HortFlora Research Spectrum

93 - 102

Authors: A.K.Singh and V.K.Umrao

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is, among the oldest crops in the world, attacked by a wide range of pathogens although each of these dis eases is quite destructive, when two or more interacton the same plant, their combined effect be comes greater. Good agronomic practices are in general non monetary interventions, discussed here under suitable heads, which can be easily adopted by the farmers to manage faba bean disease smartly. It is an efficient and excellent tool for effective disease-pest management in general and especially for soil borne pathogens and diseases like chocolate spot,ascochyta blight and rot etc.

109 - 115

Authors: R.G. Somkuwar; Roshni R. Samarth; J. Satisha; S.D. Ramteke; Prerna Itroutwar

The experiment was conducted at NRC for Grapes, Pune during year 2007-08.Four commercially cultivated grape varieties viz. Thompson Seedless, Tas-A-Ganesh,Flame Seedless and Sharad Seedless were analyzed for dry matter content during harvesting stage of the crop. Dry matter partitioning in different parts of vines were observed. Highly significant differences were observed among varieties, various vine parts and their combinations. Among the varieties, maximum dry matter content was recorded in Sharad Seedless (42.87%) followed by Tas-A-Ganesh (42.29%) and among the various parts of the vine, it was found maximum in cordon (54.84%) followed by trunk (54.39%). When dry matter content was measured in particular variety in specific part of the vine, maximum dry matter was recorded in the trunk of Sharad Seedless variety. Roots are the source of nutrient absorption by the vine. Root health found to be positively correlated with the health of the plant and productivity. In the present experiment, highest dry matter content of the roots was observed in the Sharad Seedless with the mean value of 47.72%. Also the dry matter content of the harvestable organ (bunches) was found maximum in Sharad Seedless (25.73%) as compared to other variety.

121 - 125

Authors: S. Karthikeyan and M. Jawaharlal

The experiment on optimization of plant density in side a green house for growing carnation is a very important area for present day production and productivity. The results of the study on optimization of planting density in carnation led to the inference that planting density in treatment T4 (check) (15 X 15 cm with 36 plants/m2) proved better in terms of flower quality parameters namely early flower bud appearance, bud opening, longest duration of flowering, chlorophyll content and more number of flowers per plant due to congenial micro climate between the plants for the plant growth and flowering. Though the percentage of ‘A’ grade quality flowers were higher in treatment T3 (20 X 20 cm with 20 plants per m2), the number of plants and flower yield per sq. m. in this treatment was very less. Hence, treatment T4 (check) with 15 X 15 cm spacing may convincingly be followed for obtaining more number of flowers per plant and per unit area and value in terms of economic success of the crop.

130 - 134

Authors: Sunil Kumar, Krishna S. Tomar, R.C. Shakywar and M. Pathak

Powdery mildew caused by the fungus Erysiphe cichoracearum DC. is a common disease of gerbera grown in Indian conditions. Fungicidal and varietal trial was conducted at Instructional farm, Department of Floriculture, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, during April 2011 to March 2012. In fungicidal disease management, least disease severity (5.23%) was observed in spray of wettable sulphur @2.5g/l of water followed by Carbendazim @ 2g/l of water foliar spray (7.23 %). Whereas, the unprotected treatment showed highest disease severity (65.30 %). The highest number of flowers m-2/year (195.00) and number of suckers / plant / year (6.60) were also recorded in wettable sulphur @ 2.5g/l of water foliar spray. Powdery mildew symptoms were first observed on the leaves of the varieties viz. Pia, Rionegro and Tecala on 30th day after planting. In Manizales, Teresa and Galileo powdery mildew incidence was started only after 38 days of planting. On the other varieties Figaro, Marinila and Palmira powdery mildew incidence was started only after 68 days of planting. Palmira variety showed resistance to powdery mildew with per cent disease index of 9.27% at the end of 160 days after planting followed by Figaro and Marinila with PDI of 9.73% and 10.23%, respectively. Variety Teresa showed moderately resistant reaction (24.57 %) against powdery mildew infection. Varieties Pia and Tecala were highly susceptible to powdery mildew through out the experiment which showed per cent disease index of 65.30% and 54.27%, respectively. Other varieties like as Galileo (34.73%), Manizales(46.93%) and Rionegro (49.67%) showed susceptible reaction to powdery mildew infection.

139 - 144

Authors: K.. K. Singh, Tejpal Singh and Y.K. Tomar

The experiment was conducted under mist chamber at Horticulture Research Centre, HNB Garhwal University, Chauras Campus Srinagar (Garhwal), Uttarakhand. The different length stem cuttings (20, 35 and 50 cm) of Bougain vil lea cv. Torch Glory treated with IBA solutions at 3000, 4000 and 5000 mg L-1 by quick dip method were planted carefully in the root trainers. Among all the treatments, maximum number of sprouted cuttings (90.0%) and maximum number of sprouts per cutting (30.22) were observed under C1L2 (35 cm long cuttings treated with 3000 ppm IBA) treatment, maximum length of sprout per cutting (3.25 cm) and maximum height of plant (63.86 cm) was found under C1L3 (50 cm long cuttings treated with 3000 ppm IBA), maximum diameter of sprouts per cutting (0.74 cm) was recorded under C3L1(35 cm long cuttings treated with 5000 ppm IBA). Number of leaves on new growth (7.48) was found maximum under C3L3 (50 cm long cutting treated with 5000 ppm IBA), length of longest root (9.90 cm) was maximum under C2L3 treatment (50 cm long cutting treated with 4000 ppm IBA), profuse callus formation (77.77%) was found in C1L1 treatment (50 cm long cutting treated with 3000 ppm IBA) and secondary rooting (77.77%) was found better under C1L2 and C1L3 (35cm and 50 cm long cuttings treated with 3000 ppm IBA) treatments.

150 - 152

Authors: Pravina Satpute, S.G. Bharad and Snehal Korde

The experiment was conducted at Main Garden of Department of Horticulture, Dr.PDKV, Akola to study the effect of spacing and plant architecture on yield and economics of capsicum under nethouse condition.The experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design with four replications in aluminated net house. There were three levels of plant spacing and three levels of pruning together making nine treatment combinations.The treatments included three levels of plant spacing S1 =45 x 30 cm, S2 =45 x 45 cm and S3 = 45 x 60 cm, and three levels of plant architecture P1 - pruned for four stem, P2 -pruned for two stem and P3 –unpruned. The results of present investigation indicate that yield per hectare was highest at in closer spacing (S1) and four stem pruning (P1). While, the wider spacing treatment (S3) and unpruned (P3) recorded minimum values in these respect. The treatment combination S1P1 (45 x 30 cm spacing along with the four stem pruning) have recorded the maximum values regarding yield per hectare. However, the cost; benefit ratio was found to be highst in plant spaced at 45cm x 45cm with four stem pruning (S2P1) and it was followed by S1P1 and S2P2.

158 - 161

Authors: F.G. Sayyad, S.S. Chinchorkar, S.K. Patel and B.K. Yaduvanshi

Citrus is of high importance in agriculture now days and a substantial source of income for the producing countries. Physical and frictional properties of fruits as well as oranges are important for design of postharvest handling and processing machineries. The present work was undertaken to determine the spatial dimensions, equivalent diameter, sphericity, weight,volume, specific gravity and coefficient of friction of Phule Mosambi and Kinnow or Tangerine (Citrus reticulata). The average equivalent diameter, sphericity, weight, volume and specific gravity for Phule Mosambi was 65.68 mm, 0.96, 165.14 g, 170.31 cm3 and 1000.5 kg/m3 and that of Kinnow fruits was 66.44 mm, 0.95, 156.71 g, 146.97 cm3 and 1086 kg/m3. The average coefficient of friction over ply wood, aluminium and mild steel was 039, 0.43 and 0.45, respectively for Phule Mosambi and in case of Kinnow it was 0.36, 0.41 and 0.42, respectively.

166 - 168

Authors: R.C. Shakywar, S.P. Pathak, Krishna S. Tomar and M. Pathak

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of date of sowing on per cent plant infection, per cent disease intensity, coefficient of disease index and yield attributes of taro (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum). The crop sown during 15th February gave highest cormel yield, despite maximum per cent plant infection, per cent disease intensity and coefficient of disease index in comparison to crop sown at 15th March, 15th April and 15th May during the Kharif 2006 and 2007 crop ping season, respectively.

172 - 174

Authors: S.P. Tiwaria Arti Guhey and S.P. Mishra

Experiment was conducted at Precision Farming Development Centre IGKV, Raipur during kharif 2008-09 and 2009-10 in split plot design comprising of three varieties (Deshi, hybrid and composite) of corn as a main plot while bio fertilizers and nitrate salts combination in sub plot treatments. Observations were taken at specific growth phases of the crop which clearly indicated superiority of association of grain yield with different yield contributing morpho-physiological traits of corn.

178 - 179

Authors: J. Singh, P. Bhatnagar and Bhim Singh

During Kharif season weed poses serious threats in mandarin orchards and some times the infestation of weed flora is so high that it creates great challenge in maintaining the plant growing and surviving properly. To counter weed problem, weedicides have proven its worth. Labour availability getting problematic day by day, option of weed control rests with the view of weedicide with such an idea an experiment was conducted with a view to assess the efficacy of weedicide in countering weed growth in newly grown mandarin orchard. The orchard was having heavy infestation of Echinocola cholena, Celosia sp, Cassia tora, Comelina communis, C. benghalensis, Abelmoschus muschatus, Euphorbia xeniculata, Parthenium hysterophorus, etc. From the experiment it appeared that Isoproturon 75% WP@ 2% was found most efficacious out of 2, 4-D , Oxyflourfen, Glyphosate and Imazethapyr used to control weeds in mandarin orchard.

182 - 183

Authors: Sanjive Kumar Singh, Naushad Khan and S.D. Dutta

Field experiment was conducted at Department of Vegetable Science, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology Kalyanpur, Kanpur on zamikand variety Azad Suran-1 with the objective to work out the optimum spacing between plant to plant and row to row and suitable seed size for general cultivation. The experiment with five different seed sizes and four spacings was conducted. Results revealed that 75 X 75 cm spacing with 0.750 kg weight of corm was relatively economical over 1.000 kg seed weight at the same spacing.

277-285

Authors: Tatek Dejene, Omarsherif Mohamed and Haile Adamu

The Boswellia pre-dominated woodland, belonging to the Combretum–Terminalia deciduous woodlands of the dry forests of Ethiopia, forms the largest vegetation cover and is widespread in the northern and north-western lowland part of the country. This paper has tried to review and discuss the current contribution of the Boswellia dominated woodlands and its main threats which contributed for its degradation based on different empirical studies. From the review it is understood that the Boswellia pre-dominated woodland represents important natural resources on which development could be based since it offer diverse products of commerce such as incense, wood and honey, and support to other economic activities such as fodder for livestock and soil conservation for crop farming. However, the annually cash income generated by households from the Boswellia woodland is only 1089.55 ETB, which is 18.32 fold less than that of the income from the agriculture. The low cash flow is shown to be due to policy restrictions on the engagement of the local people in producing and marketing frankincense, a principal product from the woodland. Such low cash contribution by the woodland motivated the local people to continuously clear and convert the woodland in to agricultural land. In lined with this, the structure of some of the important species in the woodland showed a hump shaped curve distribution, suggesting regeneration is severely lacking and the population is under serious threat in the long term. Therefore, the main conclusion of this study is that the Boswellia woodland, although worthy of sustainable management and utilization even on the basis of economic criteria, is continuing to suffer conversion to other land uses which offer benefits in the short term and in which farmers have more confidence in terms of economic benefits and ownership rights of the land. Therefore, to maximize the actual value of the Boswellia pre-dominated woodland, policies and institutions that govern access to and use of forest resources and their management need to be revised in such a way that the locals will have the legal right and the confidence to own or co-own the forest resources in their vicinity, and will continue to manage and utilize it.

294-303

Authors: Nidhi Prakash and Mohammad Yunus

The present study was planned to evaluate the effect of auto-exhausts on a very common ornamental plant i.e. African marigold (Tagetes erecta) plants which also possess aromatic & medicinal properties and natural source of antioxidants. The plant is also recommended for growing with rose for its allelopathic nature. The area under marigold cultivation is increasing every year due to its increasing demand throughout the world. To assess the effect of auto-exhaust on marigold plants transfer experiment study was conducted. Three sites (Road stretches) within the municipal premises of Lucknow city were identified based on survey of sites and the available data on air pollution loads, which differ with each other very significantly in terms of the number of vehicles (source of pollution) plying there. A comparison of contents of photosynthetic pigments, protein, proline and cysteine among Tagetes erecta plants kept at three different sites very explicitly indicates the bearing of auto exhaust effect on them. Marked alteration in bio-chemical characteristics of plant was ob served in plants grown at highly polluted site as compared to plant grown at less polluted site.

311-318

Authors: P.S. Kashyap

Efficient management of depleting water resources is important in order to enhance crop productivity and to attain high water use efficiency. The study aimed at identifying irrigation management practices, which could result in water savings through deliberate under irrigation. Field experiments were conducted at Hill Campus, Ranichauri, Tehri-Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India on potato crop (Kufri Chandramukhi) over a period of two years during the winter seasons of 2008-09 and 2009-10. The crop was planted in first week of November and harvested in the last week of March spanning approximately 150 days. Three irrigation treatments were maintained based on the maximum allowable depletion (MAD) of available soil water. The treatments were 20% (T1), 40% (T2) and 60% (T3) maximum allow able depletion of available soil water. No soil water stress was maintained at the initial stages of the crop development so as to allow the plant attain a healthy growth. Soil moisture content was measured by gravimetric method periodically in 0-15, 15-30 and 30-45 cm soil profiles. Soil moisture showed a cyclic temporal variation at all three selected soil depths. The magnitude of this variation was higher in 0-15 cm soil profile and decreased in 15-30 and 30-45 cm soil profiles in that order. This trend was observed at all schedules of irrigation. Field experiments revealed that irrigation schedule with 40% maximum allowable depletion of available soil water gave the maximum water use efficiency for potato crop. For scheduling of irrigation of potato crop, 0-30 cm soil profile should be considered as most of the required water to be extracted from this layer by the plant.

324-328

Authors: Amit Kumar Goswami, R.G. Somkuwar, Roshni Samarth, A.K. Sharma, Supriya Nawale and Prerna Itroutwar

An experiment to study the shelf life of four table grape varieties was conducted at National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune (M.S.). Grape bunches packing and the cold storage condition for 30 days after pre cooling for 24 hours was according to the export standard. After cold storage, shelf life and other quality parameters were recorded for four days. Lowest physiological loss of weight was recorded in Sharad Seedless followed by Mahadev Seedless. These two varieties also performed better for the quality parameters in terms of bunch weight, 5 berry weight and berry diameter which are favourable for better shelf life. Significant differences were found for the quality parameters except total soluble solids (TSS). Overall, Sharad Seedless and Mahadev Seedless recorded with the lowest per cent of berry fallen and rotting among the four varieties studied.

335-340

Authors: Tanjeet Singh Chahal and J.S. Bal

The study on the effect of pre-harvest chemical treatments in Kinnow mandarin was conducted at Khalsa College, Amritsar for two years. Pre-harvest foliar application of GA3 (10, 20, 30ppm), triacontanol (400, 600ppm), CaCl2 (4, 6%) and Ca(NO3)2 (0.1, 0.2, 0.3%) was given to the Kinnow plants of fifteen years of age. The harvesting of the fruits was done on January 1st, January 15th, February 1st and February 15th during both the years and yield of the fruits was calculated along with their physical analysis. It was observed that the maximum fruit yield to the tune of 54.88kg/plant was recorded with the application of GA3 at 30ppm and it was proved to be the most efficacious treatment for improving fruit quality in respect of fruit size, weight and juice con tent. Max i mum peel thickness was observed with CaCl2 at 6 per cent.

346-351

Authors: Pallavi Chaudhary, Sanjay Kumar and Prawal Pratap Singh Verma

Genetic variability in terms of correlation and path coefficient were studied for yield per plant and its attributing traits in 16 genotypes of eggplant. Significant positive genotypic correlation coefficient was observed by fruit weight, number of leaves per plant, number of fruits per plant and number of flowers per plant. An overall observation of path coefficient studies revealed that the direct contribution of fruit yield per plant, fruit yield per hectare, fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, and number of flowers per plant was of higher magnitude on fruit yield. High negative direct effect was recorded in total sugar followed by reducing sugar and fruit length. Direct selection may be executed considering these traits as the main selection criteria to reduce in direct effects of the other characters during the development of high-yielding eggplant varieties/hybrids.

356-359

Authors: Bibhuti Bhusan Sahoo, Bhaskar Chandra Das, Purandar Mandal and Dheerendra Katiyar

An experiment was conducted in the laboratory of the Department of CIHAB, Palli Sikshya Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan (WB) on storage life of tomato fruits with different post harvest treatments. The experiment was laid out in RBD with nine treatments each comprising of three replications and ten fruits per replication. The results revealed that ripening was initially delayed by MAP, NAA and NAA+MAP treatments. Among all the chemicals the performance of GA3, was better than NAA in reducing physiological loss in weight of tomato. The results on the colour development of the fruit in storage indicated that the percentage colour development varied significantly in all the treatments of tomato fruits up to 6th day of storage.

363-365

Authors: Hemlata Bharti, B.P. Singh and K.P. Singh

The present experiment was conducted to find out the interaction effect of variety, type of cutting and IBA concentration on rooting in cuttings of croton. Overall performance of hard wood cutting of broad leaf variety treated with 400ppm IBA was found significantly superior in inducing the highest rooting percentage (82.34%), took lesser time for sprouting (10 days), survival per cent age (80.04%) and sprouting percentage (88.66) than other treatments. The hot and humid condition were conducive for growing semi-hard wood and hard wood cuttings of broad leaf as well as narrow leaf variety of croton which were able to show good performance. Out of three types of cuttings, semi-hard wood cuttings and 200ppm IBA was found better in comparison to 400ppm IBA with broad leaf for rooting and establishment. Therefore, it is concluded that croton can be multiplied by cuttings under green house condition with IBA treatments.

369-371

Authors: Purandar Mandal, Bibhuti Bhusan Sahoo, Bhaskar Chandra Das and Dheerendra Katiyar

Aonla plays an important role in human nutrition. The fruits are not consumed freely in fresh form because of its astringent taste. But the excellent nutritive and therapeutic values of fruits have great potentiality for processing in to various quality products. In present study different recipes of Aonla ready to serve (RTS) was standardized to explore the processing potential of Aonla. There were five different possibilities of recipes. The RTS pre pared from the recipes 10% pulp, 12% TSS and 0.30% acidity gave highest organoleptic quality score followed by RTS pre pared from 10% pulp, 10% TSS and 0.30% acidity and the quality of the pre pared RTS was maintained up to fourth month at ambient temperature.

374-375

Authors: Jitendra Singh

Vivipary is of unusual occurrence in papaya. In viviparic fruits, seeds germinate in side while still they remain attached with fruits. Such fruits are insipid in taste. If cut exposed, the germinated seeds inside the fruit look very clearly. High humidity and warm weathers appear associated with the viviparic fruits in papaya.

185-188

Authors: Mam C. Singh; Wim van Ieperen; E.P. Heuvelink

The effect of LEDs was studied to induce flower under artificial long days (LD) in Chrysanthemum morifolium cv. Zembla plants, using light emitting diodes (LED) @ PAR m-2 s-1 80% Red / 20% Blue maintained @ 100 µ mol m- 2 s- 1 using royal blue light @ 455 nm and red light @ 640 nm wavelengths and compared with short day (SD) length. Difference in growth and flowering response were also investigated. Stem length is determined as a function of internode length which could be the function of attaining minimum number of leaves required for expressing the diurnal response using LEDs. Chrysanthemum plants exhibited a strong diurnal response attained in leaves and transmitted to the apex and took minimum (28 days) and maximum time (61 days) with an exposure to LEDs with (15h) and without (11h) additional blue spectrum, respectively. However, bud induction was possible earliest due to low red/far ratio in the extended exposure of plants with blue LEDs.

197-201

Authors: K.B. Patel; S.P. Saxena; K.M. Patel

A field experiment was carried out at Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during 2009-11. Population of fruit fly was ob served during 13 (26 March –1 April) - 30 (23-29 July) Standard Week (SW) in 2009-10, 2010-11 and pooled, respectively. Highest fruit fly infestation (36.67 %) was observed on 22nd SW coinciding with ripening cum harvesting period of mango which increased with increase in temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and evaporation.

215-219

Authors: S.K. Tyagi; M.L. Sharma

In order to define the influence of mulching on growth and yield of water melon, an experiment was laid out as on-farm trials entitled “Effect of plastic mulch on growth, yield and economics of watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thumb.) Matsum et Nakai] under Nimar plains conditions of Madhya Pradesh” at farmer’s field in five locations at Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh during two consecutive spring growing season of 2011 and 2012. Water melon was grown on silver-on-black plastic mulch and without mulch field. The main vine length, number of branches, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight and yield per hectare were recorded. It was noticed that plastic mulch had significant response on vegetative growth, yield and net profit. Plants in plastic mulch treatment had higher yields ascribed due to higher length of vine, number of branches, number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight. The study revealed that silver-on-black plastic film could be conducive and beneficial in enhancing the yield which lead to 75.29% and 82.10% increase over farmers’ practice during 2011 and 2012, respectively with a mean value of 78.70% increase over farmers practice and net profit of water melon found suit able for an early spring sowing under the Nimar Zone conditions of Madhya Pradesh.

225-229

Authors: Anil Kumar Singh; B.P. Bhatt

Faba bean, being a good source of cheap protein, can be consumed fresh green as vegetable and variety of dishes are prepared from dried cotyledon. There is only one vegetable type faba bean variety “Pusa Sumeet” which has been developed at all India level by IARI, New Delhi and same is used as check variety. Three lines suitable for vegetable purpose have been developed at ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region Patna. Single plant selection method was applied for development of these vegetable type faba bean lines. Three promising lines viz., VFBP201302, VFBP201304 and VFBP201306 were identified for vegetable purposes with green pod yield potential of 21.51 to 23.54 t/ha, suitable for Eastern parts of India.

239-243

Authors: Prathamesh Vaidya; John P. Collis

An experiment was carried out in the Department of Horticulture laboratory, SHIATS, Allahabad. The experiment was conducted in completely randomized design (CRD) with nine treatments replicated thrice. There were nine treatments of different concentrations of sucrose (3% and 4%), silver nitrate (20 ppm and 40 ppm), Aluminium sulphate (200 ppm and 400ppm) and 8- Hydroxy quinoline citrate (200ppm and 400 ppm) in combination and one control. It was observed that treatment T4 (Sucrose 4% + AgNO 3 400 ppm) and T8 (Sucrose 4% + 8-HQC 400ppm) gave better results and T8 (Sucrose 4% + 8-HQC 400 ppm) had least cost of maintenance. Therefore T4 and T8 may be recommended as commercial use for enhancing the vase life and quality of cut Gerbera cv. Maron Dementine.

247-250

Authors: Bibhuti Bhusan Sahoo; Bhaskar Chandra Das; Purandar Mandal; Dheerendra Katiyar

The experiment was conducted in the laboratory of the Department of CIHAB, PSB (Institute of Agriculture), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan (WB). The experiment was laid out in RBD with nine treatments each comprising of three replications and ten fruits per replication. The results indicated that ripening was initially delayed by MAP, NAA and NAA+MAP treatments. Fruits treated with NAA+MAP, NAA+PMAP and GA3+MAP showed minimum percentage of shrink age up to 16th day of storage. The shrinkage was significantly delayed by MAP and PMAP treatments at the beginning. Relatively less percentage of rotting was noted in PMAP and in combination of PMAP and GA3 treatments. It is evident from the results that the fruits under NAA, GA3 and PMAP exhibited promising results in extending the storage life of tomato at room temperature up to two weeks.

255-258

Authors: Deepak Arora; P.S. Brar; Rajinder Singh; V.K. Vashisht

The effects of varying planting densities on earliness and fruit and seed yield in muskmelon were investigated during 2012 and 2013 at University Seed Farm, Ladhowal of PAU, Ludhiana. The results indicated that the wider plant spacing of 1.1 plants per linear furrow meter not only produced early harvest but the vines were also healthy and longer than the others. There was significant increase in total yield with higher planting density of 3.3 and 2.2 plants per linear furrow meter over recommended planting density of 1.7. But there was decrease in the marketable yield at the higher plant population of 3.3 and 2.2 plants per linear furrow meter. The higher planting density of 3.3 plants per linear furrow meter had maximum number of fruits per unit area and also produced the boldest seed among all the treatments and thus had high seed yield index. Therefore, if the ultimate aim is getting the maximum seed yield from muskmelon, the planting density of 3.3 proved to be the best.

262-264

Authors: U.N.Singh

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years to assess the efficiency of bio-fertilizers at two fertility levels on yield and economy of potato crop. Results revealed that application 100% recommended dose of nitrogen and phosphorus + Azotobacter and Phosphobacteria gave the maximum tuber yield which was closely followed by application of 75% recommended dose of nitrogen and phosphorus + Azotobacter and Phosphobacteria. However, both the treatments gave considerable net return indicating 25% saving of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. Among both the inoculants Bacillus cereus was found better than Bacillus subtillis in potato yield.

268-270

Authors: K.K. Singh; T. Choudhary; Prabhat Kumar

An investigation was undertaken to study the effect of different concentrations of IBA on growth and rooting of Citrus limon cuttings under Garhwal region. The hardwood cut tings of Citrus limon cv. Pant Lemon were collected from healthy vigorous shoots of 3-5 year old plants. The cuttings were planted in one kg capacity polythene bags containing soil, sand and FYM mixture in 1:1:1 (v/v) ratio. The stem cuttings of Citrus limon were treated with IBA solutions of different concentrations i.e. 1000, 1500, 2000 ppm and control (tap water only) by quick dip method. The experiment was replicated thrice with 10 cut tings in each treatment. Among all the treatments, the number of sprouted cuttings (6.29), length and diameter of sprout (23.77cm and 1.52 cm, respectively), number of sprouts, number of leaves and number of roots/cutting (17.77 and 23.00 and 52.42, respectively), and average maximum length and diameter of roots (26.33 cm and 1.33 cm, respectively) were noticed maximum in treatment with 2000 ppm concentration of IBA.

274-276

Authors: Shweta Soni; Sanjay Kumar; Sutanu Maji; Awadhesh Kumar

The present study aimed at evaluation of heritability and genetic advance in six teen genotypes of cabbage under Lucknow condition. Findings revealed that high heritability in broad sense were observed for vitamin C (99.50%), days to maturity (98.90%), core length (88.20%), head weight (87.30%), yield (87.20%), leaf width (83.40%) and leaf length (83.20%) whereas, moderate for plant height (78.20%), equatorial length (72.70%), head polar diameter (71.60%), stalk length (71.20%), plant spread (69.80%) and number of non-wrapper leaves (66.00%). Genetic advance as per cent age of mean varied from 6.04 %-50.09% for plant spread and vitamin C content, respectively.

1 - 7

Authors: R.S. Negi; B.S. Baghel; A.K. Gupta; Y.K. Singh

A field experiment was conducted in Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Deendayal Research Institute, Satna for two consecutive years to evaluate the effect of various in- situ moisture conservation measures on establishment and growth of aonla in sloppy degraded lands.In-situ moisture conservation measures included for the study were preparation of circular ring basin + mulching the basin with black polythene, staggered contour trenching 45 cm width and 3 m length) on upper side of the plant basin, placement of one sub merged pitcher in one side of the plant for rainwater harvesting, setting the seedling in a depression of 1 m width and 15 cm deep,surrounded by a ring-shaped ridge with 25 cm width and 15 cm height and a 30 cm opening on the higher side to harvest rainwater + filling the depression with straw + mulching with black polythene and control (no micro- catchment or mulch). The data on growth parameters (scion shoot length and diameter; number of branchlet, number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots) and nutrient content of leaves of budlings under the five treatments were recorded. The results revealed that planting one month old polythene raised seedlings in a pit depression of 1 m width and 15 cm deep, surrounded by a ring-shaped ridge with 25 cm width and 15 cm height and a 30 cm opening on the higher side to harvest rainwater and filling the depression with straw and covering the pit with black polythene and performing patch budding next year during end of June, which resulted in maximum budling growth, and nutrients uptake observed to be the best in- situ moisture conservation method and may be recommended for rehabilitation of degraded sloppy lands.

14 - 19

Authors: B.S. Sachan; Keshvendra Singh; Neeraj Kumar; Jitendra Kumar

The present study was conducted in Kanpur Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh with 60 mushroom growers selected from five villages and categorized as small, medium and large based on wheat straw used by them mainly to study the marketing practices and channels involved in the marketing of mushroom and to estimate the selecting costs, margins and price spread. The study reveals that women co-operative society was the most important agency in the marketing of mushroom. Average quantity sold on perform basis was 6.17 quintals. Half of the producer – sellers preferred to sell mushroom in 1 to 2 quintals size plot. Mushroom quantity (about 66 per cent) of mushroom was sold within the village by majority of producer-sellers (about 70 per cent). Three channels were identified in the marketing of mushroom. Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee was the highest (98.53 per cent) in channel-1 (farmer-consumer).Retailer earned to maximum marketing margin (12.89 per cent) in the marketing of mushroom.

25 - 29

Authors: Rachna and Sukhdev Singh

The present studies aimed at evaluating the effects of varying doses of GA3 on the bio-chemical changes of ber fruit during development. GA3 @ 10, 30 and 50 ppm was applied at fruit set stage and then super imposed one month thereafter. The periodical bio-chemical analyses of developing ber fruits revealed that total soluble solids concentration increases maximum during initial stages of fruit development i.e. between interval of 25 to 50 days of GA3 application while total sugars and ascorbic acid increase and acidity decreases as the fruit reaches maturity i.e. between 75 to 100 days of GA3 application. The GA3 50 ppm dose resulted in maximum expression of acidity, total sugars and ascorbic acid at final harvest of ber. Thus it is implicated that GA3 application is beneficial in improving flavour and taste of ber.

35 - 39

Authors: N. Vijaya Kumari and M. Lakshmi Devi

Root knot disease caused by the nematode Meloidogyne incognita is one of the major diseases of Mulberry, Morus spp. which causes major reduction in yield affecting both quality as well as quantity of leaves and fruits. Plants produce a high diversity of secondary metabolites for self defense and survival in their habitat. Some of the plants are known to be inhibiting the development of the nematodes. The present study was carried out to screen the locally available plants for their nematicidal activity. Twelve plants species were selected and methanol extracts with different concentrations (25, 50, 75 and 100%) of different plants were tested for inhibition of hatching of M. incognita egg and juvenile mortality in different durations. The plant extracts of Neem, Clitoria ternatea and Passiflora foetida were recorded to be highly effective for inhibition of hatching of egg and increasing juvenile mortality of M. incognita. Which will be immense helpful to re duce the qualitative and quantitative loss of mulberry leaf and fruit with eco-friendly plant extract.

45 - 49

Authors: Kulbir Singh; Rajinder Singh; D. S. Khurana; Jaswinder Singh

To study the impact of low plastic tunnel on the performance of bell pepper, an experiment was conducted from 2004-05 to 2006-07 at vegetable experimental area, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The treatments consisted of transplanting of bell pepper during November under low plastic perforated tunnel, low plastic non perforated tunnel, without protection and February transplanting in open field. The results clearly indicated that early yield(68.7q/ha), total yield (278.2 q/ha), fruit number per plant (18.9), plant height (49.44 cm), fruit girth (33.17 cm) and harvesting span (93 days) were significantly more in low plastic non perforated tunnel as compared to un protected and February transplanted crops. However average fruit weight was at par in all the treatments.

56 - 59

Authors: Sunil Kumar; R.C.Shakywar; K.S.Tomar; M.Pathak

Varietal reaction trial was conducted at Instructional farm, Department of Floriculture, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh during April 2011 to March 2012. Out of the thirty seven rose varieties evaluated under open condition none were found highly resistant or resistant. Three varieties namely Paradise, Shabnam and Pixie were moderately resistant. Eleven varieties namely Angelica Rinae, Atago, Folklore, Granada, Hot Cocoa, Mardigras, Midas Touch, Mrinalini, Revival, Tipus flame and Vic tor hugo were recorded moderately susceptible. Twelve varieties viz., Baccardi, Claudia Ribond, Charies Mallerier, Crimson Lace, Dr. Pal, Impatient, Madam Dulbourde, Marcopolo, Melody, Rainbow End, Sonia and Sugandha gave susceptible reaction. Eleven varieties viz., Angelique, Christiandior, Gemini, Gladiator, Golden Jubilee, Priyadarsini, Sand, Centaury, R. R. M. Roy, Sweet Promise, Unforgotten and Vale of Cloyd were recorded highly susceptible reaction against black spot of rose incited by Diplocarpon rosae Wolf.

64 - 67

Authors: Mohit Kumar and Rajesh Kumar

The present investigation was carried out at Horticulture Research Centre,Patharchatta, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. The experiment was laid out with thirteen treatments and three replication in Randomized Block Design.Maximum tree height was ob served with the application of poultry manure 25 kg per tree, whereas, maximum tree girth was recorded with application of neem cake 30 kg per tree during both the years. Mininum number of fruits and fruit yield (kg) per tree was recorded in control,while maximum number of fruits and fruit yield (kg) per tree with application of 75 kg vermicompost per tree during both the years. Application of different organic manures on mango trees is useful for improving the growth and yield characteristics.

72 - 76

Authors: Ramesh Singh and N.S. Sachan

Biological control involves the use of beneficial organism, their gens, and/ or products, such as metabolites, that reduce the negative effect of plant pathogen and promote positive response by the plant. Disease suppression, a medicated by bio-control agents, is the consequences of the interactions between the plant, pathogen and microbial community. Mycoparasitism, spatial and nutrient competition, antibiosis by enzymes and secondary metabolites and induction of plant defense system are typical bio-control action of these fungi. Faster metabolic rates, anti-microbial metabolites and physiological conformation are key factors which chiefly contributes to antagonism. V.A. Mycorrhizae play major role in biological control of plant diseases owing to their capabilities of amelioration crop yields by multiple role as bio-pesticides and plant growth promotion.

81 - 83

Authors: K.K. Singh; V. Rawat; J. M. S. Rawat; Y. K. Tomar; Prabhat Kumar

The experiment was carried out in simple randomized block design. .The different length stem cuttings of Cestrum nocturnum were treated with IBA and NAA solutions at 100, 200and 300 mg L-1 by soaking method. Among all the treatments, number of sprouted cuttings and rooting per cent (76.53), length of the roots/cutting (23.76 cm), fresh weight (6.06 g) and dry weight (1.33 g) of roots were higher in IBA 100 mg L-1. While the maximum length of sprout/cutting (190.00 cm) was in IBA 300 mg L-1 and highest number of roots/cutting (91.00) was recorded in NAA 300 mg L-1 treatment.

87 - 89

Authors: H.M.Singh; Jitendra Kumar Tiwari

The present experiment comprised of five levels of micronutrient and two levels of concentration. The maximum plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of flowers per plant, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plot, T.S.S. % and ascorbic acid (mg/100g) were found with the application of T8 (Boric acid + Zinc sulphate + Copper sulphate @ 250 ppm each). The maximum total sugar (%) was found under T0 (Control).