International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology

1-6

Authors: Iftekhar Ahmad, Mizanur Rahman, Md Mahfuzur Rahman, Md Mehbub Mustain Alam, Md Shakawat Hussain

The study was carried out to assess effect of gamma radiation on the acidity and vitamin C content of the Citrus macroptera (Satkora) and Citrus assamensis (Ginger lime). Irradiation with doses 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 kGy were applied to assess the effect on the titrable acidity and vitamin C contents every one week interval for total five weeks. Both titrable acidity and vitamin C content of C. macroptera, and C. assamensis are sensitive to both gamma radiation and storage time; have decreased with increase of radiation does as well as storage time and this changes of vitamin C and titrable acidity content with gamma radiation and increasing storage period have found statistically significant.

13-18

Authors: MA Siddiky, PK Sardar, MM Hossain, MS Khan, M Khabir Uddin

A field study was conducted to screen out a number of Bangladeshi Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) varieties for salinity tolerance. Three levels of salinity were 2.0-4.0 dS m-1, 4.1-8.0 dS m-1 and 8.1-12.0 dS m-1. Significant varietal and or salinity treatment effects were registered on plant height, leaf area, plant growth, yield, dry matter plant-1, Na+ and Cl- accumulation in tomato tissues. Variety BARI Tomato 14, BARI Hybrid Tomato 5 and BARI Tomato 2 consistently showed superior biological activity at moderate salinity (4.1-8.0 dS m-1), based on dry matter biomass production thus displaying relatively greater adaptation to salinity. Under saline condition, all plant parameters of tomato varieties were reduced compared to the control except number of fruits of BARI Tomato 14, BARI Hybrid Tomato 5 and BARI Tomato 2. Thus, BARI Tomato 14, BARI Hybrid Tomato 5 and BARI Tomato 2 can be regarded as a breeding material for development of new tomato varieties for tolerance to salinity in saline areas of Bangladesh.

26-31

Authors: AHM Kohinoor, DA Jahan, MM Khan, MS Islam, MG Hussain

Studies on Gonadosomatic index (GSI), ova diameter and histology of the gonad were performed to understand reproductive biology of Feather back, Chital (Notopterus chitala) for a period of 6 months from January to June 2010. Thirty live chital fish were used in this study. The mean GSI values for female chital were found to range between 0.20±0.013 and 4.63±0.50. The highest GSI value was found in June. The smallest diameter of ovum was recorded 0.04 mm (January) and the largest was 4.00 mm (June). During the experimental period, the fecundity was ranged from 8,238 to 18,569 (mean 13,052±4607) in fish samples with body weight range from 1,296 to 2,360 (mean 1,742.50±474.44 g) while the relative fecundity was 5.65 to 14.33. Histological study revealed that the percentage of late perinucleolus (LPN) stage was highest in April and Cortical alveoli (CA) stage appeared from April and reached to maximum in May. Vitellogenic stage (VG) appeared in the month of May and chronologically increased through June. Vitellogenic stage (VG) of oocyte as well as highest ova diameter reached to the peak in June. The variations in the gonad weight and GSI of the female fish reached to the peak during June indicating maturity of ovary and definite spawning season.

37-41

Authors: JO Akintonde, OA Akinboye, CO Farayola, OS Akintola

The study was carried out to examine the effect of training and visit system on professionalization of extension agents in Osun State Agricultural Development Programme of Nigeria. Seventy-five data were collected by intervieweing extension agents constituted the sample size and were interviewed through the aid of using a well-structured questionnaire and information obtained were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and person correlation coefficient was used for testing the research hypothesis. The findings revealed that 80% of the respondents were between the age group of 30 -50 years, spent between 10 – 30 years in service (84%) and are married (98.7%). A large proportion (56%) of the respondents holds higher national diploma in general agriculture, exhibited favorable attitude towards the farmers (93.3%), specials in general agriculture (34.7%) and required training in one or more areas of agriculture (69.3%). Analysis performed shows that all the characteristics had positive relationship with effect of training and visit on professionalization of extension agents except years of service, which had a negative relationship though all characters were statistically insignificant. Hence, the more the numbers of years spent on the job the more experience you would be. Which indicated that personal characteristics of the respondent influenced the professionalization of the extension agents through training and visit system?

47-55

Authors: Md Azharul Islam

The insect’s world is filled with many odors. Insects use these odors to cue them in a variety of complex social behaviors, including courtship, mating, and egg laying. Scientists and pest control specialists have known about these complex communication systems for decades. The main aim of this study was to visualize the availability, trends and differences in the sources of pheromone control in agricultural growth of Bangladesh. It also concerned on constrains and present use of pheromone and their possible recommendation on behalf of Bangladesh agriculture. It concentrated on the data during last three decades (1980-2010), comprising status of pheromone use in Bangladesh agriculture and its future. Review revealed that Bangladesh has been enormously successful in increasing pheromone use in agricultural production (especially for vegetables). Understanding of the nature of pheromones and their potential for pest control along with the future prospective of pheromone technique in agriculture were stated. Since the pheromone, technologies for control of major crop pests in Bangladesh are still limited. So that this review emphasized on more attention to the authority to increase the research works and project facilities related to develop and promote pheromone techniques. It is highly recommended to increase availability of pheromone in market, more investment in research and development, introduction of newly identified pheromone for specific pest, to assist government and non-government organizations to work with farmers to reduce harmful insecticide use and promote pheromone tactics as one part of integrated crop management (ICM).

62-67

Authors: Shamima Sultana, Md Asaduzzaman

Declining crop yield due to weeds and their resistance to herbicides are major constraint for successful crop productions. Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is common weed species in Australian cropping rotation. Allelopathic potentiality of milk thistle on different crops has been documented sporadically, but there is no literature on about ryegrass and canola. Therefore, a laboratory based allelopathic extracts bioassay was conducted. The hot water extracts was prepared from milk thistle plant parts added into water with ration of 1: 10 (plant sample: distilled water) where mixture was heated 10 minutes. After heat treatment samples was immediately sieved and centrifuged and the resulted solution was treated as 100% concentration. Separately, to get the fresh water extract plant sample was added into water (1:10) and kept 24 hours in room temperature. After 24 hours, the sample was sieved and centrifuged and collected samples result was treated 100% concentrations. To obtain 50% concentration, both hot and fresh samples were diluted with distilled water. Therefore the experiment was conducted with five different treatment concentrations (0, 50% hot water extracts, 50% fresh water extracts, 100% hot water extracts and 100% fresh water extracts). The experiment was comprised with RCBD design with three replications under control conditions. During experimental period the allelopathic effects of donor species on germination and seedling growth of ryegrass and canola was observed. Results shows, germination and seedling growth of both receiver species are inhibited by milk thistle extracts. Extracts from fresh water at 100% was more toxic to receiver species followed by 50% concentration of fresh and 100% from hot water extracts. This concentration reduced the root, shoot growth of ryegrass and canola 84.971%, 84.269% and 89.898%, 87.394%, respectively. The result also revealed that allelopathic pattern of hot water extracts was same however; it is less toxic to both receiver species.