Wheat is one of the most important crop among the prime cereals at the global level. In the present investigation, 36
bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes were evaluated to estimate the extent of genetic diversity in late sown conditions in
2016-17 and 2017-18 at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. Analysis of variance revealed that genotypes possess significant genetic variability among all traits. A significant positive correlation was observed among yield, grain weight per spike, grain number per spike, spike per meter square, harvest index and thousand grain weight in both the years whereas in 2017-18 biological yield also found positively significant correlated with yield. On contrary, days to 50% heading and grain filling duration revealed a negative correlation. Diversity analysis classified the evaluated wheat genotypes into four and eight distinct groups based on an index of similarity and dissimilarity of attributing traits in 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. A perusal of cluster means for all the traits for both the crop seasons revealed considerable difference all the characters between the clusters. Such differences in genetic component of traits can be applied as a new source of variation. The diverse parents indentified in this study could be used for creating desirable variability.
Domesticated maize is the consequence of diminished variability and genetic erosion, while wild teosinte is the
opulent source of genetic variation in some of the desirable agronomic and kernel traits which are meant to be exploited in maize more through the wide hybridisation to boost up its germplasm amelioration. Very unlikely numbers of researches have been carried on improvement of predomestication alleles. To exploit the variation for some of the novel traits, the teosinte introgressed maize F1 hybrids were analysed for the variability parameters, existing variance and association analysis in this paper. Traits namely number of tillers and main stalk, number of brace roots, plant height, kernel weight, FFD, and kernel area showed high variability which can be used further in useful selection for maize improvement. Simple correlation analysis was analysed for the traits which shows significant positive association of 1000-kernel weight with the other kernel traits. The experiment thus emphasizes the identification and improvement of more desirable predomestication alleles towards the direction of diversity in maize germplasm.
Baby corn is a highly nutritious and fetching high market price but very sensitive to moisture and cold. Normally it is
grown in Kharif season but it can be grown throughout year with good management practices. Therefore, the present study was carried out in Kharif season-2018 to study the effect of crop establishment methods and nutrient management options on productivity and economics of baby corn. The experimental results indicated that ridge planted crop with application of 75%RDF+25%VC gave significantly higher baby corn yield, TSS, gross returns and microbial population. The nitrogen and protein content, net returns, B: C ratio and per day income were recorded under ridge planting. The net profit and net income/day were recorded at 100% RDF that was statistically similar to 75%RDF+25%VC. The microbial population and apparent soil fertility were found higher at 100%VC but it had the lowest net profit and apparent soil fertility. Therefore, the baby corn may be planted on ridges with application of 75%RDF+25%VC for higher baby corn productivity, quality and net profit in whole Indo-Gangetic plains of India.
Soil mulching has been used globally as an efficient strategy for improving soil properties and enhancing crop
growth and productivity. Since most plastic mulches used in agriculture are made of polyethylene, microplastic residues are non-biodegradable and generally difficultly recovered from soils, leading to a potential environmental risk after long-term application. Present study investigated the effects of organic and inorganic mulches on soil properties and productivity of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) crop by conducting an experiment with treatments including no-mulch, maize straw (6 t ha-1), groundnut shells (6 t ha-1), saw dust (6 t ha-1), transparent polythene (25 ? thickness), black polythene (25 ? thickness) and soil dust (1-2 cm soil depth). Results indicated that transparent polythene raised soil temperature by 8% and moisture content by 20% compared to no-mulch, but was similar to organic mulches. Chilli pod yield with transparent polythene mulch (3155 kg ha-1) was statistically on par with groundnut shells (2842 kg ha-1) and also had lower weed dry mater (94, 60 and 59 % at 20, 40 and 60 days after transplanting (DAT), respectively) over control, but was statistically similar with organic mulches. All organic mulches improved soil physical properties like bulk density (BD), porosity and infiltration rate by 6.47, 10 and 4.09 %, respectively over polythene-mulch.
In the present study effect of TiO2 nanoparticles was tested on six plant growth promotory rhizobacteria (HS2, HS10.
HS12, HS11, HM4 and HR11) recovered from soyabean and maize rhizosphere. HM4 showed highest IAA (56.31 ug/ml) production and HR11 showed highest siderophore (56%) production. All the isolates showed maximum growth at 50 ppm TiO2 in nutrient broth, HS10 and HS12 showed best growth. Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles was evaluated on plant vigour of maize treated with selected plant growth promotory bacteria. Bacterial treatment showed enhanced shoot germination, plant height and leaf area over control in the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles. Average total chlorophyll in maize plant was also maximum (5.04 ug/g) in the presence of TiO2 nanoparticle. Performance of HS12 was best among all treatments. After 45 days of pot experiment, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis (57.91ug/ml), dehydrogenase (38.10ug/ml) and alkaline phosphatase (207.16 ug/ml) was reported in the presence of nanoparticles
and bacterial cultures. HM4 and HS12 treatment in the presence of 10 ppm TiO2 enhanced enzyme activities.
