International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology

1-4

Authors: JJ Musa, GA Fumen

Water distribution system plays a vital role in preserving and providing a desirable life quality to the public. In this regards, the reliability of supply is a major component. This study was conducted using the investigative research approach method; 5000 questionnaires which were randomly distributed round the township of Ilorin and 4658 (93.16%) were returned. Among them, 2350 respondents said that they have their own wells dugged in their respective homes, 1100 respondents had their taps running at specific periods of the week, 750 individuals said that they have boreholes available, 308 people declared that they make use of the streams and rivers running around their areas while about 150 of the remaining buy water from the water vendors so they cannot tell the exact source of the water. It was discovered that majority of the residential areas in Ilorin do not depend on the tap water supply rather they depend on dugged wells and bore holes.

12-19

Authors: SM Mudyiwa, CT Gadzirayi, JF Mupangwa, J Gotosa, T Nyamugure

The study sought to establish the constraints to Moringa agronomic practices and marketing in the smallholder farming sector of Zimbabwe. Purposive sampling selected 96 respondents across four study districts in Zimbabwe who were interviewed using an open-ended questionnaire. Eight focus group discussions disaggregated by gender were carried out to supplement primary data. Growers asserted Moringa oleifera production problems of livestock damage, theft, seed supply, inefficient cultivation practices resulting in inherent low productivity and poor marketing. The growers coped through intensive monoculture of M. oleifera, enhanced local seed supply from establishing their own seed orchards, product value addition and organized associations. Moringa can be used to promote climate change resilient agricultural systems and will be a solution to environmental problems.

26-28

Authors: MA Hoque, MA Wohab

To achieve optimum yield of onion by placing the seeds at a certain depth in lines, a manually operated drum seeder for onion has been designed, fabricated and tested in Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process (FMP) Engineering Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). The seeder is suitable for the small farmers who have practice of direct seeding of onion under dry land cultivation. The seeder consists of a frame, a PVC drum, furrow openers, furrow closer, wheels and handle. In 2009-2010, the seeder was fabricated in FMP Engineering divisional workshop and tested in experimental plot, BARI, Gazipur. Seed rate of the seeder was 4 kg ha-1 and field capacity was 0.08 ha hr-1. Weight and price of the seeder were 5.5 kg and Tk 2500 per unit, respectively. In 2010-2011, a drug chain was added in the seeder and field performance evaluation of the seeder was repeated comparing with manual line sowing and traditional broadcasting methods in experimental plot of BARI, Gazipur. There was no significant variation between average yield of onion by using the seeder (13.26 ton ha-1) and in that of manual line sowing (12.90 ton ha-1) but there was significantly higher yield of onion by using the seeder than that in traditional (10.25 ton ha-1). But sowing time (6 h ha-1) was significantly lower for seeder use than manual line sowing (48 h ha-1) which contribute to reduce the cost of sowing for direct seeded onion.

35-46

Authors: M Ibrahim Khalil, M Bahadur Meah, Mirza Mofazzal Islam

The F4 lines of eggplant derived from the crosses of Dohazari G x BAU Begun-1 and Laffa S x BAU Begun-1 were evaluated for resistance to phomopsis blight and fruit rot under confined field conditions. The inoculated plants exhibited differential disease reactions. Among the parents, BAU Begun-1 was resistant whereas Dohazari G and Laffa S were susceptible to Phomopsis vexans. All the phenotypes of F4 progenies showed resistant reaction to the disease. Significant differences were observed among the phenotypes in all the yield components. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and per cent genetic advance were estimated for number of fruits per plant, number of secondary branch per plant, fruit length and fruit breadth. Significant positive correlation was observed between yield contributing characters. Random amplified polymorphic DNA technique was used for assessing genetic variation and relationship among parent cultivars and their F4 progenies of eggplant. Amplification with five decamer primers generated 69.0% polymorphic bands. Comparatively higher genetic distance was observed between Laffa S vs. green globose (Dohazari G x BAU Begun-1). The dendogram constructed from Nei’s genetic distance produced two main clusters, the parent cultivars and six F4 lines formed cluster 1 and one line in cluster 2. F4 lines of the tested phenotypes showed similar disease reaction and divided into same sub cluster. The parent cultivars were different in case of disease reaction and finally divided into two groups, susceptible cultivars Laffa S and Dohazari G belonged to group 1 and the resistant parent BAU Begun-1 formed another group.

52-59

Authors: M Al-Amin, MM Islam, SN Begum, MS Alam, M Moniruzzaman, MAK Patwary

Twenty eight rice germplasms were used for identification of salt tolerant rice genotypes at the seedling stage at the experimental farm and Biotechnology laboratory of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Mymensingh during February 2009 to October 2009. Phenotyping for salinity screening of the rice genotypes was done using salinized (EC level 12 dS m-1) nutrient solution in hydroponic system. Genotypes were evaluated for salinity tolerance on 1-9 scale based on seedling growth parameters following modified Standard Evaluation Scoring (SES) of IRRI. Phenotypically, on the basis of SES and % total dry matter (TDM) reduction of the genotypes viz. PBSAL-614, PBSAL-613, PBSAL-730, Horkuch, S-478/3 Pokkali and PBSAL (STL)-15 were found to be salt tolerant; on the other hand Iratom-24, S-653/32, S-612/32, S-604/32, S-633/32, Charnock (DA6), BINA Dhan-6 and S-608/32 were identified as salt susceptible. For genotyping, ten SSR markers were used for polymorphism, where 3 primers (RM127, RM443 and RM140) were selected for evaluation of salt tolerance. In respect of Primer RM127, 7 lines were found salt tolerant and 11 lines were moderately tolerant and 10 lines were susceptible. Nine tolerant, 9 moderately tolerant and 10 susceptible lines were found when the primer RM140 was used and primer RM443 identified 8 lines as tolerant, 9 lines as moderately tolerant and 11 lines as susceptible. Thus, the salt tolerant lines can be used in further evaluation for salinity tolerance and the SSR markers used in this study are proving valuable for identifying salt tolerant genes in marker assisted breeding.

66-72

Authors: MI Hossain, MR Islam, MN Uddin, SM Arifuzzaman, GN Hasan

The experiments were conducted at Laboratory of the Department of Plant Pathology and in the farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh during Rabi season of the year 2007-2008. Four fungicides viz. Bavistin 50 WP (Carbendazim), Tilt 250 EC (Propiconazole), Cupravit 50 WP (Copperoxychloride) and Dithane M-45 (Mancozeb) and micronutrients (Gypsum, ZnO and Boric acid) were evaluated against Phomopsis vexans causing Phomopsis blight and fruit rot of eggplant. The fungicides and micronutrients either applied individually or in combination showed significant effect in terms of per cent leaf infection, fruit infection, leaf area diseased and fruit area diseased in comparison to control. Effect of each fungicide applied in combination with micronutrients always showed better performance in reducing disease incidence and disease severity than the fungicides applied alone. Among the fungicides, Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) proved to be effective arresting the spore germination and mycelia growth of Phomopsis vexans assayed in in vitro test. Reduction of leaf area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 58.17, 67.37, 78.41 and 85.25%, respectively at pre-flowering, post-flowering, fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 52.22, 58.67, 74.19 and 83.09%, respectively at those stages. Similarly reduction of fruit area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 57.93 and 79.79%, respectively at fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 56.93 and 76.14%, respectively at those stages. Micronutrients had little effect against the disease but significantly better than control.

78-82

Authors: SK Datta, MAR Sarker, FMJ Uddin

The experiment was carried out to study the effect of variety and level of phosphorus fertilizer on the yield and yield components of lentil at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during October 2009 to March 2010. Three lentil varieties viz. BINA masur 2, BINA masur 3 and BARI masur 4 and four levels of phosphorus viz. 0 kg P ha-1 (P0), 15 kg P ha-1 (P15), 30 kg P ha-1 (P30) and 45 kg P ha-1 (P45) were used in this experiment. Varieties showed significant influence on the all characters except plant height. The highest seed yield (1165 kg ha-1) was observed in BARI masur 4, and the lowest seed yield (1028 kg ha-1) was found in BINA masur 3. Phosphorus fertilizer had a significant effect on all the plant characters studied except 1000 seed weight. The highest seed yield (1222kg ha-1) was observed in P45 (45 kg P ha-1) treatment and the lowest seed yield (893 kg ha-1) was found in P0 treatment. In case of interaction, effect of cultivar and phosphorus fertilizer doses had a significant effect on all the plant characters studied except seeds pod -1 and 1000-seed weight. The highest seed yield (1317 kg ha-1) was obtained in V3 X P45 treatment, and the lowest seed yield (830 kg ha-1) was observed in V2 X P0 treatment combination. Among the varieties BINA masur 2 and BARI masur 4 were superior to BINA masur 3 in respect of yield performance with 30 kg P ha-1. BARI masur 4 fertilized with 30 kg P ha-1 produced the highest seed yield.