Screening of South Indian Culinary Melon (Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. acidulus) Accessions for Downy Mildew Disease under Natural Epiphytotic Condition

Culinary melon also known as non dessert cucumber (Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. acidulus) belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is widely cultivated in Southern parts of Indian subcontinent. It is mainly utilized for preparation of lentil soup, sambar, dosa, palya and chutney. 70 accessions were collected from six South Indian states namely Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Goa. The accessions were evaluated for incidence of downy mildew resistance during Kharif 2018 under natural condition. The percent disease index (PDI) for downy mildew ranged from 3.70 to 48.64%. 10 accessions showed resistance to downy mildew. Among them, accession MS21 showed resistance with average least PDI of 3.70 followed by MS 6 (6.54). 50 accessions were found to be moderately resistant with average PDI ranging from 20 to 39.80. 12 accessions were found susceptible with PDI ranging from 41 to 49. None of the accession was found highly susceptible to the disease. The resistant accessions can be utilized as donor parents for resistant breeding in the improvement of culinary melon as well as melon group of vegetables.

Economic Performance of Crop based Intervention under Farmer FIRST Programme of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal

Farmer FIRST programme is a new approach for project development initiated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The present study entitled ‘Impact Assessment of Selected Interventions under farmers FIRST programme of NDRI’ was conducted in the farmer FIRST project area in five villages namely KamalpurRoran, GarhiGujran, NagalaRoran, Churni and Samourafrom Indri and Karnal blocks of Karnal district of Haryana state. This paper is about economic performance of crop-based intervention under this project. Total three crops-based interventions were selected and 42 respondents were selected in proportionate to the intervention. Informal’ experimental design (before and-after without control design) was used. The results shows that respondents were getting benefit-cost ratios of Integrated Pest Management in paddy (2.08), Integrated Weed Management in wheat (1.97) and integrated nutrient management in wheat (2.05), respectively, with increased yields, effective pest management in paddy, better weed management and balanced nutrient management in wheat crop under these interventions. Overall project has made good impact in the study area.

Impact of Mechanical Transplanting on Rice Productivity and Profitability- Review

Conventional rice transplanting methods are laboured exhaustive and involves drudgery. On an average only transplanting operation takes one fourth of the total labour requirement of rice production under traditional system. Shifting of agricultural labourer towards urban areas for better remuneration creates labour shortage during peak time of transplanting. Lower plant density compared to desirable level under traditional transplanting method habitually farmers force to apply higher amounts of agro-input to compensate as result cost of cultivation has increased considerably and eventually get lesser grain yield. Under such circumstances, a cheap and labour redeemable way of rice transplanting without compromising grain yield is the need of the time. The mechanical rice transplanting is an alternative and encouraging choice for ensuring timely transplanting and also contributes to higher grain yield. Mechanical transplanting of rice is profitable over traditional methods and easy to operate. In spite of having superiority over the conventional transplanting, acceptance in the field level is stumpy due to high preliminary investment and dearth of awareness in growing mat type nursery. Divulging technical skill, confirming timely accessibility and boosting custom hiring may be some of the practical solutions for increasing the adoption rate of mechanical transplanting among farmers. This review focused on the positive and negative impact of mechanical transplanting on productivity and profitability of rice production.

Isolation and Screening of Lignocellulolytic Microorganisms from Different Locations of Dang (Gujarat) India

Total 56 (CD1 to CD56) bacteria and 43 (LD1 to LD43) fungi were isolated from different collected samples from District Dang, Gujarat (India). Subsequently, it was screened for cellulose and lignin degrading capabilities. Out of total 56 bacterial isolates, 41 showed clear zones around the colonies on CMC agar and only four isolates showed color zone around the colonies on ABTS agar. Among 43 fungal isolates, 40 showed clear zones around the colonies on CMC agar and 26 isolates showed color zone around the colonies on ABTS agar. Among the isolates, bacterial isolates CD11, CD17, CD19, CD22 and CD35 showed higher zone to colony ratio on CMC agar and fungal isolates LD1, LD4, LD5, LD9, LD15, LD19, LD20 and LD39 showed higher color change on ABTS agar which were selected for further screening.

Effects of Sowing Dates on Yield and Yield Components of Different Varieties of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Western Uttar Pradesh

An experiment was conducted during Rabi season (November-December) of 2018–19 to study the effect of three dates of sowing (26th November, 11th December and 25th December) on growth, yield attributes and yield of fivewheat varieties (HD-2967, HD-3086, WH-1105, PBW-343 and PBW-226) at Agricultural Research Farm of IFTM University, Moradabad (UP) India. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Design with two replications. Sowing was done at spacing of 22.5 cm in sandy loam soil. The observations were recorded on growth, flowering, maturity, yield and yield components. Analysis of variance showed the significant variations were observed for the characters viz. plant height, days to flowering, spikes per plant, days to maturity, grain yield, test weight, straw yield, biological yield and harvest index due to changing dates of sowing. However, varietal variations were recorded for plant height, days to flowering, spikes per plant, days to maturity and test weight. Wheat sown on 26th November recorded significant increase in plant height, tillers plant-1, spikes-1 plant, grain yield and straw yield over late sowing on 11th December and 25th December. There was no significant variation among varieties for yield and yield contributing traits such as grains spike-1, grain and straw yield. Significant interaction effects between dates of sowing and varieties were found for days to flowering which showed that the variety HD-2967 is as best wheat variety for early sown and PBW-226 for late sown conditions in order to obtain better returns.

Fusarium Wilt of Cucumber- A Review

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) wilt is an important disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum. The disease is prevalent in most of the countries of the world with yield losses ranging from 40–70%. Characteristic symptoms of the disease include pre and post-emergence damping-off, stunting, chlorosis, necrosis and finally wilting of the older leaves with brown vascular discoloration. Two formae speciales of F. oxysporum have been described in cucumber. The fungus grows profusely on the culture media and produces macroconidia which are tapered with a slight hook, microconidia oval in shape and terminal or intercalary chlamydospores. The disease prevails under the conditions having abundant soil moisture and soil temperature ranging from 24–27oC and no growth of the fungus was observed above 37oC. The pathogen is host-specific to cucumber with muskmelon and watermelon being slightly sensitive. Due to environment and health concerns associated with large scale use of chemicals, the application of resistant germplasm, bio-control agents, and bio formulations is more reliable. This review describes the use of resistant germplasm, bio-control agents, bio-formulations and fungicides to control Fusarium wilt of cucumber.

Assessment of Fruit Drop in Different Cultivars of Litchi

Individual panicles produce hundreds of pistillate flowers but only a small proportion of these bear fruit and reach maturity. There are some stages of fruit drop during growth and development caused by different factors. An experimental trial was conducted in National Active Germplasm Site (NAGS) at ICAR-NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, to assess the fruit drop due to different factors during 2014–2015. The result revealed that four factors viz., improper pollination and fertilization, embryo abortion, seed and fruit borer, and normal fruit abscission were associated with fruit drop in litchi and fruit drop varied from 23.53–77.54% with a maximum in Shahi and lowest in Elaichi during the first week of flowering. Fruit drop increased to 92.65–97.86% during the third week of flowering because of improper pollination and fertilization, and it reached a maximum level of 98.51–99.70% at the time of ripening stage with the lowest in Deshi. Embryo abortion was one primary cause of fruit drop during the 4th week whereas infestation of seed and fruit borer was the major factor for fruit drop during the 5–7th week. Such fruit drop can be controlled by managing the infestation of borer. Abscission due to ethylene production and heat stress during the maturity of fruit was yet another cause of fruit drop. This study will help to researcher to find out the time of infestation of seed and fruit borer which causes heavy fruit drop and it can be controlled with pest management option.

Effect of Different Bag Opening Methods of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) on Growth Parameter, Yield and Benefit Cost Ratio

Oyster mushroom growers are generally confused about the scientific basis of the cultivation technology with regard to the best bag opening method after a spawn run. The present study was undertaken to find out the effect of four different methods of bag opening on yield, benefit cost ratio (BCR) and biological efficiency of oyster mushrooms during November, 2020 to March, 2021. The results indicated that treatment-2 (retaining the polythene bag for the entire cultivation period) exhibited significantly the highest yield (1644.61 g bed-1) followed by treatment-3 (opening top part of the polythene bag after spawn run) (1536.62 g bed-1), and treatment-1 (opening top and bottom part of the polythene bag (1468.82 g bed-1) and treatment-4 (complete removal of the polythene bag) (1111.19 g). The BCR was also found to be the highest (4.39) in treatment-2 followed by treatment-3 (4.09), treatment-1 (3.96) and treatment-4 (2.98). Retaining the polythene bag during the entire cultivation period was found to be the best method of cultivation with regard to biological efficiency (82.23%). Opening the top part of the polythene bag after the spawn run showed the biological efficiency of 76.83% which was followed by the treatment with opening the polythene bag from the top and bottom part of the bed (73.44%).The lowest biological efficiency (55.56%) was observed in the treatment in which the entire polythene bag was removed after a spawn run in darkroom. Mushroom growers may retain the polythene bag surrounding the mushroom bed during the entire cultivation period for better economic return.

GIS based Land Use Suitability of Diversified Cropping Systems in Bareli Watershed

A study was undertaken to evaluate the soils in Bareli watershed, Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh for sustainable land use planning. Five soil series namely, Diwartola, Diwara, Bareli-1, Bareli-2 and Bareli-3 were tentatively identified and mapped into twenty-four mapping units and a soil map was generated using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. The land information generated during soil survey has been used to evaluate land capability, land irrigability, soil productivity and soil-site suitability for some medicinal, aromatic and spices crops. The soils were grouped into land capability sub-classes IVs and IVst and land irrigability sub-classes 2st, 3s, 3st and 4st. Soils of Diwartola, Bareli-1 and Bareli-3 were average and soils of Diwara and Bareli-2 were poor in soil productivity based on limitations of erosion, drainage and physicochemical properties. Soil-site suitability assessment reveals that soils of Bareli-1 were moderately suitable (S2) for cultivation of medicinal and spices crops like Ashwagandha, Mucana, Davana, Lemongrass, Turmeric and Ginger with moderate limitations of effective depth and slope, while, soils of Diwartola and Bareli-3 were marginally suitable (S3) for cultivation of these crops.

Status of Sandalwood (Santalum album Linn.) in Low Hills of Himachal Pradesh

The present investigation on the status of Sandalwood (Santalum album Linn.) in low hills of Himachal Pradesh was carried out in the Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry in the laboratory at the main campus of the Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan and in the field at Bilaspur and Jawala Mukhi varying in altitude from 500–850 m. The growth behavior of sandals was studied through the selection of 10 ha sampling plot at Bilaspur and 5 ha sampling plot at Jawala Mukhi based on tree density. The investigations revealed that the trees have covered an area of 15 ha at Bilaspur and 30 ha at Jawala Mukhi. The total number of trees growing at Bilaspur and Jawala Mukhi was found to be 1076 and 815, respectively. Further, average oil content was about 3.86 and 3.90% in the heartwood of S. album growing at Bilaspur and Jawala Mukhi. Phytosociological parameters of vegetation in sandal stand at Bilaspur revealed Santalum album as the dominant tree species with its maximum IVI value which corresponds to its higher frequency, basal area, and density.