HortFlora Research Spectrum

177-182

Authors: Tatek Dejene*, Omarsherif Mohamed, Zewdu Yilma and Abeje Eshete

Episodic in leaf, flower and fruit patterns of Sterculia setigera were examined in Metema woreda of north Gondar zone of the Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia. Monitoring was conducted for the period of 24months starting from September, 2011 to September, 2013. For the purpose, we selected 16 individual trees (Dbh 10 cm) of S. setigera trees at 100 m apart. The trees were measured for dbh, marked and mapped using a GPS and monitoring was conducted in every week. The results of monitoring revealed that pattern of leafing and leaf loss, flowering and fruiting are unimodal in lined with the nature of the rainfall pattern of the study area. Leafing was started at the end of dry season when the rain season begins (Mid May) and the trees were in full leaf (Peak leaf flushing) in June and continued peak in leafing during July. Shedding of leaves starts on October but was higher (peak) in December coinciding with the beginning of dry season. Uniformity was observed in blooming among trees and flowering was concentrated in April and ends at the beginning of mid-May. Early fruiting was observed during October. However, mass fruiting was observed during November and ends in in late December up to early January. Therefore, we concluded that seed harvesting of S. setigera is better to conduct in mid-November to beginning of December in the study area.

189-194

Authors: Niki Dewan, Sunil Kumar , Swati Sharma and Susmita Chakraborty

Evaluation of Chrysanthemum genotypes under West Garo Hills District, Meghalaya was carried out at the experimental farm, Department of Horticulture, North Eastern Hill University, Tura, Meghalaya 2015-2016 to identify the suitable variety for successful cultivation and flower production. Fifteen varieties namely, Korean Red, Korean Yellow, Solan Shringar, Ramblored, Yellow Star, Calabria, Ajay, AAU Yellow,White Star, Korean Bicolour, Charming, Lysid, Safin, Shayana and Gambit were selected for their evaluation. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. Uniform package of practices were followed throughout the experiment to grow a healthy crop. Significant response in vegetative and flowering characters was observed in cultivar Calabria, Yellow Star, AAU Yellow, Gambit and Solan Shringar. Highest plant height (49.65 cm) in cultivar Yellow Star followed by cultivar Gambit (45.46 cm) was noticed. However, cultivar Solan Shringar showed maximum number of branches (12.51) and number of leaves per plant (125.11). Earliness in full bloom was associated with cultivar Shayana (72.29 days) followed by cultivar Calabria (82.44 days), while, maximum flower longevity after full bloom was observed in cultivar Gambit (24.72 days). Extended flowering duration was recorded with cultivar Calabria (140.84 days).Whereas, maximum vase life under tap water was observed in cultivar Ramblored (9.44 days) followed by cultivar Gambit (8.37 days). Cultivar Gambit showed maximum flower diameter (8.46 cm), flower head height (3.14 cm), number of ray florets per head (186.30), flower fresh weight (1.36 g) and dry weight (0.43 g), while, maximum number of flower head per plant (42.34), number of flowers per spray per plant (21.84) and number of sprays per plant (20.50) was observed in cultivar Calabria.

201-205

Authors: Prerak Bhatnagar and M.K. Sharma

The nutritional survey studies conducted in Blood Red Malta orchards during 2009-10 revealed that all leaf samples were found deficient in nitrogen content, high in phosphorous content and low in potassium. The micro-nutrient analysis of Malta leaves showed sufficiency of iron and copper content, low in manganese and zinc content. The physico-chemical analysis of Malta fruits revealed that excellent Malta production can be achieved in arid soils of Bikaner district with proper management of nutrients at both macro and micro level and harvesting of fruits in the December-January can provide remunerative returns to fruit growers in the canal command areas of Bikaner district.

209-213

Authors: Sukhpreet Kaur and Poonam Aggarwal

A technique for development of ready-to-fry dehydrated potato snack premix incorporating potato flour, rice flour and various spices was standardized. The prepared dehydrated potato snack premix was packed in LDPE bags and stored at room temperature for a period of 6 months to study the shelf-life and quality attributes of the prepared product. The physicochemical parameters including ash content, protein content, Free fatty acids and peroxide value of dehydrated premix remained unaffected during storage up to six months with the exception of moisture which increased significantly (p < 0.05) during storage. Slight but significant (p < 0.05) reductions in bioactive components including total phenolics and total antioxidant activity of dehydrated snack premix occurred during storage. The ready to eat fried potato snack prepared from dehydrated premix was found to be highly acceptable for up to 6 months of storage without any change in sensory quality.

218-223

Authors: Ravishankar M. Patil and S. L. Jagadeesh

An experiment was conducted to know the effect of bunch spraying of silicon and bunch bagging on fruit yield, quality and shelf life of banana cv. Neypoovan. Potassium silicate was applied as three sprays at 30 days interval after emergence of inflorescence followed of bagging of bunches. Sprays were given at concentration of 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 ml/lit per bunch 30 days interval then followed by bagging of bunches with polyethylene sleeves after spraying till harvest of fruits. Fruit characters like fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, bunch weight and maximum shelf life (7.33 days) was recorded in treatment applied with bunch spraying of potassium silicate 6 ml/l per bunch bagging. The quality parameters viz., total sugars, acidity, total soluble solids, starch content of the fruit were also significantly influenced by same treatment.

228-232

Authors: Arvind Kumar Baswal, H. S. Rattanpal, K. S. Gill and Gurupkar Singh Sidhu

Variability assessment of six grapefruit varieties was done based on 22 qualitative and quantitative morphological characters. The maximum variability was observed for leaf lamina width (CV =12.03), while the minimum variability was noted for petiole wing width (CV = 0.13). The maximum heritability (h2 ) coupled with maximum genetic advance percentage of mean (GA) was observed for petiole wing width (100 and 45.96, respectively), followed by spine length (100 and 25, respectively) and rootstock diameter (85 and 21.44, respectively), while the minimum heritability coupled with the minimum genetic advance percentage of mean was observed for leaf lamina length (7 and 0.70, respectively).

238-241

Authors: Bijit Kumar Saud

An experiment was carried out in the medicinal and aromatic plant block of Experimental Farm (Horticulture), Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during 2010-2011 and 2011-12. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with seven treatments viz, T0 control, T1 100% RF + FYM 5t/ha (RF: reference dose of fertilizer @ 10 : 60 : 30 kg/ha N, P2O5 and K2 O, T2 75% RF + Azotobacter @20 g per plant + PSB @20 g per plant + FYM 5t/ha, T3 50% RF+ Azotobacter @20 g per plant + PSB @20 g per plant + FYM 5t/ha,T4 25% RF+ Azotobacter @20 g per plant + PSB @20 g per plant + FYM 5t/ha, T5 50% RF + FYM 5t/ha + Vermicompost 1t/ha, T6 50% RF + FYM 5t/ha + Enrich compost @2t/ha (AAU made) and three replications for two years to determine the biometric and yield performance of Rauwolfia tetraphylla under different nutrient sources. The soil of the experimental plot was sandy loam having pH of 4.8, organic carbon (10.05 %), available N (243.32 kg/ha), available P2 O5 (24.98 kg/ha) and available K2O (94.75 kg/ha). The maximum value of plant height (89.15 cm), leaf number (374.70), leaf area index (2.62), branches (19.09), flowers (372.54) and fruits per plant (295.09), seed and root yield (8.94kg/ha and 2809.64kg/ha) were recorded under treatment T2. The highest value of total alkaloid (1.28mg/100g dry weight), Phenol(1.69mg/100g dry weight), Tannin (0.45mg/100g dry weight) and Flavonoids (1.70mg/100g dry weight) were recorded by the treatment receiving vermicompost in combination with 50% RF dose of fertilizer and organic manures (T5 ).

246-250

Authors: Naresh Kumar, Jitendra Kumar, J.P. Singh and Himanshu Kaushik

The field experiment was conducted at Horticulture Research Farm of Choudhary Charan Singh University Campus, Meerut U.P. during 2011-12. The nine treatments A1 (Azotobacter by Root Treatment 0.20g/15 plants), A2 (Azotobacter by Soil Treatment 0.40g/plot), G1 (Gibberellic acid 100 ppm spray at 30 DAT), G2 (Gibberellic acid 150 ppm spray at 30 DAT), A1G1 (Azotobacter by Root Treatment 0.20g/15 plants and Gibberellic acid 100 ppm spray at 30 DAT), A1G2 (Azotobacter by Root Treatment 0.20g/15 plants and Gibberellic acid 150 ppm spray at 30 DAT), A2 G1 (Azotobacter by Soil Treatment 0.40g/plot and Gibberellic acid 100 ppm spray at 30 DAT ), A2G2 (Azotobacter by Soil Treatment 0.40g/plot and Gibberellic acid 150 ppm spray at 30 DAT) and A0G0 (No Azotobactor and No Gibbrellic acid) were evaluated in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The experimental finding revealed that the treatment A2G2 (Soil treatment with Azotobacter + Spray of GA3 @ 150 ppm) gave the maximum plant height, maximum number of primary branches per plant, maximum number of secondary branches per plant, maximum plant spread, minimum number of days taken for flower bud appearance, maximum number of flowers per plant, maximum flower diameter, maximum fresh weight of flowers per plant and maximum yield of flower in comparison to individual application of GA3 and Azotobacter.

255-257

Authors: Sk. Md. Azizur Rahman, Kuldeep Srivastava and Gajendra Singh

Studies on the effect of IPM, chemical, botanicals and cultural practices on hopper showed that hopper population was effectively controlled in insecticide, IPM, insecticide + botanical pesticide and botanical pesticide whereas maximum hopper population was recorded in control. Fruit set per 100 panicles was significantly higher than control in all treatment whereas it was at par among IPM, insecticide alone and insecticide + botanical pesticide. Fruits harvested were maximum in IPM followed by insecticide and insecticide + botanical pesticide whereas no significant differences in fruits harvest were observed between cultural+ mechanical practices and control. Fruit weight was maximum in IPM followed by insecticide + botanical pesticide and insecticide alone. Lowest fruit weight was observed in control.

261-264

Authors: D. S. Mishra and A.K. Goswami

High density orcharding is one of the recent novel concepts of increasing productivity without affecting quality of fruits. It gives earlier production and return per unit area, shortens juvenility provides efficient resources. Dwarfing root stocks play key role to accommodate more number of plants per unit area. Under HDP has been found most suitable technique for some tropical and subtropical fruits accommodating more number of plants per unit area viz., Dashehari mango (1333 plants/ha), guava (5000 plants/ha), papaya (6400 plants/ha), etc.