (α=5%). Genotypes differed significantly for the studied traits which provide an opportunity to improve the existing germplasms for targeted traits and environment. Grain yield was correlated positively with effective tiller, plant height, days to maturity, grains per spike and negatively with thousand grain weight. Grain zinc and iron concentration were significantly positively correlated but had positive non-significant relation with grain yield suggesting simultaneous improvement of both micronutrients without compromising grain yield is possible. Effective tiller and peduncle length can be used as selection criteria for high grain yield and micronutrient concentration respectively. Superior genotypes containing higher grain iron, zinc and yield can be used as parent in breeding for developing zinc and iron enriched varieties.

207-216

Authors: Chalinda Koshitha Beneragama, R.M.S.R. Chamara, G.D.K. Kumara, K. Goto

Natural plasticity in overt circadian rhythms can be observed in various animals. Little is known about how this phenomenon help Euglena gracilis adapt to environmental stimuli. We used four groups of strain Z. Two groups were from our laboratory, ZObihiro1 and ZObihiro2; Third group was from the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan (ZNIES-48) and the other was from Osaka Prefecture University (ZOsaka). The latter two were grown photoautotrophically at a light intensity of 84 μmol m-2 s-1 (day-white type lamps) at 25°C with air bubbling, as were ours, for two months prior to experiments. Results showed that ZObihiro2 and ZOsaka grew faster than ZObihiro1 and ZNIES-48. Upon transferring from light to darkness, population growth ceased within 8-10 h with the cell number increase in the dark of 41% in ZObihiro1 and ZObihiro2, 35% in ZOsaka and remarkably low 22% in ZNIES-48. Timing of cell division bursts in the circadian rhythm of cell population growth in 24 h light-dark cycles was the same in all four groups. Magnitudes of the rhythm were different: both ZObihiro1 and ZObihiro2 completely doubled, but ZNIES-48 multiplied by 1.9, and ZOsaka multiplied feebly by 1.7. The photoinduction of commitment to cell division in DD followed a circadian rhythm. All four showed the same peak at subjective dusk, but the amplitudes differed in the order, ZObihiro2 > ZOsaka > ZObihiro1 >> ZNIES-48. The resistance to photosensitization against Rose-Bengal follows a clear circadian rhythm in all substrains except in ZNIES-48. ZObihiro1 and ZOsaka showed the phasing similar to UV resistance rhythm, but ZObihiro2 did not. These results suggest the plasticity of circadian rhythms within a species, if not within a strain. Moreover, it is also apparent that different substrains/ecotypes present within the same Z strain.

222-226

Authors: Sundar Sapkota, Sanjib Sapkota

Rice is an annual plant belongs to family Poaceae. It is the major staple food crop of Nepal and can be grown from plain to mountainous regions of Nepal. The crop varieties differ from each other in terms of production cost, gross return and gross margin. The objective of this study was to analyze benefit cost ratio for production of different rice varieties. The study was carried out in Kapilvastu district of Nepal in 2018. A sample size of 120 respondents were selected randomly. Four different rice varieties: Gorakhnath, Radha-4, Ramdhan, and Sawa were used for the study. The primary data were collected through household survey using interview schedule. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Microsoft Excel. The average cost of production was amounted to NRs. 77,100/ha for all four rice varieties. Sawa variety had the highest gross return (NRs. 1,01,212.5/ha). The benefit cost ratio was observed highest for Sawa (1.312) and lowest for Radha-4 variety (1.005). Sawa is the most economic rice variety in terms of gross and net production in the study area. The findings will help farmers to choose and cultivate rice variety with greater profitability. It is recommended that concerned authorities should give emphasis on subsidies, farmers training and ensuring floor price of rice.

236-242

Authors: Summy Yadav, Vaidehi Shah, Bhavya Mod

The paper aims at evaluating genetic diversity among genomes of chickpea comprising of 5 different varieties with the help of simple sequence repeats (SSR) molecular markers. Genomic DNA isolated from all varieties was checked with 15 different SSR markers specific for ENDPOINT PCR using PCR based techniques. Amplification bands with different markers enabled identification of the genomic regions responsible for Drought Tolerance in chickpea. All 15 SSR markers chosen gave monomorphic bands. A hierarchical tree was also constructed using UPGMA Dendogram for figuring out the exact genetic distance of cultivars using band amplification data. It depicted GUJ-1 and GUJ-2 are closest of all cultivars. GUJ-5 is at the center having GUJ-3 and UJJAVAL at an almost equal distance but GUJ-5 and GUJ-3 are more related. Physiological data also supported this genetic evidence.

248-256

Authors: Navaraj Chapagain, Bhuminandan Devkota, Gokarna Gautam, Shyam Kishor Sah, Dinesh Bhattarai

This study was designed to determine the effects of age, parity, feeding practice, Body Condition Score (BCS), blood nutritional parameters, types of anoestrus, and length of anoestrus on pregnancy rate of anoestrus buffaloes after their treatment with ovsynch protocol followed by fixed time artificial insemination. Blood samples were collected on the day ovsynch protocol and analyzed. The mean values of the nutritional parameters between different groups were compared by Students t test and pregnancy rate was compared by Fisher’s exact test or Chi-square test. The overall pregnancy rate in buffaloes was 28.6%, when checked on day 41 and 64.3% on day 102 of FTAI. Blood glucose, cholesterol, calcium and phosphorus level was found to be significantly higher (p<0.05) in pregnant than in non-pregnant buffaloes. Pregnancy rate was higher in silent estrus buffaloes. Buffaloes with BCS ≥3 had higher pregnancy rate than those with BCS < 3. Similarly, pregnancy rate was higher in lactating than in non-lactating buffaloes. While young buffaloes of age <10 year responded better than old buffaloes of age ≥10 year. Buffaloes which were free from gastrointestinal parasitic infection had higher pregnancy rate. In conclusion, ovsynch protocol produces a good pregnancy in anoestrus buffaloes; however, state of true anoestrus, older age and poor BCS with poor nutritional management adversely affect the pregnancy outcome. The role of blood nutritional parameters requires further clarification.

264-268

Authors: Amar Kumar Sinha, Chandra Prakash Gaire, Babu Ram Pokhrel

Anemia of schedule caste women in Rural area ofeastern Nepal is a prominent problem in developing countries. On the present study is to determine the prevalence of anemia of schedule caste women of Baijnathpur, eastern Nepal. A Cross sectional study was conducted to the schedule caste non -pregnant women of the age group 20 - >70 years during August - November 2015.A total 432 women were participant in the present study. Cyanmethamoglobin used for the determination of anaemia. The prevalence of anaemia was found to be 242(56%) out of N= 432 women. Anaemia was classified as per the world health organization (WHO), mild, moderate and severe. The highest prevalence of anaemia 66.7% was found at the age group of 50-59 years and second highest 59.3% was found at the age group of 20-29 years of the anaemic population. The mean and SD of haemoglobin were 11.49±2.05gm/dl and 10.14±1.57 gm/dl of total and anaemic population respectively

274-278

Authors: Belai Meeta Singh Suwal, Ratna Silwal Gautam, Dikshya Manandhar

The current study was done to examine the impact of environmental pollution on morphology and anatomy of leaf of Ricinus communis L. of Kathmandu. The comparative study was done between the plants of high polluted sites i.e Ringroad sides and less polluted sites i.e Raniban forest of Kathmandu. The plants from both sites showed visible morphological and anatomical changes in leaves. These both study sites were found with similar soil factors and climatic factors. Reductions in some morphological and anatomical features were observed in leaves growing in highly polluted site. Reduction in leaf area, petiole length, thickness of palisade layer and thickness of spongy parenchyma was noticed in the leaves from highly polluted sites of Kathmandu. Other morphological and anatomical features such as leaf dry mass content, stomata frequency, thickness of cuticle and size of epidermal cells were noticed to be increased in leaves from highly polluted sites.

289-290

Authors: Anup Gautam

This study was carried out in Tulsipur sub-metropolitan city and Ghorahi sub-metropolitan city of Dang valley. It was aimed to analyze socioeconomic status of poultry egg producing farms and constraints limiting their operations. A sample size of 60 poultry egg producing farm were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data collected from the pretested questionnaire were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The result revealed that in Tulsipur sub-metropolitan city the poultry layers farms have mean flock size of 3345 birds and in Ghorahi sub-metropolitan city mean flock size of 3666 was found. An average producer in the farms of Tulsipur sub-metropolitan was 40 and that of Ghorahi sub-metropolitan city was 36 years. The result revealed that majority (83.33%) of poultry layers farms are male dominant in research area, majority (86.66%) of the layers producers belongs to ethnicity brahmin/chhetry, majority (41.66%) of the poultry layers farms owners belongs to SLC level education,majority (90%) of the layers farm owners main occupation is agriculture, majority (96.66%) of the layers farms in the dang valley are individually owned,majority (95%) of the layers farms do not get any support from government, majority (90%) of the layers farm are found to supply egg regularly and BC ratio of Tulsipur sub-metropolitan and Ghorahi sub-metropolitan city was found to be 1.21 and 1.44 respectively. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the poultry egg producing farms are profitable and they possesses high growth potentials which are achievable through increased investment and proper management of identified constraints.