Volume 40 Issue 1 (March 2006)

D.K. Vaish and A.P. Sinha

Centre of Advanced Studies in Plant Pathology,
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263 145, India

Thirteen isolates of Gliocladium spp and four isolates of Aspergillus niger obtained from different sources viz., soil, rice rhizosphere, rice leaves and rice leaf sheath were evaluated for their biocontrol ability against R. solani, the causal agent of sheath blight of rice. Four isolates of Gliocladium spp.(1, 24, 29 and 30) and 4 isolates of Aspergillus niger (35, 36, 37 and 38) were found effective in dual culture. Hyphal interactions between biological control agents and R. solani were observed as hyperparasitic coiling, penetration and finally resulting lysis and collapse of R. solani. Two isolates of Gliocladium spp. (1, 33) and all four isolates of A. niger were found highly inhibitory to the mycelial growth of the pathogen by producing volatile substances. Culture filtrate of the promising isolates of antagonists were also inhibited the growth of the pathogen.

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NUTRIENT UPTAKE APPRAISAL OF MAIZE INTERCROPPED WITH LEGUMES AND ASSOCIATED WEEDS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF WEED CONTROL

M.K. Chalka and V. Nepalia

Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture,
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur - 313 001, India

Field experiments were conducted during rainy seasons of 2001 and 2002 to evaluate the uptake of major primary nutrients by maize legume intercropping system under the influence of weed control. Maize intercropped with cowpea and soybean produced significantly lower weed dry matter and NPK depletion by them. All intercropping systems produced higher biological yield of crops. Maize + soybean resulted in higher N uptake while all intercropping systems were at par and resulted in significantly higher P uptake than sole maize. While K uptake by crops was unaffected by intercropping systems. Weed control through pre-emergence application of metolachlor 1 kg ha-1, alachlor 2 kg ha-1 and hand weeding at 30 DAS significantly reduced the weed dry matter and NPK uptake by them. These treatments also increased the total biological yield of crop and their total NPK uptake.

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STUDY OF YIELD, YIELD ATTRIBUTES AND GRAIN PROTEIN OF SOYBEAN GENOTYPES

J.K. Sonawane, N.V. Kashid, M.S. Kamble and R.K. Ahire

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,
Rahuri - 413 722, India

Due to high protein content (40-42 %) of soybean it is known as “poor man’s meat”. The average productivity of soybean in the country is about 1008 kg/ha, which is, much below than the average productivity of the world, 2148 kg/ha. Some of the major constraints in soybean production are the lack of suitable location specific cultivars, poor seed viability and non-availability of drought resistant varieties, poor storage life of soya oil, beany flavor and high linolenic acid content. From the present investigation, it is concluded that amongst the different soybean genotypes, G9 (EC-34332) produced the highest grain yield (2754 kg/ha). In the high yielding genotypes viz., G9 (EC-34332), G11 (PLSO-76), G10 (EC-39034), mean number of pods per plant, mean number of grains per pod, 1000 grain weight and mean harvest index (HI) were observed to be the major yield contributing characters. Negative correlation of mean protein content with seed yield was observed as the low yielding genotype G7 (DS-141) was found superior in respect of protein content.

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) PRODUCTION UNDER VARIED TIMES OF SOWING IN WESTERN ZONE OF TAMIL NADU, INDIA

R. Karthikeyan and T.N. Balasubramanian

Department of Agricultural Meteorology,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India

Field experiments were conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during three seasons viz., Rabi 2000, Late Rabi 2001 and Kharif 2001 seasons. The treatments comprised of four times of sowing each at fortnight interval in main plots and four fertilizer management practices in subplots, adopting a split plot design. The test maize hybrid used for the study was COH 3. The observations on economics of maize production were recorded and computed after completion of each experiment. The results of the study revealed that Kharif 2001 season sowings recorded higher economic returns followed by Rabi 2000 and Late Rabi 2001 seasons.

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DEVELOPMENT OF RUSTS IN VARIETAL MIXTURES OF WHEAT

T.B. Singh and A.N. Tewari

Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture,
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263 145, India

Brown and yellow rust development in variety mixtures was represented more precisely by coefficient of disease level (CDL), which incorporated infection type, rust severity and rust incidence into one value. The development of rusts declined in variety mixtures in comparison to their pure susceptible components. Mixtures of HD 2329 + WH 542 + UP 2338; RR 21 + PBW 226 + HUW 234; PBW 154 + Sangam + UP 2338 resulted decrease in brown rust by 51.85, 47.89 and 40.00 per cent; and in yellow rust by 50.00, 15.00 and 37.50 per cent, respectively over mean of their components. Variety mixtures yielded more than the total average yields of their components and exhibited lower yield reduction in absence of fungicide protection.

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HETEROSIS IN RELATION TO PER SE AND SCA EFFECTS IN GRAIN SORGHUM {SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH}

K. Iyanar and A. Gopalan

Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India

Close association between per se performance of hybrids and heterosis was observed for all the traits except for leaf number and seed yield, suggesting that the selection of the crosses based on per se performance would be more realistic in sorghum. In the present study the hy¬brids 2077A x SPV 1192 recorded high per se and significant heterosis for grain yield and panicle weight and hence it could be exploited for commercial hybrid seed production. It was evident that high x high general combiners produced high per se and significant sca effects couple with higher SCA variance with significant hetero¬sis for seed yield and panicle weight in the hybrid 2077A x SPV 1192 indicating the importance of non additive gene action which could be exploited for developing hybrids in sorghum.

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MORPHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME MUTANT ISOLATES OF GLIOCLADIUM VIRENS, A POTENTIAL MYCOPARASITE OF SCLEROTIAL PLANT PATHOGENS

Subhendu Jash, Surajit Khalko, Shaonli Bose, Manisha Roy and Sitansu Pan

Department of Plant Pathology,
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia - 741 252, India

Two wild and five mutant isolates of Gliocladium virens were tested for morphological and physiological characterization. On PDA and OMA media all the isolates produced usual green coloured fluffy or submerged colonies with profuse mycelial growth except 50 Gv1V, which showed albino colour colonies. 50 Gv1I isolate produced comparatively large size ampuliform phialides whereas larger phialospore was produced by Gv1 isolates. All the isolates grew more rapidly on PDA than OMA medium. Irrespective of isolates, high sporulation was observed both in OMA and PDA with few exceptions. In case of biomass production the PDB medium was found superior to other media. The mutant isolates 50 Gv1V produced higher biomass on the basis of mycelial dry weight (293.00 mg) on PDB whereas on CDB highest mycelial growth (174. 67 mg) was recorded with 50 Gv1I isolate.

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INTER CROPPING OF OATS IN MANGO (MANGIFERA INDICA LINN.)

A.S. Gill1 and Ajit

National Research Centre for Agroforestry,
Jhansi (UP) - 284 003, India

Studies were initiated with planting mango varieties (Amrapalli, Mallika, Deshari and Langra) during 1990-91 in a spacing of 10m x 10m and raising oats in the inter spaces for grain yield for four years. Growth characters recorded in mango varieties prior to sowing of oat crop each year revealed the superiority of Langra followed by Mallika and Deshari. Lowest growth characters were obtained with Amrapalli. In case of grain yield of oats, it was highest in association with Langra variety of mango and lowest with Mallika variety. Among the rows, as the distance of rows increased from the tree component, the grain yield also increased.

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INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT IN CUCUMBER

M. Prabhu, S. Natarajan, K. Srinivasan and L. Pugalendhi

Department of Vegetable Crops,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India

Present study was conducted during December 2003 in cucumber var. Green Long. The results revealed that application of 50 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers + vermicompost @ 2 t/ha + biofertilizers (2 kg in each of Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg ha-1) increased the vine length, earliness in flowering, yield and yield components. The highest yield of 32.80 t/ha and B:C ratio of 2.24 was also recorded in the same treatment. Hence application of 50 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers + vermicompost @ 2 t ha-1 + biofertilizers (2 kg in each of Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria) is recommended for cucumber crop.

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EFFECT OF TILLAGE PRACTICES AND IRRIGATION SCHEDULES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF CASTOR IN RICE FALLOWS

P. Sesha Saila Sree, B. Bhaskar Reddy and D. Swapna Sree

Department of Agronomy,
College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030, India

Field experiments were carried out during late rabi/early summer seasons of 1996-97 and 1997-98 with four tillage practices as main plots and three IW/CPE ratios as sub plots in strip plot design with four replications. The seed yield and yield attributes recorded by ploughing twice with country plough followed by working twice with power tiller rotovator; and tractor tilling with cultivator twice followed by rotovating twice with power tiller was comparable and significantly superior to that recorded with tractor tilling with cultivator twice followed by harrowing twice with tractor drawn offset disc harrow; and ploughing twice with country plough alone. Among the IW/CPE ratios, irrigations scheduled at 0.4 IW/CPE resulted in significantly higher seed yield than that of 0.6 IW/CPE ratio and yield in the latter treatment was significantly higher over that of 0.2 IW/CPE ratio.

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COMBINING ABILITY ANALYSIS FOR YIELD AND ITS CONTRIBUTING TRAITS IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.)

A. Subramanian and N. Subbaraman

Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics,
TNAU, Coimbatore - 641 003, India

Hybrids were synthesised in a 11 x 11 diallel fashion excluding reciprocals and analysis of combining ability was undertaken for yield and its component traits in maize. Non-additive genetic variance played a preponderant role in the inheritance of plant height, leaf length, number of grains per row and seed yield per plant. Based on general combining ability, parent UMI 757 was found to be a good combiner for improving yield and yield contributing traits. Three cross combinations viz., UMI 852 x UMI 615, UMI 852 x UMI 577 and UMI 852 x UMI 556 had highly significant sea effect for most of the yield contributing traits.

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CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS IN SUGARCANE

S.P. Kadian, Rishi Pal and Y.S. Lather

CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Regional Research Station, Karnal - 132 001, India

Estimates of correlation coefficients and direct and indirect effects were obtained among cane yield and its component traits for 32 sugarcane genotypes grown in three environments. Cane yield was found significantly correlated with single cane weight, millable canes per clump and cane height. High direct effect of millable canes per clump and single cane weight were observed for cane yield. Number of millable canes per clump and single cane weight emerged as the most important traits influencing cane yield. Apart from these traits due emphasis should be given to cane height, internode length and juice quality traits while selecting clones suitable for late planting conditions.

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COMBINING ABILITY IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.)

S. Jagadeesan and J. Ganesan

Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University,
Annamalainagar - 608 002, India

Six lines and three testers were used to make crosses as per line x tester analysis, ten characters including quantitative and qualitative traits were tested for gca and sca in F1’s and their parents. The results were indicative of predominance of non additive gene actions for all the traits studied. The variances of general combining ability (gca) and specific combining ability (sca) were highly significant. Based on the gca effects of parents, the line IR 58029-99-3-1-3 (L5) and tester BR 4828-2-2-1(T2) were recorded negative gca effects for days to 50 per cent flowering and plant height. In addition, the line IR 58108-3-1-1-2 (L6) and tester BR 802-78-2-1-1 (T3) possessed high gca effects, the cross IR 44962-161-2-4-4-2/AS 37800 and IR 58108 -3-1-1-2/AS 37800 showed highly significant results for days to 50 per cent flowering and grain yield per plant respectively.

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GENETIC VARIATION AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AMONG YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS IN FENUGREEK

O.P. Balai, D. Singh and U.K. Jain

Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics,
Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner Campus, Jobner - 303 329 India

An evaluation of 36 genotypes including checks of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) has showed significant variability for all the ten traits. High estimates of PCV along with GCV as well as heritability and GA were observed for fat content, protein content and number of pods/plant. Moderate heritability alongwith high GA was recorded for number of pods/plant. High heritability along with moderate GA were recorded for plant height and seed yield/plant. Low heritability alongwith low genetic advance was recorded for number of seeds/pod. Based upon the correlation and path coefficient analysis, it was concluded that number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod and test weight were the most important traits as they exerted positive direct effect as well as showed positive correlation with seed yield.

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HETEROSIS IN LANDRACE HYBRIDS OF POST-RAINY SORGHUM {SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH}

A.V. Umakanth, S.S. Rao and S.V. Kuriakose

National Research Center for Sorghum,
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030, India

Twenty hybrids, derived from a line x tester trial, were evaluated in post-rainy season (rabi) during 2002-03 along with the parents and the checks. Heterosis over standard checks CSH 19R and M35-1 and better parent was studied for grain yield and its component characters. Negative heterosis over the checks for days to flowering and plant height was observed for most of the hybrids indicating their earliness and at par status for height. Heterosis for test weight over CSH 19R was higher and significant for all the hybrids. The cross 117AxPU 28 was the highest yielding, exhibiting significant heterosis over better parent and both the checks. Among landraces, PU 28 and PU 16 proved to be better because of their good combining ability and could be utilized as restorers for commercial exploitation of heterosis.

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INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA)-RAPESEED (BRASSICA COMPRESTRIS VAR. TORIA) CROPPING SEQUENCE UNDER RAINFED CONDITION

L.N. Singh and A.K. Kumar Singh

Department of Agronomy
Central Agricultural University, Imphal - 795 001, India

Field experiments were conducted during 1997-98 and 1998-99 to find out suitable integrated application of nitrogen and biofertilizer for increased grain yield in rice and to study its residual impact on rapeseed. Among the treatments, 80 kg N ha-1 in integration with BGA and Azolla recorded the highest grain yield of rice crop. With regards to the subsequent crop of rapeseed, the same treatment was found to be better in registering higher yield. When rice-rapeseed sequence was considered as a whole, application of 80 kg N ha-1 + Azolla + BGA was remunerative which gave the highest return per rupee investment of 2.33.

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EFFECT OF FOOD ATTRACTANTS ON COCONUT RED PALM WEEVIL, RHYNCHOPHOUS FERRUGINEUS OLIVER

C. Gailce Leo Justin and R.P. Soundararajan

Horticultural Research Station,
Pechiparai - 629 161, Kanyakumari, India

The efficacy of different food attractant combinations were studied against coconut redpalm weevil, Rhynchophrus ferrugineus Oliver. More population of weevils get attracted towards logs treated with tender coconut water + caster cake than tender coconut water alone upto 8th week and a high response noticed till 4th week. In both the field trials food attractants added with castor cake shown better attraction of weevils. When castor cake added with tender coconut water and coconut toddy captured more adult insects.

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Last Updated on Saturday, 05 February 2011 19:44