HortFlora Research Spectrum

Page : 131 - 134

Authors: A.K. Singh; S. K. Singh; A. K. Pandey; K. Rajan; A. Kumar

A field trial was conducted under farmer's participatory research project at farmers' field in the Bhojpur district of Bihar on clay loam soil to improve strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) productivity and quality through drip irrigation and polythene mulch and to enhance water use efficiency through pressurized irrigation coupled with use of black polythene mulch along with surface irrigation. Drip irrigation with polythene mulch gave significantly highest yield (50.10 q ha-1) as compared to surface irrigation in an unmulched condition (40.15 q ha-1) however, the yield under paddy straw (45.90 q ha-1) and unmulched (42.07 q ha-1) was next in order to drip with polythene mulch but were significantly at par among themselves. When calculated the percentage increase the drip with polythene mulch gave 25 per cent higher yield than surface with unmulched condition. Similarly, the water use efficiency (WUE) was highest in drip irrigation with polythene mulch (7.7 kg ha-1 mm-1) as compared to surface irrigation (5.1 kg ha-1 mm-1). The fruit yield of strawberry under drip irrigation was found to be 46.07 q ha-1 compared to 40.15 q ha-1 under surface irrigation. Moreover, polythene mulch plus drip irrigation further raised the yields. Fruit weight increased significantly while other analyzed quality characteristics did not differ significantly among treatments. Drip irrigation besides giving a saving of 50-55% irrigation water resulted in 20-40% higher yield of crops studied.

103-109

Authors: Ram Asrey; C. Sasikala; Dinesh Singh

Due to rising consumers' concern over chemical/pesticides residue free eatables and international food safety laws, it is felt world wide to find out an alternative approach for postharvest food loss reduction and quality retention. To find out safe postharvest treatment alternatives, Kinnow mandarin fruits were treated individually with 1-MCP (250 nl L-1), Debaryomyces hansenii (109 cfu ml-1 for 2 minutes) and their combination (250 nl L-1+109 cfu ml-1). Treated fruits were stored at 10°C temperature and 85% RH. Their impact on pathological, physical and quality parameters was investigated after 45 days storage. Fruits treated with 1-MCP (250 nl L-1)+Debaryomyces hansenii bioagent (109 cfu ml-1) resulted in minimum incidence of moulds (green 3.61% and blue 2.05%) over all natural decay (7.25%) and higher sensory score (7.50). Higher fruit firmness and lower PLW was recorded equally good with 1-MCP alone and in combination of Debaryomyces hansenii bioagent. Postharvest fruit quality parameters viz TSS, acidity, total sugars and vitamin C content were not affected with the 1-MCP and Debaryomyces hansenii either atone or in combination.

117-121

Authors: Navjot Gupta; Sukhjit Kaur Jawandha

Physiochemical and enzymatic changes in the peach fruits packed in corrugated cardboard boxes of 2 kg and 4 Kg and traditional wooden boxes of 4 Kg and 8 Kg were studied during cold storage (0-2°C with 85-90 per cent R.H.). The CFB boxes was proved very effective in reducing spoilage, physiological loss in weight (PLW) and maintaining acidity, total phenols content and pectin methyl estrase (PME) activity during storage. There was an increase (p≤0.05) in spoilage, PLW, TSS, reducing sugars and PME activity and decrease (p≤0.05) in acidity and total phenols content during storage. The fruits packed in 2 kg CFB boxes were best in terms of quality parameters followed by 4 kg CFB boxes. Results revealed that peach fruits packed in 2 kg CFB boxes can be stored for three weeks in cold storage (0-2°C, 85-90% RH) with acceptable edible quality of fruits and can be substituted for wooden boxes due to its demonstrated benefits

127 - 130

Authors: Bikramjit Singh Gill; Savreet Sandhu; Sukhdev Singh

The citrus industry is considered to be a major fruit industry hence it needs to be improved to cater to the diverse needs of consumers and crop breeders. Genetic manipulation through conventional techniques in this genus is invariably a difficult task for plant breeders as it poses various biological limitations comprising long juvenile period, high heterozygosity, sexual incompatibility, nucellar polyembryony and large plant size that greatly hinder cultivar improvement. The demands for elite rootstock material are continuously increasing for fruit production and to fulfill such demands application of in vitro propagation techniques is one of the successful alternative particularly in case of citrus crops. One of the essential requirements for the successful application of plant propagation technology in agriculture is its capacity to regenerate elite plantlets. The process of embryo culture is a suitable method of micropropagation and has the potential of mass propagation commercially. Keeping in mind these things experiment on "Embryo culture and development of seedlings in different Citrus species" was conducted. The seeds were extracted from the developing fruits from the trees growing in the college nursery and were sterilized. The embryos of six Citrus species were cultured to obtain the stock plants. The germination ranged from 71.5 to 96.0 per cent and the embryos were inoculated on the basal Murashige and Skoog medium. Citrus limon gave the maximum (96 per cent) germination and Citrus sinensis resulted in minimum (71.5 per cent) germination. It was concluded from the experiment that in vitro propagation has been a great potential tool to overcome problems related with the field culture for citrus species. These advances in biotechnology have generated new opportunities for citrus genetic improvement. Therefore, development of efficient embryo culture protocols is necessary for conservation and qenetic improvement of citrus.

139-144

Authors: Sanjay Kumar; Annapurna; Yogesh Chandra Yadav; Raghvendra Singh

A field experiment was conducted with twenty diverse genotypes of Okra (Pusa Makhamali, VRO-6, VRO-5, Selection-10, IIVR-10, HRB-10, IIVR-11, Perkins Long Green, VRO-4, HRB-9-2, Parbhani Kranti, RS-410, Punjab-7, DOV-91-4, D-1-87-1, EMS-8-1, Bhindi Vaphy, 315, and BO-2) in randomized block design with three replications. Analysed data revealed that among all the genotypes, Pusa Makhamali, Perkins Long Green, Parbhani Kranti, VRO-6, VRO-5 and Selection-10 gave promising results.

149-152

Authors: Sunil Kumar; A.K. Shukla

An experiment on bench grafting in custard apple (Annona squamosa L) employing cleft grafting technique was conducted at Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi during 2007. Bare rooted stocks of custard apple having 0.6 cm diameter were bench grafted with dormant scion of cv. Balanagar. Dormant scion shoots having 0.6 cm thickness used for grafting has given highest graft success (96.4%) when it was performed during 29th May, whereas minimum (37.8%) was recorded when 0.8 cm thick scion was grafted on 6th June. Days taken to sprouting, length of sprout, collar diameter, number of secondary branches and number of secondary roots per plant were significantly influenced by scion thickness and time of grafting.

158 - 161

Authors: Ram Ishwar Yadav; Ram Kumar Singh; Pravesh Kumar; Anil Kumar Singh

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of nutrient management through organic sources on guava trees. Results showed that application of various organic substances increased growth of trees, fruit yield and fruit quality as compared to untreated ones (control). The highest values of these parameters were recorded for trees applied with poultry manure followed by the trees applied with FYM. Application of poultry manure on guava trees significantly increased number of fruits per plant and resultantly higher yield (kg/tree) was achieved as compared to control. The recorded values of total soluble solids and total sugar were also found significantly higher with the application of poultry manure.

165 - 167

Authors: R.B. Ram; D. Kumar; Priyamvada Sonkar; Rubee Lata; M. L. Meena

The present investigation was carried out during 2005-2006 at the Horticultural Research Farm of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. The experiment was conducted using six varieties viz. Amrapali, Dashehari, Mallika, Langra, Chausa and Lucknow Safeda in a Randomized Block Design with five replications. Results reflect that the highest success per cent and over all performance of stone grafting operations was recorded by using scion stick cultivar Amrapali, whereas minimum success per cent was in cultivar Lucknow Safeda under Lucknow conditions.

172 - 174

Authors: Dheerendra Katiyar; S.M.Tripathi; A.K. Dwivedi; Vivek Pandey

An experiment was conducted at Department of Vegetable Science, C.S. Azad Univ. of Agri. & Tech., Kalyanpur, Kanpur during Rabi season of 2005-06 to find out the effect of nitrogen (30, 60, 90, 120 kg ha-1), phosphorus (30, 60, 90 kg ha-1) on crop growth, head yield and quality of broccoli. The significant result was obtained in growth and yield parameter, i.e., height of plant, days to pentral head, head yield per plant and per plot, plant frame, head size, harvest duration and compactness of the head. The most of the characters and optimum head yield of broccoli were favoured by applying 90 kg nitrogen and 90 kg phosphorus per hectare.

178 - 180

Authors: P. Ishfaq Akbar; M Saleem Mir; M S Kanwar; Jahangeer A. Baba

This paper focuses on the identification and selection of the ornamental characteristics of Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), which is found growing successfully in India. The probable aesthetic utilization of E. angustifolia for the beautification of cold and arid landscapes is also discussed.

184 - 186

Authors: R.C. Shakywar; S.P. Pathak; M. Pathak; Anil Kumar Singh

Field studies were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, India, during the 2006 and 2007 kharif seasons, to determine the response of taro (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum) genotypes against leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae). A total of 90 taro genotypes were evaluated under natural epiphytotic conditions. Results showed that, out of the 90 genotypes evaluated, none was found highly resistant, resistant and moderately resistant. Only 7 genotypes were moderately susceptible, 23 genotypes were susceptible and 60 genotypes were highly susceptible to the pathogen.

190 - 192

Authors: S. K. Singh; Sanjay Kumar; Yogesh Chandra Yadav; Adesh Kumar

Field studies were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2008-09, to determine the effects of various nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer rates on the growth, yield and quality of okra cv. Arka anamika. A total of 10 treatment combinations of N, P and K fertilizers were studied and data were recorded on the plant height, leaves per plant, nodes per plant, stem diameter, days to flowering, flowers per plant, days to first fruit formation, length of fruit, diameter of fruit, fruits per plant, weight of fruit per plant, fruit yield per plot and fruit yield/ha. Results showed that the application of the recommended NPK rate (120:90:60 kg/ha) had the highest okra yield with respect to the various quantitative and qualitative traits studied.