Volume 11, Issue 4, 2023

Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is a critically important root crop native to Ethiopia on the African continent. In terms of nutrition, economics, medical, and social welfare, it is a highly valued food source that is abundant throughout the Western part country. The nutrient makeup of the crop may be affected by the application of various organic and inorganic fertilizers. The effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on the nutritional content of the Anchote food crop, on the other hand, are unknown. As a result, during the 2019-20 cropping season, a field experiment was conducted in the southwestern part of Ethiopia to see how the Anchote variety (Desta 01) responded to various levels of NPSB and farmyard manure in terms of yield and nutritional components. Six rates of mixed NPSB fertilizer (0, 58,116,175,233, and 291 kg ha-1) and three levels of Farmyard Manure (FYM) (0, 5, and 10 t ha-1) were treated within the experimental plot in the field to assess the yield and nutritional composition of the Anchote variety. In a randomized complete block design, the experiment was set up in 3 x 6 factorial patterns with three replications.For laboratory analysis, samples of its roots from all three replications were collected separately after the crop maturity and subjected to SAS (version 9.3) software, which was used to assess nutritional characteristics such as dry matter content of roots (DMC) (percent), crude fat (percent), moisture content (percent), total soluble solid (TSS), and total ash (percent). The results of the laboratory analysis revealed that the interaction effects of blended NPSB fertilizer and FYM levels significantly changed nutritional features such as dry matter and moisture content (P0.01). DMC, ash percent, TSS, moisture content, and crude fat were all significantly (P0.01) affected by FYM and NPSB application in the field, whereas the interaction effects of both NPSB and FYM treatment in the field had a significant (P0.01) impact on laboratory parameters like ash and crude fat content of Anchote cultivar. Finally, the results of the laboratory experiment showed that applying blended NPSB fertilizer and FYMtogether to the field had an effect on the quality and nutritional attributes of the Anchote cultivar gathered for laboratory testing in the research region.

Field investigations were carried out at Sugarcane Research Station, Cuddalore Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, to evolve technology for controlling binding weeds in grown-up sugarcane crops during 2015-18. The experiments were laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications and the sugarcane variety tested wasCoC(SC)24. The treatments constituted of T1 – PE. atrazine @ 1.0 kg/ha and Po.Emetribuzin 0.75 kg/ha @ 60 DAP, T2 – PE atrazine 1.0 kg/ha and Po.E 2,4D Na salt 1.25kg/ha @ 60 DAP, T3 – P.E atrazine 1.0 kg/ha followed by weeding and earthing up on 75 DAP, T4 – Mechanical weeding by power tiller (45, 90 and 120 DAP), T5 – Intercropping of sun hemp and its incorporation as insitu on 60 DAP, T6 – Detrashing and mulching at 150th&210th DAP, and T7 – hand weeding and manual removal of weeds on 45, 90 and 120th days and T8 – Control. Based on the performance of herbicides, the Pre-emergence application of atrazine @ 1.0 kg a.i/ha followed bypost-emergence application of metribuzin @ 0.75 kg/ha on 60 days after planting was the best treatment for controlling weeds in grown-up sugarcane and also the yield attributes increased in sugarcane compared to control. The critical period of weed crop competition in sugarcane ranged between 27 and 50 days (Srivastava et al., 2003). Sugar yield as well as juice quality greatly affected by the application of weed control treatments. The presence of weeds in the sugarcane fields and no control has also led to a decrease in sugar yield (Roshan et al., 2006.; Patel et al., 2007; Kanchan, 2009) in proportion of sucrose, purity and brix ( Bahadar et al., 2004; Annual Report, 2012) . Generally, the increase in by weed growth one kilogram corresponds to a reduction in one kilogram of the crop. The reduction in cane yield due to weeds ranged from 40-60% (Kadam et al., 2011).

Citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is known to cause serious damage to tender shoots, which in turn reduces the leaf yield in curry leaf plants. The pest is emerged as serious on curry leaf growing in and around Dharwad during the recent years. Thus it is important to understand the role of different factors promoting psyllid population on curry leaf plant. The changing weather parameters may also be one among few important factors promoting higher psyllid population. The influence of weather factors on citrus psylla, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama population on curry leaf (Murraya koenigii L.) was studied in 2018 and 2019. The average psyllid population ranged from 1.96 to 38.85 per 4 terminal shoots. There was no nymphal population from the 15th to 18th SMW during 2018 and 2019. The nymphal population peaked during the 37th SMW during both years. The adult population was recorded throughout the year with fluctuation. The adult population peaked (26.20 and 30.10 per 4 terminal shoots) during the 38th SMW (3rd week of September) in both years. Correlation analysis for both years indicated that maximum temperature exhibited a significant and positive correlation with the adult population. Similarly, evening relative humidity was highly significant and positively correlated with the nymphal population whereas, maximum temperature adversely affected the build-up of the nymphal population. The study is useful to find out the weak links of psyllid populations about abiotic factors that could be exploited to curb its infestation.

A roving survey was carried out in Ballari, Davanagere, Haveri, Koppal, Mandya, Mysuru, Raichur, and Shivamogga districts of Karnataka during rabi 2020-21 to determine the prevalence of ear rot of maize incited by Fusarium verticillioides. According to the survey data, Shivamogga had the highest disease incidence (36.10 %), followed by Ballari (28.34 %), while Raichur had the lowest (17.98 %). In eight maize-growing districts, the average percent incidence of Fusarium ear rot was 25.26. Twenty-four isolates of F. verticillioides were collected in different districts that varied in terms of cultural and morphological characteristics. All of the isolates had feathery mycelial growth with either a serrated or smooth edge, with colony diameters ranging from 68.33 mm to 89.33 mm and colony colors ranging from white to purple. The isolates generated septate, hyaline mycelia with verticillate branching ranging in width from 2.10 µm to 5.97 µm. Few elongated with blunt ends thin walled two to three-celled hyaline macroconidia ranging in size from 22.43 × 4.38 µm to 8.70 × 3.66 µm and plentiful single-celled oblong microconidia ranging in size from 7.78 × 2.75 µm to 4.49 × 2.30 µm formed in chains or cluster. Only Fv 9 isolate (Raichur) produced chlamydospore-like structures. The information generated during the survey will be useful in identifying endemic and risk-free areas of maize ear rot across districts. The pathogen isolates have variability concerning their cultural and morphological characters which depict the geographical distribution of the pathogen.

Sorghum shoot fly, Atherigona soccata (Rondani) is an important pest of sorghum distributed in almost all sorghum growing areas of India, attacking the crop at the seedling stage wherein the absence of appropriate management measures may result in heavy yield loss and host plant resistance is a major component in managing this pest. Utilization of resistance as a control strategy has very much practical relevance and hence identification of resistant sources for shootfly through morphological and physicochemical characteristics was carried out in pre-release sorghum genotypes of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Leaf glossiness, trichome density, trichome length, trichome width, and seedling vigor were associated with resistance and had a major bearing on the expression of resistance to shoot fly. Among the genotypes tested, TNS 671 and TNS 665 showed better performance in terms of dead heart, percentage of plants with eggs, and recovery resistance compared to others which were then subjected to biochemical estimation and GCMS analysis. Leaf biochemical characters viz., total phenol, cellulose, total amino acids, silica, tannin, and lignin were found to be negatively correlated and total sugar positively correlated with resistance. GC-MSanalysis of the sorghum genotypes revealedthe presence of compounds, viz., carboxylic acids, heptadecene, and hentriacontane only in the resistant entry, IS18551. An interesting finding of this study was the presence of hentriacontanein resistant cultivar, IS18551 which is reported to have kairomonal activity. The characters associated with resistance or susceptibility can be used in further resistant breeding programmes.

Main Forage Research Station, ICAR Unit 9, Anand Agricultural University located in the middle agroclimatic zone of Gujarat India, has different Agroclimatic zone with a different agricultural pattern. Most of the farmers are doing agriculture as a first enterprise and dairy as a second one. The demand for fodder is higher in the different zone of Gujarat state. To improve cultural practices and reduced the shortfall of fodder with highly nutritive fodder these studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of the level of nitrogen on different marvel grass varieties in middle Gujarat. Continuous three years of experimentation on marvel grass, results revealed that marvel grass varieties did not show significant effects on growth, yield attributes, and yield as well as quality parameters. A perusal of experiment data revealed that application of 60 kg N/ha (30 kg N/ha at the time of transplanting or immediately after cutting and 30 kg N/ha at 30 DAS/ 30 Days after each cutting) noted higher growth parameters (height and several tillers per meter row length) also reported higher total green fodder yield and quality of marvel grass as well as higher net return and benefit-cost ratio.

The field experiment was carried out on a fixed site at the research farm of Bajra Research Scheme, College of Agriculture, Dhule, Maharashtra, India which was initiated during 2013-2014. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with eight treatments replicated three times. Treatments for pearl millet composed of T1: Control, T2: 100% recommended dose of fertilizer through inorganic fertilizers, T3: 100 % recommended dose of nitrogen through farm yard manure, T4: 100 % recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T5: 50 % recommended dose of nitrogen through farm yard manure + 50 % recommended dose of nitrogen-through vermicompost, T6: 5-ton farm yard manure ha-1, T7: 3-ton vermicompost ha-1 and T8: 2.5-ton farm yard manure ha-1 + 1.5-ton vermicompost ha-1). However, treatments for chickpeas are composed of T1: Control, T2: 100% recommended dose of fertilizer through inorganic fertilizers, T3 to T8: residual effect of farm yard manure, and vermicompost alone and in combinations. The experimental soil was alkaline, calcareous, clayey in texture, low in available nitrogen and phosphorus and high in available potassium. The continuous application of the 100 % recommended dose of nitrogen through farm yard manure for 6 years to pearl millet showed improvement in organic carbon fractions, soil enzyme activity, soil microbial population, and pearl millet equivalent yield. This treatment was followed by the application of 50 % recommended dose of nitrogen through farm yard manure + 50 % recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost.

The ideal temperature is necessary for the maize crop to provide the highest harvest yield. Environmental stress elements such as abiotic and biotic stress factors are expected to intensify and become more widespread as a result of climate change. Drought, temperature, and salinity are the key factors affecting maize output globally. Various management practices may help in contributing tolerance to the plants against adverse environmental impact, and seed hardening is one among them. The experiment was conducted in the laboratory of Seed science and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Kalasalingam School of Agriculture and Horticulture, Krishnankoil, Tamil Nadu to study the effect of various hardening treatments in maize seeds. Maize seeds were hardened with the following chemicals at varying concentrations for 12 hours viz., T0 – Control, T1 – Distilled water, T2 – Boric acid (0.5%), T3 – Boric acid (1.0%), T4 – Boric acid (1.5%), T5 – KNO3 (0.5%), T6 – KNO3 (1.0%), T7 – KNO3 (1.5%), T8 – KH2PO4 (0.5%), T9 – KH2PO4 (1.0%) and T10 – KH2PO4 (1.5%). Significant differences were found between control and hardening treatments. Maximum germination percentage, shoot, and root length, seedling length, fresh and dry weight of the seedling vigor index were observed for the seeds treated with 1.5% KNO3. This experiment also showed the positive influence of KH2PO4 (1.5%) in various seedling characters followed by 1.5% KNO3. This study might help to improve the seedling character with the help of seed-hardening treatments to withstand adverse abiotic stress situations

Data collected from replication sites and processed, it has been revealed that treatment T2 i.e. installation of H. armigera pheromone traps @ 10 traps / ha unable to manage the H.armigera population. Traps are source of monitoring .There was a big challenge for the researcher to enhance the yield of pigeon pea because H. armigera is a cosmopolitan & poly phagou in nature. Caring a research at farmer’s field is also a big task because most of farmers are marginal in nature and their lands are not suitable for growing pigeon pea in Sheohar district of Bihar. Among other treatments, T4 i.e. Spraying of Profenophos 50% EC @ 2ml/L water after 25% of pod stage and second spray after 15 days with Indoxacarb14.5% SC @ 0.3 ml/L water showed better results over other treatments. A minimum number of damaged pods and shriveled grains have been recorded in treatment T4 and yielded a maximum (20.18 q/ha). Analysis shows a significant difference over the check.T4 i.e. Spraying of Profenophos 50% EC @ 2ml/L water after 25% of pod stage and second spray after 15 days with Indoxacarb14.5% SC @ 0.3 ml/L water is recommended for pod borer management in pigeon pea. Tunneling in Pods, the larval population in pods, caterpillar destroying buds, flowers, pods and reduction in yield was maximum in treatment T1.

Spathodea campanulata a perennial tree identified the potential source of natural dye obtained from the flower at forest college and research institute, mettupalayam during 2016-2017. Spathodea campanulata produces a flower dye that has a wide variety of uses like antimicrobial, anti-fungal, antitumor, etc. So the natural dye extracted from African tulip flowers is found to be environmentally friendly and medical value in nature. To identify various components, the dye is analyzed through Gas chromatography and Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) using the extract prepared from Soxhlet apparatus using methanol. The following compounds were identified in GCMS analysis, Pectinose Beta-GALACTOSIDASE (yellow), 1-Hexadecanol(Cetyl alcohol), Dodecane (substitute for kerosene fuel), Methyl stearate (ester). The spectrum of the unknown component was compared with the spectrum of the known components stored in the inbuilt library. The extraction of dye from Spathodea campanulata can be done easily and a wide spectrum color range is also available which will be helpful to replace the synthetic dyes. This study may give information on the possible production of natural dyestuff components on a large scale as a source of natural dye.