volume 34 number 3 september, 2009 - jart

SOIL SCIENCEInfluence of Integrated Nutrient Management on Growth and

Yield of Potato Preceded by Cereals and Legumes -M. S. Shirole, A. V. Solanke and S. H. Kharbade 245

Effect of Integrated Nitrogen Management on Growth and Yieldof Baby Corn (Zea mays L.) cv. Mridula - Lalit Kumar Rao,Rajesh Singh, Ashok Kumar and G. M. Lal 249

Enrichment of Cattle Dung Compost by Using Bioinoculant andMineral Amendments - G. M. Battikopad, M. B. Jadhav,D. D. Sawale, B. D. Tamboli and S. R. Mane 251

Yield and Nutrient Uptake by Grain Amaranth as Influenced byMoisture Stress and Nitrogen Management with Bio-fertilizers - P. P. Chaudhari, P. T. Patel and L. J. Desai 256

Effect of Mulches, Levels of Fertilizer and Organic Manure onYield of Rabi Sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata) - S. P.Gosavi, S. A. Chavan and S. B. Bhagat 260

Nutrient Content and Uptake, Quality and Economics of BarleyFertilized with P and Zn Under Light Textured Soils ofRajasthan - Taresh Kumar, R. Sammauria and B. L. Pareek 262

Soil Moisture, Nodulation, Yield Attributes and Quality ofSoybean Under Integrated Nutrient Management - B. R.Gajbhiye and C. V. Mali 266

Effect of Plant Growth Regulators and Micronutrients onPhysical and Chemical Characters of Banana (Musa spp) cv.Shrimanti - S. S. Yadlod, B. A. Kadam and B. M. Rodge 269

PLANT SCIENCEGenetic Divergence in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) -

S. M. Awatade, B. L. Thaware, S. G. Bhave, A. V. Maneand B. B. Jadhav 272

Phule Utkarsha : A Promising Okra Cultivar - S. G. Bhalekar,U. T. Desai, D. S. Kakade, C. A. Nimbalkar and B. G. Pawar 275

Effect of Organic Manures and Chemical Fertilizers on Growth,Yield and Economics of Cabbage - A. D. Jagtap, A. S.Kadam, D. D. Jagtap and S. B. Patil 278

Genetic Variability, Correlation and Path Analysis in Linseed -T. E. Nagaraja, K. R. Ajit and B. S. Golasangi 282

Development of Upland Fertility Restorer Strains Capable ofAdequate Fertility Restoration in Cotton - U. M. Borle andS. S. Mehetre 286

Screening of Sugarcane Varieties for Prediction of SaltTolerance Through Callus - P. S. Yadav, D. V. Dahat,T. J. Bhor and P. N. Harer 289

Screening of Sugarcane Varieties for Prediction of DroughtTolerance Through Callus - P. S. Yadav, D. V. Dahat, T. J.Bhor and P. N. Harer 292

Response of Sugarcane Varieties for In Vitro Studies - P. S.Yadav, D. V. Dahat, T. J. Bhor and P. N. Harer 295

PLANT PROTECTIONStudies on Azotobacter from Rhizosphere of Gerbera (Gerbera

jamesonii H.) - A. B. Lele, N. B. Pawar and S .V. Kolase 298

SOCIAL SCIENCEFarmers Knowledge About Recommended Cultivation Practices

of Chilli - H. D. Rajput, S. V. Supe, U. R. Chinchmalatpureand C. P. Girase 300

Growth and Progress of Mechanisation in Agriculture inMaharashtra State - S. V. Bhujbal, S. L. Sananse and S. G.Borude 302

PHYSICAL SCIENCEApplications of Optimization Techniques in Agricultural

Engineering in India : A Review - M. D. Gholkar, C. T. Gore,S. S. Ramdasi, S. S. Patil, V. P. Patil and D. T. Pacharne 306

Laser Induced Changes in Structural and Electrical Propertiesof CdSe Thin Films on Silver Substrate - A. N. Joshi andP. A. Joshi 311

Prediction of Reference Evapotranspiration for Konkan Regionof Maharashtra - P. M. Ingle, U. S. Kadam, R. T. Thokal andR. G. Manjarekar 314

Effect of Irrigation Scheduling and Fertigation Levels on Growthand Yield of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) - U. S.Kadam, A. D. Deshmukh, P. M. Ingle and R. G. Manjarekar 319

ANIMAL SCIENCEImpact of Genetic and Non-genetic Factors of Growth and

Production Traits in Deccani Lambs - Y. B. Kandalkar, B. R.Ulmek, D. Z. Jagtap, M. G. Mote and S. A. Dhage 322

Utilization of Jack Fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.)Pulp in Manufacture of Milk Pudding - A. P. Holmukhe,S. V. Joshi, V. A. Toro, V. B. Kadav and Ujjwala Kanake 325

Volume 34 Number 3 September, 2009

PUBLICATION OF THEMAHATMA PHULE KRISHI VIDYAPEETH, RAHURI,DR. PANJABRAO DESHMUKH KRISHI VIDYAPEETH, AKOLA,MARATHWADA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, PARBHANI ANDDR. BALASAHEB SAWANT KONKAN KRISHI VIDYAPEETH, DAPOLI, M.S. (INDIA)

CONTENTS

ISSN 0378-2395

Preparation of Kalakand Fortified with Mango Pulp - ArchanaDongale, V. A. Toro, S. V. Joshi, V. B. Kadav andP. V. Jadhav 327

RESEARCH NOTESEffect of Different Concentrations of Sucrose on Micro-

propagation of Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris L.) - S. S.Saloke, A. R. Zaware and Y. S. Nerkar 330

Effect of Nitrogen Levels on Forage Yield of Promising Varieties ofMulticut Oat - S. H. Pathan, R. L. Bhilare and A. D. Kadlag 331

Response of Nitrogen Levels to Single Cut Oat Genotypes -S. H. Pathan and R. L. Bhilare 333

Effect of Temperature on Growth and Spore Germination ofColletotrichum capsici and Disease Development in Chilli -D. G. Hingole and B. P. Kurundkar 334

Effect of Land Treatments on Growth and Yield of Maize(Zea mays) - J. B. Patil, I. A. Khan, A. G. Jadhav, P. P.Kharade and J. P. Kharade 336

Evaluation of Yield Stability in Soybean Based IntercroppingSystem Under Rainfed Agriculture - B. N. Gare, S. M.More, A. V. Burli and S. S. Dodake 338

Effect of Integrated Nitrogen Management on Growth andYield of Spring Planted Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) -Ganesh Kumar Singh, Thomas Abraham, Rajesh Singhand Harbhajan Singh 340

Productivity of Greengram as Influenced by Various Micro-nutrient Applications on Vertisols - B. V. Asewar,A. S. Jadhav, S. B. Pawar and S. S. Gosalwad 342

Heterosis and Heritability Studies in Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moench - K. Sumalini and J. S. Desale 343

Preparation of Fruit Flavoured Milk Shake - V. B. Kadav,S. V. Joshi, V. V. Sagvekar and P. B. Sanap 345

Field Evaluation of Botanicals and Chemical Insecticides forCastor Leaf Miner (Liriomyza trifolii Burgess) underRainfed Condition - V. B. Akashe, M. A. Gud, S. K.Shinde and J. R. Kadam 346

Performance Testing of Parabolic Concentrating Type SolarCooker in Konkan Region of Maharashtra - H. T. Jadhav 348

Effect of Drying Technique, Time and Drying Rate on OysterMushroom - H. T. Jadhav 349

Constraints in Adoption of Dairy Enterprise in Pune District ofWestern Maharashtra - V. K. Kauthale and D. L. Sale 350

Correlation Studies of Quantitative Characters with Dry FruitYield in Chilli - D. B. Lad, R. G. Satish and P. K. Jagtap 351

Effect of Organic Amendments on Soil Nutrient Availability, Uptakeand Yield of Soybean - B. R. Gajbhiye and C. V. Mali 353

Intercropping of Niger in Kharif Prosomillet (Panicummiliaceum L.) with Organic and Inorganic Sources ofNutrients - A. N. Ugale, A. C. Sawant and P. G. Chavan 355

Distribution of Available Boron in the Selected Surface andSub-Surface Soils of Terai Zone of West Bengal in Relationto Physico-Chemical Properties - P. Debnath, M. K. Mahataand S. K. Ghosh 357

Quality of Milk Supplied by Producers to Co-operativeSocieties in Nagpur (Maharashtra) - R. B. Aher, P. V.Bhire and M. G. Mote 358

Effect of N, P and K on Productivity and Nutrient Uptake inPearlmillet - Wheat Cropping Sequence - R. B. Hile, S. M.Todmal and A. G. Wani 360

Studies on Physical Properties of Soil and Yield of Okra asInfluenced by IPNS - K. A. Jadhav, A. S. Patil and N. B.Mane Deshmukh 362

Efficacy of Synthetic Insecticides and Biopesticides AgainstMaruca vitrata on Pigeon pea - S. M. Ankali, C. S. Patil,K. A. Jadhav and Y. T. Jadhav 363

Prevalence and Distribution of Stem Rust (Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) Pathotypes in Central and Peninsular India -R. J. Patil, G. G. Khot, V. S. Shinde, S. R. Lohate, A. M.Tirmali and B. P. Kurundkar 365

Influence of Wrapping Material, Storage Temperature and Durationon Post Harvest Life of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.)cv. Local Double - Sudha D. Patil and B. K. Dhaduk 366

Index of Authors 369

Table of Contents 372

Form IV 374

BOARD OF EXECUTIVEV. M. Mayande, Chairman R. B. Deshmukh V. B. Mehta S. S. KadamS. V. Sarode S. S. Mehetre B. B. Jadhav G. R. MoreD. L. Sale A. S. Jadhav G. D. Joshi P. R. ShivpujeV. K. Mahorkar H. G. More A. G. Powar S. D. More

EDITORIAL BOARDP. N. Harer, Secretary and Editor-in-Chief

EDITORSK. B. Wanjari N. L. Bote V. P. Joshi A. S. DhawanV. K. Kharche P. A. Navale C. V. Bhambure Rohini Devi

MANAGER OF PUBLICATIONP. H. Rasal

ASSOCIATESA. C. Jadhav R. K. Chaudhary S. R. Palekar

CONSULTING EDITORSY. S. Nerkar C. D. Mayee J. C. Katyal S. A. NimbalkarS. L. Mehta S. B. Varade S. S. Singh Ansinnkar

Potato can be grown in widerange of climatic conditions and soiltypes. In potato based croppingsystems several pulses and oilseedcrops are likely to fit well. This leadsto crop diversification and may alsoimprove the overall productivity(Roy et al. 1999). Organic matterrestoration in soil is important forenhancing crop production,sustaining biological health andmaintaining carbon status. Organicmanures alone cannot satisfy thecrop nutrient requirements.Chemical fertilizers contain highernutrients than organic manures andrelease nutrients almostimmediately. For better utilization ofresources and to produce high yieldsof crops, integrated nutrientmanagement is the best approach.With this background in view, thepresent investigation wasundertaken.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The field experiment on potatopreceded by pearlmillet, maize,soybean and groundnut was

conducted during 2003-04 and2004-05 at Mahatma Phule KrishiVidyapeeth, Rahuri. The soil wassandy clay loam having pH 8.20,E.C. 0.13 dSm-1, bulk density 1.34gcc-1 and having available N, P, K,220.45, 21.80 and 309.95 kgha-1, respectively. The firstexperiment on cereals and legumesconducted during kharif season waslaid out in split plot design with fourmain plot treatments replicatedthrice. The recommended dose offertilizer for pearlmillet; maize,soybean and groundnut was60:30:30, 120:60:60, 50:75:0 and25:50:0 NPK kg ha-1 respectively.For pearlmillet and maize, half doseof N and full dose of P and K wasapplied as basal dose and theremaining half dose of N wasapplied as top dressing 30 DAS asper the treatments whereas, forsoybean and groundnut therecommended dose of fertilizer wasapplied in full at the time of sowing.The gross plot and net plot sizeswere 3.60 x 4.80 m2 and 2.40 x3.60 m2 respectively. The varietiesused for pearlmillet, maize, soybeanand groundnut were Shraddha,African Tall, JS - 335 and TG - 26,respectively.

They were sown at spacing of45 x 15, 60 x 20, 30 x 10 and 30x 10 cm, respectively. The secondexperiment on potato wasconducted during rabi season as subplot. The treatments applied topotato were 50 per cent RDF + 50per cent N through FYM, 75 percent RDF + 25 per cent N throughFYM, 75 per cent RDF and 100 percent RDF. The recommended doseof fertilizer for potato was120:60:120 NPK kg ha-1. Halfdose of N and full dose of P and Kwas applied as basal dose and theremaining half dose of N wasapplied as top dressing 30 DAS asper the treatments. Potato cropvariety Kufri Jyoti was planted atspacing of 60 x 20 cm.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Growth characters : It isevident from the data presented inTable 1 that, the plant height andnumber of branches of potato werenot significantly influenced duringboth the years. Potato preceded bysoybean recorded the highestnumber of leaves plant-1 (49.54 and50.12 during 2003-04 and 2004-05, respectively). It was at par withpotato preceded by groundnut andsignificantly superior over rest of thecrops during 2003-04, while during2004-05, it was significantlysuperior over rest of the crops.Potato preceded by soybeanrecorded the highest leaf area(23.34 and 24.54 dm2 during2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was at par with

J. Maharashtra agric. Univ., 34 (3) : 245-248 (2009)

Influence of Integrated Nutrient Management on Growth andYield of Potato Preceded by Cereals and Legumes*

M. S. Shirole1, A. V. Solanke2 and S. H. Kharbade3

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri - 413 722 (India)(Received : 12-07-2008)

ABSTRACT

Among the preceding cereals and legumes in a potato based cropping sequence, thegrowth of potato was significantly higher in soybean as a preceding crop. It also recorded thehighest tuber yield on pooled mean basis. An application of 75 per cent RDF + 25 per centN through FYM recorded higher growth and tuber yield on pooled mean basis.

Key words : Potato, growth characters, yield.

* Part of Ph. D. thesis submitted by thesenior author to M.P.K.V., Rahuri.

1. and 3. Ph. D. students 2. AssociateProfessor of Agronomy.

potato preceded by groundnut andsignificantly superior over rest of thecrops during 2003-04 while, during2004-05 it was at par with rest ofthe crops. Potato preceded bysoybean recorded the highest plantspread (62.92 and 61.23 cm during2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was significantlysuperior over rest of the cropsduring 2003-04 while, during2004-05 it was at par with potatopreceded by groundnut andsignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments. Potato preceded bysoybean recorded the highest totaldry matter (64.20 and 70.57 gduring 2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was at par withpotato preceded by groundnut andsignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments during 2003-04 while,during 2004-05 it significantlysuperior over rest of the treatments.This might be due to better

availability of N under legume crop.Similar results were also obtained byGriffin and Hesterman (1991).

The plant height and number ofbranches were not significantlyinfluenced during both the years.Application of 75 per cent RDF +25 per cent RDF through FYMrecorded the highest number ofleaves plant-1 (48.96 and 48.92during 2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was significantlysuperior over rest of the treatmentsduring 2003-04, while during2004-05 it was at par with rest ofthe treatments. Application of 75per cent RDF + 25 per cent RDFthrough FYM recorded the highestleaf area plant-1 (22.74 and 23.87dm2 during 2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was at par with 100per cent RDF and significantlysuperior over rest of the treatmentsduring 2003-04 while, during

2004-05 it was significantlysuperior over rest of the treatments.Application of 75 per cent RDF + Nthrough FYM recorded the highestplant spread (61.87 and 60.65 cmduring 2003-04 and 2004-05,respectively). It was significantlysuperior over rest of the treatmentsduring 2003-04 while, during2004-05 it was at par with rest ofthe treatments. Application of 100per cent RDF recorded the highesttotal dry matter (60.39 g) during2003-04 and it was at par with 75per cent RDF + 50 per cent Nthrough FYM and 50 per cent RDF+ 50 per cent N through FYM.During 2004-05, the highest totaldry matter (69.82 g) was recordedwith application of 75 per cent RDF+ 25 per cent N through FYM it wasat par with 50 per cent RDF + 50per cent N through FYM andsignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments. Similar results were

Shirole et al.246

Table 1. Effect of preceding crops on growth of potato at harvest.

Treatment Plant hieght Branches Leaves Leaf area Plant spread Total dry (cm) plant-1 plant-1 plant-1 (dm2) plant-1 (cm) matter plant-1 (g)

––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05

Preceding crops :Pearlmillet 40.32 42.24 12.07 12.35 46.22 46.07 19.73 20.73 56.63 55.61 50.39 62.10Maize 40.10 41.70 11.65 12.18 45.49 44.73 18.36 20.00 55.81 54.53 45.96 57.51Soybean 41.20 42.54 12.20 12.40 49.54 50.12 23.34 24.54 62.92 61.23 64.20 70.57Groundnut 40.31 41.98 11.83 12.25 48.62 48.80 21.98 22.81 61.35 60.82 58.17 65.74S. E.+ 0.64 0.84 0.18 0.16 0.30 0.08 0.53 1.14 0.06 1.23 2.76 1.13C. D. at 5% N. S. N. S. 1.04 0.29 1.83 0.21 4.25 9.54 3.89

Fertilizer levels (%) :50 RDF + 50 N (FYM) 40.48 41.86 11.87 12.20 47.04 46.52 19.72 20.98 59.07 57.87 54.38 67.2150 RDF + 50 N (FYM) 40.76 42.48 12.07 12.47 48.96 48.92 22.74 23.87 61.87 60.65 57.07 69.8275 RDF 40.01 41.74 11.78 12.17 46.02 46.28 19.43 20.55 56.79 56.62 46.87 57.06100 RDF 40.68 42.37 12.0.3 12.35 47.85 48.00 21.52 22.68 58.99 57.05 60.39 61.83S. E.+ 0.71 0.71 0.18 0.20 0.37 0.92 0.46 0.23 0.68 1.51 2.51 1.69C. D. at 5% N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. 1.08 N. S. 1.83 0.66 1.98 N. S. 7.32 4.92

Interaction :S. E.+ 1.42 1.43 0.36 0.39 0.74 1.48 0.91 0.45 1.35 3.01 5.01 3.37C. D. at 5% N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. N. S. 9.84Mean 40.48 42.12 11.94 12.30 47.47 47.43 20.85 22.02 59.18 58.05 54.68 63.98

obtained by Raj wade et al., (2000)and Saxena et al., (2001).

Yield : It is evident from datapresented in Table 2 that, potatopreceded by soybean recorded thehighest tuber yield (187.28, 208.64and 197.96 q ha-1 during 2003-04,2004-05 and on pooled mean basis,respectively), which was at par withpotato preceded by groundnutduring both the years and on pooledmean basis. Similar results wereobtained by Grewal and Sharma(1981). During 2003-04, 100 percent RDF recorded the highest tuberyield (165.77 q ha-1). It was at parwith 75 per cent RDF + 25 per centN through FYM and 50 per centRDF + 50 per cent N through FYM.During 2004-05, 75 per cent RDF+ 25 per cent N through FYMrecorded the highest tuber yield

Journal of Maharashtra Agricultural Universities 247

Table 2. Yield of preceding crops and its effect on yield of potato.

Treatment Yield of preceding Straw yield Tuber yield Haulm yieldcrops of preceding of potato of potato

(q ha-1) crops (q ha-1) (q ha-1) (q ha-1)–––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 03-04 04-05 Pooled 03-04 04-05 Pooled

mean mean

Preceding crops :Pearlmillet 22.30 23.20 41.48 43.32 145.57 184.49 165.00 7.11 7.29 7.20

Maize 25.54 26.86 107.58 115.84 133.51 170.77 152.14 7.08 7.27 7.18

Soybean 23.99 26.15 24.68 28.76 187.28 208.64 197.96 8.43 7.53 7.98

Groundnut 21.08 22.46 32.68 34.81 156.14 197.09 176.61 8.40 8.23 8.32

S. E.+ - - - - 9.91 3.60 6.19 0.08 0.13 0.10

C. D. at 5% - - - - 34.30 12.47 21.43 N. S. 0.48 0.32

Fertilizer levels (%) :50 RDF + 50 N (FYM) - - - - 158.29 200.27 179.28 7.65 7.51 7.58

75 RDF + 25 N (FYM) - - - - 163.80 206.88 185.34 7.90 7.67 7.79

75 RDF - - - - 134.59 168.19 151.39 7.71 7.25 7.48

100 RDF - - - - 165.77 185.65 175.71 7.75 7.89 7.82

S. E.+ - - - - 8.18 6.20 5.25 0.11 0.10 0.10

C. D. at 5% - - - - 23.89 18.10 15.31 N. S. N. S. N. S.

Interaction :S. E.+ - - - - 16.37 12.40 10.49 0.21 0.20 0.20

C. D. at 5% - - - - N. S. 36.21 30.62 N. S. N. S. N. S.

Mean - - - - 155.61 190.25 172.93 7.75 7.58 7.67

Table 3. Economics of potato preceded by cereals and legumes (pooled mean).

Treatment Gross monetary Net monetary Benefit:returns returns cost(Rs ha-1) (Rs ha-1) ratio

Preceding crops :

Pearlmillet 80395 31684 1.62

Maize 80315 26746 1.50

Soybean 120251 58251 1.94

Groundnut 122087 58668 1.92

S. E.+ 2478 2478 0.04

C. D. at 5% 8572 8572 0.15

Fertilizer levels (%) :

50 RDF + 50 N (FYM) 103302 45666 1.78

75 RDF + 25 N (FYM) 105726 46001 1.74

75 RDF 92146 37586 1.68

100 RDF 101874 46118 1.81

S. E.+ 2098 2098 0.04

C. D. at 5% 6124 6124 N. S.

Interaction :

S. E.+ 4197 4197 0.08

C. D. at 5% 12248 12248 N. S.

Mean 100762 43843 1.75

(206.88 q ha-1) it was at par with 50per cent RDF + 50 per cent Nthrough FYM and significantlysuperior over rest of the treatments.On pooled mean basis 75 per centRDF + 25 per cent N through FYMrecorded the highest tuber yield(185.34 q ha-1) it was at par with 50per cent RDF + 50 per cent Nthrough FYM and 100 per centRDF.

This might be due to the fact thatgroundnut and soybean beingleguminous crop, there was additionof nitrogen and organic matterenhancing the availability ofnitrogen, phosphorus andpotassium that ultimately increasedthe potato yield in a sequence(Mondal and Roy, 2001). Similarresults were obtained by Roy et al.(1999) and Singh and Sharma(2002). Potato preceded by soybeanrecorded the highest haulm yield(8.43 q ha-1) during 2003-04 and itwas at par with rest of thetreatments. While, during 2004-05and on pooled mean basis potatopreceded by groundnut recorded thehighest haulm yield (8.23 and 8.32q ha-1 respectively). It wassignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments. Fertilizer levels did notsignificantly influence the haulmyield. Similar results were obtainedby Griffin and Hesterman (1991).

The potato preceded bygroundnut (Table 3) recorded thehighest gross monetary returns(Rs. 1,22,087 ha-1) on pooled mean

basis which, was at par with potatopreceded by soybean andsignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments. An application of 75per cent RDF + 25 per cent Nthrough FYM recorded the highestgross monetary returns (Rs.1,05,726 ha-1) on pooled meanbasis. It was at par with 50 per centRDF + 50 per cent N through FYMand 100 per cent RDF. Potatopreceded by groundnut recorded thehighest net monetary returns (Rs.58,668 ha-1) on pooled mean basiswhich, was at par with potatopreceded by sorghum andsignificantly superior over rest of thetreatments. An application of 100per cent RDF recorded the highestnet monetary returns (Rs. 46,118ha-1) on pooled mean basis. It wasat par with 75 per cent RDF + 25per cent N through FYM and 50 percent RDF + 50 per cent N throughFYM.

Potato preceded by soybeanrecorded the highest B:C ratio(1.94) on pooled mean basis which,was at par with potato preceded bygroundnut and significantly superiorover rest of the treatments. Anapplication of 100 per cent RDFrecorded the highest B:C ratio(1.81) on pooled mean basis.However, it was at par with rest ofthe treatments. Similar results werereported by Jadhav (1986) and Patilet al. (1997).

LITERATURE CITED

Grewal, J. S. and R. C. Sharma. 1981.

Fertilizer use in potato based croppingsystem in India. Pert. News. 33-43.

Griffin, T. S. and O. B. Hesterman. 1991.Potato response to legume and fertilizernitrogen sources. Agron. J. 83 (6):1004-1012.

Jadhav, A. S. 1986. Studies on the wheatbased cropping systems with referenceto fertilizer management. Ph. D. thesissubmitted to Mahatma Phule KrishiVidyapeeth, Rahuri (M.S.)

Mondal, S. S. and B. Roy. 2001. Effect ofpotassium applied with or withoutsulphur and farmyard manure on theyield and nutrient uptake by crops inpotato (Solanum tuberousum), jute(Corchorus sp.) and rice (Oryza sativd)sequence. Indian J. agric Sci. 71(2) :116-117.

Patil, M. P., N. C. Hulamani, S. I. Athani,and M. G. Patil. 1997. Response ofpotato (Solarium tuberosum) cv. KufriChandramukhi to integrated nutrientmanagement. Adv. Agric. Res. In India.8: 135-139.

Rajwade, V. B., R. N. S. Banafer and A. C.Pathak. 2000. Growth analysis ofpotato in relation to biodynamicpackage and organic manures withchemical fertilizers. J. Indian PotatoAssoc. 27(1-2) : 55-58.

Roy S. K., R. C. Sharma and K. C. Sud.1999. Production potential, profitabilityand soil fertility as affected by potatobased crop sequences in N. W. Plains ofPunjab. J. Indian Potato Assoc. 26(1and 2): 33-38.

Saxena, S. C., H. S. Manral and A. S.Chandel. 2001. Effect of inorganic andorganic sources of nutrients on soybean(Glycine max). Indian J. Agron. 46 (1) :135-140.

Singh, S. K. and R. C. Sharma. 2002. Effectof inoculation, nitrogen and phosphoruson yield and nutrient uptake of potatoand their residual effect on radish. J.Indian Potato Assoc. 29(1-2): 41-45.

Shirole et al.248

______________

Application of chemicalfertilizers alone for increasing cropproduction is not sustainable onlong term basis since it may lead tonutrient imbalance. The efficiencyof applied nitrogenous fertilizers hasbeen reported to be only 30-50 percent. Besides this, with theescalating costs of energy basedfertilizer materials, integratednutrient supply approach,combining organic and biologicalsources along with chemicalfertilizer would be moreremunerative for getting higherreturns with considerable fertilizereconomy. Madhavi et al. (1996)have reported that, bettermetabolism is found in maize plantswhich results in better grain yield inwhich poultry manure is used tosubstitute some of the NPKrecommendations in addition toinorganic fertilizers. The work ofPanwar et al. (2001) revealed that,seed inoculation of maize seeds withAzotobacter and Azospirillum

increased the maize yield by 7 -12per cent. Das (l998) and Tilak(1998) reported that, Azotobacterand Azospirillum flxes 30 kg ha-1

nitrogen in cereals. The presentexperiment was conducted with aview to reduce the cost incurred onnitrogenous fertilizers and to studythe effect of supplementing nitrogenthrough poultry manure as anorganic source and Azotobacterand Azospirillum seed inoculationas a biofertilizer source incombination with inorganic nitrogensupplied through urea on the growthand yield of baby corn.


The field experiment wasconducted at the Crop ResearchFarm, Department of Agronomy,Allahabad Agricultural Institute -Deemed University, Allahabad usingbaby corn hybrid Mridula, duringrainy season of 2006. Theexperimental soil was sandy loam intexture having a pH of 7.7, EC of0.22 dSm-1, organic carbon contentof 0.84 per cent and the availableNPK were analyzed to be 182.5 kgha-1, 29 kg ha-1 and 160 kg ha-1

respectively. The experiment waslaid out in a randomized blockdesign having twelve treatmentswhich were replicated thrice. Thetreatments comprised of two levelsof nitrogen viz., 90 and 120 kgha-1 which was maintained bysubstituting 30 kg nitrogen throughpoultry manure or by seedinoculation with Azotobacter andAzospirillum in combination withinorganic nitrogenous fertilizerwhich was compared with samelevels of N through inorganicfertilizers alone. In addition to thenitrogen management therecommended doses of phosphorusand potassium were maintained inall the treatments. The nitrogencontent of poultry manure and ureawere analyzed to be 3.4 and 46 percent respectively. On the basis ofnitrogen content, the manure andfertilizer requirement was workedout before application. Maize seedswere inoculated with Azotobacterand Azospirillum cultures as perthe standard procedure andaccording to the treatmentrequirements.


Growth components : Thegrowth components viz. plantheight, number of leaves plant-1, drymatter production, crop growth rateand relative growth rate (Table 1)differed significantly amongstvarious treatments. Significantlyhigher values for plant height(110.22 cm), number of leavesplant-1 (11.55), dry matter


Effect of Integrated Nitrogen Management on Growth andYield of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.) cv. Mridula

Lalit Kumar Rao1, Rajesh Singh2, Ashok Kumar3 and G. M. Lal4

Department of Agronomy, Allahabad Agricultural Institute - Deemed University, Allahabad - 211 007 (India)(Received : 12-07-2008)

ABSTRACT

The application of 120 kg N as 90 kg N ha-1 through urea along with 30 kg N fixed in therhizosphere of roots by the seed inoculated Azospirillum significantly increased the growthattributes including plant height, number of leaves plant-1, dry matter, crop growth rate andrelative growth rate. This also had significant increase in yield components (including thenumber of cobs plant-1, length of cobs and cob weight) and produced the highest cob yield of22.05 q ha-1 (without husk) and green fodder yield (264.60 q ha-1).

Key words : Baby corn, poultry manure, Azotobacter and Azospirillum.

1, 3. M. Sc. (Agronomy) student. 2.Assistant Professor, Dept. of Agronomy, 4.Assistant Professor, Department of Geneticsand Plant Breeding,

production (60 g plant-1), cropgrowth rate (46.04 g day-1 m-2 ) andrelative growth rate (0.0387 g g-1

day-1) was observed under thetreatment where 120 kg nitrogenwas applied, of which 90 kgnitrogen was supplied through ureain addition to 30 kg nitrogen fixed inthe rhizosphere by the seedinoculated Azospirillum. Theseresults are in conformity with thefindings of Rout et al. (2001) whoreported that seed inoculation withAzospirillum in addition toinorganic nitrogen applicationproduces higher plant height,maximum number of leaves plant-1

and plant dry weight in maize ascompared to entire dose of nitrogenprovided through urea alone.

The probable reasons for abovefindings might be due to sufficientavailability of nitrogen for the maizeplants initially due to inorganicnitrogen fertilization which was latersupplemented by nitrogen fixationin the rhizosphere of maize plants

by Azospirillum which was savedagainst leaching losses and was fullyavailable to the maize plants. Theabove findings are in conformitywith the findings of Madhavi et al.(l995) and Vadivel et al. (2001).

Yield components and yield :The number of cobs plant-1, cobweight, cob yield and green fodderyield were found to be significantlyinfluenced by application of 120 kgnitrogen of which 90 kg nitrogensupplied through urea incombination with 30 kg nitrogenprovided by rhizosphere fixation byseed inoculated Azospirillumculture. The highest number of cobsplant-1 (2.44) was observed in thesame treatment which wassignificantly higher than all the othertreatments.

The maximum length of cobs(7.78 cm) and cob weight (withouthusk) of 6.10 g were again obtainedin the treatment where 90 kgnitrogen was applied through urea

in combination with seedinoculation by Azospirillum,however, the value was statisticallyat par with that obtained from thetreatment where 90 kg nitrogen wasapplied through urea along withseed inoculation by Azotobacterand treatment where 60 kg nitrogenwas applied through urea along withseed inoculation with Azotobacterand Azospirillum respectively.

The highest cob yield of 22.05 qha-1 (without husk) and green fodderyield of 264.60 q ha-1 wereobtained under the treatment where90 kg nitrogen was applied throughurea along with seed inoculationwith Azospirillum which wassignificantly higher than rest of thetreatments.

The probable reasons for higheryield components and yield obtainedunder the treatment where 90 kgnitrogen was applied through ureaalong with seed inoculation withAzospirillum might be due to better

Rao et al.250

Table 1. Effect of integrated nitrogen management (INM) on the growth and yield attributes of baby corn (Zea mays L.)

Treatments (kg N) Plant Leaves Dry Crop Relative Cobes Length Cob Cob Greenheight plant-1 matter growth growth plant-1 of weight yield fodder plant-1 produ- rate rate cob (without (without yield(cm) ction (g day-1 (g g-1 (cm) husk) husk) (q ha-1)

m2) day-1) (g) (q ha-1)

90 (U) 99.88 10.4 46.67 30.77 0.0307 1.89 7.31 5.23 14.64 175.68120 (U) 103.55 10.55 48.67 31.06 0.0293 2.00 7.39 5.38 15.94 191.2860 (U) + 30 (PM) 104.33 10.66 49.00 33.30 0.0321 2.00 7.44 5.46 16.18 194.1690 (U) + 30 (PM) 102.66 10.55 48.67 33.49 0.0327 1.89 7.37 5.37 15.04 180.4860 (U) + 30 (Azoto) 98.77 10.44 47.00 31.67 0.0317 1.89 7.29 5.15 14.42 173.0490 (U) + 30 ( Azoto) 106.11 11.00 54.00 38.73 0.0348 2.11 7.77 5.80 18.13 217.5660 (U) + 30 (Azospi) 98.77 10.44 46.67 31.43 0.0317 1.77 7.24 5.07 13.29 159.4890 (U) + 30 (Azospi) 110.22 11.55 60.00 46.04 0.0387 2.44 7.78 6.10 22.05 264.6060 (U) + 30 (Azoto) + 30 (Azospi) 105.77 10.66 53.63 39.23 0.0359 2.00 7.68 5.77 17.10 205.2060 (U) + 30 (PM) + 30 (Azoto) 104.55 10.66 50.00 33.76 0.0318 2.00 7.47 5.56 16.47 197.6460 (U) + 30 (PM) + 30 (Azospi) 105.77 10.89 50.67 35.31 0.0334 2.00 7.63 5.74 17.01 204.1230 (U) + 30 (PM) + 30 (Azospi) + 94.55 10.33 45.00 29.29 0.0302 1.66 7.15 5.04 12.39 148.6830 (Azoto)F- test Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig SigC. D. (P = 0.05) 1.40 0.30 1.52 2.10 0.0016 0.22 0.21 0.23 0.31 2.78

U = Urea, PM = Poultry manure, Azoto = Azotobacter, Azospi = Azospirillum

India produces about 1800 mt of animal dung per annum. Even if twothird of the dung is used for biogasgeneration, it is expected to yield

about 440 mt of manure per yearthat is equivalent to 2.90 mt N,2.75 mt P2O5 and 1.89 mt K2O(Anon., 2001).Over the years, thefarmers in India have been usingcattle dung and urine as manuredirectly in their field. However, dueto unscientific method of collectionand management of dung and urine,a lot of wastages of N, P and Koccurres. Apart from this,considerable part of the dungcollected is being dried and used asfuel cakes. Looking to nutritive valueof milk and prices offered to milk,many more dairy industries havebeen established during last decade.

initial growth of maize plants due tobasal application of urea and bettergrowth and yield at the later stagesdue to rhizosphere fixed nitrogen byAzospirillum culture which was fullyavailable to maize plants as itchecked the leaching losses ascompared to application of entiredoses of nitrogen by urea alone.Similar findings of higher dry matteraccumulation and increased yield ofmaize under integrated nitrogenmanagement by substitutingchemical nitrogen by Azospirillumseed inoculation have also beenreported by Mishra et al. (1998),Laxminarayana (2001) and Rout etal. (2001).

It can be concluded, that

application of 90 kg nitrogenthrough urea and 30 kg nitrogenthrough seed inoculation withAzospirillum significantly increasedthe yield of baby corn over the restof the treatments.

LITERATURE CITED

Das, P. C. 1998. Manures and fertilizers.Kalyani Publ, Ludhiana.

Laxminarayana, K. 2001. Effect ofAzotobacter and Azospirillum on yieldperformance of maize in hilly regions ofMizoram. Indian J. of Hill Famg. 14(2):134-137.

Madhavi, B. L., M. S. Reddy and P. C. Rao.l995. Integrated nutrient managementusing poultry manure and fertilizers formaize. J. of Res. APAU, 23(3/4): 1-4.

Madhavi, B. L., M. S. Reddy and B. G.Reddy. l996. Effect of poultry manureand fertilizers on yield and

micronutrients uptake by maize. J. ofRes. ANGRAU, 24(1/2): 154-156.

Mishra, M., A. K. Patjoshi and D. Jena.1998. Effect of biofertilization onproduction of maize (Zea mays L.).Indian J. of Agron. 43(2): 307-310.

Panwar, J. D. S., S. P. Saikia and V. S. G.R. Naidu. 2001. Biofertilizers areenhancing crop productivity andenvironmental security. Indian Fmg.50(1): 56-60.

Rout, D., M. R. Satapathy and B. K.Mohapatra. 2001. Effect of biofertilizerson nitrogen economy in maize. MadrasAgric J. 88(7/9): 530-532.

Tilak, K. V. B. R. l998. Bacterial Fertilizers.ICAR, New Delhi.

Vadivel, N., P. Subbian and A. Velayutham.2001. Effect of integrated nitrogenmanagement practices on the growthand yield of rainfed winter maize (Zeamays L.) Indian J. of Agron. 46(2): 250-254.



Enrichment of Cattle Dung Compost by Using Bioinoculantand Mineral Amendments

G. M. Battikopad1, M. B. Jadhav2, D. D. Sawale3, B. D. Tamboli4 and S. R. Mane5

Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Pune - 411 005 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

Studies on enrichment of cattle dung compost was done with mineral amendments likerock phosphate, micronutrients i.e. iron pyrite, manganese sulphate, zinc sulphate and coppersulphate and bioinoculants viz., Bacillus spp., Azotobacter, composting culture, effectivemicroorganisms and earthworm. Among the various treatments, cattle dung enriched with rockphosphate + micronutrient + Bacillus spp. + Azotobacter + composting culture + effectivemicroorganisms and earthworm resulted in significant decrease in organic carbon and C:N ratioat both 60 and 120 days of composting. The total nitrogen, water soluble and citrate solublephosphorus, CEC, fulvic and humic acid, E4/E6 ratio increased significantly at both 60 and120 days enrichment. The microbial population (bacteria and fungi) significantly increased upto 60 days and thereafter decreased significantly at 120 days. However, the actinomycetesincreased significantly at 60 and 120 days of composting, but magnitude was less than bacteriaand fungi.

Key words : Enrichment, cattle dung, mineral amendments, bioinoculants.

______________

l. M. Sc.(Agri) student., 2. Asso. Prof., 3and 4. Asstt. Prof. and 5. Agricultural Asstt.

Improper use of cattle dung, farmersare not getting proper output fromit. It is therefore, necessary topreserve and increase the nutrientcontent of cattle dung compost byusing mineral amendments andbioinoculants. Hence, the presentinvestigation was carried out tostudy the effect of bioinoculants andmineral amendments on enrichmentof cattle dung compost.


The experiment was conductedat Agronomy farm, College ofAgriculture, Pune in 2006-07 withenrichment process in earthencomposting pits having volume of0.125 m3 (50 x 50 x 50 cm.) Theexperiment was conducted by using50 kg raw cattle dung in eachearthen pit. The experiment waslaid out in FRBD with ten treatmentsreplicated three times. Thetreatment consisted of cattle dungalone (C), C + rock phosphate (RP)50 g kg-1 dung, C + RP +

micronutriments (M) through ironpyrite 5g, MnSO4 0.5 g, ZnSO4 1 gand CuSO4 0.25 g kg-1 dung, C +RP + M + Bacillus (B) 0.5 ml kg-1

dung, C + RP + M + B +Azotobacter (A) 0.5 ml kg-1 dung,C + RP + M + B + A + compostingculture (CC), C + RP + M + B + A+ Effective micro organisms (EM)0.5 ml per kg dung, C + RP + M +B + A + Earth worm (EW) oneearthworm per kg dung, C + RP +M + B + A + EM + EW, C + RP +M + B + A + CC + EM + EW. Asper the treatments the raw cattledung was filled layer by layer in thepits and all sides were covered withpolythene sheet to avoid theleaching of nutrients. The moisturewas maintained at 55.0 ± 5 per centthroughout the composting periodby loss in weight. The earthwormand bioinoculants were added 30days after filling the pits inrespective treatments. The turningwas done at 60th day of theenrichment process. The enriched

cattle dung samples were collectedat 60 and 120 days of enrichmentand analyzed for moisture bygravimetric method, (A.O.A.C.,1980), ash (%) and organic carbon(%) by ignition method(Gorsuch.1970), total nitrogen bymicro-kjeldhal method and watersoluble and citrate solublephosphorus was estimated bystannous chloride method (Jackson,1973), micronutrients wereestimated using Atomic AbsorptionSpectrophotometer (Lindsay andNorvell, 1978), cation exchangecapacity(CEC) by barium acetatemethod (Harada and Inoko,1980),E4/E6 ratio for humic fractions by0.5 M NaHCO3 extractant (Chen,et al. 1977) and total microbialcount by standard dilution platetechnique (Pikovskaya 1948).


Moisture : No significantdifferences were obtained inmoisture content at 60 and 120

Battikopad et al.252

Table 1. Enrichment of cattle dung as influenced by bioinoculants and mineral amendments at 60 days.

Treatments Moist. Ash O.C. Total WSP CSP CEC Hu- Fu- C:N E4/ Total microbial counts (%) (%) (%) N (mg (mg (cmol mic lvic ratio E6 (g-1 fresh compost)

(%) 100 100 (p+) acid acid ratio –––––––––––––––––––––––––g-1) g-1) kg-1) Bacteria Fungi Actino-

(106 (104 mycetesCFU) CFU) 103)

CFU)

T1 : Cattle dung alone © 60.7 30.7 40.1 1.6 18.0 24.0 85.3 8.7 2.9 26.2 4.6 10.3 7.1 6.2T2 : C + Rock Phosphate (RP) 59.8 46.3 31.1 1.6 20.6 51.3 86.2 8.3 4.1 23.4 7.0 10.5 8.3 6.3T3 : C + RP + Micronutrients (M) 57.6 47.4 30.4 1.7 21.3 60.0 86.4 8.5 4.3 22.8 8.5 10.6 9.2 6.4T4 : C + RP + M + Bacillus (B) 54.6 48.5 29.8 1.7 24.0 64.6 87.6 8.5 4.3 22.6 10.5 14.7 20.1 6.5T5 : C + RP + M + B + 57.3 52.3 27.6 1.7 22.3 65.6 90.7 9.2 4.7 21.5 10.5 23.6 20.2 6.7

Azotobacter (A)T6 : T5 + Composting culture (CC) 56.2 51.2 28.2 1.8 22.3 64.6 92.3 10.2 5.2 21.0 10.7 41.2 22.4 7.3T7 : T5 + Effective micro 57.2 51.9 27.8 1.8 22.0 65.3 93.5 10.2 5.4 20.7 11.2 42.8 23.3 8.4

organisms (EM)T8 : T5 + Earth worm (EW) 56.7 52.2 27.6 1.8 24.0 66.6 128.4 10.3 5.4 20.6 12.1 44.6 25.5 10.5T9 : T5 + EM + EW 53.2 53.4 27.0 1.9 30.0 84.0 131.2 10.5 5.7 20.1 12.4 45.3 26.3 11.3T10 : T5 + CC + EM + EW 55.9 55.5 25.7 2.1 33.6 85.0 135.3 10.8 7.8 12.2 12.8 48.2 30.1 11.6S. Em.+ 5.9 4.8 2.9 0.26 2.4 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.5 1.3 1.0 1.1 1.1 0.8CD at 5% NS 14.3 8.8 0.77 7.1 3.4 3.4 NS 1.5 4.0 3.0 3.4 3.4 2.5Initial values 59.7 30.7 49.1 1.4 16.0 18.0 81.2 7.8 1.9 36.1 4.3 9.2 6.3 4.3

days of composting due to differenttreatments. (Table 1 and 2). At 60days moisture varied from 53.2 to60.7 per cent while at 120 days itwas from 50 to 60.3 per cent.However, the cattle dung enrichedwith rock phosphate + micro-nutrients + Bacillus spp. +Azotobacter + composting culture+ effective microorganismsrecorded lowest moisture (50%) at120 days composting than rest ofthe treatments.

Ash : The per cent ash contentwas significantly increased due todifferent enrichment componentsover cattle dung alone at both 60and 120 days of composting (Tableland 2). The per cent ash increasedwith advance compostingirrespective of the treatments.Among the various enrichtreatments C + RP + M + B+Azotobacter (A) + CC + EM + EWrecorded significantly highest ashper cent (55.5 and 58.8) over cattle

dung alone at 60 and 120 days ofcomposting respectively. However,it was on par with T2 and T9. Thismight be due to loss in weightattributed to mineralization oforganic fractions during composting(Chefetz, et al. 1996).

Organic carbon : The organiccarbon content was decreased withincreasing composting period from60 to 120 days (Table 1 and 2). Theper cent organic carbon content wassignificantly decreased due todifferent enrich components overcattle dung alone, however T10recorded significantly lowest organiccarbon (25.7 and 23.8%) at 60 and120 days composting respectively.But it was on par with rest oftreatments except T1. The reductionin organic carbon content might bedue to utilization of organic carbonas energy source to built up theprotoplasm and release of CO2through breakdown of carbon bymicroorganisms during composting.

These results are in conformity withfindings of Mathur et al. (1980) andMahesweri (2002).

Total nitrogen : The totalnitrogen content was increased withadvance composting. Total Ncontent in enriched cattle dungdiffered significantly in all thetreatment combinations at 60 and120 days composting (Table 1 and2). Among the different treatmentcombinations T10 (C + RP + M + BA + CC + EM + EW) recordedsignificantly higher total N content(2.1 and 2.78%) at 60 days and 120days composting respectively.However, it was on par with rest ofthe enrich treatments at both thestages of composting. Theenrichment with all componentsunder study resulted in higher Ncontent in cattle dung manures. Thismight be due to additive effect ofmineral amendments andbioinoculants which increased therate of mineralization and thereby


Table 2. Enrichment of cattle dung as influenced by bioinoculants and mineral amendments at 120 days.

Treatments Moist. Ash O.C. Total WSP CSP CEC Hu- Fu- C:N E4/ Total microbial counts (%) (%) (%) N (mg (mg (cmol mic lvic ratio E6 (g-1 fresh compost)

(%) 100 100 (p+) acid acid ratio –––––––––––––––––––––––––g-1) g-1) kg-1) Bacteria Fungi Actino-

(106 (104 mycetesCFU) CFU) 103)

CFU)

T1 : Cattle dung alone © 60.3 32.2 39.2 1.50 21.6 27.6 91.0 8.5 2.4 24.4 4.0 8.4 6.1 6.3T2 : C + Rock Phosphate (RP) 56.3 47.7 30.3 2.31 26.0 61.3 92.2 9.0 2.9 16.7 4.8 9.2 7.6 7.2T3 : C + RP + Micronutrients (M) 57.6 48.2 30.0 2.37 28.6 63.3 93.4 9.3 3.2 16.4 5.5 9.6 8.4 7.5T4 : C + RP + M + Bacillus (B) 54.3 50.2 28.8 2.42 35.0 66.3 93.5 9.5 3.4 15.4 5.3 13.2 13.3 7.4T5 : C + RP + M + B + 54.3 54.4 26.4 2.61 35.0 65.0 96.4 9.5 3.4 14.6 5.3 15.3 14.1 7.2

Azotobacter (A)T6 : T5 + Composting culture (CC) 55.6 54.7 26.2 2.56 36.0 74.3 96.3 10.5 3.5 14.5 5.4 35.3 14.2 7.6T7 : T5 + Effective micro 50.0 53.6 26.8 2.59 36.3 74.3 98.2 10.7 3.6 14.4 5.4 38.6 15.3 8.2

organisms (EM)T8 : T5 + Earth worm (EW) 53.3 55.7 25.6 2.61 36.3 87.3 132.4 10.6 3.7 14.3 5.0 40.3 16.4 10.3T9 : T5 + EM + EW 55.0 58.1 24.2 2.67 37.0 101.6 136.3 10.8 3.8 14.2 5.2 42.1 17.2 11.2T10 : T5 + CC + EM + EW 53.0 58.8 23.8 2.78 38.6 112.0 138.2 11.4 4.9 10.0 5.8 45.3 20.3 11.8S. Em.+ - 5.1 2.8 0.24 2.4 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.3 1.2 0.5 1.1 1.2 0.3CD at 5% NS 15.4 8.4 0.73 7.1 3.4 3.4 NS 1.0 3.7 NS 3.4 2.5 0.8Initial values 59.7 30.7 49.1 1.4 16.0 18.0 81.2 7.8 1.9 36.1 4.3 9.2 6.3 4.3

increased the N content andconsequently decreased the C:Nratio. Similar results were reportedby Asija et al. (1984), Babitha(1999) and Kadalli (1999).

Water soluble and citratesoluble phosphorus : The watersoluble and citrate solublephosphorus were increased withadvance composting due to differentenrichment treatment combinations(Table 1 and 2). The water solubleand citrate soluble P were increasedsignificantly due to differenttreatment combinations over cattledung alone at 60 and 120 dayscomposting. Among the differenttreatment combinations T10recorded significantly higher watersoluble and citrate soluble P overcattle dung alone at 60 and 120days of composting baring fewexceptions. In general the citratesoluble P content of enriched cattledung manure was higher than thatof water soluble P. This might bedue to enrichment with rockphosphate. Similar observationswere also reported by Mathur et al.(1980) and Bhanawase et al.(1994).

Cation exchange capacity(CEC) : The CEC of enriched cattledung increased significantly at 60and 120 days composting overcattle dung alone. Among theenriched treatment combination T10recorded significantly higest CEC(135.2 and 138.2 c.mole (p+) kg) at60 and 120 days compostingrespectively over cattle dung alone.However, it was on par with T9 at120 days composting. The increasein CEC might be due to degree ofhumification, some functionalgroups like -COOH, phenolic andalcoholic-OH are responsible toincrease in CEC. Similar results

were also noticed by Allison andCover (1960).

Humic acid and fulvic acid :No sightficant differences wereobtained in humic acid content dueto different treatment combinations(Table 1 and 2). However, the humicacid content was increased withincrease in composting period. Themineral amendments andbioinoculant treated compostregistered higher values of humicacid ranging from 8.3 to 10.8 and9.0 to 11.4 per cent at 60th and120th day of compostingrespectively.

The fulvic acid content wasincreased significantly due todifferent treatment combinationsover untreated cattle dung at 60 and120 days composting. However, thefulvic acid content was decreasedwith advance composting. Amongthe various treatment combinationsT10 recorded significantly highervalues of 7.8 and 4.9 per cent oftreatments at 60 and 120 dayscomposting respectively. Thedecrease in fulvic acid with advancestage of composting (at 120 days)indicated that the fulvic acid wasconverted into humic acid and it wasincreased at maturity stage ofcompost. These results are inconformity with finding of Singhand Amberger ( 1990).

C:N ratio : The C:N ratiodecreased significantly due todifferent mineral and bioinoculanttreatments over cattle dung alone at60 and 120 days of composting.The C:N ratio was decreased withadvance composting. Among theenriched treatments T10 recordedsignificantly lower C:N ratio of 12.2and 10.0 at 60 and 120 dayscomposting over other treatments.

This might be due to increase inbiological activity due to enrichmentwith mineral and bioinoculant asreported by Tiwari et al. (1989).

E4/E6 ratio : The E4/E6 ratiodecreased with advancecomposting. The E4/E6 ratio wasincreased significantly due toenriched minerals and bioinoculanttreatments over cattle dung alone at60 days composting. Amongenriched treatments, T10 recordedsignificantly highest E4/E6 ratio(12.8) at 60 days composting,However, it was on par with T4 toT9.

Total microbial count : Thetotal microbial count namelybacteria, fungi and actinomyceteswere increased significantly due toenrichment with minerals andbioinoculants over cattle dung aloneat 60 and 120 days of composting.The microbial count for bacteria,fungi and actinomycetes weredecreased with advance compostingbarring few exceptions. Amongdifferent enrichment combinations,T10 recorded significantly highestmicrobial count of bacteria 48.2,45.3, fungi 30.1, 20.3, andActinomycetes 11.6, 11.8 at 60and 120 days of compostingrespectively. However, it was on parwith T9 in case of bacteria andactinomycetes count at 60 and 120days composting. Similar resultswere also reported by Bangar andPatil (1980).

From the forgoing discussion it isevident that the application of rockphosphate, micronutrients, Bacillusspp., Azotobacter, compostingculture, effective microorganismsand earthworm was more effectiveand beneficial for enrichment ofcattle dung.

Battikopad et al.254

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Tiwari, V. N., A. N. Pathak and L. K. Lehri.1989. Effect of cattle dung androckphosphate and compositing of woolwaste. Biol. Wastes. 27: 237-241.


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Grain amaranth (Amaranthushypochondriacus L.) is a potentialupcoming subsidiary food crop,considered by many as crop of thefuture. Application of irrigationwater at critical growth stageswithout significant reduction in yieldis also one of the approaches forwater scarce areas. Nitrogenousfertilizers form a basic input forgetting higher yield. The liquid bio-fertilizer of good quality holds greatpromise over the carrier materialtransport (Hegde, 2002).


An experiment was conducted atSardarkrushinagar Dantiwada

Agricultural University, Sardar-krushinagar during rabi season oftwo consecutive years, 2004-05 and2005-06. Geographically, Sardar-krushinagar is situated at 24°-19'North latitude and 72°-19' Eastlongitude with an elevation of154.52 meters above the mean sealevel. It is located in the NorthGujarat Agro-climatic zone andcharacterized by sub-tropicalmonsoon type semi-arid climatewith extreme cold winter, hot anddry windy summer. The soil wassandy loam, very low in organiccarbon (0.15%) and available N(168.0 kg ha-1), high in availableP2O5 (32.4 kg ha-1) and medium inK2O (234.0 kg ha-1). Theexperiment comprising three mainplot treatments of moisture stress

viz., no moisture stress (M1)(irrigation schedules on earlyvegetative, active vegetative,flowering, grain formation and grainfilling stages); stress at activevegetative stage (M2) and stress atactive vegetative and grain fillingstage (M3), and seven treatments ofnitrogen management (0, 40, 60 kgha-1) with or without two types ofbiofertilizers (liquid and powder) insub plots was laid out in a split plotdesign with four replications.Phosphorus @ 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 wasapplied through single superphosphate as a basal dose inploughed furrows before sowing.Nitrogen from urea, was applied attwo levels viz., 40 and 60 kg ha-1,each in two equal splits as pertreatments. Half of N was applied asbasal at the time of sowing infurrows and the remaining half astop dressing at first irrigation in(early vegetative stage) therespective plots. Liquid agar slantand lignite carrier based culture ofAzotobacter (Azotobacterchroococcum) strain ABA-1 wereused. The seeds of amaranth cv.GA-2 were first inoculated withAzotobacter (ABA-1) culture onehour before sowing. Carrier basedculture (powder) was suspended in10 per cent jaggery solution and theseeds were thoroughly mixed in it tohave uniform coating. Liquid agarslant Azotobacter culture @ 20 mlper one kg seed was sprinkled onseeds spread in thin layer andmixed. As a sticker, jaggery solutionwas used. The seeds were


Yield and Nutrient Uptake by Grain Amaranth as Influenced byMoisture Stress and Nitrogen Management with Bio-fertilizers

P. P. Chaudhari1, P. T. Patel2 and L. J. Desai3

Regional Research Station, S. D. Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar - 385 506 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

Among moisture stress treatments, without moisture stress ranked at top, producing 16.58and 22.07 per cent higher grain yield over moisture stress imposed at active vegetative stageand at two growth stages, respectively in pooled data. Similarly stover yield increment of 21.45and 28.28 per cent was noted with adequate moisture supply. The yield increment wasattributed to significant improvement in stem thickness, length of main inflorescence, spikeletsper plant and 1000 seeds weight under adequate moisture supply. However, the lowest wateruse efficiency (5.30 kg ha-1 mm-1) was obtained with maximum water consumption under nomoisture stress. Maximum uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus by the crop was observed withno moisture stress treatment followed by moisture stress at active vegetative stage. Among thenitrogen management treatments, 60 kg N ha-1 integrating seed inoculation with Azotobacterliquid culture brought remarkable improvement in stem thickness, length of main inflorescence,number of lateral spikelets and 1000 seed weight which ultimately reflected in increase in grainand stover yields during both the years. In pooled data, it produced 12.39, 45.88 and 223.27per cent higher grain yield over 60, 40 and zero kg N ha-1, respectively in pooled data.Treatment N60 + Azotobacter liquid showed its superiority in terms of consumption of water(218.6 mm) and water use efficiency (7.19 kg ha-1 mm-1). Maximum uptake of N (76.6 kgha-1) and P (13.24 kg ha-1) was realized with N60 + Azotobacter liquid culture as against thecorresponding values of 70 kg N ha-1 and 11.9 kg P ha-1 with N60. Combination of N60 +Azotobacter liquid culture and no moisture stress helped to achieve highest grain yield of 1780kg ha-1.

Key words : Grain amaranth, yield, uptake, water use efficiency.

1. Assistant Research Scientist, 2.Associate Director of Research and 3. Asstt.Professor.

thoroughly mixed and then allowedto dry in the shade for an hourbefore sowing. These treated seedswere utilized for sowing as pertreatments. The seeds were sownkeeping row to row distance of 45cm using a seed rate 1.0 kg ha-1

One common irrigation of 50 mmdepth was applied at the time ofsowing and subsequent irrigations asper moisture stress treatments (fiveirrigations in no moisture stress, fourirrigations in stress at activevegetative stage and threeirrigations in stress at activevegetative and grain filling stages)were applied with the same depth.During the course of investigation,soil moisture studies were carriedout, drawing soil samples beforesowing, just before each irrigationand 24 hrs after each irrigation aswell as at harvest. Sampling wasperformed with the help of screwauger from 0-30, 30-60, 60-90 and90-120 cm soil depth. Soil moisturecontent was estimated bygravimetric method after ovendrying the samples at 105°C to aconstant weight.


Effect of moisture stress :The outcome of the investigationrevealed that grain and stover yieldwas decreased with increase inmoisture stress (Table 1). Nomoisture stress showed itssignificant superiority. Significantlythe lowest grain yield was recordedwhen stress imposed at AVS (Activevegetative stage) and GFIS (Grainfilling stage). The magnitude ofincrease in grain yield with nomoisture stress was to the tune of15.40, 17.99 and 16.58 per centover stress at AVS as well as 21.79,22.35 and 22.07 per cent overstress at AVS and GFIS during

2004-05, 2005-06 and in pooleddata respectively. The yieldincrement is attributed toimprovement in length of maininflorescence, number of lateralspikelets and 1000 seeds weight.The reduction in grain yield understress at AVS over no moisturestress is worked out to 13.35,15.25 and 14.22 per cent duringfirst and second year as well as onpooled basis, respectively. However,the differences in yield wereobserved marginal when stressimposed either at one or two growthstages. This indicated that the activevegetative stage is most critical forirrigation as compared to grainfilling stage in grain amaranth crop.Like grain yield, no moisture Stressproduced 21.45 and 28.28 per centhigher stover yield over stress atAVS and AVS as well as at GIFS,respectively. Higher stover yield isascribed to increment in plant height

and stem thickness recorded with nomoisture stress. These resultscolloborate with the findings ofMishra et al. (1997). Moreovermoisture stress at active vegetativestage adversely affected thedevelopment of floral primordia,and the effect extended to grainformation and ultimately poor grainyield (Gowda et al. 1999, Ayodele2000 and Nehra 2000).

The consumptive use of water(CU) was successively decreased asmoisture stress increased during2004-05, 2005-06 and the meanvalues over seasons (Table 2). Themaximum CU of water (246.2 mm)was recorded under no moisturestress followed by stress at activevegetative stage (200.2 mm). Itaccounted 22.98 and 53.20 percent higher CU than that of stress atAVS (active vegetative stage) andstress at AVS and GFIS(grain filling


Table 1. Yield and yield attributes of grain amaranth as influenced by moisture stress andnitrogen management with bio-fertilizer.

Treatment Plant Stem Length Number 1000 Grain Stoverheight thick- of main of seed yield yield(cm) ness inflore- lateral weight (kg (kg

(cm) scence spike- (g) ha-1) ha-1)(cm) lets

Moisture stress :No moisture stress 147.38 1.06 73.11 55.00 0.68 1322 4377Stress at AVS 138.94 1.00 66.39 53.13 0.66 1134 3604Stress at AVS & GFIS 135.00 0.96 63.32 50.39 0.63 1083 3412S. Em+ 1.61 0.01 0.87 0.70 0.01 17.4 52.6CD (P=0.05) 4.67 0.04 2.68 2.14 0.03 53.6 162.1

N management (kg ha-1) with bio-fertilizer (N) :No N 99.65 0.64 44.24 39.72 0.63 477 180240 N 140.77 1.02 65.00 52.88 0.65 1057 366540 N + Azotobacter liquid 144.10 1.04 67.01 53.67 0.65 1178 390740 N + Azotobacter powder 142.35 1.03 66.00 53.62 0.66 1144 377060 N 149.14 1.10 73.98 56.03 0.66 1372 431360 N + Azotobacter liquid 154.10 1.11 79.18 57.33 0.68 1542 463460 N + Azotobacter powder 152.97 1.11 77.83 56.63 0.68 1489 4592S. Em+ 1.75 0.02 1.05 0.90 0.01 21.3 56.5CD (P=0.05) 4.90 0.05 2.95 2.51 0.03 59.7 158.5

AVS = Active vegetative stage, GFIS = Grain filling stage

stage) on pooled data basis,respectively. Higher consumption ofwater with more number ofirrigations is attributed to luxuriousgrowth under adequate moisturesupply, which in turn increased theevapotranspiration losses. On theother hand, limited water supplyunder stress at active vegetative(AVS) and grain filling stage (GFIS)(3 irrigations) reduced vegetativegrowth of the crop and hence lesswater used by the crop. Water useefficiency (WUE) was increased asmoisture stress increased. Though,maximum stress, it could not realizeproportionate yield increment andthereby lower WUE supply, the interplant competition for moisturemight have helped to enhanceWUE. Similar findings have beenreported by Patel et al. (2005).

Maximum uptake of N and P bythe crop was noticed with nomoisture stress followed by moisturestress at active vegetative stage.Moisture stress at active vegetativeand grain filling stage led tominimum uptake. This indicatedthat supply of sufficient moisture tothe crop led better utilization of Nand P. This might be due to increasein mass flow transport of nutrientswith sufficient soil moistureavailability. These findings are inaccordance with those reported byPatel (2003).

Effect of nitrogen manage-ment with bio-fertilizers :Integration of bio-fertilizers withnitrogen exerted affirmative effecton grain and stover yield over onlyN application during both the yearsand in pooled data (Table 1).Treatment N60 + liquid culture ofAzotobacter produced maximumgrain yield (1542 kg ha-1) whichaccounted 3.56, 12.39 and 45.88

per cent higher over N60 + powderculture of Azotobacter, N60 andN40, respectively. The sametreatment (N60 + liquid culture ofAzotobacter) expressed itssuperiority producing stover yield of4634 kg ha-1. In general, both theforms (powder and liquid) foundequally effective with respective levelof N. Higher grain yield associatedwith higher length of maininflorescence, more number oflateral spikelets and 1000 seedweight per plant. Similarly higher

stover yield is ascribed to higherplant height and maximum stemthickness. Similar findings havebeen reported by Nehra et al.(2001), Deokar and Sawant (2002)and Rathore et al. (2004).

Maximum consumptive use ofwater was registered with N60 +Azotobacter liquid culture (Table 2).This might be due to luxuriousvegetative growth of crop whennitrogen requirements are fulfilled.Appreciable increase in water use

Chaudhari et al.258

Table 2. Consumptive use of water, water use efficiency and nutrient uptake of grain amaranthas influenced by moisture stress and nitrogen management with bio-fertilizers.

Treatment Consum- Water use Nutrient uptakeptive use efficiency (kg ha-1)of water (kg ha-1 –––––––––––––––––(mm) mm-1) N P

Moisture stress :No moisture stress 246.2 5.30 68.60 11.66Stress at AVS 200.2 5.65 56.28 9.77Stress at AVS & GFIS 160.7 6.68 53.02 9.32

N management (kg ha-1) with bio-fertilizer (N) :No N 181.4 2.69 23.35 4.2940 N 189.7 5.71 51.83 9.2440 N + Azotobacter liquid 201.2 6.03 58.54 10.2740 N + Azotobacter powder 193.1 6.07 56.27 9.9360 N 214.6 6.50 70.07 11.9060 N + Azotobacter liquid 218.6 7.19 78.62 13.2460 N + Azotobacter powder 217.8 6.94 76.41 12.88

AVS = Active vegetative stage, GFIS = Grain filling stage.

Table 3. Interaction effect of moisture stress and N management with bio fertilizers on grainyield (kg ha-1) (Pooled data).

N management with Moisture stressbio-fertilizers (N) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

No stress AVS AVGF

N0 517 467 447N40 1129 1034 1008N40 + Azotobacter liquid 1293 1159 1083N40 + Azotobacter powder 1255 1128 1048N60 1565 1300 1252N60 + Azotobacter liquid 1784 1446 1406N60 + Azotobacter powder 1714 1406 1347SEm+ 36.8CD (P=0.05) 103.3

AVS = Stress at active vegrtative stage, AVGF = Stress at active vegetative and grain fillingstage.

efficiency (WUE) was observed withAzotobacter treatments either liquidor powder form combined with Nover N alone. Maximum WUE wasachieved under treatment N60 +Azotobacter liquid culture. Thesefindings followed the pattern withArya and Singh (2001).

Nitrogen management treat-ments had spectacular impact on Nand P uptake by the crop (Table 2).Among all the treatments, N60 +Azotobacter liquid culture ranked attop followed by N60 + Azotobacterpowder culture. The increase inuptake of N is attributed to thefavourable effect of Azotobacterinoculation on growth and yieldattributes. Which resulted in higheryield with higher N uptake. Thismight be due to fixation ofmolecular nitrogen by Azotobacter.However, soils of experimental plotresponded well to Azotobactertreatment due to poor nitrogenstatus. These results are inagreement with those reported byPanchal et al. (1991) in case ofuptake of nutrients. Similar positiveresponse of Azotobacter in uptakeof nitrogen and phosphorus has alsobeen observed by Singh andTotawat (2002).

Interaction effect : Interactionbetween moisture stress andnitrogen management wassignificant (Table 3). Treatmentcombination, no moisture stresswith N60 + Azotobacter liquidculture remaining at par with nomoisture stress with N60 +Azotobacter powder cultureproduced maximum grain yield.

This might be due to adequatemoisture and nutrient supply duringentire life period of crop.Spectacular response of liquid formof Azotobacter was noted with N40and N60 over N alone at all thestress levels. Azotobacter with 40kg N helped to enhance grain yieldover only 40 kg N up to stress atactive vegetative whereas at higherlevel, Azotobacter tended toimprove yield when stress imposedstress at stress at active vegetativeand grain filling stage stress. Rapidgrowth of Azotobacter underadequate N supply with irrigationsduring initial crop growth mighthave helped in better performanceof Azotobacter culture treatments.

Irrigating the crop at allphysiological growth stages i.e. nomoisture stress and supplying 60 kgN ha-1 along with seeds inoculatingby Azotobacter liquid culture gavemaximum yield of grain amaranth.Missing irrigation at activevegetative stage led to criticalreduction in grain and stover yieldeven with supply of higher dose ofnitrogen.

LITERATURE CITED

Arya, M. P. S. and R. V. Singh. 2001.Response of amaranth to levels and timeof nitrogen application. Indian J.Agron., 46(1) : 186-189.

Ayodele, A. S. 2000. Influence of soil waterstress on growth and yield of Amaranthspp. Bulletin Peneclitian Hortikultura,20(4) : 36-44.

Deokar, C. D. and D. M. Sawant 2002.Effect of Azotobacter liquidbioinoculants on grain and fodder yieldon hybrid sorghum. J. Maharashtraagric. Univ. 21(2) : 154-155.

Hegde, S. V. 2002. Liquid bio-fertilizers in

Indian agriculture. Bio-fert. Newslett.10: 17-25.

Gowda, A., M. Rangaswamy and V. C.Reddy. 1999. Performance ofamaranthus (Amaranthus cruentus L.)under soil moisture stress at differentgrowth stages. Curr. Res., 28: 171-172.

Mishra, P. N., S. K. Tewari and D. Singh.l997. Scheduling of irrigation in grainamaranth (Amaranthus hypochon-driacus L.) grown on marginal soils.Ann. Agric. Res., 18(3): 304-308.

Nehra, A. S., I. S. Hooda and K. P. Singh.2001. Effect of integrated nutrientmanagement on growth and yield ofwheat (Triticum aestivam). Indian J.Agron., 46(1): 112-117.

Nehra, O. P. 2000. Response of grainamaranth (Amaranthus hypochon-driacus L.) to irrigation and nitrogenapplication. HaryanaJ. Agron., 16(1-2) :174-175.

Panchal, D. B., R. B. Patel and K. C. Dalai,1991. Effect of nitrogen andphosphorus on grain yield and nutrientuptake by amaranth. GAU. Res. J., 16(2) : 71-72.

Patel, N. S. 2003. Response of irrigation andnitrogen on the quality and yield of grainamaranth (Amaranthus hypochon-driacus L.) under North Gujaratconditions. M. Sc. (Agri.) thesissubmitted to GAU, Sardarkrushinagar.

Patel, B. M., Y. Ravindrababu, P. G. Patel, M.M. Patel and D. K. Patel. 2005.Response of grain amaranth(Amaranthus hypochodriacus L.) toirrigation and nitrogen fertilizer. J. Soiland Crops- 15(2): 247-250

Rathore, M. S., I. Singh and M. S.Chandawat. 2004. Suitability of grainamaranth (Amaranthus hypocho-driacus L.) cultivars for arid westernplains zone of Rajasthan and theirresponse to nitrogen application. CropRes. 27(1): 54-57.

Singh, R. and K. L. Totawat. 2002. Effect ofintegrated use of nitrogen on theperformance of maize (Zea mays L.) onhalplustalfs of sub-humid southern plainsof Rajasthan. Indian J. Agric. Res., 36(2): 102-107.


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Sweet corn (Zea mayssaccharata) also known as sugarcorn is a type of maize (Zea mays),specifically bred to increase thesugar content. Mulches help toincrease the crop yield due toimproved soil temperature and soilmicro-flora, reduce fertilizerleaching, evaporation and supressweed problem. Integrated nutrientmanagement approach, i.e.combining organic and chemicalfertilizers would be moreremunerative for getting higherreturns. In this view the experiementwas conducted to see the possibilityof the organic and inorganic sourcesof nutrients in maintaining physico-chemical properties, fertility of soilsand to increase the sweet cornyields in rabi season.


The field experiment wasconducted during rabi season of theyear 2005-2006 on a medium blacksoil of the ASPEE, Agriculture

Research and DevelopmentFoundation, Tansa Farm, Thane(M.S.) in spilt-spilt plot design. Themain plot treatments comprised offour types of mulches (control,paddy straw, transparent and blackpolythene mulches). While in thesub plot treatments there were twolevels of fertilizer (control and RDF)and the sub- sub plot treatmentcomprised three levels of FYM(10,15 and 20 t ha-1 of FYM). Thus,there were 24-treatment combina-tions, replicated thrice. The soil ofexperimental plot was clay loam intexture with high content of organicmatter (1.98 %), moderately high inavailable nitrogen (445.53 kg ha-1)and phosphorus (25.54 kg ha-1),very high in available potassium(424.10 kg ha-1) before sowing ofthe experiment. The crop was sownon 27th November during 2005.The sweet corn cultivar "Sugar-75"was used in the presentinvestigation. Two seeds per hillwere dibbled at each spot at about 5cm depth. After sowing, the seedswere covered with soil. Gap fillingwas undertaken immediately at 8

days after sowing to maintain theuniform plant population wherevernecessary. Similarly thinning wascarried out at 20 days after sowingin order to maintain one plant perhill within the row.

Well decomposed farmyardmanure was applied in each plot asper the treatment i.e. 10, 15 and 20tons ha-1 and mixed throughly in thesoil after layout. There were twelvecombinations in a replicationwithout fertilizer i.e. no nitrogen,phosphorus and potassiumapplication. The fertilizers wereapplied in other twelvecombinations i.e. recommendeddose of 225:60:60 kg N, P2O5 andK2O ha-1. Before sowing a basaldose of 40 per cent N with full ofP2O5 and K2O were applied byplacement method at the depth of 8to 10 cm below in the soil surface at60 cm rows in the form of urea,single super phosphate and muriateof potash respectively. The second30 per cent dose of nitrogen wastop dressed at knee high stage i.e.30-35 DAS and the remaining 30per cent N at pre tasselling stage i.e.60-65 DAS. The plot area as pertreatment was covered bytransparent mulch, black polythenemulch and paddy straw mulchbefore sowing. Transparentpolythene mulch used for mulchinghad 90 cm width, 15 micronthickness. The holes of 2.5 cmdiameter were made in polythenemulch then it was spread over theplots. The black polythene mulch


Effect of Mulches, Levels of Fertilizer and Organic Manure onYield of Rabi Sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata)

S. P. Gosavi1, S. A. Chavan2 and S. B. Bhagat3

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

The black polythene mulch produced significantly more length of cob, weight of cob withhusk, number of kernels per cob and green cob yield than rest of the treatments. RDF recordedsignificantly superior values of all the yield attributing characters and yield, than control and 20t FYM ha-1 was significantly superior in respect of weight of the cob with and without husk,length of cob, number of kernels per cob and kernel weight per cob over rest of the treatmentsexcept length of cobs and number of kernels per cob, where 15 t FYM ha-1 treatment was atpar with the former treatment. Further, 15 t FYM ha-1 was significantly superior over 10 t FYMha-1 and all the yield characters increased with subsequent increase in the levels of FYM.

Key words : Mulches, fertilizer, FYM levels, yield, sweet corn.

1. Surveillance Inspector (NIWSP), 2.Asso. Director of Research 3. Asstt.Professor.

used for mulching had 120 cmwidth and 25 micron thickness. Thepaddy straw of 5 cm thickness wasspread over each plot (M2).


Effect of mulches : Datapertaining to the yield contributingcharacters of sweet corn revealedthat black polythene mulchproduced significantly higher lengthof cob, weight of cob with husk andnumber of kernels per cob, greencob yield and stover yield than restof the treatments. It was followed bytransparent polythene mulch whichwas at par with paddy straw mulchand both of these mulchingtreatments were significantlysuperior over control. However,other yield attributing and yieldcharacters namely weight of cobswithout husk, number of kernel andkernel rows per cob, number ofcobs per plant and kernel weightper cob and total biomass yield were

not influenced significantly due tothe mulches. Mulch helps toincrease the crop yield due toimproved soil temperature and soilmicro-flora, reduced fertilizerleaching, evaporation andsupressing weeds problem.However, total biomass yield wasnot influenced significantly due tothe mulches (Table 1). These resultsare comparable with those reportedby Kulkarni et al. (1998) andKwabiah (2004).

Effect of fertilizer levels :Data (Table 1) revealed thatrecommended dose of fertilizerrecorded significantly superiorvalues of all the yield attributing andyield characters than control.

Effect of FYM levels : Dataindicated that 20 t FYM ha-1 wassignificantly superior in respect ofweight of the cob with and withouthusk, length of cob, number ofkernels per cob, kernel weight per

cob, green cob yield and stover yieldover rest of the treatments exceptlength of cobs and number ofkernels per cob where 15 t FYMha-1 treatment was at par with theformer treatment. Further, 15 tFYM ha-1 was significantly superiorover 10 t FYM ha-1 in respect of allthe above referred characters.However, number of kernel rowsper cob and number of cobs perplant and total biomass yield werenot influenced significantly due tothe FYM levels. Integrated nutrientsupply approach, combiningorganic and chemical fertilizerswould be more remunerative forgetting higher returns. Differentialbehaviour of the sweet corn cropdue to variation in fertilizerapplication in respect of the growthand yield attributing charactersreflected into differential green cobyield, green stover yield and totalbiomass yield. The green cobs yield,green stover yield and total biomass


Table 1. Yield and yield contributing characters of sweet corn as influenced by the different treatments.

Treatments Weight of the cob (g) Length Kernel Kernels Cobs Kernel Yield (q ha-1)––––––––––––––––––––– of cob rows cob-1 plant-1 weight ––––––––––––––––––––With Without (cm) cob-1 cob-1 Green cob Stoverhusk husk (g) yield yield

Main plot treatments (mulches) :M0 - Control 249.67 179.50 14.76 13.53 347.72 1.13 118.00 194.38 235.11M1 - Black polythene 340.61 250.22 18.31 15.13 496.54 1.42 178.11 275.59 326.97M2 - Paddy straw 300.78 218.72 16.78 14.34 434.44 1.18 149.17 219.93 328.96M3 - Transparent polythene 305.13 221.36 17.05 14.67 456.04 1.51 164.72 246.69 303.61S. E.+ 6.79 6.08 0.19 0.24 6.68 0.05 5.61 7.41 4.89C. D. at 5% 23.51 NS 0.67 NS 23.13 NS NS 25.63 16.93

Sub-plot treatments (Fertilizer levels) :R0 - Control 169.19 127.88 13.62 13.37 279.02 0.99 88.25 87.32 195.15R1 - RDF 428.9 307.01 19.82 15.46 588.35 1.22 216.74 263.91 400.78S. E.+ 6.26 5.23 0.24 0.23 10.91 0.02 5.76 7.11 6.02C. D. at 5% 20.43 17.06 0.79 0.76 35.57 0.06 18.78 23.17 19.64

Sub-Sub plot treatments (level of farm yard manure) :F1 - FYM @ 10 t ha-1 272.17 199.20 16.25 14.37 418.62 1.22 140.80 218.35 288.60F2 - FYM @ 15 t ha-1 294.48 217.07 16.76 14.43 437.10 1.31 154.53 236.22 298.91F3 - FYM @ 20 t ha-1 330.50 236.08 17.17 14.45 445.34 1.41 162.17 247.87 308.48S. E.+ 3.15 2.84 0.15 0.23 5.31 0.32 1.85 2.80 1.72C. D. at 5% 9.09 8.21 0.45 NS 15.33 NS 5.33 8.07 4.97

Rajasthan has a prime positionin barley production in India. Due toits multifold uses and greater

adaptability to diverse and adversefarming situations, area under barleyis continuously increasing in NorthWest part of Rajasthan. The loamysand soils of the region are poor infertility status having unfavourablesalt balance with limited wateravailability but barley is capable of

giving successful production undersuch conditions. Apart from this,agronomic suitability of the crop inthis region, low cost of productionand fairly stable prices in recentyears are the reasons for increasingarea under this crop. P and Zn bothhave numerous vital roles in plantsand their adequate supply isprerequisite for optimization ofyield. In Rajasthan, 40 per cent ofsoils are deficient in Zn(Government of Rajasthan, 2001)but its deficiency is not necessarilyaccompanied with visual symptoms.Further, P and Zn interaction affectsthe availability and utilization of boththe nutrients and imbalance of anyin soil matrix affects the dynamics ofnutrient affecting the availability ofeither adversely (Nayak and Gupta1995). Though soil of experimentalsite was medium in available P butthe information on conjunctive useof P and Zn in barley is severely

yield were significantly higher underapplication of RDF than control.Similar results were also obtained byGawade (1998), Gzazia et al.(2003) and Kunjir (2004). However,the interaction effects of the factorsunder study were non significant inrespect of yield attributes and yieldof sweet corn.

LITERATURE CITED

Gawade, D. G. 1998. Response of sweet

corn (Zea mays saccharatd) to nutrientmanagement. Thesis submitted for M.Sc. (Agri.) degree to Dr. BalasahebSawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth,Dapoli, Dist. Ratnagiri (M.S.).

Kulkarni, G. N., S. B. Kalaghatagi and S. M.Mutanal. 1998. Effect of variousmulches and scheduling of irrigation ongrowth and yield of summer maize.Maharashtra agric. Univ., 23(2): 223-224.

Kwabiah, A. B. 2004. Growth and yield ofsweet corn cultivars in response toplanting date and plastic mulch in ashort season environment. Scientia

Hort. 102(2): 147-166.

Gzazia, J. D., P. A. Tittonell, D. Germinaraand A. Chiesa. 2003. Phosphorus andnitrogen fertilization in sweet corn (Zeamays saccharatd). Spanish J. of Agril.Res. 1(2): 103-107.

Kunjir, S. S. 2004. Effect of plantinggeometry, nitrogen levels andmicronutrients on the performance ofsweet corn under lateritic soils. Thesissubmitted for M. Sc. (Agri.) to Dr.Balasaheb Sawant Konkan KrishiVidyapeeth, Dapoli, Dist. Ratnagiri(M.S.).

Gosavi et al.262


Nutrient Content and Uptake, Quality and Economics of BarleyFertilized with P and Zn under Light Textured Soils of Rajasthan

Taresh Kumar1, R. Sammauria2 and B. L. Pareek3

College of Agriculture, Bikaner - 334 006 (India)(Received : 27-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

Results of field experiment indicated that N content in grain, total uptake of N and P, grainand straw yields, net monetary returns and B:C ratio increased significantly up to applicationof 19.35 kg P ha-1. N and protein content in straw, P content in grain and total uptake of Kincreased significantly up to application of 12.9 kg P ha-1. But P application had somewhatantagonistic effect on Zn content and total uptake of Zn. Zn content in grain and strawdecreased significantly with the increasing level of P and the highest total uptake of Zn wasrecorded with 6.45 kg P ha-1 and further increase in P levels resulted in significant decrease intotal Zn uptake. Application of 30 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 significantly improved N and Zn content ingrain and straw, total uptake of N and Zn, grain yield and net monetary returns, However, totaluptake of P and K and straw yield increased only up to 20 kg ZnSO4 ha-1. P content in strawdecreased significantly. Highest B:C ratio was obtained with the application of 10 kg ZnSO4ha-1. On the basis of regression analysis, the optimum dose of P and Zn were worked out tobe as 24.7 kg P ha-1 and 35.11 kg ZnSO4 ha-1, respectively.

Key words : P, Zn, barley, nutrient content, nutrient uptake, grain yield, netmonetary returns, optimum dose.

______________

1. Ph. D. Scholar, Rajasthan College ofAgriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur 2. AssociateProfessor (Agronomy) Dryland FarmingResearch Station, MPUAT, Arjia, Bhilwara.3. Assistant Professor (Agronomy).

lacking in the region. Consideringthese views, present investigationwas carried out.


Experiment was conductedduring the rabi season of 2005-06at Instructional Farm, College ofAgriculture, Rajasthan AgriculturalUniversity, Bikaner. The soil wasloamy sand, low in organic carbon(0.08 %), available N (112.16 kgha-1), and DTPA extractable Zn(0.56 ppm) and medium in availableP (12.5 kg P ha-1) and high in K(199.59 kg K ha-1). Treatmentscomprised of four levels of P (0,6.45, 12.9 and 19.35 kg P ha-1)and 4 levels of Zn (0, 10, 20 and 30kg ZnSO4 ha-1). The experimentwas laid out in a factorialrandomized block design with threereplications. A uniform basal doseof N (45 kg ha-1) and P and Zn tobarley as per treatment were drilledthrough diammonium phosphateand zinc sulphate, respectively. Restof N was applied through urea and45 kg N was applied as top dressingin standing crop through urea at 30DAS. A uniform dose of K (45 kgha-1) was applied through muriate ofpotash as basal. Barley crop (Var.RD-2503) was sown at 22.5 cmapart on 15 November, 2005 andharvested on 20 March, 2006.Other package of practices were asper recommendations. Nutrientcontents in grain and straw wereestimated by following standardprocedures. Nutrient contents ofgrain and straw were multiplied withgrain and straw yield respectivelyand total of both was recorded astotal uptake of the particularnutrient. Cost of cultivation andgross monetary returns for eachtreatment were computed on thebasis of prevailing market prices of

inputs and produce. Net monetaryreturns and B:C ratio were worked.In order to work out optimum dosesof P and Zn, a regression analysiswas done for grain yield of barley asa quadratic function of nutrients (Y=a + bx + cx2) by using followingformula.

Px / Py - b1Xopt = ––––––––––––––

2b2

Where, Px and Py are the marketprices for each kg of nutrient andgrain yield, respectively and b1 andb2 are regression coefficients oflinear and quadratic components ofthe production function.


Effect of P : Increasing levels ofP significantly increased the per centN and protein content in grain andstraw and it was found significant upto application of 19.35 kg P ha-1 ingrain and up to 12.9 kg P ha-1 instraw (Table 1). Per cent P contentin grain also increased significantly

up to application of 6.45 kg P ha-1.Per cent P content in straw alsoincreased significantly over controlbut all levels were found at par inthis respect. Increased per centcontent of N and P may beattributed to the further increase inavailability of P in medium status soilthat probably developed efficientroot system augmenting uptake of Pas well as N. The highest totaluptake of N and P was recordedwith the application of 19.35 kg Pha-1 which was significantly higherto rest of other levels (Table 2). Percent K content in grain and strawwas not affected significantly withthe application of any level of P incomparison to control (Table 1) buttotal uptake of K increasedsignificantly that was the highestwith the application of 19.35 kg Pha-1, however, it was found at par tothat of 12.9 kg P ha-1 (Table 2).Significant reduction in Zn contentwas noticed with the application ofP indicating antagonisticrelationship. Zinc content in grainreduced up to application of 19.35


Table 1. Effect of P and Zn application on nutrient and protein content of barley.

Treat- N content P content K content Zn content Proteinment (%) (%) (%) (ppm) content (%)

––––––––––––– –––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––Grain Straw Grain Straw Grain Straw Grain Straw Grain Straw

P levels (kg ha-1) :0.00 1.829 0.463 0.397 0.067 0.473 1.120 27.26 19.43 11.433 2.8946.45 1.852 0.468 0.433 0.073 0.469 1.111 26.35 18.77 11.573 2.92512.90 1.873 0.474 0.441 0.074 0.464 1.100 21.26 15.15 11.704 2.96319.35 1.892 0.478 0.447 0.075 0.462 1.096 19.00 14.93 11.822 2.988S. Em+ 0.006 0.001 0.005 0.001 0.004 0.010 0.15 0.16 0.036 0.006C. D. 0.017 0.004 0.013 0.002 NS NS 0.43 0.46 0.103 0.025at 5%

ZnSO4 levels (kg ha-1) :00 1.830 0.463 0.434 0.074 0.468 1.109 21.37 15.73 11.436 2.89410 1.859 0.470 0.431 0.073 0.468 1.110 22.49 16.19 11.620 2.93820 1.872 0.473 0.428 0.072 0.466 1.105 24.16 17.21 11.703 2.95630 1.884 0.476 0.424 0.071 0.465 1.103 26.75 19.15 11.774 2.975S. Em+ 0.006 0.001 0.005 0.001 0.004 0.010 0.149 0.160 0.036 0.006C. D. 0.017 0.004 NS 0.002 NS NS 0.43 0.46 0.103 0.025at 5%

kg P ha-1 and up to 12.9 kg P ha-1

in straw. Decrease in Zn content athigher P level might be due todecrease in the available Zn in soilprobably due to formation ofcomplexes with excess P orprobable interference intranslocation (Sharma and Bapat2000 and Singh and Chauhan,2005). A characteristic pattern wasnoticed with regard to total uptakeof Zn that increased significantlyover control with the application of6.45 kg P ha-1 but it decreasedsignificantly with further increase inP levels (Table 2). Lowest totaluptake of Zn was observed with theapplication of 19.35 kg P ha-1

which was at par with 12.9 kg Pha-1 but both of these were foundsignificantly lower than control inthis respect. The increase in totaluptake of Zn with initial levels of Pmay be attributed to the increase indry matter despite of decrease incontent in grain and straw, however,with further increase in P levelsreduction in contents was so greatthat increasing dry matter could notcompensate it and significantreduction in total uptake wasevident.

Seed and straw yields enhancedsignificantly with the application ofP and the highest yields (3790.07and 5576.62 kg ha-1) were obtainedwith the application of 19.35 kg Pha-1. Increased yields with theincreasing P levels may be ascribedto the better nutritional environmentin the rhizosphere by increasingavailability of P and also developingwell developed root system enablingmore uptakes of other nutrients alsoand this might have improved thegrowth of crop ultimately resultingin higher grain and straw yields. Thehighest net monetary returns (Rs19377 ha-1) and B: C ratio (3.17)

were also observed with theapplication of 19.35 kg P ha-1.

Effect of Zn : N content ofgrain and straw and protein contentin grain increased significantly withthe application of increasing levelsof Zn and the highest contents wererecorded with the application of 30kg ZnSO4 ha-1 which was at parwith the application of 20 kg ZnSO4ha-1 (Table 1). Zinc content of grainand straw also increasedsignificantly with the increasinglevels of Zn application and thehighest content was recorded withthe application of 30 kg ZnSO4ha-1. Increased availability of Zn insoil due to its application possiblyimproved the content of grain andstraw and probably improvedfunctioning of physiologicalprocesses that might have helped inincreased absorption of othernutrients also. However, applicationof Zn brought significant reductionin the P content of straw of thebarley and lowest content was

recorded with the application of 30kg ZnSO4 ha-1 which was at parwith other levels of Zn. Higheravailability of Zn might have reducedthe availability of P resulting inreduced content of P (Nayak and

Taresh Kumar et al.264

Table 2. Effect of P and Zn application on nutrient uptake, grain yield and economics ofbarley.

Treat- Nutrient uptake (kg ha-1) Yield (kg ha-1) Economicsment ––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––

N P K Zn Grain Straw Net monetary B:Creturns (Rs. ha-1) ratio

P levels (kg ha-1) :0.00 75.07 14.73 65.34 1.700 2941.23 4593.97 14152 2.766.45 85.65 18.16 71.56 1.842 3347.95 5031.33 16764 3.0012.90 92.17 19.68 74.88 1.565 3576.21 5298.39 18111 3.0919.35 98.47 21.13 78.65 1.600 3790.07 5576.62 19377 3.17S. Em+ 1.67 0.38 1.52 0.030 70.43 102.78 - -C. D. at 5% 4.81 1.09 4.39 0.085 203.40 296.85 - -

ZnSO4 levels (kg ha-1) :00 74.99 16.17 64.62 1.340 2935.35 4587.85 14826 3.0110 85.45 18.06 71.05 1.543 3325.63 5001.52 16830 3.0720 92.68 19.33 75.77 1.767 3593.25 5342.64 18001 3.0230 98.25 20.14 78.99 2.058 3801.23 5568.31 18749 2.93S. Em+ 1.67 0.38 1.52 0.030 70.43 102.78 - -C. D. at 5% 4.81 1.09 4.39 0.085 203.40 296.85 - -

Table 3. Regression analysis of barley yieldas a function of P and Znfertilization.

Parameters Value

Optimum level 24.66 kg P ha-1

of P (P.opt)

Yield at P.opt 38.58 q ha-1

a 29.49

b 42.21

c -48.25

R2 value 0.9966

Px / Py 3.55

Optimum level 35.51 kg ZnSO4 ha-1

of Zn (Zn.opt)

Yield at Zn.opt 38.67 q ha-1

a 29.38

b 42.31

c -45.5

R2 value 0.9995

Px / Py 10.00

Gupta, 1995, Jain, 2004 andSammauria, 2007). P content ingrain and K content in grain andstraw did not affect significantly withthe application of any level of Zn.

The highest total uptake of Nand Zn was recorded with theapplication of 30 kg ZnSO4 ha-1

which was significantly higher overrest of the levels (Table 1). Totaluptake of P and K was also thehighest with the application of 30kg ZnSO4 ha-1 but it was at par with20 kg ZnSO4 ha-1. The highestgrain yield was obtained with theapplication of 30 kg ZnSO4 ha-1

that was significantly better over restof the levels, however, straw yieldobtained with this level was found atpar with the application of 20 kgZnSO4 ha-1. Zinc has been reportedto have definite role in reproductivephysiology especially in initiation ofreproductive primordial andfavourable partitioning ofphotosynthates towards sink (Jainand Dahama, 2006) that probablyled to significant improvement ingrain yield. The highest netmonetary returns (Rs. 18749 ha-1)were also recorded with theapplication of 30 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 butthe highest value of B:C ratio (3.07)was recorded with the application of

10 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 and furtherincrease beyond this level decreasedthe B:C ratio and it was even lowerthan control with the application of30 kg ZnSO4 ha-1.

Response studies : Grain yieldof barley was found highly positivelycorrelated with the total uptake of Pand Zn with the correlationcoefficient (r) of 0.971 and 0.515,respectively. Simple regressionequation (Y = a + bx) developed wasalso suggestive of increase in grainyield of barley due to total uptake ofP and Zn. The relationship indicatedthat response of barley was linear toP and Zn application and theresponse equations are as below.

P : Y = 2.156 + 0.6028x

Zn : Y = 558.65 + 32.75x

On the basis of regressionanalysis, the optimum dose of P andZn worked out to be 57.36 kg P and35.11 kg ZnSO4 ha-1, respectively(Table 3). The correspondingexpected grain yields for P and Znwere 38.58 and 38.67 q ha-1,respectively. The higher values ofcoefficient of determination for boththe nutrients indicated very highdegree of closeness between thepredicted and observed values.

LITERATURE CITED

Government of Rajasthan 2001. Agriculturein Rajasthan : Some facts, Directorate ofAgriculture. Pant Krishi Bhawan, Jaipur.

Jain N. K. 2004. Studies on P and Znfertilization in wheat [Triticumaestivum] and their residual effect onpearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum]. Ph.D. (Agro.) thesis. Rajasthan AgriculturalUniversity, Bikaner.

Jain N. K., and A. K. Dahama. 2006, Directand residual effect of P and Znfertilization on productivity of wheatpearl millet cropping system. Indian J.of Agron. 51(3): 165-169.

Nayak A. K. and M. L. Gupta. 1995. P. Znand organic matter interaction inrelation to uptake, tissue concentrationand absorption rate of P in wheat. J.Indian Soc. Soil. Sc. 43(4): 633-36.

Sammauria, R. 2007. Response of fenugreek(Trigonella foenum-graecum) tophosphorus and zinc application andtheir residual effect on succeeding pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum) underirrigated conditions of North WestRajasthan. Ph. D. (Agro.) Thesis.Rajasthan Agricultural University,Bikaner.

Sharma, B. L., and P. N. Bapat. 2000.Levels of micronutrient cations invarious plant parts of wheat asinfluenced by zinc and phosphorusapplication. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci.48(1): 130-134.

Singh, Y. P. and C. P. S. Chauhan. 2005.Effect of sulphur, phosphorus andRhizobium inoculation on yield, contentof micronutrients and phosphorusutilization of lentil. Indian J. Pulse Res.18(2): 21 1-213.


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In the last two to three decades,there is a considerable increase inirrigation facilities. Use of highyielding varieties coupled withintensive cropping have led to thedepletion of organic matter andthereby decreased the productivityof soil. Organic amendments havefavourable effects on productivity ofsoil, water holding capacity and soilmicrobial activity and play animportant role in improving thequality of crop. Nitrogen fixingbacteria including Azotobactor arethe constituents of organicamendments, which help in thesynthesis of lndol Acetic Acid,Gibbrellic acid, cytokinins andvitamins that are essential growthsubstances. Hence, use of theorganic amendment is one of thebest remedies for obtainingsustainable high yields withimprovement in quality of soil andcrop. Therefore, efforts have beenmade to find out the effect of Purna-11 as an organic amendment onnodulation, yield and quality of

soybean in Vertisols.


A field experiment wasconducted to study the effect oforganic amendment Purna-11 onnodulation, yield and quality ofsoybean during kharif 2004-2005on College farm, MAU, Parbhani.The treatments included (T0)conlrol, (T1) recommended dose offertilizer, (T2) RDF + Purna-11 @60 kg ha-1, (T3) ½ RDF + Purna-11@ 150 kg ha-1, (T4) ½ RDF +Purna-11 @ 300 kg ha-1, (T5)Purna-11 @ @ 300 kg ha-1, (T6)Purna-11 @ 500 kg ha-1, (T7) FYM@ 10 ha-1 with four replications inRBD.

The experimental soil was clay intexture having pH 7.8, EC 0.35dSm-1 CaCO3 5.4 per cent andorganic carbon 0.5 per cent withlow in available N, P and high inavailable K. Necessary culturaloperations and plant protectionschedule was followed formaintaining plant population andprotection of crop. The organic

amendment Purna-11 obtainedfrom Purna sugar factoryincorporated in experimental plothad organic carbon (32.40%),nitrogen (2.6%), phosphorus(1.4%), potassium (0.43%) and alsoFe, Zn, Mn and Cu. The plantsamples along with roots wereuprooted carefully at flowering andpod formation stage. The rootswere washed with fine jet of waterand number of nodules werecounted. The crop was harvestedafter 90 days of sowing and seedyield was recorded. Soil moisturecontent in soil profile (45 cm depth)was recorded at flowering and podformation stages as per the methoddescribed by Singh et al. (1980),Seed samples collected were ovendried, ground in mixer and analyzedfor crude protein by multiplying percent nitrogen with the factor 6.25.Oil percentage was estimated withSoxhlet extraction method.


Moisture content : The data(Table 1) indicated that applicationof FYM @ 10 t ha-1 (T7) recordedsignificantly higher moisture contentin soil at flowering and podformation stages followed byconsiderable reduction due to RDF+ Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 (T2). Themoisture content in soil was furtherreduced due to application of 100and 50 per cent RDF along withorganic amendment @ 150 or 300kg ha-1. The addition of Purna-11alone (T5 and T6) also showedfurther reduction in moisture


Soil Moisture, Nodulation, Yield Attributes and Quality ofSoybean Under Integrated Nutrient Management

B. R. Gajbhiye1 and C. V. Mali2

College of Agriculture, Latur - 413 512 (India)(Received : 27-09-2008)

ABSTRACT

The significant increase in moisture content of soil profile at all the critical growth stagesof crop was found with application of organics. The application of FYM @ 10 t ha-1 showedhigher soil moisture and maximum nodulation as compared to other treatments. The numberof pods plant-1 were higher with RDF + Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1. The highest grain yield wasobtained with application of RDF along with organics. The application of RDF in combinationwith Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 produced highest hundred seed weight (12.40 g), protein content(40.62 %), oil content (20%) and oil yield in soybean.

Key words : lntegrated nutrient management, soybean yield, protein and oilcontent.

1. Asstt Prof, of SSAC and 2. Head,Department of Soil Science and Agril.Chemistry, MAU, Parbhani 431 402.

content. There was significantreduction in moisture content as thetreatments were altered. Similarpattern in moisture content wasrecorded at harvest stage.

The data on nodule countplant-1 (Table 1) indicated that theapplication of FYM @ 10 t ha-1

recorded maximum number ofnodules at flowering (43 plant-1) andpod formation (53 plant-1) insoybean over rest of the treatments.The addition of RDF alone (T1) oralong with Purna-11 (T2) or 50 percent RDF + Purna-11 (T3 and T4)produced more or less similarnumber of nodules. However,number of nodules was reducedsignificantly with the application ofPurna-11 alone (T5 and T6). Thenumber of nodules was decreasedconsiderably as the treatments werealtered. The improvement in soilmoisture with an application oforganic (FYM) recorded in this studymay be attributed to the higherwater retention characteristics oforganic amendments as reported byBhatia and Shukla (1982). Bellakkiand Badanur (1997) also reportedhigh content of water at fieldcapacity with the combination ofFYM and fertilizers. The maximumnodulation at flowering and podformation stage with application ofFYM @ 10 t ha-1 in soil confirmedthe findings of Kundu et al. (1998)who reported an increase in Nfixation through symbiotic processwith the incorporation of organicmanures in soil.

Yield attributes and grainyield : The data on yield attributesand grain yield of soybean (Table 2)revealed that the application of RDF+ Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 (T2)produced maximum number of podsplant-1 followed by RDF (T1).

However, treatments T4, T5, T6 andT7 were at par with T2. Theapplication of 50 per cent RDF +150 kg Purna-11 ha-1 showedsignificantly less number of pods(60) plant-1. The number of grainspod-1 were higher with T1, T2 andT4 than other treatments.

The highest grain yield (29.5 qha-1) was recorded with theapplication of 100 per cent RDFalong with Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1

followed by slight reduction upto27.7 q ha-1 with the addition of 100

per cent RDF (T1). Further as thetreatments were altered to T3, or T4reduced the grain yield significantlyand were at par with each other.The application of FYM and Purna-11 alone showed drastic reductionin yield of soybean.

The maximum number of podsplant-1 and grain yield recorded withRDF + Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 (T2)may be attributed to higher moistureretention enhancing nutrientavailability and finally increased theyield attributes and yield of soybean


Table 1. Moisture content (%) of soil and nodulation in soybean as influenced by organicamendment.

Treatments Flowering Pod formation Harvest––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––Moisture Nodule Moisture Nodule Moisturecontent count content count content(%) plant-1 (%) plant-1 (%)

T0 29.90 29 33.75 37 22.45T1 32.10 36 34.70 33 24.00T2 32.75 38 34.85 45 24.80T3 32.00 35 34.15 35 23.35T4 32.50 38 34.00 45 23.10T5 31.35 31 34.60 39 24.35T6 31.85 33 34.80 41 24.95T7 33.25 43 34.85 53 24.80S. E.+ 0.10 3.1 0.04 3.2 0.04C. D. at 5% 0.31 9.3 0.13 9.4 0.12

Table 2. Yield attributes, grain yield and quality parameters of soybean as influenced byorganic amendment.

Tretments Pods Grains Grain Hundred Protein Oil Oilplant-1 pod-1 yield seed content content yield

(q ha-1) wt. (g) (%) (%) (kg ha-1)

T0 56 2 17.7 11.32 39.25 18.02 318.9T1 77 3 27.7 12.32 40.31 19.80 548.4T2 82 3 29.5 12.14 40.62 20.00 590.6T3 60 2 25.8 11.92 40.06 19.04 492.1T4 72 3 26.6 12.22 40.18 19.85 529.0T5 65 2 20.0 11.75 39.56 18.56 371.5T6 69 2 20.5 11.82 39.75 18.66 381.5T7 73 2 23.1 12.02 39.93 19.17 442.8S. E.+ 4.77 0.13 0.64 0.314 0.38 0.76 27C. D. at 5% 14.00 0.38 1.92 0.923 1.10 NS 24.31

as reported by Chaubey et al.(2002).

Quality parameters : The datapresented in Table 2 furtherindicated that application of RDFalong with Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1

(T2) showed highest test weight(12.40 g) followed by 12.32 g withthe application of RDF (T1). The testweight of soybean did not differsignificantly with differenttreatments. Similarly application ofRDF with Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1

(T2) recorded highest proteincontent (40.62) followed by 40.31per cent due to addition of RDF (T1)in soybean. The oil yield recordedwith treatment T2 was significantlysuperior to other treatments. Thusthe application of 100 per cent RDFalong with 60 kg ha-1 of Purna-11showed highest grain, oil content

and protein content in soybean.Nagar et al. (1993) also observedthat oil and protein content of thesoybean grains increasedsignificantly with increasing doses offertilizers. These results also confirmthe findings of Bachhav and Sable(1996) who reported that anapplication of half N through in-organics and half through FYMproduced maximum protein and oilcontent in soybean.

LITERATURE CITED

Bachhav, P. R. and R. N. Sable. 1996. Effectof different sources of nitrogen ongrowth parameters, yield and quality ofsoybean. J. Maharashtra agric. Univ. 21(2): 244-247.

Bellakki, M. A. and V. P. Badanur. 1997.Long term effect of integrated nutrientmanagement on properties of Vertisolunder dry land agriculture. J. Indian Soc.Soil Sci., 45(3): 438-442.

Bhatia, K. S. and K. K. Shukla. l982. Effect

of continuous application of fertilizersand manures on some physicalproperties of eroded alluvial soil. J.Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 30(1) : 33-36.

Chaubey, N. K., G. K. Shrivastava, B. S.Joshi and R. S. Tripathi. 2002.Influence of FYM and inorganicnutrition on productivity of linseed(Linum usitatissimum L) under limitedirrigation in Chhattisgarh plains. J.Oilseed Res, 19(2): 213-214.

Kundu, S., K. K. Barman, M. Singh, M. C.Manna and P. N. Takkar. 1998. Effect ofFYM on N2 fixation in soybean (Glycinemax) and its contribution to soil nitrogenJ. Indian Soc. Soil. Sci., 46(4): 692-694.

Nagar. R. P., G. C. Mali and P. Lal. 1993.Effect of phosphorus and sulphur onYield and chemical composition ofsoybean in Verttisol. J. Indian Soc. Soil,Sci., 41(2): 385-386.

Singh, L., R. N. S. Verma and S. S. Lohia.1980. Effect of continuous applicationof FYM and chemical fertilizers on somesoil properties. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci.,28(2): 170-172.

Gajbhiye and Mali268

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In India, people prefer freshfruits instead of canned products.The economics of banana dependson the cost of transportation andstorage. However, low shelf life andbad transportability are two majorproblems in case of banana. It isgenerally harvested when greenbetween 70 to 100 per centmaturity and ripened beforeconsumption (Paul Thomson et al.1968). Pre harvest and post harvesthandling of banana fruits is animportant aspect of banana trade.Early and even maturity of bunchesare the immediate needs of thebanana growers of the region. Aninvestigation was thereforeconducted to find out the effect ofplant growth substances andmicronutrients on quality of bananacv. Shrimanti.


A field experiment wasconducted at College ofHorticulture, MarathwadaAgricultural University, Parbhaniduring 2002-2003. The experimentwas laid out in a randomized blockdesign with 8 treatments, viz. T1-Control, T2-GA3 40 ppm, T3-GA380 ppm, T4-IAA 40 ppm, T5-IAA80 ppm, T6-micronutrients mixture(Zn+Cu+B) 1 % one spray, T7-micronutrients mixture (Zn+Cu+B)1 % two sprays and T8-waxol 6 %.

All recommended culturalpractices had been followed afterplantation of banana. The stocksolutions of IAA and GA3 wereprepared by dissolving 1 g ofrespective growth regulator in 50 mlalcohol and added distilled water tomake volume of 1 lit. The requiredconcentration of micronutrientsmixture (Zn+Cu+B) were preparedby directly mixing required quantity

of micronutrient mixture in waterand those spray solutions were usedfor spraying immediately afterpreparation. Spray was given at flagleaf stage i.e. just before floweringby using a hand sprayer. Growthregulators and micronutrientsmixture on leaves of both the sidesof plant were sprayed. Precautionswere taken to avoid the drizzling ofthe sprays on the other treatments.After harvesting the banana,bunches were completely dipped in6 per cent waxol solution for 30 to40 seconds. The ripened fruits werepeel with hands and pulp waschopped, blended to homogeneousmixture in a mortar and pestle andthis mixture was used for chemicalanalysis. Observations wererecorded and statistically analyzed asper the methods given by Panse andSukhatme( 1967).


Effect on physical charac-ters : The data presented in Table 1that there was significant effect ofplant growth regulators and micro-nutrients on weight of mature finger,weight of riped finger and per centloss in weight during ripening. Nonsignificant influence was noticed inpulp to peel ratio. The maximumweight of mature finger (185.60g)was found in micronutrient mixture1 per cent two sprays followed bymicronutrient mixture 1 per centone spray (180.82 g). These twotreatments were at par with eachother and followed by IAA 80 ppm(173.38 g) and GA3 80 ppm


Effect of Plant Growth Regulators and Micronutrients on Physicaland Chemical Characters of Banana (Musa spp) cv. Shrimanti

S. S. Yadlod1, B. A. Kadam2 and B. M. Rodge3

Department of Horticulture, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani - 431 402 (India)(Received : 27-09-2008)

ABSTRACT

The maximum weight of mature finger (185.60g) was found in two sprays of micronutrientmixture (1%) followed by one spray of 1 per cent micronutrient mixture (180.82g). Minimumreduction in per cent loss in weight (3.70%) during ripening was found with waxol (6%) followedby two sprays of 1% micronutrient mixture (4.32 %), IAA 80 ppm (4.36%) and maximum wasfound in control (6.75%). Maximum TSS (21.70%) and reducing sugar (12.90%), was recordedwith IAA 80 ppm. Maximum non-reducing sugar (3.84%) was observed in two sprays of 1%micronutrient mixture and minimum in control (3.05 %). Maximum Vit. C (0.98) was observedin GA3 80 ppm which was significantly superior over all the treatments and minimum in onespray of 1% micronutrient mixture (0.69). Highest pH was recorded with IAA 80 ppm (5.37)and lowest in control (5.26). It was found that application of IAA 80 ppm, GA3 80 ppm andtwo sprays of 1% micronutrients mixture, waxol (6%) were effective for physical and chemicalcharacters of banana cv. Shrimanti.

Key words : Micronutrients mixture, growth requlaters, physico-chemicalproperties, banana.

Part of M. Sc. (Agri), thesis submitted byfirst author to M.A.U. Parbhani

1. Asstt. Professor, 2. Professor and 3.Ph. D. Scholar.

(171.87 g). These treatments werestatistically similar. Maximum weightof ripe finger (177.58g) was foundin two sprays of 1 per centmicronutrients mixture followed byone spray of 1 per centmicronutrients mixture (171.74g).These treatments were at par witheach other. Minimum weight ofmature finger was recorded in waxol(152.12). These results were alsosupported by Chellapan (1983),Abdel kader et al. (1992) andUlthaiah et al. (1993).

All the treatments significantlyreduced the per cent loss in weightduring ripening. Minimum reductionin per cent loss in weight (3.70%)during ripening was found withwaxol followed by two sprays ofmicronutrients mixture (4.32%),IAA 80 ppm (4.36%), GA3 80 ppm(4.71%) and one spray ofmicronutrients mixture (5.02%)which were at par. Maximum percent loss in weight during ripeningwas found in control (6.75%).Highest pulp to peel ratio wasobtained with micronutrientsmixture one spray (2.89). Theremaining treatments were similarto each other. Similar results werealso reported by Chattopadhyay andJana (1982). Ulthaiah et al. (1993),Patil and Hulmani (1998).

Effect on chemical chara-cters : The data presented in Table2 regarding TSS, total sugar,reducing sugar and Vit. C wassignificantly affected by plantgrowth substances andmicronutrients mixture. Nonsignificant influence was noticed onnon-reducing sugar and pH.Maximum TSS was recorded withIAA 80 ppm (21.70%) which was atpar with IAA 40 ppm (21.40 %),micronutrients mixture two sprays

(21.25%) and micronutrientsmixture one spray (19.72%).Maximum total sugar (16.61%) wasrecorded in IAA 80 ppm which wasat par with two sprays ofmicronutrients mixture (16.19%),one spray of micronutrients mixture(16.04%), GA3 80 ppm (16.01%),waxol (15.86%) and IAA 80 ppm(15.67%). Similar results were alsoreported by Aziz and Wahab (1970),Rao et al. (1971), Srinivasan(1971), Sharma (1976), Jadhav andKadam (1990), Ghanta and Dwivedi(1993), Das (1995) and Deo (1996).

Maximum reducing sugar

(12.90%) was observed due toapplication of IAA 80 ppm whichwas at par with one sprays ofmicronutrients mixture (12.70%),GA3 80 ppm (12.65%), IAA 40ppm (12.60 %) ,two sprays ofmicronutrients mixture (12.35%)and minimum in control (12.00 %).Maximum non-reducing sugar(3.84%) was observed in two spraysof micronutrients mixture andminimum in control (3.05 %).Similar results were also reported byRao et al. (1971), Srinivasan(1971), Sharma (1976), Jadhav andKadam (1990) and Ghanta andDwivedi (1993).

Yadlod et al.270

Table 1. Effect of plant growth regulators and micronutrients on physical characters of banana(Musa spp) cv. Shrimanti.

Treatments Weight of finger (g) % loss in Pulp to –––––––––––––––––––––– weight during peel Mature Ripe ripening ratio

Control 164.52 153.41 6.75 2.81GA3 40 ppm 166.66 157.38 5.57 2.71GA3 80 ppm 171.87 165.77 4.71 2.62IAA 40 ppm 165.35 156.80 5.17 2.62IAA 80 ppm 173.38 165.82 4.36 2.78Micronutrients 1%, 1 spray 180.82 171.74 5.02 2.89Micronutrients 1%, 2 spray 185.60 177.58 4.32 2.73Waxol 6% 152.12 146.49 3.70 2.55S. E.+ 1.63 4.74 0.56 0.29C. D. at 5% 4.80 13.94 1.64 NS

Table 2. Effect of plant growth regulators and micronutrients on chemical characters ofbanana (Musa spp) cv. Shrimanti.

Treatments TSS Total Reducing Non Vit. C pH(%) sugar sugar % reducting (mg 100

% sugar % g-1 pulp)

Control 19.99 15.05 12.00 3.05 0.72 5.26GA3 40 ppm 20.70 15.28 12.10 3.18 0.88 5.30GA3 80 ppm 20.68 16.01 12.65 3.36 0.98 5.32IAA 40 ppm 21.40 15.67 12.60 3.07 0.80 5.30IAA 80 ppm 21.70 16.61 12.90 3.71 0.77 5.37Micronutrients 1%, 1 spray 20.82 16.04 12.70 3.34 0.69 5.28Micronutrients 1%, 2 spray 21.25 16.19 12.35 3.84 0.73 5.34Waxol 6% 19.72 15.86 12.05 3.81 0.70 5.35S. E.+ 0.40 0.32 0.22 0.23 0.30 0.10C. D. at 5% 1.19 0.95 0.66 NS 0.08 NS

Maximum Vit. C (0.98) wasobserved in GA3 80 ppm which wassignificantly superior over all thetreatments and minimum in onespray of micronutrient mixture(0.69). Highest pH was recordedwith IAA 80 ppm (5.37) and lowestin control (5.26). Remainingtreatments were statistically similarto each other. Similar results werealso reported by Lodh et al. (1971),Srinivasan (1971), Ghanta andDwivedi (1993) and Deo (1996).

LITERATURE CITED

Abdel Kader, A. M. M., F. M. B. El-Makhtounand M. B. Bastawros. l992. Effect ofmicronutrients foliar application on thevegetative growth and yield of Hindibanana (M. cacendishii). Egyptian J.agric. Res., 70(2): 613-624.

Aziz, A. B. A. and F. K. Wahab. 1970.Comparative studies on the differentmethods of artificial ripening of bananafruits. Curr. Sci., 39: 552-555.

Chattopadhyay, P. K. and A. K. Jana. 1982.Growth, yield and quality of GaintGrovernor bananas as influenced by

growth substances. South Indian J.Hort, Jan.-Feb. 85.

Chellapan, K. 1983. Effect of 2, 4-D and GAon the fruit development and postharvest physiology of banana. Ph. D.thesis, Tamil Nadu Agril. Univ.,Coimbatore.

Das, P. K. l995. Effect of micronutrient onquality of certain banana cultivars. J.Agric. Sci. Soc. North-East India. 8(2):211-215.

Deo, D. D. l996. Studies on performance ofbanana (Musa paradisiaca) types underAkola condition. M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis,Dr. PDKV, Akola.

Ghanta, P. K. and A. M. Dwivedi. 1993.Effect of some micronutrients on yieldand quality of banana cv. GiantGovernor, Envron. Ecol., 11(2): 292-294.

Jadhav, K. V. and B. A. Kadam. 1990. Effectof pre- harvest spray of growthregulators on growth, maturity, yield andquality of cv. Basrai of banana. Indian J.Hort. 47 (4) 310-314.

Lodh, S. B., P. Ravel, T. Selvaraj and R. R.Kholi. 197l. Biochemical changesassociated with growth and developmentof dwarf Cavendish banana. Indian J.Hort., 28(1): 38-45.

Panse, V. G. and P. V. Sukhatme. 1967.Statistical Methods for AgriculturalWorkers, ICAR Publ. New Delhi.

Patil, S. N. and N. C. Hulmani. l998. Effectof post-harvest treatments on thestorage of banana fruits. Karnataka.Agric. Sci., 11(4): 134-138.

Paul Thomson, V. B. Dalal, M. C. Pushpaand B. L. Amala. 1968. Harvesting,handling, marketing and transporting ofbanana for export from India. Fd. Pckr.,22(4): 1-6.

Rao, N. N. M., K. G. Shanmugavelu, C.Srinivasan and D. R. P. Tah. 1971.Effect of ethrel (2-chloroethylphosphoric acids) on ripening of bananafruits. South Indian Hort., 19(1-4): l-8.

Sharma, D. D. 1976. Varietal differences inphysico-chemical characteristics of thebanana fruits. Indian Agri., 20(2): l15-119.

Srinivasan, C. l971. Effect of ethrel (2-chloroethyl phosphoric acids) onripening of banana. Madras agric. J., 58(9-10): 777-784.

Ulthaiah, B. C., K. M. Indiresh, M. J. Reddyand K. B. Rao. 1993. Performance ofbanana cultivars under West CoastConditions. Agril. Res. J. Kerala, 30:84-88.


______________

Genetic improvement mainlydepends upon the amount ofgenetic variability present in thepopulation. The use ofMahalanobis's D2 statistics forestimating genetic divergence havebeen emphasized by many workers(Murthy and Arunachalam, 1966)because it permits precisecomparison among all possible pairsof the population in any givengroups before effecting actualcrosses. Therefore, the presentinvestigation was undertaken forascertaining the nature andmagnitude of genetic diversity inforty genotypes of groundnut.


The experimental materialconsisted of 40 genotypes ofgroundnut out of which 34genotypes were from NationalResearch Centre for Groundnut,Junagarh (Gujrat) and 6 varieties

from Department of AgriculturalBotany, College of Agriculture,Dapoli (MS). All genotypes weregrown in a randomized block designwith three replications at theResearch Farm, Department ofAgricultural Botany, College ofAgriculture, Dapoli during kharif,2006. The plot size was 2 x 1.2 mwith spacing 30 x 10 cm. Therecommended packages of practices

were adopted. The observationswere recorded on five randomlyselected plants for thirteencharacters viz., days to firstflowering, days to 50 per centflowering, days to maturity, plantheight number of primary branchesplant-1, number of pods plant-1,shelling percentage, pod length,100-seed weight, number of kernelsplant-1 kernel yield plant-1, oilpercentage and dry pod yieldplant-1. The analysis of geneticdivergence using Mahalanobis(1936) D2 statistics was carried outas described by Rao (1952).


The analysis of variance revealedsignificant differences among thegenotypes for all the charactersindicating considerable variability ingroundnut genotypes studied. The


Genetic Divergence in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)*

S. M. Awatade1, B. L. Thaware2, S. G. Bhave3, A. V. Mane4 and B. B. Jadhav5

Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)(Received : 20-05-2007)

ABSTRACT

Forty genotypes were grouped into twelve clusters. Cluster-I was the largest comprising ofseventeen genotypes followed by cluster II and cluster III having 9 and 5 genotypes,respectively. While clusters IV to XII were solitary. The average inter-cluster distance wasmaximum between cluster X and cluster XII (25.37) followed by cluster X and cluster XI (24.43)and cluster-IV and cluster X (23.62) indicated that these groups of genotypes were highlydivergent from each other. The genotypes in above clusters revealed substantial differences inthe means for important yield contributing characters suggesting that the genotypes belongingto these clusters form ideal parents for improvement in groundnut.

Key words : Genetic divergence, groundnut, genotypes.

* Part of M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted bysenior author.

1. M. Sc. (Agri.) Student, 2. Professor ofAgril. Botany, 3. Associate Dean, College ofForestry, 4. Assistant Professor of Agril.Botany, 5. Director of Research

Table 1. Grouping of 40 genotypes of groundnut into different clusters on the basis of D2

statistics.

Cluster Genotypes Name of the genotypesincluded

I 17 RS 052, RS 074, RS 095, KANO, SUPER KHANDESH, RS 085, B717, B 353, S 721, 1792, RCM 592, S 720, SPZ 469 RED (DIF),NAN 255, MASAMBIKA, NAN 251 and SB-11

II 9 RCM 597-2, COBO SABA 28-20, AMM 795, JL 24, AH 7121,NCAC 973, EC 6902, ROSADO and VRR 313

III 5 COLORADO MANFREDI, SAM COLL 106, SAM COL 173, 55-455 and RCM 705

IV 1 CHIMBUWILA-A-LL-2

V 1 Konkan Gaurav

VI 1 BMP 11

VII 1 B 704

VIII 1 SAM COL 83

IX 1 TAG 24

X 1 AH 7221

XI 1 TPG 41

XII 1 TKG 19 (A)

range of D2 values was from 4.83(between RS052 and RS074) to667.74 (between COBO SABA 28-20 and TKG 19(A). On the basis ofD2 values the forty genotypes ofgroundnut were grouped into twelveclusters (Table 1). The cluster I was

largest cluster, which comprised ofseventeen genotypes. Cluster II andcluster III had nine and fivegenotypes, respectively while clusterIV to cluster XII included onegenotype and remained solitary.Reddy et al. (1987) grouped 20

genotypes into 6 clusters. Golakiyaand Makne (1991) grouped 24genotypes of groundnut into 6clusters and Katule et al. (1992)grouped 18 groundnut genotypesinto 8 clusters.


Table 2. Intra and inter cluster divergence (D2) and distance (D) = (√D2) in groundnut genotypes.

Cluster I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

I 45.16 106.39 116.40 126.17 76.08 101.33 253.71 114.33 142.87 341.98 206.34 323.36(6.72) (10.31) (10.79) (11.23) (8.72) (10.07) (15.93) (10.69) (11.95) (18.49) (14.36) (17.98)

II 57.53 96.64 322.20 191.04 156.21 353.65 128.37 113.38 199.14 331.65 543.33(7.58) (9.83) (17.95) (13.82) (12.50) (18.81) (11.33) (10.65) (14.11) (18.21) (23.31)

III 57.35 268.89 144.17 126.17 219.66 94.91 85.66 153.63 285.15 392.81(7.57) (16.40) (12.01) (11.23) (14.82) (9.74) (9.26) (12.39) (16.89) (19.82)

IV 0.00 87.51 104.28 161.45 286.45 284.26 557.68 287.11 207.64(0.00) (9.35) (10.21) (12.71) (16.92) (16.86) (23.62) (16.94) (14.41)

V 0.00 96.86 179.67 127.21 119.89 370.58 105.37 158.59(0.00) (9.84) (13.40) (11.28) (10.95) (19.25) (10.26) (12.59)

VI 0.00 95.53 234.63 98.11 225.17 351.27 334.26(0.00) (9.77) (15.32) (9.91) (15.01) (18.74) (18.28)

VII 0.00 319.68 200.90 273.06 448.11 238.70(0.00) (17.88) (14.17) (16.52) (21.17) (15.45)

VIII 0.00 126.69 277.48 123.40 278.46(0.00) (11.26) (16.66) (11.11) (16.69)

IX 0.00 128.69 234.05 374.80(0.00) (11.34) (15.30) (19.36)

X 0.00 596.94 643.45(0.00) (24.43) (25.37)

XI 0.00 184.12(0.00) (13.57)

XII 0.00(0.00)

Table 3. Cluster means for thirteen characters in groundnut.

Character Cluster Popul-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ation

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII mean

Days to first flowering 27.58 26.70 25.93 27.33 26.67 25.00 23.67 27.00 24.33 22.67 27.67 24.33 26.69Days to 50% flowering 30.21 29.29 28.53 31.00 31.00 28.67 27.33 29.33 27.33 26.67 30.00 29.67 29.52Days to maturity 110.43 108.62 106.8 110.33 107.00 106.33 102.67 109.00 104.33 100.33 109.33 106.33 108.61Plant height (cm) 38.28 40.12 45.32 38.47 30.00 36.67 49.73 42.80 24.60 50.87 19.20 40.13 39.27Primary branches plant-1 4.39 4.17 4.38 4.07 5.67 4.07 4.27 4.07 4.53 4.00 6.13 5.20 4.40Pods plant-1 13.17 12.86 9.27 11.80 14.00 14.60 13.40 7.47 12.40 8.87 10.53 11.00 12.25Shelling percentage 72.81 74.42 70.77 74.69 69.58 73.72 73.63 72.65 75.58 72.46 71.47 66.52 72.79Pod length (mm) 24.15 23.66 32.97 22.87 27.67 22.47 28.73 32.27 26.60 28.67 31.20 33.53 26.07100-seed weight (g) 40.27 38.11 40.8 39.00 46.33 32.00 41.33 59.00 43.67 41.00 64.67 68.00 41.66Kernels plant-1 21.37 21.85 19.76 20.60 19.23 22.20 20.80 14.00 20.27 16.33 14.13 12.93 20.77Kernel yield plant-1 (g) 8.03 8.25 8.14 8.07 10.37 7.13 10.27 8.73 8.87 6.53 10.10 8.33 8.51Oil percentage 47.68 49.49 48.86 45.02 47.10 46.98 46.00 49.06 49.03 50.12 48.04 45.83 48.19Dry pod yield plant-1 (g) 12.15 10.95 11.60 10.80 12.60 9.27 14.33 11.50 11.73 9.00 12.53 12.53 11.68

Average intra and inter-clusterD2 values are presented in Table 2.An intra-cluster distance wasmaximum in cluster-II (7.58)followed by cluster III (7.57) andcluster I (6.72). High intra-clusterdistance indicates wide geneticdivergence among the constituentgenotypes. The inter-clusterdistance was maximum betweencluster X and cluster XII (25.37)followed by cluster X and cluster XI(24.43) and cluster IV and cluster X(23.62) suggesting that these groupsof genotypes were highly divergentfrom each other. The genotypes inabove clusters revealed substantialdifferences in the means forimportant yield contributingcharacters, suggesting that thegenotypes belonging to theseclusters form ideal parents forinitiating hybridization. Theminimum inter-cluster distance wasfound between cluster I and clusterV (8.72) and cluster III and cluster IX(9.26) indicating that the genotypesof these clusters were geneticallyvery close to each other.

Cluster VII recorded highestmean for dry pod yield plant-1(Table 3). Cluster X had less days toflowering, days to 50 per centflowering and days to maturity andexhibited highest mean for thecharacter oil percentage. Cluster VIhad maximum number of podsplant-1. Cluster I had maximum daysto maturity, better average fornumber of pods plant-1, shellingpercentage and number of kernelsplant-1. Cluster XII had maximum100 seed weight and pod length.Cluster XI had least plant height andmaximum number of primarybranches plant-1. Thus, thegenotypes of outstanding meanperformance from these clustersmay be identified as potentialparents and could be utilized infurther improvement programmefor developing new varieties.

The genotypes viz. B353,COBO SABA 28-20,CHIMBUWILA-A-LL2, RCM 705,BMPll, B704, SAM COL83 and

AH7221 were identified aspromising for further improvementin yield of groundnut.

LITERATURE CITED

Golakiya, P. R. and V. G. Makne. 1991.Genetic diversity in Spanish bunchgroundnut. J. Maharashtra agric. Univ.16 (3) : 337-339.

Katule, B. K, M. V. Thombare, A. D. Dumbreand B. B. Pawar. 1992. Geneticdiversity in bunch groundnut. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ. 17 (2) : 302-303.

Mahalanobis, P. C. 1936. On the generalizeddistance in statistics. Proc. Nat. Inst. Sci.India. 2: 49-55.

Murthy, B. R. and V. Arunachalam. 1966.The nature of genetic divergence inrelation to the breeding system in cropplants. Indian J. Genet. and PlantBreeding. 26A: 188-189.

Rao, C. R. 1952. Advances in StatisticalMethods in Biometric Research. JohnWiley and Sons. Inc. New York.

Reddy, V. R. G., B. N. Singh and B. Rai.1987. Analysis of genetic divergence inspreading varieties of groundnut. CropImpro. 14 (2) : 149-152.

Awatade et al.274

______________

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus(L). Moench) is one of the popularvegetables. It is reach in vitamins,calcium, potassium and otherminerals, besides many industrialuses and medicinal preparations.Fast growth within short period andthe photoinsensitive nature enablesto raise two okra crops in a year.Okra is popular vegetable gettinggood price in the market. However,its cultivation was confined with afew cultivars which show theincidence of YVMV disease fromsome quarters, a well recognizedproblem in the cultivation of okra.The virus has been reported tocause upto 94 per cent loss in yield(Singh, 1985). In view of this, theattempt has been made to evolvethe new disease tolerant and highyielding genotype in the presentinvestigation (Darlington and Wylie,1955, Sujatha et al., 1986,Thomburaj and Singh, 2001).


The present investigation wascarried out at National AgriculturalResearch Project (Plain Zone),Ganeshkhind, Pune from kharif1997 with screening andpurification of present lines. Insummer 1998, crossing of theselines was undertaken. F1 and F2generations were raised in kharif

1998 and summer 1999,respectively for further study. Thepopulations from F2 to F5 werescreened during kharif/summerseasons at this station and thepromising selections were tested instation and multilocation trials atPune, Pimpalgaon Baswant,Kolhapur, Digraj and Rahuri duringkharif and summer. All the trialswere conducted in a randomizedblock design, with recommendedcultural measures to raise normalcrop. After harvesting, the data onfruit yield was recorded on plotbasis. At harvest maturity the datawere recorded on yield and yieldcontributing characters.


The station trials conductedduring kharif and summer seasons


Phule Utkarsha : A Promising Okra Cultivar

S. G. Bhalekar1, U. T. Desai2, D. S. Kakade3, C. A. Nimbalkar4 and B. G. Pawar5

National Agricultural Research Project (Plain Zone), Ganeshkhind, Pune - 41 1007 (India)(Received : 31-12-2007)

ABSTRACT

The selection, GK-IV-3-3-3 named as 'Phule Utkarsha' derived from the cross betweenParbhani Kranti and Varsha Uphar is a very promising okra cultivar and yielded 231.05 qha-1 which was 43, 44 and 25 per cent more over Arka Anamika, Parbhani Kranti and VarshaUphar, respectively. The variety exhibited better reaction against YVMV disease as mean percent incidence was 0.20 per cent at all the locations under study. It is less susceptible to aphids,jassids and mites, and moderately susceptible to leaf minor and fruit borer. The fruits are darkgreen, attractive, shining, straight, slender with market appealing characteristics. It was relasedas Phule Utkarsh for cultivation in Western Maharashtra.

Key words : Okra, hybridization, new variety.

1. Asstt. Prof, of Horticulture, 3. Jr.Pathologist, 4. Asstt Prof. of Statistics, 5.Asstt. Floriculturist, 2. Ex-Head, Dept. ofHorticulture, MPKV, Rahuri - 413 722.

Table 1. Mean yield (q ha-1) performance of promising okra genotypes in multilocation andstation trials.

Genotypes Multilocation trials Station Mean–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– trialsNARP, ARS, AICVIP, ARS, Agril. Pooled K-2000Ganesh- Pmple- Rahuri Kasbe College, Mean tokhind gaon Digraj Kolha- K-2002

Bas- purwant

GK-II-4-1-2 226.60 159.48 170.74 119.21 132.30 161.66 242.91 202.29GK-IV-1-2-14 228.68 148.31 167.68 119.83 119.00 157.12 246.40 201.76GK-IV-1-3-2 238.05 185.06 181.16 119.23 127.88 171.73 262.31 217.02GK-IV-2-4-13 235.79 159.88 166.67 137.04 124.55 162.88 240.73 201.81GK-IV-3-3-3 246.10 200.51 183.24 164.81 122.76 187.46 274.63 231.05GK-IV-3-4-4 256.61 153.01 163.05 132.48 98.66 158.89 251.53 205.21GK-IV-4-3-7 241.86 167.50 184.82 135.95 118.33 168.62 250.44 209.53Varsha Uphar © 222.76 163.86 155.78 103.62 108.52 148.17 220.21 184.19Arka Anamika © 196.52 154.91 116.89 103.07 124.54 136.68 185.86 161.27Parbhani Kranti © 186.29 148.09 102.87 103.85 104.70 129.62 190.48 160.05S. E.+ 98.88 4.88 5.04 4.98 10.62 4.78 6.17 5.48C. D. at 5% 18.18 16.15 7.95 14.81 36.87 13.24 17.68 15.46

at Ganeshkhind, Pune, revealed thatthe Selection GK-IV-3-3-3 exhibitedsignificantly highest yield 274.64 qha-1 (Table 1) over the checkcultivars Varsha Uphar (220.21 qha-1), Arka Anamika (185.86 qha-1) and Parbhani Kranti (190.48 qha-1).

The performance of thispromising selection with checkcultivars was also evaluated at fivelocations in the jurisdiction ofMahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth.The pooled results of multilocationtrials indicated that the SelectionGK-IV-3-3-3 gave the highest meanyield (187.46 q ha-1) inmultilocation trials. The mean yieldperformance of promising okraselections in different trials (Table 1)revealed that the highest mean yield

(231.05 q ha-1) was recorded byPhule Utkarsha (GK-IV-3-3-3)followed by the Selection GK-IV-1-3-2 (217.02 q ha-1). The lowest

yield was recorded by checkParbhani Kranti (160.05 q ha-1)followed by Arka Anamika (161.27q ha-1).

Bhalekar et al.276

Table 2. Disease and pest reaction of promising genotypes of okra.

Genotypes % incidence YVMV Powdery Pests–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– mildew –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Pune Rahuri Pimpalgaon intensity Av. numbers / leaf % fruit

Baswant (%) ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– borerAphids Jassids Leaf Mites White fly/ infestation

minor treat

GK-II-4-1-2 0.69 0.28 1.07 17.69 9.47 9.94 6.89 13.00 2.99 7.84(4.76) (3.03) (5.94) (24.87) (16.26)

GK-IV-1-2-14 1.27 0.19 1.87 18.72 13.98 7.05 15.07 27.33 5.77 5.09(6.47) (2.50) (7.86) (25.64) (13.04)

GK-IV-1-3-2 0.65 0.14 0.47 18.09 12.00 5.19 4.63 12.90 0.66 2.93(4.62) (2.14) (3.93) (25.17) (9.86)

GK-IV-2-4-13 1.41 0.19 1.57 20.90 8.02 5.00 10.67 25.33 3.99 3.47(6.82) (2.50) (7.20) (27.28) (10.74)

GK-IV-3-3-3 0.16 0.14 0.30 15.99 5.36 4.72 7.57 21.30 2.22 5.15(2.29) (2.14) (3.14) (23.57) (13.12)

GK-IV-3-4-4 0.97 0.00 2.20 18.04 10.05 17.18 8.02 15.50 1.88 4.33(5.65) (0.00) (8.53) (25.13) (12.01)

GK-IV-4-3-7 1.68 0.14 1.97 23.28 7.05 16.10 9.47 14.11 1.33 7.73(7.45) (2.14) (8.07) (28.85) (16.14)

Varsha Uphar (C) 1.68 1.94 9.33 28.20 23.74 11.50 14.89 22.77 4.44 6.24(7.45) (8.01) (17.79) (32.08) (14.47)

Arka Anamika (C) 19.88 16.61 13.47 21.25 17.08 15.55 11.94 28.50 6.44 7.13(26.48) (26.05) (21.53) (27.45) (15.49)

Parbhani Kranti (C) 7.11 4.93 10.77 24.63 21.10 10.69 15.09 19.19 4.77 7.52(15.47) (12.83) (19.16) (29.76) (15.92)

S. E.+ 1.62 1.98 4.08 1.83 2.66 1.96 2.05 4.78 0.22 1.14

C. D. at 5% 4.64 5.87 NS NS 7.71 5.68 5.95 NS 0.67 3.29

Figures in parentheses are arcsine values

Table 3. Ancillary observations of promising genotypes of okra in kharif.

Genotypes Day to Plant Nodes Fruit Fruit Av. Fruit50 % height plant-1 length breadth weightflowering (cm) (cm) (cm) (g)

GK-II-4-1-2 45.33 207.11 24.22 12.35 1.75 12.80GK-IV-1-2-14 44.44 210.65 25.00 13.31 1.66 12.58GK-IV-1-3-2 44.66 210.00 26.02 13.05 1.67 12.69GK-IV-2-4-13 45.89 208.76 25.17 12.69 1.63 12.19GK-IV-3-3-3 43.66 217.61 26.77 13.13 1.57 12.75GK-IV-3-4-4 45.66 204.22 23.88 12.00 1.60 12.18GK-IV-4-3-7 45.89 205.68 24.82 12.72 1.64 12.21Varsha Uphar (C) 45.22 200.23 24.29 12.25 1.65 12.39Arka Anamika (C) 50.11 186.14 20.60 11.30 1.69 12.15Parbhani Kranti (C) 46.22 189.95 21.94 12.36 1.86 12.21S. E.+ 0.75 4.60 0.58 0.24 0.02 0.18C. D. at 5% 2.23 13.66 1.73 0.73 0.05 NS

The Selection GK-IV-3-3-3showed mean 0.16 per centincidence of YVMV at Pune, 0.14per cent at Rahuri and 0.30 percent at Pimpalgaon Baswant (Table2). It had low intensity of powderymildew (15.99 %), which washighest in Varsha Uphar (28.20 %).The Selection GK-IV-3-3-3exhibited better performance in pestreaction and showed 5.36 averagenumber of aphids per leaf, jassids(4.72), mites (21.30) indicatingthereby less susceptibility andshowed moderate susceptibility to

leaf miner (7.57 %) and fruit borer(5.15 %).

The ancillary data (Table 3)revealed that the Selection GK-IV-3-3-3 (Phule Utkarsha) exhibitedearliness in flowering (43.66 days)as compared to check cultivars. Theplants were tall (217.61 cm) withmore number of nodes (26.77) andmedium fruit breadth (1.57 cm). Thefruit length was highest in GK-IV-1-2-14 (13.31 cm) followed by GK-IV-3-3-3 (13.13 cm). The average fruitweight was highest in selection GK-IV-4-1-2 (12.80 g) followed by GK-IV-3-3-3 (12.75 g). While the checkcultivar Arka Anamika was late inflowering (50.11 days), short inplant height (186.14 cm) with lessnumber of nodes per plant and withfruit length of 11.30 cm andaverage fruit weight of 12.15 g.

The organoleptic evaluation ofthis new cultivar gained superiorscores (More than 8 on 0-10hedonic scale) over the checkcultivars Prabhani Kranti and ArkaAnamika in regards with fruit colour,

length, shape, taste, shelf life andoverall opinion (Table 4).

The new cultivar Phule Utkarshahas good fruit quality, more yieldand better reaction to pests anddiseases especially YVMV disease,hence it was released in 2003 forcultivation in Western Maharashtraby Mahatma Phule KrishiVidyapeeth, Rahuri and notified byCentral Sub-Committee forhorticultural crops, ICAR, NewDelhi in 2005.

LITERATURE CITED

Darlington, C. D. and A. P. Wylie. 1955.Cromosome Atlas of Flowering Plants.George Allen and Unwin, London. pp519.

Singh, R. S. 1985. Disease of vegetablecrops. Oxford and IBH Publ. Co., NewDelhi, pp 346.

Sujatha, V. S., T. R. Madaan and V. S.Seshadri. 1986. Oil content and itsquality in seeds of wild and cultivatedspecies of Abelmoschus. Indian J. Agric.Sci., 55(9): 657-660.

Thamburaj, S. and N. Simgh. 2001.Textbook of Vegetables, Tubercrops andSpices. ICAR, New Delhi, pp 222.


Table 4. Organoleptic evaluation of okracultivars.

Characters Preference––––––––––––––––––––––GK-IV- Parb- Arka 3-3-3 hani Ana-

Kranti mika

Fruit colour 9 7 6Fruit length 8 7 7Fruit shape 9 6 5Taste of fruit 9.5 8.5 8Shelf life of fruit 9 8 8Genearl opinon 9 7 7

(on 0-10 hedonic scale).

______________

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea (L.)Var. capitata) is an importantcruciferous vegetable, which iscommonly used as salad, cole slaw,boiled vegetable, cooked in curriesand processed. It is also pickled aswell as dehydrated. It is known toposses medicinal properties, sinceancient times and used againstailments like gout, diarrhea,stomach and coeliac troubles.

Nitrogen is a key elementinfluencing growth and productivityof vegetables. Vegetable cropsneeds nitrogen in large quantity as itconstitutes 40-50 per cent of drymatter. The demand for nitrogen ishigh when growth is in rapid stage.It is well documented that the Ndeficiency restricts the yield andquality of the produce. On the otherside the excessive N applicationresults in luxuriant vegetative

growth, delay in maturity, poorquality of produce and accumulationof potentially hazardousconcentration of nitrates. It is urgentneed of the day to replace or tooptimize the dose of inorganicchemical fertilizers through organicsin order to maintain the soil health,it's productivity and quality ofproduce. The beneficial role ofadded organic manures inimproving soil physical, chemicaland biological properties is wellknown which in turn helps in betternutrient absorption by plantsresulting in better yields, judicioususe of organic manures andinorganic fertilizers is of crucialimportance for getting higher yieldand better quality.


The experiment was laid out in arandomized block design with tentreatments replicated thrice. Thevariety 'Golden Acre' was used forthe study. The soil of theexperiment site was medium black

in colour with good drainage. Theexperiment framed was intended tostudy the effect of different sourcesof nitrogen viz., urea, FYM,vermicompost and poultry manurealone and in combination to studytheir effects on growth, yield andeconomics of cabbage and also onsoil properties.

The treatment details are T1-RDF (160:80:80 N, P2O5 K2O kgha-1) N through urea (100%), T2-100% N through FYM, T3-100% Nthrough poultry manure, T4-100%N through vermicompost, T5-75%N through FYM + 25% N throughurea, T6-75% N throught poultrymanure + 25% N through urea, T7-75% N through vermicompost +25% N through urea, T8-50% Nthrough FYM + 50% N throughurea, T9-50% N through poultrymanure + 50% N through urea andT10-50% N through vermicompost+ 50% N through urea.

Different organic sources usedand its chemical composition aregiven as below.

Chemical composition of organic

manures-

Source N (%) P (%) K (%)

FYM 0.48 0.22 0.47Vermicompost 1.20 0.68 0.76Poultry manure 2.70 1.70 1.30

Five plants were randomlyselected from each of the 30 plotsleaving guard rows. The growth andyield observations were recorded at


Effect of Organic Manures and Chemical Fertilizers onGrowth, Yield and Economics of Cabbage*

A. D. Jagtap1, A. S. Kadam2, D. D. Jagtap3 and S. B. Patil4

Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Latur - 413 512 (India)(Received : 12-07-2008)

ABSTRACT

The studies on effect of conjoint use of organic manures and chemical fertilizers on growth,yield ,economics of cabbage and on soil properties showed that neither the recommended doseof inorganic fertilizer (160:80:80 N, P2O5 K2O kg ha-1) alone nor the organic sources alone(FYM, vermicompost and poultry manure) were effective enough to produce higher yield withbetter quality produce. The treatment 50 per cent N through poultry manure + 50 per cent Nthrough urea had given significantly positive effect on growth, yield and economics of cabbagewhich was followed by the treatment 50 per cent N through FYM + 50 per cent N throughurea. The combination of organic manures + inorganic fertilizers also gave earlier maturity thaninorganic fertilizers alone. The soil fertility was favourably influenced by the application oforganic manures in terms of increments in values of soil organic carbon, N,P,K status.

Key words : Cabbage, organic manures, chemical fertilizer.

*Part of M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted by1st author to MAU, Parbhani. (India).

1, 4. M. Sc. (Agri.) students, 2. Professorof Horticulture, 3. Assoc. Professor ofHorticulture, MPKV, Rahuri.

an interval of 15 days. By economicanalysis B:C ratio was calculatedand by soil analysis N, P, K of soilwas calculated.


The data presented in Table 1showed that, at 60 days aftertransplanting, the maximum plantheight of 29.08 cm was obtained intreatment, integrating 50 per cent Nthrough FYM + 50 per cent Nthrough urea. Similar trends ofresults were also reported in

increase in the height of the plantsby integrated application of FYMwith NPK in cabbage by Dixit,(1997). The maximum plant spreadand maximum no. of leaves (4980cm2 and 37 respectively) wereobtained in treatment receiving 50per cent N through poultry manure+ 50 per cent N through urea.Poultry manure in comparison toother organic nutrient sourcescontains uric acid having 60 percent N which changes rapidly toammoniacal forms and henceefficiently utilized for better plant

growth (Smith, 1950).The resultsobtained on beneficial effects oforganic manures can besubstantiated with the findings incabbage (Tarata et al. 1995) and incauliflower (Singh et al. 1970).

The highest stem girth (8.63 cm)was obtained in treatments receivinginorganic fertilizers integrated withpoultry manure, such that N supplywas in equal proportion i.e. T9 (50%N through poultry manure + 50% Nthrough urea). The shortest durationof head initiation was recorded in


Table 1. Effect of different organic manures and chemical fertilizers on growth and yield of cabbage after 60 days of transplanting.

Treatment Plant Plant Leaves Stem Days Daysheight spread girth for head for head(cm) (cm2) (cm) initiation maturity

T1 : RDF (160:80:80 N, P2O5, K2O kg ha-1) N through urea (100%) 26.88 4276 35 8.51 39.07 31.87T2 : 100% N through FYM 23.68 3307 31 7.59 43.20 42.00T3 : 100% N through poultry manure 26.37 3994 34 7.73 38.60 35.40T4 : 100% N through vermicompost 24.56 4234 32 7.96 42.87 37.80T5 : 75% N through FYM + 25% N through urea 25.47 3706 32 7.78 43.20 38.86T6 : 75% N through poultry manure + 25% N through urea 25.13 4620 34 8.10 43.27 35.10T7 : 75% N through vermicompost + 25% N through urea 25.73 4413 33 7.16 42.60 36.13T8 : 50% N through FYM + 50% N through urea 29.08 3800 33 8.06 37.33 34.73T9 : 50% N through poultry manure + 50% N through urea 28.10 4980 37 8.63 37.80 31.40T10 : 50% N through vermicompost + 50% N through urea 25.97 4877 35 7.27 40.40 34.40S. E.+ 0.47 134.24 0.59 0.34 0.33 0.26C. D. at 5% 1.40 398.85 1.77 NS 0.98 0.78

Table 2. Effect of different sources of nitrogen on yield and yield contributing characters of cabbage.

Treatment Stalk Core Polar Equa- Compa- Volu- Weight Yieldlength length dia- torial ctness me of of ha-1

(cm) (cm) meter dia- of head head (t)(cm) meter head (ml) (g)

(cm) (%)

T1 : RDF N through urea (100%) 15.72 13.33 15.67 14.89 29.99 850 1073 29.29T2 : 100% N through FYM 11.18 9.59 12.91 13.05 36.03 638 787 20.94T3 : 100% N through poultry manure 14.81 12.79 15.31 14.93 28.10 780 969 26.49T4 : 100% N through vermicompost 12.17 10.43 13.97 13.61 34.51 640 924 22.82T5 : 75% N through FYM + 25% N through urea 12.03 10.35 13.63 13.57 32.29 658 803 21.08T6 : 75% N through poultry manure + 25% N through urea 13.66 11.89 14.19 14.00 33.12 725 928 24.29T7 : 75% N through vermicompost + 25% N through urea 12.71 10.93 14.12 13.91 29.15 658 796 21.10T8 : 50% N through FYM + 50% N through urea 16.35 14.35 16.98 16.23 26.89 989 1223 31.78T9 : 50% N through poultry manure + 50% N through urea 17.09 15.13 17.66 16.98 26.92 1073 1393 35.60T10 : 50% N through vermicompost + 50% N through urea 14.46 13.19 14.93 14.71 32.01 840 1044 27.35S. E.+ 0.19 0.28 0.32 0.29 2.13 56.07 63.53 1.15C. D. at 5% 0.58 0.83 0.94 0.87 NS 166.59 188.76 3.41

treatment T8 (50% N through FYM+ 50% N through urea) followed byT9. Shortest duration for headmaturity was recorded in treatmentT9. The results obtained on thebeneficial effects of organic manurescan be substantiated with findings incabbage by Subhan, (1988).Significantly maximum stalk length,core length and diameter of head(Table 2) were obtained in treatmentT9 followed by T8 (50% N throughFYM + 50% N through urea). It isseen from the data that the size ofhead was directly influenced by thetotal number of leaves produced bythe plant. The increase in numberof leaves might have helped toaccumulate more carbohydratesresulting in increased diameter ofhead. Similar results were alsoobtained by Subhan (1988) andDixit (l997) in cabbage. Themaximum compactness of head wasobtained in treatment T2 (100% Nthrough FYM).

Significantly maximum volume(1073 ml) and weight of head (1393g) were recorded in treatment T9(50% N through poultry manure +50% N through urea) which was atpar with T8 (50% N through FYM +50% N through urea). The similarresults were observed in cabbage byMahendran and Kumar, (1997). Thetreatment T9 recorded superioryields in terms of both yield perplant as well as yield per hectare.The contribution of poultry manureto increase in yields can beattributed to the balanced C:N ratioand enhanced availability ofessential plant nutrients, henceincreased rate and efficiency ofmetabolic activities resulting in highassimilation of proteins andcarbohydrates. Similar findings wereobtained in cabbage by Subhan

Jagtap et al.280

Table 3. Effect of different sources of nitrogen on economics of cabbage.

Treatment Cost of Gross Net Benefit:cultivation monetary monetary cost(Rs. ha-1) returns returns ratio

(Rs. ha-1) (Rs. ha-1)

T1 : RDF N through urea (100%) 48208 117146 68937 2.43:1

T2 : 100% N through FYM 56011 83760 27748 1.49:1

T3 : 100% N through poultry manure 54641 105960 51318 1.94:1

T4 : 100% N through vermicompost 78647 91266 12798 1.16:1

T5 : 75% N through FYM + 52187 84053 31865 1.61:125% N through urea

T6 : 75% N through poultry manure + 49991 47146 47155 1.94:125% N through urea

T7 : 75% N through vermicompost + 68196 84263 16067 1.24:125% N through urea

T8 : 50% N through FYM + 58710 127120 68409 2.16:150% N through urea

T9 : 50% N through poultry manure + 55184 142413 87228 2.58:150% N through urea

T10 : 50% N through vermicompost + 63548 109400 45851 1.72:150% N through urea

S. E.+ 763.91 4583.47 3819.55 0.05

C. D. at 5% 2269.70 13618.13 11348.42 0.15

(Selling rate of produce per kg is Rs 4)

Rates of nutrients

Nutrients Rates kg-1 (Rs.) Nutrients Rates kg-1 (Rs.)

Urea 5.00 FYM 0.50Single super phosphate 5.00 Vermicompost 3.00Murate of potash 7.00 Poultry manure 4.00

Table 4. Effect of different sources of nitrogen on chemical properties of soil at harvest.

Treatment Avail- Avail- Avail-able N able P able K–––––––––––––––––––––––––

(kg ha-1)

T1 : RDF N through urea (100%) 194.43 13.15 382.15T2 : 100% N through FYM 218.88 12.55 391.11T3 : 100% N through poultry manure 245.61 17.97 442.21T4 : 100% N through vermicompost 232.67 15.15 390.83T5 : 75% N through FYM + 25% N through urea 228.28 13.82 370.28T6 : 75% N through poultry manure + 25% N through urea 246.26 15.31 431.19T7 : 75% N through vermicompost + 25% N through urea 236.14 13.26 384.02T8 : 50% N through FYM + 50% N through urea 250.98 16.29 355.56T9 : 50% N through poultry manure + 50% N through urea 257.42 15.65 427.8T10 : 50% N through vermicompost + 50% N through urea 247.11 13.46 379.95S. E.+ 1.85 0.76 2.15C. D. at 5% 5.48 2.26 6.35

(1988), Dixit (1997) andMahendran and Kumar (l997).

The data presented in Table 3showed that, the lowest cost ofcultivation was obtained intreatment T1 (RDF N through urea)which was at par with T6 (75% Nthrough poultry manure + 25% Nthrough urea). The cost ofcultivation was low in T1, becausecost of urea required was less ascompared to other organicmanures. The highest grossmonetary returns were obtained intreatment T9 (50% N throughpoultry manure + 50% N throughurea) followed by T8 (50% Nthrough FYM + 50% N throughurea).

The higher gross monetaryreturns may be due to increasedyield with the application of poultrymanure and FYM. Similar trend ofresults was observed in cabbage byYadav et al. (2002). The highest netreturns were obtained in treatmentT9 (87228 Rs. ha-1) followed by T1(68937 Rs. ha-1). The higher netreturns may be due to low cost ofcultivation and high gross monetaryreturns in these treatments. Theresults obtained on beneficial effectsof balanced nutrient application canbe substantiated with the findings inokra (Sontakke et al. 1996), onion(Singh et al. 1997) and brinjal(Naidu et al. 2002). The highestbenefit: cost ratio was obtained intreatment T9 (50% N throughpoultry manure + 50% N throughurea) which was at par with T1 (RDFN through urea). The highest B:Cratio was obtained due to the morenet returns with the application ofpoultry manure. The results onbeneficial effects of organic manurescan be substantiated with thefindings in cabbage by Yadav et al.

(2002) and okra (Sharma andBhalla, 1995).

In case of a soil properties (Table4) it was observed that, themaximum available nitrogen contentwas recorded in treatment T9 (50%N through poultry manure + 50% Nthrough urea) followed by T8 (50%N through FYM + 50% N throughurea). The C:N ratios of FYM,vermicompost and poultry manurewere 16.00:1,14.68:1 and 12.53:1respectively. The available nitrogencan be increased by the addition ofnitrogenous fertilizers to themanures thereby reducing the C:Nratio. Similar findings were obtainedby Sharma and Arya, (2001),Sreenivas et al. (2002), Amanullahand Somasundaram (2007).

The data pertaining to theavailable phosphorous statusindicated variation due to theapplication of organic manures,incorporated solely and incombinations with inorganicfertilizers. The highest magnitude ofavailable phosphorous (17.97 kgha-1) was obtained in the treatmentT3 (100% N through poultrymanure followed by T8 (50% Nthrough FYM + 50% N throughurea). The results obtainedcorroborated with the reports ofSrivastava (l985), Jose et al. (1988),Shelke et al. (1999) and Khankhaneand Yadav (2003).

Treatment T3 (100% N throughpoultry manure) recorded highestmagnitude of available potassiumfollowed by T6 (75% N throughpoultry manure + 25% N throughurea). Additions of organic manureshave beneficial effect on enhancedlevels of available potassium due tothe slow rates of decomposition aswell as release of plant available

nutrients. The present findings arein conformity with the reports ofSrivastava, (1985), Sharma andArya, (2001), Kannan et al. (2006),Amanullah and Somasundaram(2007).

LITERATURE CITED

Amanullah, M. M. and E. Somasundaram.2007. Recycling of poultry manure.Agric. Update. 2 (1) : 25-26.

Dixit, S. P. 1997. Effect of nitrogen andFYM on the productivity of cabbage indry temperate hill zone of HimachalPradesh. Ann. agric. Res., 18(2): 258-261.

Jose, D., K. G. Shanmugavelu and S.Thamburaj. 1988. Studies on theefficacy of organic vs. inorganic formsof nitrogen in brinjal. Indian J. Hort. 45(1) : 100-103.

Kannan, P., A. Saravanan and T. Balaji.2006. Organic farming on tomato yieldand quality. Crop. Res. 32 (2) : 196-200.

Khankhane, P. J. and B. R. Yadav. 2003.Comparative manurial performance ofFYM, biogas slurry and sewage sludge.Annl. of Agric. Res. 24 (1) : 148-150.

Mahendran, P. P. and N. Kumar. 1997.Effect of organic manure on cabbage(Brassica oleraceae var. capitata).South Indian Hort. 45 (5-6) : 240-243.

Naidu, A. K., S. S. Kushwah. And Y. C.Dwivedi. 2002. Influence of organicmanures, chemical and bio-fertilizers ongrowth, yield and economic of brinjal.South Indian Hort. 49 (Special) : 195-198.

Sharma, K. C. and P. S. Arya. 2001. Effectof nitrogen and farm yard manure oncabbage (Brassica oleracea var.capitata) in dry temperate zone ofHimaichal pradesh. Indian J. agric. Sci.71 (1) : 60-61.

Sharma, N. K. and P. L. Bhalla. 1995.Influence of integrated nutrientmanagement on growth, yield andeconomics on okra (Abelmoschusesculentus (L.) Monech). Veg. Sci. 22(1) : 1-4.

Shelke, S. R., R. N. Adsule and V. M.Amrutsagar. 1999. Nitrogenmanagement through organics andinorganics in brinjal,. J. Maharashtraagric. Univ. 24 (3) : 297-298.


Linseed or flax (Linumusitatissimum L.) is one of theoldest crops cultivated by man,belongs to the family linaceae withabout two hundred species. Theprincipal use of oilseed flax in the

past has been for its oil, which isused in paints and coatings becauseof its quick drying; it forms aprotective layer on the paintedsurfaces against environmentalfactors. The main aim of plantbreeding programme is to improvethe plant traits for agronomic,economic and industrial values.

Possibility of achieving

improvement in any crop plantleans heavily on the magnitude ofgenetic variability and associationbetween traits will provide a stronginsight into control of those traits.The evaluation of germplasm is apre-requisite to identify the superiorsources for various traits and fortheir efficient utilization. An attempthas been therefore made in thepresent study to asses the geneticparameters, such as variability,heritability, genetic advance,character association and pathcoefficient analysis in 65 accessionsof linseed.


Sixty five genotypes of linseedrepresenting a rich source ofdiversity for present study wereused. The experiment was laid outin a randomized block design withthree replications at RegionalAgricultural Research Station,

Singh, K., I. S. Gill and O. P. Verma. 1970.Studies on poultry manure in relation tovegetable production-I-cauliflower.Indian J. Hort. 27 : 41-47.

Singh, L., S. R. Bhonde and V. K. Mishra.1997. Effect of organic manures andinorganic fertilizers on yield and qualityof rabi onion. NHRDDF, News letter. 17(3) : 1-3.

Smith, 1950. Poultry manure-A fertilizer.Poultry Digest 5 : 550-557.

Sontakke, M. B., V. D. Pillamari, A. S.Mandge and N. N. Shinde. 1996. Effect

on N-level on yield of okra. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ. 21 (2) : 292-293.

Sreenivas, S. Muralidhar and M. S. Rao.2002. Vermicompost availablecomponents of IPNSS in nitrogennutrition of ridge gourd. Ann. agric. Res.21 (1) : 108-113.

Srivastava, O. P. 1985. Role of organicmatter in soil fertility. Indian J. agric.Chem. 18 (2) : 257.

Subhan, 1988. Effect of organic manures ongrowth and production of cabbage. Bull.

Pene. Hort. 16 (4) : 37-41.

Tarata, G., N. Popandron, M. Podoleanu, M.Gaurilliue and T. Munteau. 1995.Studies on the effect of nitrogenousfertilizers on cabbage and cauliflower.Anale Institute de cercetari Pentrulegomicultura 51 Horticulture, Vidrda13 : 475-484

Yadav, V. S. B. D. Yadav and Y. K. Sharma.2002. Effect of NICAST (organicmanure) in comparison torecommended doses of manure andfertilizer in cabbage and onion. SouthIndian Hort. 49 (Special) : 157-159.

Jagtap et al.282


Genetic Variability, Correlation and Path Analysis in Linseed

T. E. Nagaraja1, K. R. Ajit2 and B. S. Golasangi3

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Raichur - 584 101 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

Genetic variability, correlation and path analysis was studied for ten characters. Wide rangeof PCV and GCV was observed for seed yield plant-1 while moderate for number of branchesplant-1 and number of capsules plant-1. The heritability estimates ranged between 57.8 percent for 1000 seed weight and 93.7 per cent for days to flowering. The per cent mean geneticadvance was high for days to flowering, plant height, number of branches plant-1, number ofcapsules plant-1 and seed yield plant-1. Seed yield plant-1 was positively and significantlycorrelated with number of branches plant-1, number of capsules plant-1, 1000 seed weight andharvest index at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Genotypic correlation coefficients werehigher than corresponding phenotypic one for most of the character combinations. Further,path coefficient analysis revealed that 1000 seed weight exhibited highest direct effect on seedyield plant-1 followed by harvest index and days to flowering. Indirect effect of harvest index onseed yield via 1000 seed weight was positive and more than that of direct effect.

Key words : Correlation, genetic advance, genetic variability, linseed.

______________

1. Breeder and Head, AICRP onSugarcane, Zonal Agricultural ResearchStation, V. C. Farm, Mandya - 571403,Karnataka 2. M. Sc. student, 3. PlantScientist (Oilseed Project).

Raichur, during rabi 2005. Eachexperimental plot consisted of singlerow of five meter long with 30 cmdistance between the rows. Data onten characters were recorded from 5plants per replication and theaverage was taken for analysis.Observations were recorded on daysto flowering, plant height, numberof branches plant-1, number ofcapsules plant-1, number of seedscapsules-1, 1000 seed weight,harvest index, days to maturity, oilcontent and seed yield plant-1.

Genetic variability parameters,correlation and path analysis wereanalyzed as proposed by Johnson etal. (1955b) and Dewey and Lu,(1958), respectively. The statisticalanalysis was carried out usingcomputer software SPAR (IndianAgricultural Statistical ResearchInstitute, Delhi).


The analysis of variance revealedsignificant difference among thegenotypes for all the 10 characters(Table 1). The character, seed yieldplant-1 showed high genotypic andphenotypic coefficient of variance(Table 2) suggesting that this

character is under the influence ofgenetic control. Moderate values ofgenotypic and phenotypiccoefficient of variability were foundfor number of branches plant-1 andnumber of capsules plant-1.Practically, heritability estimates areof greater value to the breeder, sincethey indicate the degree ofdependence of genotypic value onphenotypic value. In general broadsense heritability was high for all thecharacters studied except number ofseeds capsule-1 and 1000 seedweight. This indicated that thecharacters were least influenced byenvironment in the genotypesstudied (Malik and Singh, 1995).

The estimates of heritabilityhowever, indicate only theeffectiveness with which selection ofgenotypes can be made based ontheir phenotypic performance butfail to indicate the amount ofprogress expected from selection(Johnson et al. 1955a). Highheritability coupled with highgenetic advance was observed fordays to flowering, plant height,number of branches, capsules andseed yield plant-1. This indicatedthat substantial improvement for

these characters could be achievedthrough direct selection and thesetraits could govern by additive typeof genes. High and moderateheritability coupled with moderategenetic advance was observed forharvest index and 1000 seedweight, respectively. This indicatedthat those characters were lessinfluenced by environment butgoverned by both additive and non-additive gene action. Hence, simpleselection is suggested for furtherimprovement in the latergenerations.

Genotypic correlation indicatesthe true genetic performance ofgenes actually governing thecharacters, where as phenotypiccorrelation do not indicate themagnitude and direction of geneticcorrelation. Both genotypic andphenotypic correlations wereworked out for yield and yieldcomponent characters. Table 3indicated that genotypic correlationswere higher than the correspondingphenotypic correlations. Lowphenotypic correlations can beexplained due to masking ormodifying effects of environment ongenetic association between


Table 1. Genetic parameters for ten characters in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Characters Range Variance Coefficient of variation Herita- Genetic Genetic–––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––– bility advance advanceMin. Max. Mean Pheno- Geno- Phenotypic Genotypic (%) (GA) as

typic typic (PCV) (GCV) per centmean (GAM)

Days to flowering 30.00 50.00 38.72 29.62 27.55 14.06 13.55 93.0 10.43 26.93Plant height (cm) 28.73 49.43 36.31 27.65 21.93 14.53 12.94 79.3 8.62 23.74Branches plant-1 3.20 6.33 4.09 0.59 0.48 18.96 17.01 80.5 1.29 31.54Capsules plant-1 15.73 32.33 22.44 16.65 15.44 18.18 17.51 92.7 7.79 34.71Seeds capsule-1 7.13 9.33 8.31 0.39 0.15 7.65 4.75 38.36 0.51 6.131000 seed weight (g) 4.82 7.20 5.96 0.44 0.26 11.22 8.53 57.8 0.80 13.42Harvest index 26.30 37.05 31.25 7.01 4.61 8.49 6.87 65.4 3.57 11.42Days to maturity 95.67 122.00 107.32 48.75 37.75 6.49 5.72 77.8 11.16 10.80Oil content (%) 35.93 43.30 40.43 2.29 1.97 3.75 3.48 86.1 2.69 6.65Seed yield plant-1 (g) 0.69 1.81 1.13 0.056 0.053 26.57 20.79 61.3 0.38 33.62

characters. The observation are inconformity with the findings ofSuresh Kumar and Chauhan (1979)who attributed this to the modifyingeffect of environment on theassociation of characters at thegenic level. Genotypic andphenotypic association of seed yieldwas positive and significant withnumber ot branches plant-1, numberof capsules plant-1, 1000 seedweight and harvest index. Thissuggests that selecting for thesecharacters would improve the seed

yield in linseed. Plant heightexhibited significant positiveassociation at both genotypic andphenotypic levels with number ofbranches plant-1 and days tomaturity suggesting that taller plantswith more number of brancheswould result in higher seed yield.Positive significant association ofplant height with days to maturityand number of branches plant-1 wasreported by Mahto and Mahto(1997). Number of branches plant-1

showed significant positive

correlation with plant height,number of capsules plant-1, 1000seed weight and harvest index. Thisindicates, that selecting for thesecharacters would increase the yield.Positive significant association ofnumber of branches plant-1 withcapsules plant-1 and 1000 seedweight was observed by Kapoor andChawla (1983). Thousand seedweight showed significant positiveassociation with number of branchesplant-1, number of capsules plant-1

and harvest index. Agarwal et al.

Nagaraja et al.284

Table 2. Phenotypic and genotypic (in parentheses) correlation coefficient between different traits in linseed.

Characters Days to Plant Branches Capsules Seeds 1000 seed Harvest Days to Oil Seed yieldflowering height plant-1 plant-1 capsule-1 weight index maturity content plant-1

Days to flowering 1 0.226 0.122 0.173 0.080 -0.039 0.001 0.875** -0.091 0.015(0.276) (0.144) (0.193) (0.133) (-0.021) (0.043) (1.021**) (-0.115) (0.054)

Plant height (cm) 1 0.298* 0.126 0.004 0.065 0.075 0.300* 0.040 0.087(0.369*) (0.144) (-0.014) (0.029) (0.047) (0.376*) (0.059) (0.065)

Branches plant-1 1 0.719** 0.101 0.481** 0.494** 0.110 0.046 0.525**(0.720) (-0.139) (0.461**) (0.461**) (0.172) (0.072) (0.509**)

Capsules plant-1 1 0.089 0.635** 0.661** 0.158 -0.012 0.681**(-0.057) (0.723**) (0.722**) (0.203) (-0.001) (0.762**)

Seeds capsule-1 1 0.246 0.256* 0.037 -0.171 0.245(-0.063) (0.014) (0.065) (-0.206) (0.043)

1000 seed weight (g) 1 0.839* -0.002 -0.085 0.935**(0.928**) (-0.010) (-0.086) (0.969**)

Harvest index 1 0.005 -0.082 0.864**(0.050) (-0.098) (0.929**)

Days to maturity 1 0.032 0.059(-0.079) (0.068)

Oil content (%) 1 -0.088(-0.093)

Seed yield plant-1 1

**,* = Significant at 5 and 1 per cent level, respectively.

Table 3. Direct (diagonal) and indirect (above and below diagonal) effects of nine characters on seed yield in linseed at genotypic level.

Characters Days to Plant Branches Capsules Seeds 1000 seed Harvest Days to Oil Correlation flowering height plant-1 plant-1 capsule-1 weight index maturity content coefficient

with yield

Days to flowering 0.100 0.002 0.004 0.013 0.000 -0.016 0.007 -0.058 0.001 0.054Plant height (cm) 0.028 0.009 0.011 0.010 0.000 0.022 0.008 -0.021 0.000 0.065Branches plant-1 0.014 0.003 0.030 0.049 0.000 0.349 0.074 -0.010 -0.001 0.509**Capsules plant-1 0.019 0.001 0.021 0.068 0.000 0.546 0.117 -0.012 0.000 0.762**Seeds capsule-1 0.013 0.000 -0.004 -0.004 -0.001 -0.048 0.002 -0.004 0.002 0.0431000 seed weight (g) -0.002 0.000 0.014 0.049 0.000 0.756 0.150 0.001 0.001 0.969**Harvest index 0.004 0.000 0.014 0.049 0.000 0.701 0.162 -0.003 0.001 0.929**Days to maturity 0.102 0.003 0.005 0.014 0.000 -0.008 0.008 -0.057 0.001 0.068Oil content (%) -0.011 0.001 0.002 0.000 0.000 -0.065 -0.016 0.004 -0.008 -0.093

Residual effect = 0.0964

(l994) observed significantassociation of 1000 seed weightwith number of branches andnumber of capsules plant-1. Harvestindex had significant positiveassociation with number of branchesplant-1, number of capsules plant-1

and 1000 seed weight. Positivesignificant correlation of harvestindex with capsules plant-1 was alsoreported by Chawla and Singh(l983) and Malik and Singh (1995).Number of capsules plant-1 showedpositive significant correlation withnumber of branches plant-1, 1000seed weight and harvest index.Kapoor and Chawla (l983) reportedpositive significant association ofthis trait with branches plant-1 and1000 seed weight. On the basis ofresults obtained in the presentinvestigation, more emphasis has tobe laid for improving yield byadopting selection on number ofbranches plant-1, number ofcapsules plant-1, 1000 seed weightand harvest index as they showedvery high positive and significantassociation with yield plant-1.

The economic character likeseed yield depends on severalcomponent characters which aremutually related. Correlationexplains the true association existingbetween the component characterswith dependent character (seedyield). Slight change in anycomponent will ultimately disturbthe complex, hence character has tobe analysed for its action which isdone through path analysis, wherethe two types of action viz., directeffect of component characters onseed yield and indirect effectthrough other componentcharacters on seed yield.

The study of genotypic pathanalysis (Table 3) revealed that 1000

seed weight and harvest index weremost important as they had highermagnitude of direct effects on seedyield plant-1, indicating that if otheryield contributing characters areheld constant, an increase in thesecharacters individually will reflect inan increased yield. These results arein conformity with the findings ofMahto and Mahto (1998). Harvestindex showed direct positive effecton seed yield. However, Singh andMohto (1994) observed indirecteffect of harvest index via., days tomaturity was negative and low.Thousand seed weight had thehighest positive direct effect on seedyield. However, its indirect effectsthrough harvest index, capsulesplant-1 and number of branchesplant-1 were low and it is evidentthat 1000 seed weight recorded thehighest significant positiveassociation with seed yield. Theseresults are also in conformity withKapoor and Chawla (l983), whoreported that capsules plant-1 hadhigh positive indirect effect on seedyield via 1000 seed weight andharvest index, whereas Mahto andRahman (l998) observed that itsdirect effect was positive and low.

Branches plant-1 showed low butpositive direct effect on seed yield.However, indirect effect of branchesplant-1 was more than direct effectthrough 1000 seed weight andharvest index. Similar kind of resultswere also reported by MuhammadAkbar et al. (2003).

From the study of path analysis,it can be concluded that 1000 seedweight and harvest index were themost important components inselection for high yield through theirdirect effects and indirect effects.

LITERATURE CITED

Agarwal, K. K., Tiwari, J. P and K. K. Jain.

1994. Correlation and regressionanalysis in linseed (Linumusitatissimum L.). Advance in PlantSciaace, 7 (2) : 351-355.

Chawla, B. K. and Prakash Singh. 1983.Association among agronomical andquality traits in linseed (Linumusitatissimum L.). Madras Agric. J. 90(40) : 228-232.

Dewey, P. R. and K. H. Lu. 1951. Acorrelation and path coefficient analysisof components of crested wheat grassseed production. Agron. J. 51 : 515-518.

Johnson, H. W., H. F. Robinson and R. E.Comstock. 1955a. Estimates of geneticand environmental variability insoybean. Agron. J. 47 : 314-318.

Johnson, H. W., H. F. Robinson and R. E.Comstock. 1955b. Genotypic andphenotypic correlations on soybeansand their implications in selection.Agron. J. 47 : 477-483.

Kapoor, C. J. and B. K. Chawla. 1983.Genetic parameters and associationsamong yield and yield components inlinseed (Linum usitatissimum L.).Madras Agric. J. 70 (6) : 401-403.

Mahto, C. and M. H. Rahman. 1998.Genetic variability of some quantitativecharacters in linseed (Linumusitatissimum L.). J. Res. 10 (2) : 161-165.

Mahto, R. N. and Jay Lal Mahto. 1997.Correlation, regression and path co-efficient analysis in rainfed linseed.Madras Agric. J. 84 (2) : 84-86.

Mahto, R. N. and Jay Lal Mahto. 1998.Variability, correlation and pathcoefficient analysis in linseed. J. Res. 10(1) : 25-29.

Malik, B. P. S. and S. Singh. 1995. Geneticvariability, correlation and path analysisin linseed. J. Oilseeds Res., 12 (1) : 1-4

Muhammad Akbar, Tariq Mahmood, M.Anwar, Muhammad Ali, MuhammadShafiq and Jafar Saum. 2003. Linseedimprovement through genetic variability,correlation and path coefficientanalysis. Internat. J. Agric. and Biol. 5(3) : 303-305.

Singh, S. N. and Jay Lal Mahto. 1994. Pathcoefficient analysis in linseed. J.Oilseeds Res., 11 (1) : 115-117.

Suresh Kumar and B. P. S. Chauhan. 1979.Association analysis in the segregatingpopulations of linseed. Indian J. Genet.39 (3) : 506-510.


______________

Male sterility system is a methodextensively used in crops likesorghum, maize, sunflower andpearl millet for hybrid seedproduction. Cytoplasmic malesterility (CMS) occurs in at least 150species in higher plants (Kaul,1988). Significant increase inagricultural production in such acrops has been achieved in last fewdecades by making use of heterosiswhich has become possible onlybecause of cytoplasmic inheritanceof male sterility. Different CMSsystems have been identified basedon the restorer genes required tocorrect the CMS condition. MostCMS systems require only onedominant restorer gene to restorefertility, although some CMSsystems require either twoindependent or complementarydominant genes for restoration(Laughnan and Gabay-Laughnan,1983; Zhang et al. 1997; Tang etal. 1998). Other studiesdemonstrated that multiple linked orunlinked restorer genes can givesimilar but distinct effects in therestoration of the same CMS system

(Zhang and Stewart, 2001).

In cotton, several differentsources of CMS have been reportedincluding CMS-D2-2 (Meyer, 1975),CMS-hir (Jia, 1990), CMS-D8(Stewart, 1992), CMS-D4(Meshram et al., 1994), and CMS-C1 (Zhang and Stewart, 1999).Fertility can be restored to CMS-D2-2 by the D2 restorer in which therestorer factor (s) was introducedfrom the genome of G. harknessiiBrandegee (D2-2). The CMS andfertility restoration system is veryuseful in hybrid seed production.The cost of hybrid seed productionis less in male sterility method ascompared to conventional methods.Inspite of exploitation ofcytoplasmic male sterile lines forcommercial utilization of heterosis

both by public and private sectors,real breakthrough is yet to beachieved. Main reason for this is thesource of restorer lines used by thebreeders might be either commonor having narrow genetic diversity.Hence, development of newrestorers with diverse geneticbackground is a need of hour;without which exploitation ofcytoplasmic male sterile lines in G.hirsutum L. cotton will not beachieved.


About 2500 plants were grownas F2 population of five differentmale sterility based hybrids viz.CZHHM-531, CZHHM-542,CZHHM-560-D,CZHHM-560-Eand CAHH-468 received from thecentral zone trial Br.O5(a)-2 at AllIndia Cotton Improvement ProjectMPKV, Rahuri. Total 259 plantsfrom F2 generation, that appearedto be most fertile and showedagronomical acceptablecharacteristics were tested forfertility restoration in male sterilehybrids.


Development of Upland Fertility Restorer Strains Capable ofAdequate Fertility Restoration in Cotton*

U. M. Borle1 and S. S. Mehetre2

Department of Agril. Botany, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri - 413 722 (India)(Received : 27-9-2008)

ABSTRACT

Out of 259 heterozygous plants tested from F2 populations of different five male sterilebased hybrids, 12 plants restored full fertility in hybrids. These twelve lines were named asRHCRr. 9907, 9914, 9923, 9926, 9930, 9931, 9934, 9941, 9949, 9953, 9965 and 9967.The marker character eye- spot was found in five newly developed lines.

Key words : Restorer strains, cotton.

* A part of Ph. D. thesis submitted bysenior author to MPKV; Rahuri.

1. Asstt. Maize Breeder, AICRP onMaize, Kolhapur. 2. Director of Research.

Table 1. Range of performance of F2 populations of five CMS based hybrids for differentcharacters.

Characters CZHHM CZHHM CZHHM CZHHM CAHH-531 -542 -560-D -560-F -468

Plant height plant-1 (cm) 75-140 55-150 80-155 55-125 50-120Monopodia plant-1 (No) 0-5 0-3 0-5 0-4 0-3Sympodia plant-1 (No) 10-21 7-22 6-21 5-19 4-19Bolls plant-1 (No) 6-62 7-55 11-58 7-80 4-33Seed cotton yield plant-1 (g) 10-210 25-195 20-175 20-185 10-852.5% span length (mm) 23.9-32.8 24.6-32.8 22.2-30.8 20.1-28.2 19.0-27.6Uniformity ratio (%) 40-53 41-51 39-54 42-56 48-60

These hybrids were effected byusing four male sterile lines viz.LRA-5166 A, LAXMI-A, SRT-1 Aand 76 IH-20 A. The progenies ofF2 plants restoring fertility weregrown in F3 and F4 generationsalong with their crosses effectedwith male sterile lines and theprogenies showing segregation forsterility were discarded. In eachgeneration the plants restoringfertility were selfed and the pureseed was obtained. The progenieswhich restored full fertility during F4generation were identified as newrestorer lines. During conduct ofexperiment all recommendedagronomic practices were adopted.


In different F2 populations ofmale sterile hybrids among 2500plants grown, 259 were tested forfertility restoration in F1 hybrids withmale sterile female. Wide range ofvariability was observed for differentqualitative and quantitativecharacters (Table 1). The highestplant height was recorded in thehybrid CZHHM-560-D (155 cm),while the lowest limit was recordedin case of CAHH-468 (50 cm). Thehybrid CZHHM-542 recordedlowest monopodia plant-1 (0-3) andhighest sympodia plant-1 (7-22). Incase of bolls plant-1 the hybridCZHHM-560 recorded the highestbolls plant-1 (7-80), while the hybridCAHH-468 recorded lowest range(4-33). The hybrid CZHHM-531recorded maximum seed cottonyield plant-1 (210 g), while CAHH-468 produced minimum (85 g) seedcotton yield plant-1. The hybridsCZHHM-531 and CZHHM-542recorded maximum span length(32.8 mm), while maximumuniformity ratio was reported by thehybrid CAHH-468 (60%) followed

by CZHHM-560-F (56%).

Out of 259 plants tested, 191plants restored sterility, 67 plantsshowed segregation for sterility:fertility, whereas, one plant restoredfull fertility in F1 hybrids. The F1plants of CMS-D8 x D2 R were allfertile and had normal sized flowersand pollen shed, indicating thatrestoration of CMS-D8 by D 2R wascomplete (Zhang and Stewart,2001). Similar results were alsoreported by Sheetz and Weaver

(1980 b). During their studies, theyhave observed the male sterilityassociated with fertile and anintermediate type of phenotypes.Shrinivasan et al. (1972 a) reportedthat the control of male sterility wasby single dominant or recessivegene as well as double recessivegene resulting the F2 ratios of 3:1and 15:1, respectively. The F2 dataindicated that more than onedominant restorer gene wasinvolved in fertility restoration(Zhang and Stewart, 2001).


Table 2. Segregation for fertility and sterility by different F2 population in male sterile basedhybrids.

F2 Plants Plants Plants restored Plants whichpopulation grown used for –––––––––––––––––––––––––– showed

testing Full fertility Full sterility segregationrestoration

CZHHM-531 463 51 0 32 19CZHHM-542 471 54 0 52 2CZHHM-560-D 507 52 0 52 0CZHHM-560-F 419 33 0 24 9CAHH-468 640 69 1 31 37Total 2500 259 1 191 67

Table 3. Restoration of fertility in F3 progenies in CMS hybrids.

F3 Prog- Progenies Progenies Progenies restored Progeniesprogeny enies themselves tested for –––––––––––––––––––– which

gorwn segregated restora- Full Full showed(discarded) tion fertility sterility segregation

CZHHM-531 19 4 15 4 11 0CZHHM-542 2 0 2 0 2 0CZHHM-560-D 0 0 0 0 0 0CZHHM-560-F 9 0 9 0 9 0CAHH-468 38 4 34 10 24 0Total 68 8 60 14 46 0

Table 4. Restoration of fertility of F4 progenies.

F4 Prog- Progenies Progenies Progenies restored Progeniesprogeny enies themselves tested for –––––––––––––––––––– which

gorwn segregated restora- Full Full showed(discarded) tion fertility sterility segregation

CZHHM-531 4 2 2 2 0 0CAHH-468 10 0 10 10 0 0Total 14 2 12 12 0 0

In the present studies (Table 2-4),out of 67 F2 plants having restoredfertility in F1 hybrids, 8 progenies inF3 and 2 progenies in F4 weresegregating and so discarded.Differential behaviour of fertilityrestoration is due to differences inthe genetic constitutions of F2 plantsused for pollination to test fertilityrestorer genes. Sheetz and Weaver(1980 a) suggested that theenhancer factor 'E' is controlled by asingle gene expressing dominance.According to Stewart (1992), thecurrent genetic approach in therestoration of fertility to the G.harknessii cytoplasm assumes thatthere is one restorer gene and oneenhancer gene in the presentlyavailable 'R' lines.

Out of 67 plants from F2 whichhad shown segregation for sterility:fertility, finally eleven plants restoredfertility in F1. None of the restorerplant could be isolated from three F2populations of the hybrids,CZHHM-542, CZHHM-560-D andCZHHM-560-F. The reason for thismay be that these hybrids maybased on genetic male sterilitysystem or the different sources ofCMS system involved in thesehybrids. The D2 restorer which canrestore fertility to both CMS-D8 andCMS-hir, the D8 restorer cannotrestore fertility to CMS D-D2 (Zhangand Stewart, 2001).

Out of twelve progenies, 10

progenies from the population ofhybrid CAHH-468 and 2 progeniesfrom the hybrid CZHHM-531 wereisolated for fertility restoration inpresent investigations. These twelveprogenies were named as RHCRr.9907, 9914, 9923, 9926, 9930,9931, 9934, 9941, 9949, 9953,9965 and 9967. The markercharacter eye-spot was found in fivenewly developed restorer lines viz.RHCRr. 9907, 9930, 9934, 9941and 9949. Meyer (1973 b) reportedtwo fertility restorer lines DES-HAF-16 and 277, these were developedfrom the male fertile segregates ofthe crosses involving uplandgenotypes. Deltapine 16 and Delcot277 carry the fertility restorer genesfrom G . harknessii and restores thefertility in any stocks with G.harknessii cytoplasm.

LITERATURE CITED

Kaul, M. L. H., 1988. Male sterility in higherplants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, NewYork.

Laughnan J. R., and Gabay-Laughnan,1983. Cytoplasmic male sterility inmaize. Annu. Rev. Genet. 17: 27-48.

Meshram, L. D, R. R. Ghongage and M. W.Marawar, 1994. Development of malesterile system from various sources incotton (Gossypium spp.). PKV Res. J.18(1): 83-86.

Meyer, V. G., 1973b. Registration of sixteengermplasm lines of upland cotton. (Reg.No. GP 3 to GP 18). Crop. Sci. 13:778-779.

Meyer, V. G., 1975. Male sterility fromGossypium harknessii. J. Hered. 66:

23-27.

Sheetz, R. H. and Jr. J. B. Weaver. 1980a.Inheritance of a fertility enhancer factorfrom Pima cotton when transferred intoupland cotton with G. harknessiiBrandegee cytoplasm. Crop Sci., 20:272-275.

Sheetz, Richard H. and Jr. J. B. Weaver.1980b. Pima fertility enhancer factor.Inheritance and use of hybrid cottonproduction. Beltwide Cotton Prod. ResConf, P. 82.

Shreenivasan, K., V. Santhanam and S.Rajsekaran. 1972a. Inheritance of malesterility in G. hirsutum crosses. MadrasAgric.J., 59: 438-440.

Stewart, James Mc. D. 1992. A newcytoplasmic male sterile and restorer forcotton. Beltwide Cotton Prod. Res.Conf., 2: 610.

Tang, H. V., R. Chang and D. R. Pring.1998. Cosegregation of single genesassociated with fertility restoration andtranscript processing of sorghummitochondrial orf107 and ur209.Genetics 150: 383-391.

Zhang, G., T. S. Bharaj. Lu. S. S. Virmaniand N. Huang. 1997. Mapping of theRf-3 nuclear fertility-restoring gene forW A cytoplasmic male sterility in riceusing RAPD and RFLP markers. Theor.Appl. Genet. 94: 27-33.

Zhang, J. F. and J. McD. Stewart. 1999.Cytoplasmic male sterility based onGossypium sturtianum cytoplasm (CMS-C1) : Characterization and genetics ofrestoration. Proc. 1999 Cotton Res.Meeting and summaries of cottonresearch in progress. Unic. ArkansasAgric. Exp. Stn., Spec. Rep. 193: 269-272.

Zhang, J. F. and J. McD. Stewart. 2001.CMS-D8 restoration in cotton isconditioned by one dominant gene.Crop Sci. 41: 283-288.

Borle and Mehetre288

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Genetic variation displayed intissue culture regenerated plants andtheir progeny, termed assomaclonal variation (Larkin andScowcroft, 1981), is a potential toolfor crop improvement. Calli or cellsin suspension may be challenged inculture with abiotic (salt,temperature, drought, herbicide),biotic (diseases and pests) stresses(Gahukar, 1999).

Production of sugarcane crop isrestrained by several diseases andabiotic stresses like saliniy, droughtand freezing. NaCl is a salt in salinesoils. Plant cells resistant to 4-5times higher salt concentration thannormal have been isolated using cellculture techniques. The plantsregenerated from them were provedtolerant to saline soil conditions(Singh, 2004). This suggests thatNaCI can give improved salt tolerantculture, which is able to show a

certain degree of correlationbetween response to salt in field andin culture. The present study wastherefore, undertaken to assess thesalt tolerance ability in threevarieties of sugarcane through callustested on NaCl medium.


Callus induction : Thesugarcane varieties Co-94012 andCo-86032 were collected fromAgronomy Farm, College ofAgriculture, Pune whereas thevariety CoM-0265 was collectedfrom Central Sugarcane ResearchStation, Padegaon. The explantsused for callus induction werecylinders of leaf provided from thesheath of the youngest leafprimordia. Sugarcane tops of 4 to 5months of age were used forobtaining desired leaf explant. Theleaves were trimmed by hand and 6cm long pieces were cut. Theexplants were sterilized by washingwith 'Savlon' a liquid steriledetergent soap, for 5 minutes.

The leaf bits treated with 'Savlon'were then treated with 70 per centalcohol for 3 minutes. Finally leafbits were immersed in 0.1 per centHgCl2 solution for 8 minutes. Threeserial washings with sterile doubledistilled water were given after everytreatment to remove the traces ofchemicals. Finally, the leaf cylindershaving 1-2 internodes and 1-2leaves were dissected and cut intopieces of 1-2 mm and cultured onMS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962)medium supplemented with 3 mgl-1, 2, 4-D (2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 20 g sucrose. ThepH of media was adjusted to 5.8with 0.1 N NaOH or 0.1 HCl andmedia was solidified with 8 g l-1 agarbefore autoclaving (20 min at120°C). Cultures were kept in darkat 25 + 1°C temperature.

In vitro salt treatment : Afterproper callus growth and after twosubcultures in MS media (Murashigeand Skoog 1962) + 3 mg l-1, 2, 4-D, the callus was transferred to themedia supplemented with threelevels of NaCl i.e. 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 andone control. The media MS + 3 mgl-1, 2, 4 D was prepared and therespective amount of salt (i.e. 5, 10,15 and 20 g) was added afterboiling the media and then themedia was autoclaved. Bottles wereincubated in dark at 25 + 1°C for21 days. For each medium callusnecrosis percentage was determinedvisually as percentage of necrosis ofcallus.


Screening of Sugarcane Varieties for Prediction of SaltTolerance Through Callus

P. S. Yadav1, D. V. Dahat2, T. J. Bhor3 and P. N. Harer4

College of Agriculture, Pune - 411 005 (India)(Received : 19-10-2008)

ABSTRACT

All the three varieties showed decrease in growth with increase in concentration of NaCl.The variety Co-94012 showed highest mean fresh weight on all the NaCl concentrations butthe callus on 1.5 per cent NaCl salt concentration failed to regenerate when transferred toregeneration medium. While variety Co-86032 and CoM-0265 ranked second and thirdrespectively for the fresh weight growth on salt containing medium. Calli of both the varieties(Co-86032 and CoM-0265) tested on all the three NaCl salt concentrations regeneratedsuccessfully when transferred to regeneration medium supplemented with BAP, however, callusof Co 94012 tested on 1.5 per cent salt concentration failed to regenerate when transferredto regeneration medium. Based on regeneration study on 1.5 per cent salt concentration thevarieties Co-86032 and CoM-0265 predicted salt tolergnce.

Key words : Callus, salt tolerance, sugarcane.

* Part ofthe M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis,

submitted to M.P.K.V., Rahuri by 1st author.1. M. Sc. (Agri.) student 2. Asstt. Prof. 3.

Sr. Res. Asstt. 4. Principal Scientist, PulsesImprovement Project, MPKV., Rahuri.

Embryogenic callus evalua-tion and callus growth :Distinction between embryogenicand no embryogenic callus wascarried out on the basis of callusexternal aspect. Embryogenic calliare of glossed aspect, compact,nodular, globular in structure, whilenon-embryogenic callus are of wetaspects, translucent and of colourmore brownish (Van Sint Fan et al.1990).

Callus growth study was carriedout after two subcultures of 21 dayseach. Calli were weighed beforetheir transfer to fresh callusinduction medium and they wereweighed again after secondsubculture. The difference inweights has been taken as freshweight growth of callus.


The analysis of variance for thecalli tested on differentconcentrations of NaCl showedhighly significant differences due tovarieties and treatments (Table 2).

The callus growth was reducedwith increase in NaCl concentration(Table 1). The variety CO-94012had highest mean fresh weight(0.205 g) over all the salt treatmentsfollowed by CO-86032 (0.156 g)and COM-0265 (0.145 g).

All the varieties survived onmedia with 0.5 per cent NaCl. ButCo-86032 showed no necrosis orcallus mortality even on 1.5 per centNaCl culture media. Co-94012showed callus mortality on both 1.0and 1.5 per cent NaCl. In case ofvariety CoM-0265, the callus didnot show mortality upto 1.0 percent NaCl but only 83.33 per centcallus survived on 1.5 per cent NaClmedium. These results revealed

significant differences amongvarieties for callus necrosispercentage which are in agreementwith Naik and Babu (1988),Gandonou et al. (2005b) insugarcane and Karadimova andDjambova (1993) in durum wheat.They observed that higherconcentration of NaCl causedbrown colouration and apparentnecrosis and reduced callus growth.Similar, results were reported forfour sugarcane genotypes, using cellsuspension culture in vitro byGonzalez et al. (1995).

The fresh weight of callus wasreduced as the concentration ofNaCl increased. At 0.5 per centNaCl concentration fresh weight ofcallus was more in Co-94012(0.223 g) followed by Co-86032(0..193 g) and CoM-0265 (0.183g). The gain in fresh weight of callusas compared to control was 86.54,91.39 and 94.81 per cent for Co-86032, Co-94012 and CoM-0265.

respectively. In higher NaClconcentration (1.5 %) the meanfresh weight of callus was 0.087,0.129 and 0.088 g for Co-86032,Co-94012 and CoM-0265,respectively and when comparedwith control it was 39.01, 52.86and 59.58 per cent of controlscallus weight. Thus, Co-94012 andCoM-0265 appeared to be moretolerant to salt stress than Co-86032 for callus growth. There was

Yadav et al.290

Table 1. Two way table for variety x treatment.

Variety NaCl conc. (%) / fresh wt. of callus–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––0.5 1.0 1.5 Control Mean

Co-86032 0.193 0.121 0.087 0.223 0.156Co-94012 0.223 0.195 0.129 0.244 0.205CoM-0265 0.183 0.115 0.088 0.193 0.145

S. E.+ C. D. at 5%Variety 0.009 0.02Treatment 0.011 0.03Interaction 0.018 N. S.

Table 2. ANOVA for response of callustested on different saltconcentrations.

Source Df MSS F caldue togain inweight of callus

Variety (V) 2 0.01232 12.268**Treatment (T) 3 0.0285 28.422**VxT interaction 6 0.000505 0.503N.S.Error 24 0.0010

** Significant at 1 per cent level ofsignificance.

Table 3. Per cent callus survival on NaCl salt.

Variety Test tubes Test tubes Per cent of testinoculated survived tubes survived

––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––Nacl conc. (%) Nacl conc. (%) Nacl conc. (%)

––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––0.5 1.0 1.5 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.5 1.0 1.5

Co-86032 12 12 12 12 12 12 100 100 100Co-94012 12 12 12 12 11 9 100 91 75CoM-0265 12 12 12 12 12 10 100 100 83

significant difference amongdifferent NaCl concentrations andamong varieties.

Similar findings that wereobserved in sugarcane by Gandonouet al. (2005b) and in different cropslike rice (Kavi Kishor, 1988 andShankhdhar et al. 2003), insafflower (Radhika et al. 2003), insorghum (Kolhe, 1997) and in bajra(Hapse, 2001), indicated that NaClreduces callus growth and thatgenotypes respond differently to thisstress.

Interaction effect : Theinteraction for variety and treatmentwas non significant, it means thatthere was no interaction betweenthe salt media and the varieties(Table 2).

Regeneration studies : Whenthe calli tested on NaCl media werecultured on regeneration media (MS+ 2 mg l-1 BAP + 1 mg l-1 kinetin)the calli of Co-86032 and CoM-0265 survived on 1.5 per cent saltconcentration and regeneratedsuccessfully, however, the calli ofCo-94012 survived and regeneratedonly upto 1 per cent and not on 1.5per cent.

From the present studies it wasobserved that the callus of varietiesin the order of Co-94012, Co-86032 and CoM-0265 respondedwell to salt tolerance along with theirhigh potential for embryogeniccallus induction. The varieties testedon high levels of salt in media (1.0or 1.5 per cent) which have shownhigher fresh weight growth of callus

and regenerated normally whencultured on regeneration medium(MS + BAP) can be considered tohave ability to tolerate high levels ofsalt concentration. The variety Co-94012 showed higher meanperformance in fresh weight ofcallus. But the embryogenic calluspercentage was less henceregeneration ability on 1.5 per centsalt concentration was very poor.Thus the variety CoM 0265 and Co86032 which has shownregeneration on 1.5 per cent saltconcentration are considered to besalt tolerant genotypes. Thus, thesevarieties can be used for studyingthe physiological mechanismassociated with in vitro salt toleranceand thereby selection of cultures invitro to identify salt tolerantgenotypes. Further studies on wholeplant response of tolerantgenotypes in a greenhouse,hydroponics and in the field arenecessary.

LITERATURE CITED

Gahukar, S. J. 1999. Isolation of mutantsresistant to biotic and abiotic stressesusing biotechnological techniques insugarcane. A Ph. D. thesis submitted toMPKV, Rahuri (M.S.).

Gandonou, Ch., T. Errabii, J. Abrini, M.Idaomar, F. Chibi and N. Skali Senhaji.2005b. Response of sugarcane varietiesto embryogenic callus induction and invitro salt stress. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 4 (4): 350-354.

Gonzalez , V., S. Castroni and M. Fuchs.1995. evaluation de la reacccion degenotipos de ca a de azucar adifferentesde NaCl. Agronomia Tropical. 46 (2) :219-232.

Hapse, D. D. 2001. In vitro studies of

osmotic stresses on callus culture ofBajra (Pennisetum glaucum L Br). AM.Sc. thesis submitted to MPKV, Rahuri(M. S.)

Karadimova, M. and G. Djambova. 1993.Increased NaCl tolerance in wheat(Triticum aestivum L. and Triticumdurum Desf) through in vitro selection.In vitro Cell Dev. Biol. 29 : 180-182.

Kavi Kishor, P. B. 1988. Effect of salt stresson callus cultures of Oryza saliva. J.Expt. Bot. 39 (199) : 235-240.

Kolhe, P. G. 1997. In vitro studies ofosmotic and chemical stress on callus ofSorghum bicolor L. A M. Sc. thesissubmitted to MPKV, Rahuri. (M. S.)

Larkin, P. J. and W. R. Scowcroft. 1981.Somaclonal variation- a novel source ofvariability from cell cultures for plantimprovement. Theor. Appl. Genet. 60:197-214.

Murashige, T. and F. Skoog. 1962. A revisedmedia for rapid growth and bioassaywith tobacco tissue culture. PhysiologiaPlantarium. 15: 473-497.

Naik, G. R. and K. H. Babu. 1988.Redifferentiation of NaCl tolerantsugarcane plants from callus derivedresistant lines. Curr. Sci. 57(8): 432-434.

Radhika, K., M. Sujatha and T. NageshwarRao. 2003. Assessment of in vitromethod for screening genotype for salttolerance. Sesamum and SafflowerNewslet. 18: 1-3.

Shankhdhar, D., S. C. Shankhdhar and P. C.Pant. 2003. Somatic embryogenesisand plant regeneration under salineconditions in Indian rice. Abst., 2nd

Internat. Cong. of Plant Physiol., NewDelhi, India, pp. 195.

Singh, B. D. 2004. Introduction to planttissue culture. Principles of Biotechnol.1st edition. Kalyani Publ. Ludhiana. pp.1010.

Van, Sint Fan, N. Skali Senhaji and J.Bouharmount. 1990. Comparison dedifferences varieties de riz (Oryza salivaL.) pour leur aptitude. La culture invitro. Belg. J. Bot. 123 (1/2) : 36-44.


______________

Sugarcane is a tropical crop,largely suffers from moisture stressduring early growth phases, whichusually corresponds to the summermonths. Investigations made bynumber of workers showed thatosmotic concentration of root cap,leaf sheath and stem could beutilized as one of the possible indicesof relative drought resistance. Highsucrose level increases the osmoticpotential of the media and alsoregulates starch synthesis byosmoregulation of the media(Oparka and Wright, 1988).Sucrose along with agar is the majorcomponent in the media whichaffect the uptake of water by plantcells (Seetohul, 1995). It has beeninvestigated by Khuri and Moorby(1995) that during growth of theplantlet and on autoclaving ofmedia, sucrose level breaks downand increases osmotic potential of

the media. Sucrose concentrationcreates osmotic potential gradient inthe culture medium when used inhigh concentration, so it can beused to select the genotype fordrought tolerance. The presentstudy was therefore, undertaken tostudy the response of callus fordifferent sucrose levels and therebypredict the drought tolerance of thethree sugarcane genotypes.


Callus induction : Threesugarcane varieties viz., Co-86032,Co-94012 and CoM-0265 wereused for this study. The explants

used for callus induction werecylinders of leaf provided from thesheath of the youngest leafprimordia. Sugarcane tops of 4-5months of age were used forobtaining desired leaf explant. Theleaves were trimmed by hand and 6cm long pieces were cut. Theexplants were sterilized by washingwith 'Savlon' a liquid steriledetergent soap, for 5 minutes andthen treated with 70 per centalcohol for 3 minutes. Finally bitswere immersed in 0.1 per centHgCl2 solution for 8 minutes. Threeserial washings with sterile doubledistilled water were given after everytreatment to remove the traces ofchemicals. Finally, the leaf cylindershaving 1-2 internodes and 1-2leaves were dissected and cut intopieces of 1-2 mm and cultured on toMS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962)medium supplemented with 3 mgl-1 2, 4-D (2, 4 - Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 20 g sucrose. ThepH of media was adjusted to 5.8and media was solidified with 8 g l-1

agar before autoclaving for 20 min.at 120°C. Culture were kept indarkness at 25 + 1°C.


Screening of Sugarcane Varieties for Prediction of DroughtTolerance Through Callus*



ABSTRACT

Leaf sheath explant of three sugarcane varieties Co-86032, Co-94012 and CoM-0265was used as explant for callus initiation. Callus was tested on 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 Msucrose media. Comparison of genotypes was made on the basis of necrosis percentage andfresh weight growth of callus on various sucrose level. The variety Co-86032 and COM-0265performed well showing growth of callus up to 0.8 and 1M respectively. However, CO-94012failed to survive above 0.4 M sucrose level and there was 100 per cent callus necrosis on 0.6,0.8 and 1.0 M sucrose levels. When calli tested on different sucrose levels were transferred onregeneration medium only the calli on 0.2 M sucrose level regenerated for all the threevarieties. Based on response of callus to various sucrose level the varieties CoM-0265 and Co-86032 predicted drought tolerant.

Key words : Callus, drought tolerance, sucrose levels, fresh weight growth,osmotic pressure.

* Part of M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted byseriior author to MPKV, Rahuri.

1. M. Sc. (Agri.) student 2. Asstt. Prof. 3.Sr. Res. Asstt. 5. Principal Scientist, PulsesImprovement Project, MPKV., Rahuri.

Table 1. Osmotic potential of sucrose and PEG 6000.

Sucrose Sucrose Bars PEG Barsconcentration concentration (-) (g/1000 ml) (-)(M) (g/1000 ml)

0.2 68.46 6 78.490 10.4 136.92 12 151.020 30.6 205.38 18 202.130 50.8 273.84 25 279.297 91.0 342.30 >25 340.365 13

1 Bar = 1 x 105 Pa

In vitro treatment withdifferent sucrose levels : Afterproper callus growth and twosubcultures in MS media + 3 mg l-1

2, 4-D the callus was transferred tothe media supplemented with fivelevels of sucrose viz., 0.2, 0.4, 0.6,0.8, 1 M and control. The mediaMS + 3 mg l-1 2, 4- D was preparedand the respective amount (i.e.,68.75, 136.92, 205.38, 273.84,342.84 and 20 g) of sucrose wasadded before boiling and adjustingpH of media. Bottles were incubatedin dark at 25 + 1°C for 21 days. Foreach medium callus necrosispercentage was determined visually.

Embryogenic callus evalua-tion and callus growth :Distinction between embryogenicand no embryogenic callus wascarried out as decribed by Van SintFan et al. (1990). Embryogenic calliwere of glossed aspect, compact,nodular, globular in structure, whilenon-embryogenic callus are of wetaspects, translucent and of colourmore brownish. Callus growth studywas carried out after two subculturesof 21 days each. Calli were weighedbefore their transfer to fresh callusinduction medium and they wereweighed again after secondsubculture. The difference inweights has been taken as freshweight growth of callus.


When sucrose is used in higherconcentrations, it acts as osmoticagent lowering the water potentialin a way similar to soil drying as incase of PEG 6000, (Table 1).Promising somaclonal variants wereobtained from in vitro selection forPEG tolerance in sorghum (Smith etal. 1985) and rice (Kavi Kishor andReddy, 1985).

The analysis of variance foreffect of different sucrose level oncallus (Table 2) revealed that, thethree varieties differed significantlyfor the growth of callus. The growthof callus on 0.2 M sucrose media forall the varieties was good but therewas significant difference betweencallus weight on 0.2 M sucrosemedia and control (Table 3). Veryless response was shown by all thethree varieties above 0.6 M sucroselevel.

With increase in level of sucrose,there was decrease in callus growth.The variety CoM-0265 had highestmean fresh weight (0.233 g),followed by Co-86032 (0.191 g)and Co-94012 (0.183) (Table 3).The gain in fresh weight of callus on0.2 M sucrose media was 58.01 percent, 89.80 per cent and 79.83 percent for Co-86032, Co-94012 andCoM-0265 respectivelycorresponding to control.

When calli were cultured on thesucrose levels described earlier, thecalli of Co-86032 survived upto 1.0

M but with very less fresh weightgrowth of only 0.018 g, the calli ofvariety CoM-0265 survived up to0.8 M sucrose level with freshweight growth of 0.113 g. But incase of variety Co-94012 the callidid not survive above 0.4 M sucrosemedia. The fresh callus weightgrowth on 0.4 M was only 0.222 gwhich was 48.15 per cent ascompared to control. Thus callus ofvarieties Co-86032 and CoM-0265proved to be osmotic stressresistance but callus of variety Co-94012 is susceptible to osmoticstress.

Narwood et al. (1999) andWhittakar et al. (2001) reportedthat sucrose accumulated inresponse to water stress andcarbohydrate metabolism wasshifted to favour the conversion ofsugars to sucrose. If the selection ismade in vitro on media containingsucrose as osmotic agent, it could bepossible to derive drought resistantlines which can accumulate sucrosemore efficiently under droughtconditions. Earlier, reports


Table 2. ANOVA for response of callus for different levels of sucrose.

Source Df MSS due to gain F calin weight of callus

Variety (V) 2 0.0153 6.712*Treatment (T) 5 0.2727 119.086**V x T interaction effect 10 0.00982 4.292*Error 36 0.00229

*,** Significant at 5 and 1 per cent level respectively.

Table 3. Variety x treatment two way table for response of callus to various sucrose levels.

Variety Sucrose levels (M) Control Mean––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Co-86032 0.228 0.227 0.164 0.054 0.018 0.393 0.191Co-94012 0.414 0.222 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.461 0.183CoM-0265 0.384 0.239 0.204 0.113 0.000 0.481 0.233Mean 0.362 0.230 0.122 0.056 0.006 0.445 0.200

mentioned that sugars protect thecells during drought by twomechanisms. First, the hydroxylgroups of sugars may substitute forwater to maintain hydrophilicinteraction in membrane andprotein dehydration. Thus sugarsinteract with proteins andmembranes through hydrogenbonding, thereby preventing proteindenaturation (Leopold et al. 1994).Soluble sugars, especially sucrose,accumulate in seeds, pollen and indrought tolerant vegetative tissues(Oliver and Bewley, 1997). Inaddition, sucrose may also serve asimmediate energy source uponrehydration, since it can easilymetabolizable reducing sugar. So,the cell lines selected on the mediacontaining sucrose as osmotic agentcan prove beneficial for survivingdrought. Also, in case of sugarcane,at ripening stage moisture stress canhave beneficial effect on sucroseaccumulation because the rate ofsucrose hydrolysis is lowered due toimpaired growth and there is moreaccumulation of sugar (Yang, 1976).

When the calli tested on variouslevels of sucrose were cultured on

regeneration media, only callus on0.2 M had survived and regeneratedin case of all the three varieties.

It could be possible to increasethe sucrose content of the variety, iffurther studies are carried out forcallus regeneration, field testing ofthe regenerated callus on highersucrose levels in media, testingmolecular fidality of genotypes usingvarious markers andbiotechnological and moleculartechniques and practicing selectionof tested genotypes underenvironmental drought conditions.

LITERATURE CITED

Kavi Kishor, P. B. and G. M. Reddy. 1985.Resistance of rice callus tissues tosodium chloride and polyethylene glycol.Curr. Sci. 59: 29-31.

Khuri, S. and J. Moorby. 1995.Investigations into the role of sucrose inpotato cv estima microtubularproduction in vitro. Annals of Bot. 75:295-303.

Leopold, A. C., W. Q. Sunh and L. L.Bernal. 1994. The glassy state in seeds:analysis and function. Seed Sci. Res. 21:267-274.

Murashige, T. and F. Skoog. 1962. A revisedmedia for rapid growth and bioassaywith tobacco tissue culture. Physiol.Plant. 15: 473-497.

Narwood, M., M. R. Truesdale, A. Richterand P. Scott. 1999. Metabolic changesin leaves and roots during dehydration ofthe resurrection plant Craterostigmaplantagineum (hochst). South Afri. J.Bot. 65: 421-427.

Oliver, M. J. and J. Bewley. 1997.Dessication tolerance of plants tissues: amechanism overview. Hort. Rev. 18:171-214.

Oparka, K. J. and K. M. Wright. 1988.Osmotic regulation of starch synthesis inpotato tubers. Planta. 174: 123-126.

Seetohul. S. 1995. A study on the effect ofcarbohydrates in tissue culture ofNicotiana tabaccum. A thesis submittedto in B. Sc. (Hons) Degree in Agricul.Biotechnol., Univ. of Mauritius.

Smith, R. H., S. S. Bhaskaran and F. R.Miller. 1985. Screening for droughttolerance in sorghum using cell cultures.In vitro Cell Dev. Biol. 21: 541-545.

Van Sint Fan, N. Skali Senhaji and J.Bouharmount. 1990. Comparison deriz differences varieties de riz (Oryzasativa L.) pour leur aptitude. La culturein vitro. Belg. J. Bot. 123(1/2): 36-44.

Whittakar, A., A. Bochicchio, C. Vazzana, G.Lindsey and J. M. Farrart. 2001.Changes in leaf hexokinase activity andmetabolite levels in response to drying inthe desiccation tolerant speciesSporobolus stapfianus and Xerophytaviscosa. J. Expt. Bot. 52(3): 961-969.

Yang, S. J. 1976. Influence of soil moistureon sugarcane production. Taiwan Sugar.23: 161-166.

Yadav et al.294

______________

Sugarcane (Saccharumofficinarum L.) is an important cashcrop and it requires quite long timefor its multiplication and also as it isa cross pollinated andheterogeneous crop, it is verydifficult to maintain the genotypicpurity of sugarcane (Nand and Singh1994). However, rapidmultiplication and germplasmpreservation of sugarcane is possiblethrough tissue (shoot tip) culture.

Genetic variability created bysexual crossing may not be adequateto allow improvement in particulardesired character. Therefore, theuse and exploitation of newmethods like cell and tissue culturetechnique to broaden genetic baseof higher plants are essential. Calluscultures are currently the mostefficient means of plantregeneration, but callus induction,plantlet regeneration is a complexphenomenon influenced by a

number of factors includinggenotype and plant growthregulators. Hence, the mainobjective of this study was tooptimize culture media, cultureconditions and explants type for invitro callus induction andregeneration in sugarcanegenotypes Co-86032, Co-94012and CoM-0265.


Three varieties of sugarcane viz.,Co 86032, Co-94012 and CoM-0265 were used for this study. Theexplants used for callus inductionwere cylinders of leaf provided fromthe sheath of the youngest leafprimordia. Sugarcane tops of 4 to 5months of age were used forobtaining desired leaf explant. Theleaves were trimmed by hand and 6cm long pieces were cut. Theexplants were sterilized by washingwith 'Savlon' a liquid steriledetergent soap, for 5 minutes. Thenthe pieces were dipped in 70%alcohol for 1 minute. Finally the bitswere immersed in 0.1 per centHgCl2 solution for 8 minutes. Three

serial washings with sterile doubledistilled water were given after everytreatment to remove the traces ofchemicals. Finally the leaf cylindershaving 1-2 internodes and 1-2leaves were dissected and cut intopieces of 1-2 mm and cultured ontoMS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962)medium supplemented with 3 mgl-1 2.4-D.

The callus culture and theexplants were incubated in completedarkness at 25±1°C in B.O.D.incubator. The callus wasmaintained by sub culturing it on afresh medium after 30 days. Whiletransferring, the callus was taken outin a petri dish and dividedapproximately into 50 mg piecesand placed onto a fresh MSmedium.

Callus from second subculturewere used for regeneration studies.Approximately 1 g of callus wascultured on a regeneration mediumi.e. MS medium + 2 mg l-1 BAP + 1mg l-1 kinetin. The culture bottleswere incubated in a culture room,illuminated with two 40 watt tubelights (3000 lux), for 16 hours. Thealternate period of 8 hours of darkand 16 hours of light wasmaintained with temperature of28°C.

The shoots which were havinglength of 50 mm were transferred torooting media of MS medium + 5mg l-1 NAA to 0.5 mg l-1 IBA.


Response of Sugarcane Varieties for In Vitro Studies*



ABSTRACT

Three sugarcane varieties, viz., Co-86032, Co-94012 and CoM-0265 differed in theircallusing ability, regeneration capacity and rooting ability. The variety Co-86032 and CoM-0265 showed 100 per cent callusing ability while Co-94012 showed 98.67 per cent callusingability. The three varieties took 6 to 8 days for callus induction. The fresh weight of callus didnot differ significantly while dry weight of callus differed significantly. Per cent regenerationability was observed from 81 .66 to 86.0 per cent, while per cent rooting varied between 75to 83.33 per cent taking up to 15 days for rooting. On an average variety COM-0265performed well for most of the characters studied.

Key words : Tissue culture, callus, sugarcane, varieties.

* Part of M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted bysenior author to MPKV, Rahuri.

1. M. Sc. (Agri.) student. 2. Asstt. Prof.3. Sr. Res. Asstt. 4. Principal Scientist, PulsesImprovement Project, MPKV., Rahuri.


Callus induction : The calluswas induced on leaf sheath explantusing the modified MS media with2, 4-D 3 mg l-1, sucrose 20 g l-1 andagar 8 g l-1, pH of medium wasmaintained at 5.8. Callus wasobtained using similar media byGandonou et al. (2005a). Niaz andQuraishi (2002) used MS mediumwith 3 mg l-1 2,4 D which wasoptional for embryogenesis andfound that, leaf portion showedmaximum embryogenesis andproved better explant source thanpith.

In the present investigationvisible callus was first observed atthe cut ends of the explants. Thevariety Co-86032 produced callus insix days and was earlier for callusinduction followed by CoM-0265(7.83 days) and Co-94012 (8.67days). These results are in closeagreement with those reported byShete (1994). All the three varietiesstudied had high percentage ofcallus induction (98 per cent). Thevariety Co-86032 and CoM-0265responded well than Co-94012.Burner (1992) and Gandonou et al.(2005a) reported genotypedependent callus induction insugarcane. It is also reported in riceby Mikami and Kinoshita (1988)that induction of callus is genotypedependent.

No significant differences wereobserved among the three varietiesfor fresh weight of callus however,they differed significantly for the dryweight. From the data in Table 2, itwas observed that there was a directrelationship between the volume ofcallus to fresh weight in the presentinvestigation. Lal and Singh (1991)observed similar results for fresh

weight of callus, while Shete (1994)observed similar results for bothfresh and dry weight. Gahukar(1999) found that two varieties ofsugarcane differed significantly forfresh weight of callus but did notdiffer for dry weight of callus.

Regeneration studies :Organogenesis can be brought outin callus by controlled initiation oforgan primordia throughmanipulation of nutrients andhormonal constituents in the culturemedia. In the present study,development of green spots (shootprimordia) occurred after 5 to 6days of culturing and shootsappeared after second week ofincubation. The variety Co-94012responded well to the regenerationmedium and regenerated in 23 daysfollowed by CoM- 0265 with 25.66days, while variety Co-86032 took27.5 days for regeneration. Similarresults were reported by Hendre(1988) and Baksha et al. (2002).The media used for regenerationwas MS basal media + 2 mg l-1 BAP+ 1 mg l-1 kinetin. Gahukar (1999)and Baksha et al. (2002) usedsimilar media for regeneration ofsugarcane callus. The varietiesdiffered significantly for daysrequired for regeneration, this couldbe due to genotypic differences,plant growth hormones and mediaused for regeneration.

There were no significantdifferences for the per centregeneration ability of the threevarieties (Table l). The results are inconformitity with those of Shete(1994) and Gandonou et al.(2005a).

There was significant differencefor production of number of shootsper gram of callus among thevarieties studied (Table 2). CoM-0265 produced highest number ofplants per gram of callus (82.33)followed by Co-86032 (36.67), andvariety Co-94012 regenerated only22.33 shoots per gram of callus.These results are in agreement withthose of Bhansali and Singh (1982),Fitch and Moore (1990) andGandonou et al. (2005a).

Rooting studies : The rootingof regenerated shoots were obtained

Yadav et al.296

Table 1. Performance of sugarcane varieties for different characters studied.

Variety Days to Per cent Days Per cent No. of Per centcallus callusing required regene- days for rootinginitia- ability for ration rootingtion regene-

ration

Co-86032 6.16 100 (90) 27.50 81.66 (65.69) 13.67 75 (60.20)Co-94012 8.67 98.67 (83.46) 23.00 87.33 (69.99) 15.50 77 (62.67)CoM-0265 7.83 100 (90) 25.667 86.00 (68.24) 13.50 83.33 (66.38)S. E.+ 0.1667 0.4597 0.6735 4.461 1.1344 4.294

* Values in paranthesis indicates transformation values.

Table 2. Fresh and dry weight of callus andplants regenerated per gram ofcallus of sugarcane.

Variety Fresh Dry Plantswt. wt. regene-of of ratedcallus callus per gram(g) (g) of

callus

Co-86032 1.497 0.370 36.67Co-94012 2.130 0.183 22.33CoM-0265 2.192 0.473 82.33S. E.+ 0.2647 0.1260 1.5634

in MS basal media supplementedwith 5 per cent sucrose and 5 mgl-1 NAA and 0.5 mg l-1 IBA. Thevarieties showed differences in daysrequired for rooting and percentageof rooting. The maximum days forrooting (15.50) were required forCo-94012, while other two varietiestook about 2 days less (13.67 and13.50 days) than it. The percentageof rooting was high (83.33 per cent)in CoM 0265 and it was followed byCo-94012 (77 per cent) and Co-86032 (75 per cent).

The difference in performanceof each variety may be due toinfluence of cultivar on in vitrogrowth. Emphasis need to be givenon refining growth regulator forspecific cultivar. This technique alsoprovides genetic variability throughsomaclonal variations. Thus todevelop new cultivars from existingone and to broaden the geneticbase, optimization of tissue culturestudies is necessary for the cropslike sugarcane which is a complexpolyploidy, vegetatively propagatedand where classical hybridization

techniques are difficult due to lack ofseed set.

LITERATURE CITED

Baksha, R., Alam, M. Z. Karim, S. K. Paul,A. S. Hossain and A. B. M. M. Rahman.2002. In vitro shoot tip culture ofsugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.)variety Isd 28. Biotech. 1(2-4): 67-72.

Burner, M. D. 1992. Regeneration andphenotypic variability of plant culturedin vitro from mature sugarcanecaryopsis. J. Amer. Soc. SugarcaneTechnol. 12: 82-90.

Fitch, M. M. and P. H. Moore. 1990.Comparison of 2, 4-D and picloram forselection of long term totipotent greencallus cultures of sugarcane. Plant Cell,Tissue and Organ Culture. 20: 157-163.

Gahukar, S. J. 1999. Isolation of mutantsresistant to biotic and abiotic stressesusing biotechnological techniques insugarcane. A Ph. D. thesis submitted toMPKV, Rahuri (M.S.)

Gandonou, Ch., T. Errabji, M. Abrini,Idaomar and N. Skali Senhaji. 2005a.Effect of genotype on callus inductionand plant regeneration from leaf explantof sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). Afr. J.Biotechnol. 4(11): 1250-1255.

Hendre, R. R. 1988. Molecular basis ofdifferentiation in plant tissue culture withspecial reference to sugarcane. A Ph. D.

thesis submitted to University of Pune,India.

Lal, N. and H. N. Singh. 1991. Correlationof fresh weight of callus tocorresponding volumes in sugarcane.Indian J. Plant Physiol. 34(3): 261-263.

Mikami, T. and T. Kinoshita. 1988.Genotypic effects on callus formationfrom different explants of rice, Oryzasativa L. Plant Cell, Tissue and OrganCulture. 12(3): 311-314.

Murashige, T. and F. Skoog. 1962. A revisedmedia for rapid growth and bioassaywith tobacco tissue culture. PhysiologiaPlantarium. 15: 473-497.

Naik, G. R. and K. H. Babu. 1988.Redifferentiation of NaCl tolerantsugarcane plants from callus derivedresistant lines. Curr. Sci. 57(8): 432-434.

Nand, L. and Singh, H. N. 1994. Rapidclonal multiplication of sugarcanethrough tissue culture. Plant Tissue Cult.4: 1-7.

Niaz F. and A. Quraishi. 2002. Study onsomatic embryogenesis in sugarcane.Biological Sci. 2(2): 67-69.

Scowcroft, W. R. 1977. Somatic cell geneticsand plant improvement. Advance inAgron. 29: 39-81.

Shete, U. M. 1994. Tissue culture studies insugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L).A M. Sc. thesis submitted to MPKV,Rahuri.


______________

In view of continuous increase incost and scarcity of mineralfertilizers resulting from the use ofhigh cost fossil energy, there is needfor going into organic recycling andbiological nitrogen fixation toimprove soil fertility andproductivity. The use ofbiofertilizers, apart from being acheap source of nitrogen, caneffectively ease the precarioussituation created due to shortage ofchemical fertilizers. The presentinvestigation was planned with anaim to know the biological nitrogenfixation in important floriculturalcrop like gerbera.


Ten isolates of Azotobacter(AZT-1 to AZT-1O) were obtainedfrom the rhizosphere of gerberagrown in fields and polyhouses atdifferent locations in Pune. Onestandard strain (AZT-11) procuredfor comparison from the BNFScheme, College of Agriculture,

Pune-5. Rhizosphere soil samplesboth from field and polyhousecultivated plants of gerbera wereused for isolation of Azotobacteraccording to the proceduredescribed by Alexander (1977).Morphological tests like Gramstaining, spore staining, capsulestaining and shape were carried out.Plates of Jenson's agar werestreaked and colonies wereexamined daily for pigmentation.

Plantlets of gerbera wereinoculated by dipping the plant rootball in broth culture inoculum ofAzotobacter isolates. Afterinoculation the plants were plantedand irrigated lightly and the potswere kept in glasshouse. Onetreatment inoculated with standardculture and one uninoculated wasalso included for comparison.Recommended dose of NPKfertilizers were applied to all the potswhich consisted of 200 mg N, 100mg P and 300 mg K per liter of thesubstrate at monthly interval (Boseet al. 1999). The experiment waslaid out in a randomized blockdesign. Observations for the dry

matter content of root and shoots,N content of shoot and soil wererecorded.


The organisms obtained from allthe soil samples indicated theprevalence of Azotobacter in therhizosphere of gerbera. Debnath(1997) has. reported the presenceof Azotobacter in rhizosphere offloricultural crops grown in mediumblack soil of Western Maharashtra.

Of the eleven isolates, seven(AZT-1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10) werefound to be coccoid, two (AZT-11and 4) were blunt rods andremaining two (AZT-2 and 7) wereoval shaped. All the test isolates andthe standard one were found to beGram negative, capsulated and non-spore former. Beijerinck (1901) andDebnath (1997) have also describedthe morphological characteristicsand staining reactions of theAzotobacter similar with the resultsof present investigation confirmingthe identity of Azotobacter isolates.

The isolates AZT-2, 3, 5, 6, 9,10 and 11 were observed to becircular, AZT-1 and 4 irregular andAZT-7 and 8 were rhizoid. Thecolony margin of AZT-5 and 9 wereundulated and that of AZT-2, 3, 6,10 and 11 were found to be entire,AZT-1 and 4 were lobate whileAZT-7 and 8 were curled. Study ontypes of elevation revealed thatAZT-4 and 10 were umbonate;AZT-I. 3, 7 and 11 raised; AZT-2,5, 8 and 9 convex and AZT-6 found


Studies on Azotobacter from Rhizosphere of Gerbera(Gerbera jamesonii H.)

A. B. Lele1, N. B. Pawar2 and S. V. Kolase3


ABSTRACT

The isolates studied were Gram negative, capsulated and non-spore forming. Old cultureswere observed to produce light brown to dark blackish brown pigmentation. Tissue culturedhardened plantlets of gerbera (cv. Granada) were inoculated with purified cultures ofAzotobacter spp. The inoculation of all the strains exhibited beneficial effect by improving thegrowth parameters very significantly, thereby indicating their efficiency in N-fixation. In potculture experiment standard strains (AZT-11) obtained from Biological Nitrogen FixationScheme, College of Agriculture, Pune-5 was found to be the most superior followed by strainAZT-4.

Key words : Biological nitrogen fixation, gerbera, Azotobacter, rhizosphere.

1. M. Sc. (Agri) student, 2. Professor ofPlant Pathology and 3. Assistant Professor ofPlant Pathology.

to be pulvinate.

AZT-1 and 11 produced brownpigment while AZT-3, 5 and 10produced light brown pigment,further dark blackish brown pigmentwas also observed to be produced bythe strains viz.. AZT-2, 6 and 7.The strains AZT-4, 8 and 9 alsoproduced blackish brown pigment.Apte and Shende (1981) alsoreported occurrence of bothpigmented and non-pigmentedforms of A. chroococcum.

The data on effect ofAzotobacter inoculation on shootand root development were found tobe significant indicating thedifference due to the various isolatesof Azotobacter. Maximum shootlength (35.0 cm) was recorded dueto the inoculation with AZT-11strain of Azotobacter, however, itseffect was at par with AZT-4, 6, 7,8, 9 and 10. Minimum shoot length(20.25 cm) was recorded in control(uninoculated). Maximum rootlength (29.90 cm) was observed inthe inoculation treatment of AZT-11followed by AZT-9 (28.50 cm). Thelowest root length (17.75 cm) wasrecorded in control (Table 1).Maximum fresh weight (140.88 g)of shoot per plant was exhibited byAZT-11 and was at par with AZT-4.The lowest shoot fresh weight perplant (71.31 g) was recorded incontrol. The data on differencesbetween fresh weight of root wereobserved to be significant andrevealed AZT-11 (15.82 g) wasfound to be signillcantly superiorover rest of the treatments followedby AZT-4 (14.72 g). The freshweight of 11.56 g plant-1 wasrecorded in the uninoculated controlwhich was significantly lower thanrest of the treatments. Kulkarni andKonde (1990) in aster and Debnath

(1997) in gladiolus have reportedsignificantly higher root and shootdevelopment due to Azotobacterinoculation.

The highest dry weight of shoot(17.58 g) was obtained withtreatment T11 which was at par withT4 (17.45 g), T6, (15.08 g), T7(15.49 g), T8 (15.50 g), T9 (17.05g) and T10, (16.64 g). Significanthigher dry root weight was recordedin the treatments viz., T4 (5.02 g),T9 (5.54 g) and T11 (5.97 g) overuninoculated control. Similarsignificant improvements in drymatter accumulation due toinoculation with Azotobacter havebeen reported by Sonawane (1983)in brinjal and Debnath (1997) ingladiolus.

Maximum N content of plants(4.02 %) was observed in thetreatment of AZT-11; which was atpar with AZT-4 (3.95 %) as againstthe N content of 2.69 per cent inuninoculated control. These results

indicated that the treatments viz.,T4, T9, T10 and T11 weresignillcantly superior overuninoculated control indicating thebeneficial effect of Azotobacterinoculation (Table 2). Nitrogencontent in brinjal (Sonawane, 1983)has also been reported to beincreased in the plants due to


Table 1. Effect of Azotobacter inoculation on growth parameters of gerbera (cv. Granada) inpot culture.

Treat- Length Fresh weight Dry weigth ment (cm) (g plant-1) (g plant-1)

––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––Shoot Root Shoot Root Shoot Root

T1 26.25 23.37 74.94 12.51 8.97 3.51T2 25.90 19.42 73.72 11.57 8.00 3.62T3 28.75 25.50 84.23 12.54 10.96 3.54T4 34.87 27.00 119.55 14.72 17.45 5.02T5 23.32 21.50 73.46 11.92 7.90 3.37T6 29.07 26.87 84.49 13.25 15.08 4.27T7 31.62 26.87 85.93 13.32 15.49 4.35T8 32.62 26.12 89.47 13.57 15.50 4.52T9 33.55 28.50 95.96 14.1 17.05 5.54T10 33.25 28.37 92.93 13.99 16.64 4.68T11 35.00 29.90 140.88 15.82 17.58 5.97T12 20.25 17.75 71.31 11.36 6.75 3.07S. E.+ 2.13 2.07 8.95 0.28 1.03 0.50C. D. at 5% 6.14 5.96 25.79 0.81 2.97 1.46

T1 to T10 = Azotobacter isolate, T11=RDF, T12= Uninoculated unfertilized control.

Table 2. Effect of Azotobacter inoculationon 'N' content of plant and soil.

Treat- N' content N' content ments of plant (%) of soil (%)

T1 2.83 0.013T2 2.69 0.013T3 2.73 0.014T4 3.95 0.021T5 2.69 0.012T6 2.80 0.015T7 2.87 0.015T8 3.11 0.016T9 3.53 0.021T10 3.43 0.019T11 4.02 0.022T12 2.69 0.012S. E.+ 0.17 0.000C. D. at 5% 0.48 0.001

The contribution to area andproduction of chilli in state is to thetune of 40 per cent and 30 per centrespectively. Khan et al. (1976)

reported that the productivity ofchilli is low due to infestation of pestand diseases. In Maharashtra, plantprotection measures are the mostimportant input to boost upproduction of chilli crop. Hence itwas thought worthwhile to measure

the farmers knowledge aboutrecommended chilli practices.


The study was conducted in Kuhitaluka Nagpur district ofMaharashtra state as it covers morearea under chilli crop. Fifteen (15)villages were randomly selected bylottery method. The list of chillifarmers from the selected villageswas prepared and from them 150chilli farmers were selected byadopting the procedure ofproportionate random sampling. Aninterview schedule was prepared inlight of the objectives of the studyand data were collected by personal

azotobacterization. Debnath (1997)also observed significant increase inplant N content in gladiolus due tothe inoculation of different strains ofAzotobacter.

The data on N content of soil asinfluenced by various Azotobacterisolates presented in Table 2revealed that, the treatment T11 wasfound to be superior (0.023 %) overall other treatments followed bytreatments T4 and T9 which were atpar with each other. The lowestpercentage of soil N (0.012 %) wasfound in treatment T12 (control).Debnath (1997) reported saving of75 kg ha-1 of fertilizer nitrogen overrecommended dose in gladiolus

crop due to Azotobacterinoculation. Thus above studiesindicate the usefulness ofAzotobacter in the growth ofgerbera.

LITERATURE CITED

Alexander, M. 1997. Introduction to SoilMicrobiology. John Wiley and Sons Ind.,New York and London.

Apte, R. and S. T. Shende. 1981. Studies onAzotobacter chroococcum. Morpho-logical, biochemical and physiologicalcharacteristics of A. chroococcum. Zbl,Bakt. II. Abt. 136: 548-554.

Beijerinck, M. W. 1901. Uber oligonitrophileMikrpben : Zentbl. Bakt-Parasitkde. Abt.II. 7: 561-582.

Bose, T. K., R. G. Maiti, R. S. Dhua and P.Das. 1999. Gerbera In : Floriculture and

landscaping. Naya Prokosh, 206 BidhanSarani, Culcutta-700 006, India. Pp.530-547.

Debnath, S. 1997. Studies on Azotobacterwith special reference to gladiolus. M.Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted lo MPKV,Rahuri, (M.S.), India.

Kulkarni, R. G. and B. K. Konde. 1990.Effect of Azotobacter and Azospirillumwith nitrogen on yield of aster. In :Proceedings of the VIIIth Southern Reg.Conf. on Microbial Inoculants, held atCollege of Agriculture, Pune during Feb.5-6, (Abstr.). pp. 32.

Sonawane, P. M. 1983. Studies on the effectof different methods ofazotobacterization under various levelsof nitrogen on growth and yield ofbrinjal (Solanum melongana L.) cv.Manjri Gota. M. Sc. (Agri.) thesissubmitted to MPKV, Rahuri, (M.S.).India.

Lele et al.300


Farmers Knowledge About Recommended CultivationPractices of Chilli

H. D. Rajput1, S. V. Supe2, U. R. Chinchmalatpure3 and C. P. Girase4

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nasik - 422 005 (India)(Received : 25-08-2007)

ABSTRACT

Majority of the respondents possessed medium level of knowledge (61.33 per cent) aboutrecommended chilli cultivation practices. Majority of the respondents had knowledge abouttime of transplanting in field, interculture operations, age of seedling for transplanting,preparatory tillage, soil type, earthing up in main field, FYM application, varieties and spacingfor chilli cultivation. Relational analysis revealed that education, land holding, area under chilli,socio-economic status and extension contact of chilli farmers were positively and significantlyrelated with their knowledge of recommended production practices of chilli.

Key words : Knowledge; chilli; production practices.

______________

1. and 4. Ph. D. Scholar, 2. Ex Head,Dept. of Extension Education PDKV, Akola.3. Assistant Professor, Department ofExtension Education, Dr. PDKV, Akola.

interview of the selected chillifarmers.


Knowledge level : It is evidentfrom Table 1 that majority of thechilli farmers (61.33 per cent) hadmedium level of knowledge ofrecommended chilli cultivationtechnology. There were 22.00 percent and 16.67 per cent of thefarmers having high and low level ofknowledge respectively. The presentfindings corroborate the results ofSalame (2000) and Wase (2001).

Practice wise knowledgelevel : Distribution of therespondents according to practicewise knowledge about chilliproduction technology (Table 2)revealed that majority of therespondents had knowledge abouttime of transplanting in field (88.67%), interculture operations carried inchilli field (84.67 %), age of seedlingat transplanting (81.33 %) andpreparatory tillage (76.0 %), soiltype used to grow chilli (72.0 %),earthing-up operation (70.67 %),FYM application (66.0 %), varietiesof chilli (62.67 %), spacing to beused for chilli (50.0 %) and less thanfifty per cent of the respondentswere found to be having knowledgeabout fertilizer doses and itsapplication (48.67 %), spraying anddusting (46.0 %), seed bedpreparation and nursery manage-ment (41.33 %), important diseases(40.67 %), seedlings treatmentbefore transplanting (30.67 %) andabout important pests (28.0 %).

Thus, it can be concluded thatmajority of the respondents hadknowledge about time oftransplanting in field, intercultureoperations, age of seedling fortransplanting, preparatory tillage,

soil type, earthing up in main field,FYM application, varieties andspacing for chilli cultivation.

Relationship betweenselected characteristics andknowledge level : Personal,social, communication, economicaland psychological characteristicsplay an important role in receivingthe knowledge for chilli cultivationpractices. With this in view, effortswere made to study the correlation,if any, between personalcharacteristics of the chilli farmersand their knowledge level.

From the present findings (Table3) it could be inferred thatknowledge level of the respondentsincreased with increase in theireducation, land holding, area underchilli, annual income, socio-economic status and extensioncontact. The variables namely age,sources of irrigation risk preferencedid not show any relation withknowledge of chilli farmers. Itmeans that irrespective of age,source of irrigation and riskpreference the chilli farmers possessknowledge about recommendedchilli cultivation practices. Deotale(1989) and Phalke (1999) reportedthat the age was not related withknowledge of vegetable and potato.The present findings also supportthe findings reported by Wase(2001) who found that annualincome, area under chilli and socio-economic status were significantlyrelated with knowledge.

Based on the findings of thestudy, it can be concluded thatmajority of the respondents wereaware about the recommended timeof transplanting, intercultureoperations and age of seedling attransplanting. Followed by threefourth of respondents possessed


Table 1. Distribution of respondentsaccording to their knowledge levelof chilli cultivation practices.

Knowledge Frequency Per cent

Low 25 16.67Medium 92 61.33High 33 22.00Total 150 100.00

Mean = 60.90, S. D. = 16.24

Table 2. Distribution of the respondentsaccording to their practice wiseknowledge about chilli productiontechnology.

Practices Knowledge (n=150)percentage

Preparatory tillage 76.00Soil type 72.00Seed bed preparation and 41.33nursery managementVarieties of chilli 62.67Age of seedling for transplant 81.33Month of transplanting 88.67Seedlings treatment 30.67before transplantingFYM application 66.00Spacing 50.00Fertilizers application 48.67Interculture operation 84.67Earthing up 70.67Important pests 28.00Important diseases 40.67Chemical spraying 46.00and dustings

Table 3. Correlation between selectedcharacteristics of chilli farmers withtheir knowledge.

Variables Correlationcoefficient('r')

Age -0.1559Education 0.6305**Land holding 0.2100*Area under chilli 0.3145**Source of irrigation -0.0294Annual income 0.2329**Socio-economic status 0.3807**Extension contact 0.2147**Risk preference 0.0083

*,** Significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probabilitylevel

The use of self-propelled machines,like tractors and powertillers (hand tractors) is the basis ofmechanisation in agriculture. Now a

days tractors are manufactured withwide range of horse powers (HP)from 30 HP to 75 HP to suitdifferent soil types, various farmoperations, needs of cultivators andusers purchasing powers. The Govt.of Maharashtra provided subsidy tothe farmers (25 to 50 per cent) topurchase tractors since 1985through loans by co-operative andcommercial banks to encouragefarmers to buy tractors and to boostfarm mechanisation.

Power tillers are nothing butsmall two-wheeled hand tractors.They are self-propelled like bigtractors with about 13 HP machine.They are generally used to carryoutsmall or minor field operations like

knowledge about soil type. Morethan half of the respondentspossessed incomplete knowledgeabout plant protection measures,important pest and diseases, andseedling treatments of chilliproduction technology. Studyrevealed that majority of the chillifarmers had medium level ofknowledge about recommendedpractices of chilli cultivation.Education, area under chilli, annualincome, socio-economic status,extension contact and land holdingfound positively and significantlyrelated with knowledge.

More than half of the

respondents possessed incompleteknowledge about chilli cultivationpractices (dipping seedlings ininsecticide solution, plant protectionmeasures, important pest anddiseases, seed treatments). It is,therefore recommended that theextension agency should organizedemonstrations on the crucialpractices like dipping of seedling ininsecticide solution, seed treatment,identification of important pests anddiseases and handling of plantprotection equipments. Field visitsto the university research station tohave a thorough acquaintance withrecommended chilli productiontechnology also help.

LITERATURE CITED

Deotale, S. L. 1989. Adoption behaviour andconsistancy pattern of vegetable farmersin Nagpur district. M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis,Dr. PDKV, Akola.

Phalke, S. H. 1989. Production storage, andmarketing problems in potatocultivation. M. Sc. (agri.) thesis, Dr.PDKV, Akola.

Khan, M. M., D. Rajagopal and P.Hanumappa. 1978. Plant protectionpractices and problems of chilli farmersin Kolar district. Maysore J. of Agri. Sci.12: 163-169.

Salame, S. P. 2000. Constraints in adoptionof chilli cultivation practices by farmers.M. Sc. (Agri.) thesis, Dr. PDKV, Akola.

Wase, R. B. 2001. Knowledge and adoptionof farmers about Jayanti chillicultivation. M.Sc. (Agri.) thesis, Dr.PDKV, Akola.

Rajput et al.302


Growth and Progress of Mechanisation in Agriculture inMaharashtra State

S. V. Bhujbal1, S. L. Sananse2 and S. G. Borude3

Deptt. of Agril. Economics, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri - 413 722 (India)(Received : 12-07-2008)

ABSTRACT

The number of tractors increased from 20577 in 1982 to 100785 in 2003 (increasedabout 370 %). The annual linear growth in absolute terms was 4113 tractors per year andcompound growth rate (CGR) was 8.04 per cent. This showed that the growth of tractors inthe state was quite fast. There was wide disparity in the growth of tractors in various regions ofthe state. There was high growth in Thane ( Konkan ) 37.64 per cent, Nagpur (Vidarbha)37.34 per cent, and Latur (Marathwada) 32.12 per cent. However, the density was the highestin Kolhapur region (10.33 tractors) followed by Pune region (9.25 tractors) and the lowest inLatur (2.74 tractors). Among the top ten districts Ahmednagar had the maximum number oftractors (12709) and minimum in Sangli (4006). The density of tractors in Maharashtra in2003 was quite low (5.71 tractors) as compared to India (16.56 tractors) and the world (19.0tractors). The number of power tillers in the state were 704 in 1982 which increased to 9253in 2003. The compound growth rate was 16.55 per cent per annum. This growth was muchfaster than that of tractors. The maximum number of power tillers were in Konkan (2038).

Key words : Tractors, power tillers, mechanisation, growth rate, density,disparity.

______________

1. Jr. Res. Asstt. 2. Statistician and 3. Ex.Prof. and Head Dr. BSKKV, Dapoli (India).

cultivating the soil, interculturing inwide spaced crops, and orchards.Power tillers are commonly used inrice fields for puddling andtransplanting rice seedlings, wherebig tractors cannot be used. Anattempt is made here to studygrowth and progress of tractors andpower tillers in Maharashtra.


The secondary data werecollected from various publishedreports like, the census ofAgriculture Implements andMachinery, Live-Stock Census,Season and Crop Reports andEpitome of Agricuture (Part- I) of theDepartment of Agriculture,Government of Maharashtra. Thedata regarding districtwise net sownarea, number of tractors and powertillers for the census years 1982,1987, 1992, 1997 and 2003(Annonymous) were obtained fromthese sources. The data regardingnumber of tractors and net sownarea for India were obtained fromstatistical Abstract of India 2004and for the world from StatisticalYear book of FAO.

The collected data were analyzedwith the help of standard formulaeof compound growth rate (CGR)and linear growth rate (LGR),whereas density of tractor (No. oftractors per 1000 ha.) wascalculated as follows :

No. of tractorsDensity = ––––––––––––––– x 1000

Net sown area


Growth rate : The number oftractors increased from 20577 in1982 to 100785 in 2003 havingabout 370 per cent increase overthe year 1982. Absolute linear

growth rates were worked out. Itwas observed that annual growthrate of tractors was 4113 while interms of percentage it was 8.04 perannum. This showed that number oftractors has been increased quiterapidly in the state mainly due toincrease in irrigated area, areaunder sugarcane and area underfruits and vegetable crops. Themaximum growth was during 1992-97 (15.13%) and 1987-92 (7.38%).The growth rate was minimum(3.98%) during the last segment ofthe period 1997-2003.

Absolute and per cent lineargrowth rates showed that thegrowth was 397 power tillers perannum. The compound growth rateworked out to be 16.55 per cent.This rate was really very highindicating that the number of powertillers have increased very fast,

because being small in size (13 HP),their cost is relatively low and hencemedium and small farmers afford topurchase them.They can providework to these power tillers for moredays in a year and get the requiredfield operations done efficiently andquickly. It is observed that there wasabout 13 times increase in indices ofpower tillers during the period understudy.

Temporal growth rates are alsostudied for different time periodssuch as 1982-87, 1992-97, and1997-2003. For the first periodfrom 1982-87 there was no growthand the number of power tillersremained constant at around 704(0.05%) per annum. But in thesubsequent periods growth wasquite fast. It was 14.82 per cent perannum during 1987-92, 45.47 percent during 1992-97 and 21.67 per


Table 1. Divisionwise growth and intensity of tractors and power tillers in Maharashtra (1982and 2003).

Division Tractors Power tillers––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––1982 2003 Annual Net Trac- 1982 2003 Annual(No.) (No.) growth sown tors (No.) (No.) growth

(%) area per (%)(000 1000ha) ha in

2003

Thane 95 846 37.64 821 1.03 114 2038 80.37(0.46) (0.86) (16.19) (22.03)

Nashik 6369 21371 11.15 2462 8.68 111 1383 54.57(30.89) (21.20) (15.77) (14.95)

Pune 4742 29137 24.50 3150 9.25 127 1452 49.68(22.90) (28.91) (18.04) (15.69)

Kolhapur 4217 16514 13.89 1599 10.33 98 1732 79.40(20.37) (16.39) (13.92) (18.72)

Aurangabad 1346 8381 24.89 2061 4.07 102 141 01.82(6.50) (8.32) (14.49) (1.52)

Latur 803 6993 32.12 2554 2.74 30 380 55.55(4.36) (6.94) (4.26) (4.11)

Amravati 2281 11141 18.50 3108 3.58 40 561 62.02(11.02) (11.05) (5.68) (6.06)

Nagpur 724 6402 37.34 1892 3.38 82 1566 86.18(3.50 (6.35) (11.65) (16.92

Maharashtra 20577 100785 18.42 17647 5.71 704 9253 57.82(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Figures in the parentheses indicate percentages to Maharashtra.

cent during the last period from1997 to 2003. Thus the highestgrowth rate was during the period1992-97. This also indicated thatthe growth of power tillers has beenquite uneven over the period.

Density of tractors : Thedensity of tractors refers to numberof tractors per 1000 ha. net sownarea. There has been continuousand steady increase in number oftractors over a period from 1982 to2003. But the net sown area hasbeen same around 178 lakh ha. Asa result, the density of tractors hasincreased in different time periodsfrom 1.21 to 1.92, 2.61, 4.58, and5.71 from 1982 to 2003. Althoughthere is continuous rise in thedensity of tractors from 1.21 to5.71 tractors per 1000 ha. in theyear 2003 the density is still quitelow compared to other states inIndia and also national average.

Regional disparity in mecha-nisation : Table 1 revealed that in1982 the maximum number oftractors were in Nashik division(6369) followed by Pune division(4742) and Kolhapur division(4217).The respective percentageshares were 30.89, 22.9 and 20.37per cent. Thus nearly three-fourth(75 %) tractors were concentrated inthese three divisions only. Theminimum number was in Thanedivision because it receives very highrainfall (2500 to 4000 mm), acoastal and hilly region, rice is themain crop and small holdings.

Out of 100785 total number oftractors in 2003 the maximumnumber was in Pune division(29137) followed by Nashik division(21371) and Kolhapur division(16514) during 2003. Therespective percentages were 28.91,21.20 and 16.39 and total share

was 66.50 per cent. It indicated thatthe share of these three divisionswas reduced from 75 per cent to66.5 per cent. The annual growthrates, maximum rate was in Nagpurdivision (37.34 %) followed by Laturdivision (32.12 %), Aurangabaddivision (24.89 %) and Pune division(24.50 %). The growth rates wererelatively low in Nashik division(11.15 %) and Kolhapur division(13.89 %).Overall average growthrate for the state was 18.42 percent during study period.

Kolhapur division had thehighest density with 10.33 tractorsper 1000 ha., followed by Punedivision 9.25 and Nashik division8.68, whereas density was thelowest in Latur division (2.74tractors). The overall averagedensity for the state came to 5.71tractors.

The maximum number (127) ofpower tillers (18.04%) was in Punedivision next being Thane (16.19%),Nashik (15.77%), Aurangabad(14.49%), Kolhapur (13.92%) andNagpur division (l1.65%). In the

year 2003, there was major shift inthe number of power tillers. Out of9253 power tillers maximum sharewas of Thane division (22.3%)followed by Kolhapur (18.72 %),Nagpur (16.92%), Pune (15.69%)and Nashik (14.95%). The highestrate was in Thane division (80.37%)followed by Nagpur division(86.18%), Kolhapur (79.40%),

Bhujbal et al.304

Table 2. Top ten districts having tractors and power tillers (2003).

District Tractors Power tillers–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––No. Per Net Density District No. Per

cent sown of centwith area tractorstotal (000 (per

ha) 1000 ha)

Ahmednagar 12709 12.80 1147 11.08 Thane 1681 18.17Pune 10999 10.91 972 11.32 Nashik 923 9.98Nashik 10522 10.44 875 12.03 Kolhapur 855 9.24Jalgaon 7198 7.14 853 8.44 Pune 601 6.50Satara 6601 6.55 576 11.46 Ahmednagar 502 5.43Kolhapur 5907 5.86 427 13.83 Satara 461 4.98Solapur 5231 5.19 1071 4.88 Sangli 416 4.50Aurangabad 4442 4.41 698 6.36 Jalgaon 372 4.02Sangli 4006 3.97 596 6.72 Solapur 349 3.77Buldhana 3082 3.06 691 4.46 Raigad 174 1.88Total 70895 70.34 7906 8.97 Total 6334 68.47Total State 100785 100.00 17647 5.71 Total State 9253 100.00

Table 3. Density of tractors : World, Indiaand Maharashtra.

Census No. of Net sown Densityyear tractors area No. of

(000 ha) tractors(per 1000 ha)

World :1981 21756905 1342819 16.201991 26653214 1391565 19.002002 26854002 1396327 19.00

India :1992 1221800 142667 8.561997 1861300 142813 13.032003 2361200 142600 16.56

Maharshtra :1992 46313 17600 2.631997 81353 17761 4.582003 100785 17636 5.71

Amaravati (62.02%), Latur(55.55%), Nashik (54.57%), andPune (49.68%), while the lowestrate was in Aurangabad division(1.8%). Overall annual growth ratefor the state was 57.82 per cent. Itwas showed that the use of powertillers increased at faster rate in thestate as compared to tractors(16.55% and 8.04% respectively).

Another observation was thatthere was more even distribution orless disparity of power tillers indifferent divisions of the state. Atboth the points of time (1982 and2003) most of the divisions hadmore than 10 per cent share in thetotal number of power tillers, exceptLatur and Amaravati.

As stated earlier, power tillers aremore suitable for rice cultivation.Thane division (Konkan region),Western part of Nashik , Pune andKolhapur divisions and Bhandara(undivided) district of Nagpurdivision grow rice. Hence there wasgood number of power tillers inthese divisions.

Top ten districts : Table 2revealed that the maximum numberof 12709 tractors found inAhmednagar district, followed byPune 10999, Nashik 10522, whileBuldhana was the last in the list with3082 tractors. The top ten districtspossessed 70895 tractors andaccounted to 70.34 per cent out oftotal. It proved that there is veryskewed or lopsided distribution oftractors in the state. Kolhapurdistrict had the highest density of13.83 tractors per 1000 ha.followed by Nashik 12.03.Ahmednagar, Pune, and Satara hadalmost same density (11 tractors per1000 ha). Lowest density was inBuldhana (4.46) and Solapur (4.88).Out of top ten districts, eight were

from Nashik, Pune and Kolhapurdivisions (i.e. Western Maharashtra).These divisions have high percen-tage of irrigated area (17.8%,26.9% and 26.1% respectively).Similarly, these three divisionsshared nearly 75 per cent of totalarea under sugarcane. Hence thenumber of tractors and theirdensities were very high in thesethree divisions compared to otherdivisions of the state. Theseobservations are similar to thefindings of Gajja et al. (1985)referred to above that irrigated areahas strong and positive influence ontractor density.

Top ten districts having thehighest number of power tillers aregiven in Table 2. Thane district hadthe maximum number of powertillers of 1681 (18.17%), followedby Nashik 923(9.98 %), Kolhapur855(9.24%) , Pune 601(6.50%),Ahmednagar 502 (5.43%) , Satara461 (4.98%), Sangli 416 (4.50%),Jalgaon 372 (4.0%), Solapur 349(3.77%), and Raigad 174 (1.88%).All the ten districts shared 68.47per cent of total number of powertillers in the state. It was also seenthat the use of power tillers is notrestricted to rice growing area butalso in other districts likeAhmednagar, Jalgaon, Solapur, etc.This was due to the fact that powertillers are suitable for small andmedium farmers to carryout smalland simple field operations.

Comparative performance :The density of tractors of world,India and Maharashtra as given inTable 3 revealed that the density oftractors was 16.2 in 1981 andincreased to 19 in 1991, 2002 inthe world. As regards to India, it wasincreased from 8.56 to 16.56during study period. It was thelowest in Maharashtra and recorded

overall increase from 2.63 to 5.71from 1981 to 2003, because of lowirrigated area, use of animal power,etc. The similar results wereobserved by Singh and Singh (1993)and Shahare et al. (2003).

It could be concluded from theearlier discussion that themechanisation in agriculture in theState of Maharashtra is makingrapid progress through the use oftractors and power tillers. However,this mechanisation or tractorisationis more concentrated in Nashik,Pune, and Kolhapur divisions of theState which comprises of ninedistricts of western Maharashtra.Ahmednagar district has themaximum number of tractorsfollowed by Pune and Nashikdistricts. However, Kolhapur districthas the highest density. Incomparison to the world and India,the density of tractors inMaharashtra is quite low. Powertillers which are more suitable forrice cultivation are found to bemaximum in Thane division whichforms the Konkan region. Thegrowth of power tillers is faster thanthat of tractors. In the backgroundof scarce human labour and risingwage rates, tractorisation has greatfuture due to increasing need fortractors.

LITERATURE CITED

Annonymous. 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997.Season and Crop Reports. Departmentof Agriculture , Govt. of Maharashtra.

Gajja, B. L., J. C. Kalla and D. L. Vyas.1985. Determinants of tractorisation inarid areas of Western Rajasthan. Agri.Situation in India. 40 (4) : 257-260.

Shahare, P. U., S. M. Mathur, K. G. Dhandeand A. K. Dave. 2003. Tractors in India: Past and Present. Agri. Situation inIndia. LIX (10) : 623-627.

Singh Rajinder and Karam Singh. 1993.Demand for tractors in Punjab. Agri.Situation in India. XLVIII (7) : 549-555.


______________

Agricultural engineers andscientists have to solve complex realproblems with minimum efforts ormaximum gain fulfilling theobjectives of the problems underlimited resources. It is possible tofulfill the objectives through theapplication of optimizationtechniques.

In the present study, attempt ismade to review the applications ofoptimization techniques inagricultural engineering. Thoughoptimization techniques have beenapplied extensively in engineeringand science fields, its applicationshas been limited for agriculture.Nevertheless, some researchershave attempted operations researchto solve few problems related toagricultural engineering in India.The different research papers fromIndian journals related withapplications of different optimiza-tion techniques in agriculturalengineering were studied.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Mehta (1969) applied graphicalmethod of linear programming for

optimizing machinery managementon farm at Pantnagar. He found thatlinear programming technique canenable the farmers and the farmmanagers to increase theproductivity of the tractors,combines and other farmmachinery.

Maji (1976) used a linearprogramming model in order toaccomplish crop planning andoptimal allocation of resourcesincluding irrigation. 'Sensitivityanalysis' and 'parametricprogramming' were used to find outthe stability of model results withvariations in the model parameters.

Acharya (1977) formulatedsimple mathematical programmingmodel to determine optimum depthand spacing of subsurface drains soas to minimize the installation cost.Optimization can be done eitherusing a simple graphical method orusing elementary numerical method.

Singh and Shrivastava (1978)applied linear programmingtechnique to make a plan foroptimum use of water for villageKapgari, district Midnapore. Theyconsidered that optimum utilization

of water is a function of topography,soil characteristics, climaticparameters, existing croppingpatterns, available water resources,exiting productivity and socio-economic constraints in waterresource development.

Tiwari (1978) applied equal andunequal plant models underheuristic methods for locationallocation problems under capacityconstraints for rice processing plant.He observed that the maximumweighted-distance lower boundheuristic gave the lowest mean errorof 3.9 per cent and was used tosolve the location allocationproblems under capacityconstraints.

Khepar (1982) applied stochasticmethod for optimum croppingpattern based on stochasticirrigation planning. They developeda model with a chance-constraint forrainfall and surface water supplywhich provides optimum croppingpattern with maximum returns.

Panda and Kaushal (1985)applied chance-constrained linearprogramming model underdeterministic and stochastic methodfor irrigation planning at 5 per centrisk level and compared withexisting situation. The study iscarried out to indicate optimalcropping pattern and seasonalwater release from canals and tubewells to maximize net annual return.

Rao (1985) applied linearprogramming model for resource


Applications of Optimization Techniques in AgriculturalEngineering in India - A Review

M. D. Gholkar1, C. T. Gore2, S. S. Ramdasi3, S. S. Patil4, V. P. Patil5 and D. T. Pacharne6

Dr. A. S. College of Agricultural Engineering, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri - 413 722 (India)(Received : 28-4-2008)

ABSTRACT

Optimization techniques are used more or less frequently in all disciplines of agriculturalengineering. The application of linear programming technique and experimental case studiesis predominant in Indian Agriculture. However, there is wide scope to study the adaptability andeffectiveness of the new optimization techniques such as genetic algorithm, neural network, andfuzzy systems etc. for various Agricultural engineering problems in India.

Key words : Agricultural engineering, optimization techniques.

1., 2., 3., and 4. B. Tech. Student 5.Asstt. Professor 6. Professor and Head.

management planning for optimalprofit in Kangsabati canal command(W.B.). He found that for maximumbenefit an area of 286.74 ha shouldbe grown under paddy to fulfill thefeed requirements wheat, potatoesand mustard should be grown overareas of 93.78 ha, 65.73 ha and 73ha respectively.

Senapati and Rao (1985)developed a mathematical model oflinear programming for optimizationof profit by water resourcemanagement of Bankura district(W.B.). They found that byapplication of the results ofdeveloped model the existingcropping intensity can be increasedfrom 125.27 to 134.90 per centand enhancing profit by 14.19 percent in kharif and 112.48 per centin rabi season.

Rank and Rao (1986) developeda non-linear programming modelfor agricultural resourcesmanagement at Kharagpur (W.B.)and the results were compared withlinear programming model. Theyfound that the non-linearprogramming model is far superiorto linear programming model as amanagement tool.

Shrivastava and Floo (1987)applied linear programming andSimulation model for optimizationof hydro energy and irrigation fromBargi project by system analysis. LPmodel is used to regulate meanmonthly supply while furtherrefinement is carried out withsimulation model. They found thatoptimal annual target for irrigationand energy as 3.10 T.M.C. and176980 MWhr, respectively, whichgives 76 per cent and 81 per centsuccesses for irrigation and energy,respectively.

Ashvini Kumar (1989) developedmathematical model of linearprogramming technique for optimalcrop production policies forirrigated areas. The developedmodel gives crop combinationswhich provide the maximum proteincontent per unit area and meets thedemand of dependent people underexisting resources constraint.

Kanade (1989) applied linearprogramming model to determineoptimal cropping pattern for aminor-2 in Mula Command. Hesuggested area for different cropsfor production maximization asfollows: sugarcane 48.66 ha, kharifjowar 190.28 ha, kharif tur-114ha, kharif groundnut- 20 ha, rabijowar-40 ha, rabi wheat-80 ha andsummer groundnut-34.37 ha.

Salokhe and Pariyar (1990) usedlinear programming technique todetermine optimal farm plan forTarai Belt. By adopting thesuggested cropping pattern, theprofit can be increased by 2.5 to 3.5times the existing one and thecropping intensity increased from135 to 280 per cent.

Ghatpande (1990) used varioustransportation models foroptimizing of transportation cost forwheat and rice distribution system inMaharashtra.

Raman and Paul (1992)developed a linear programmingmodel for selection of optimalcropping pattern. The model is veryflexible to alter the constraints oradd any more constraints accordingto the policy makers' decisions fromtime to time based on socio-economic considerations.

Salave (1992) used linearprogramming technique to

determine optimal operationalpolicy for Musalwadi section-1 ofMula left bank canal and suggested anew cropping pattern for the studyarea. The new cropping patternsuggested for maximization of profitis sunflower, maize and jowar fodderin kharif, gram in rabi and maizeand jowar fodder in summer seasonalong with sugarcane as perennialcrop.

Kalaskar (1993) applied linearprogramming model to find outoptimum diameter and croppingpattern for dug well in hard rockformations in Ahmednagar district.The optimum diameter of dug wellwas decided on the basis of wellperformance characteristics andbenefit:cost ratio of wells and it wasfound to be 5-6 m. Optimumcropping pattern were worked outon the basis of water yield of wellsand average market prices.

Rao and Achar (1995) appliedstructured analysis and design as asoftware design technique anddynamic programming foroptimization of drainage systems.The programme developed usingstructured analysis and design iseasier than the conventionallydeveloped one. The programme isalso time tested over several years.

Gorantiwar et al. (1996) appliedoptimization model based on linearprogramming technique foroptimum area allocation for Mulaleft bank canal command area. Theyfound that it was not possible toirrigate the area under differentcrops according to the existingcropping pattern if the crops aredelivered with the water ascomputed by evaporation approach.Thus there is need for computingthe water requirement of different


crops on the basis of some scientificapproach for obtaining maximumcrop production.

Singh (1996) applied a linearprogramming technique foroptimization of agricultural benefitsin Bijnor district. It is observed thatby optimum utilization of land andwater resources, it would be possibleto increase the agricultural incomeof the district by almost 80 per cent.

Patil and Patkar (1997) appliedlinear programming technique foridentification of most profitablecropping sequence to utilizedischarge from solar photovoltaic(SPY) pumping system byoptimization technique. They foundthat crop sequence of ridge gourd,garlic and water melon are bestsuitable under 0.41, 1.12 and 1.24ha area proportion respectively withbenefit:cost ratio of 6.47.

Ambast and Sen (1998) used asimulation model based on soilwater balance approach todetermine optimal size of on farmreservoir in rainfed rice low lands.They suggested to convert 20 percent of watershed area into on farmreservoir to harness the excess rainin the region.

Bankar and Atre (1998) appliedlinear programming for decidingcropping pattern in Agadgaonwatershed for minimizing soil losswith constraints on land and waterresources and keeping the presentincome level intact. They furthertried to develop cropping patternfor maximizing profit from thewatershed for permissible level ofsoil loss as 9 t ha-1.

Shirgure (1998) applied aninteractive multi-objective linearprogramming to Bishunpur

watershed (Bihar). He found thatstep method of interactive techniqueis suitable for watershed planningproblems because of its simplicityand its capacity to accommodate thesize of the problem.

Singh et al. (1998) used amultivariate approach for optimizingplot size and relative precision ofexperimental design in chickpea.They found that 5 sq. m. plot sizeand latin square design is mostefficient than completelyrandomized design and randomizedcomplete block design.

Verma and Shrivastava (2000)applied weighted goal programmingfor optimal operation of multiplereservoir systems of Mahanadireservoir project. They observedthat this technique satisfies variousgoals in accordance with theimportance given in the form ofweights to each goal. Weighted goalprogramming model for MRP is bestsuited as compared with previouslydeveloped HEC-3, MRPSIM andCDDP models.

Khandelwal and Shakya (2002)used linear programming techniquefor optimal use of harvested rainwater in semi arid region to increaseagricultural production. Grossreturns, net returns on cost ofcultivation and output input ratio atcost 'A' of all the prevailing crops,water requirements of the crops andprobable available water in thestructure by the end of estimatedday of harvest were used toformulate the linear programmingproblem which have been solved bystepwise optimization technique.

Singh and Sharma (2002)applied linear programmingtechnique for optimal crop planning

and income maximization inwaterlogged areas of Barak valley ofAssam. They found that for gettingmaximum benefit, 28 per cent areamust be allocated to pulses, 12.5per cent for oilseeds and 14 percent for vegetable during rabi andsummer season.

Murli et al. (2004) applieddynamic programming model forirrigation scheduling of canalcommand. They observed that givenmodel can effectively used foroptimal allocation of water toachieve target yield of differentcrops through conjunctive water useplanning in canal command.

Sidhu (2004) applied non-linearoptimization technique foroptimizing the use of different farmenergy inputs like animal andmanpower, fertilizers, seeds,irrigation, machinery andtransportation etc. They observedthat yield of wheat and cotton canbe increased by 18.8 and 33 percent with 17.9 and 20.9 per centincrease in energy inputrespectively. Yield of maize can bedoubled with same energy inputs butin optimal way.

Singh et al. (2005) applied alinear programming model tooptimize crop planning for Badliyacommand area in Rajasthan formaximizing crop benefits. Theyfound that net return can beincreased by 26.06 per cent byadopting optimal cropping patternwith existing water resources.

On analyzing the efforts ofdifferent research workers, it wasfound that linear programmingtechnique can enable the farmersand the farm managers to increasethe productivity of the tractors,combines and other farm

Gholkar et al.308

machinery. It had been tried toaccomplish crop planning andoptimal allocation of resourcesincluding irrigation; to determineoptimum depth and spacing ofsubsurface drains so as to minimizethe installation cost; to make a planfor optimum use of water for villageby considering that optimumutilization of water is a function oftopography, soil characteristics,climatic parameters, existingcropping patterns, available waterresources, existing productivity andsocio-economic constraints in waterresource development. It can also beapplied for optimization ofconjunctive use of ground andsurface water; for resourcemanagement planning for optimalprofit in canal command; foroptimization of profit in cropproduction by water resourcemanagement.

Linear programming andsimulation model has been appliedfor optimization of hydro energyand irrigation; for optimization ofcropping pattern in a canalcommand area; to determineoptimal operational policy for canaland to suggest a new croppingpattern for the area; to determineoptimal size of an farm reservoir inlow lands; to find out optimumdiameter of dug well in hard rockformations based on the wellperformance characteristics andbenefit-cost ratio of wells; foridentification of most profitablecropping sequence to utilize limiteddischarge such as from solarphotovoltaic (SPY) pumping system.

Linear programming techniquehas been used for deciding croppingpattern in watershed for minimizingsoil loss keeping the present incomelevel intact; to develop cropping

pattern for maximizing profit fromthe watershed for permissible levelof soil loss; for optimal use ofharvested rain water in semi aridregion to increase agriculturalproduction; for optimal cropplanning and income maximizationin waterlogged areas.

Chance-constrained linearprogramming technique has beenapplied under deterministic andstochastic method for irrigationplanning and multi-objective linearprogramming has been applied forwatershed planning problemsbecause of its simplicity and itscapacity to accommodate the size ofthe problem.

Transportation model has beenused to optimize the cost of landleveling and for the quantity of soilto be removed from specific cutpoints and transported to particularpoints of fill. Similarly it has beenused for optimizing oftransportation cost for wheat andrice distribution system.

Non-linear programming modelwas found superior to linearprogramming model as amanagement tool; for optimizingthe use of different farm energyinputs like animal and manpower,fertilizers, seeds, irrigation,machinery and transportation etc.

Dynamic programming andstructured analysis design has beenapplied for optimization of drainagesystems; for optimal allocation ofwater to achieve target yield ofdifferent crops through conjunctivewater use planning in canalcommand.

Weighted goal programming wasapplied for optimal operation ofmultiple reservoir systems to satisfy

various goals in accordance with theimportance given in the form ofweights to each goal. Weighted goalprogramming model for MRP is bestsuited as compared with previouslydeveloped HEC-3, MRPSIM andCDDP models.

Heuristic methods can beapplied for location allocationproblems under capacity constraintsfor rice processing plant.

Among the different sectors ofagricultural engineering, thedifferent optimization techniquesare extensively used in irrigationand drainage engineering and soilwater conservation engineering. Infarm machinery and power andagricultural process engineering, theoptimization techniques are rarelyused. Most frequently tackledproblems are of allocation of landand water resources for optimumbenefits. Linear programmingtechnique has been frequently usedto develop different optimizationmodels because large numbers ofproblems can be represented as LPmodels and sensitivity analysis canbe handled easily through LP. Theother optimization techniques areused rarely.

There are several other newtechniques of optimization such asgenetic algorithm, neural network,fuzzy systems etc. practiced in otherfields. But these are not yet used inIndian agriculture. So there is widescope to study the adaptability andeffectiveness of these techniques foragricultural conditions.

It is clear from the literaturereviewed that the optimizationtechniques are used more or lessregularly in all disciplines ofagricultural engineering. Theapplication of linear programming


technique and experimental casestudies is predominant in India.

LITERATURE CITED

Acharya, M. S. 1977. Optimization of depthand spacing of subsurface drains, ISAE,XV Annual Convention.

Ambast, S. K. and H .S. Sen. 1998.Determination of optimal size of onfarm reservoir in rain fed rice lowlandsusing soil water balance approach, J.IWRS, 18 (4) : 32-38.

Ashvini Kumar. 1989. Optimal cropproduction policies for irrigated areas, J.IWRS, 9 (3) : 27-31.

Bankar, S. R. and A. A. Atre. 1998.Application of linear programming forcrop planning in watershed. J.Maharashtra agric. Uni. 23 (2) : 159-161.

Ghatpande, S. D. 1990. Optimization oftransport cost for wheat and ricedistribution system in Maharashtra, M.Tech. (Ag. Engg.) thesis submitted to M.P. K. V., Rahuri.

Gorantiwar, S. D., P. S Pampattiwar and V. RSalave. 1996. Optimum area allocationplans for distributory-4 of Mula LeftBank Canal, Proceed of Internat. Agric.Eng. Conf. at pune during 9-12 Dec. P.517- 527.

Kalaskar B. D. 1993. Optimal diameter andcropping pattern for dug well in hardrock formations, M. Tech. (Ag. Engg.)thesis submitted to M. P. K. V., Rahuri

Kanade D. B. 1989. Optimal croppingpattern for a command of minor usinglinear programming technique, M. Tech.(Ag.Engg.) thesis submitted to M. P. K.V., Rahuri

Khandelwal, M. K. and S. K. Shakya. 2002.Increasing agricultural productionthrough optimal use of harvestedrainwater in semiarid region, J. A. E, 39(1) : 49-56.

Khepar S. D. 1982. Stochastic irrigationplanning for optimal cropping pattern,

Abst. of Pap., ISAE, XIX Annual Conv.

Maji C. C. 1976. Optimal cropping systemand irrigation efficiency in an existingcanal area, J. A. E, 13 (4) : 151-156.

Mehta M. M. 1969. Linear programmingapplied to farm machinerymanagement, J. A. E, 6 (2) : 56-60.

Mishra A. L. 1982. Optimization ofconjunctive use of ground and surfacewater, ISAE.

Murli, K. G., Radhey Shyam, and V. Jha.2004. Dynamic irrigation schedulingmodel for a canal command, J. A. E, 41(1) : 31-37.

Panda, S. N. and M. P. Kaushal. 1985.Stochastic irrigation planning: Anapplication of chance constrained linearprogramming, J. A. E, 22 (2) : 93-106.

Patil, N. R. and Y. S. Patkar. 1997.Identification of profitable croppingsequence to utilise discharge from SPYpumping unit by optimization technique,B. Tech. Project Report submitted to M.P. K. V.Rahuri.

Raman Harihar and J. V. Paul. 1992.Selection of cropping pattern usinglinear programming technique, Indian J.A. E, 2 (2) : 125-131.

Rank, H. D. and K. A. Rao. 1986.Application of non-linear programmingto agricultural resources management,Dept. of Agric. Eng., IIT, Kharagpur.

Rao, P. V. and K. R. T. Achar. 1995.Structured software design approach foroptimization of drainage systems, J. A.E (India) 76 : (135-140).

Rao, Y. P. 1985. Resource managementplanning for optimal profit- a case study,J. A. E, 22 (4) : 50-65.

Salave, V. R. 1992. Optimal operationalpolicy for Musalwadi Section-1 of MulaLeft Bank Canal, M. Tech. (Ag. Engg.)thesis submitted to M. P. K. V., Rahuri

Salokhe, V. M. and M. P. Periyar. l990.Optimal farm planning by linearprogramming for Tarai Belt, JAMA,Africa & Latin America, 21 (4) : 78-80.

Senapati, S. C., Y. P. Rao. 1985. Waterresources management planning foroptimal profit, IS AE (Abstract ofpapers),

Shirgure, P. S. 1998. An interactive multi-objective LP approach to watershedplanning: A case study, Indian J. SWC,26 (3) : 258-263.

Shrivastava, D. K. and A. N. Floo. 1987.Optimization of hydro-energy andirrigation from Bargi project by systemsanalysis, J. IWRS. 7 (4) : 21 -30.

Singh, J. and R. C. Shrivastava. 1978. Aplan for optimum use of water forKapgari village, ISAE. (XVI).

Sidhu H. S. 2004. Optimization of energyusage in different crop productionsystem, J. A. E. 85 : 1-4.

Singh, A. K. and A. K. Sharma. 2002.Optimal crop planning and incomemaximization in waterlogged areas ofBarak valley of Assam, Indian J. SoilCons., 31 (3) : 253-258.

Singh, A. K. J. Singh, R. C. Purohit and R.Singh. 2005. Optimal crop planning forBadliya command area in Rajasthan formaximizing crop benefits- a case study,Indian J. Soil Cons., 33 (2) : 166-169.

Singh, N. 1996. Optimization study ofagricultural benefits in Bijnor district, J.IWRS, 2 (4) : 25-34.

Singh, V. P., M. L. Lakhera, U. J. Upadhyayaand N. M. Patel. 1998. Optimum plotsize in multivariate approach andrelative precision of experimentaldesigns in chickpea, J. Maharashtraagric. Univ. 23 (2) : 111-114.

Tiwari, J. P. 1978. A heuristic method forlocation- allocation problem undercapacity constraints and its applicationto rice processing plant, Synopses ofDoctoral Thesis, IIT, Kharagpur.

Verma, M. K., R. K. Shrivastava. 2000.Optimal operation of multiple reservoirsystems by wetted goal programming, J.IWRS, 20 (1) : 27-34.

Gholkar et al.310

______________

Most of the CdSe filmselectrodeposited in aqueous acidicbath usually contains largeconcentration of elemental selenide(Gutierrez. and Ortega, 1989;Pandey et al. 1991) which weaklycrystallized and micrographsshowed cauliflower like appearancewhich remained unchanged afterannealing (Tomkiwicz et al. 1982).Samarth et al. (1990) have studiedcrystalline structure of CdSe inWurtzite form. Among the II-VIcompounds, Cadmium Selenide(CdSe) is a promising semiconductormaterial for the heterojunction solarcell opto-electronic devices, photo-detector devices and PEC SolarCells (Modes, 1993).

In the present report, it wasplaned to fabricate junctions ontometal substrates. CdSe thin filmswere synthesized via. D.C.electrodeposition technique due toits various advantages over othermethods. These films were thencharacterized for X-ray diffraction

(XRD) for structural studies. Themicrostores were carried out tostudy the surface morphology ofdeposits. I-V characteristics weremeasured to study the change inconductivity across the junction.Then laser excited changes in I-Vcharacteristics of metal/CdSejunction also studied. For photoexcitation studies Red and GreenHe-Ne lasers were used as thesephotons have sufficient energygreater than the band gap of CdSe.The results obtained are reportedand discussed in the present report.


Experimental procedure : Aconventional three electrode systemwith SCE as a reference electrode,silver as a working electrode andgraphite plate as a counter electrodewas utilized. Reference electrodewas used to sense the appliedpotential. The deposition wascarried out under potentiostaticcondition using EG and G (model362) scanning potentiostat.

Preparation of bath : Theelectrolytic bath was prepared byusing analytical grade (50mM)CdSO4 and (10mM) SeO2compounds, dissolved in 100 ml. ofdouble distilled water. Theseconcentrations were decided byoptimizing rates of deposition forindividual constituents. The totalbath composition was used to getCdSe deposited thin films. The pHof the electrolyte was found inbetween 3 and 4 i.e. acidic innature.

Substrate cleaning : The silversubstrates was rubbed withcarborandom powder and washedwith soap solution by tap water andthen cleaned ultrasonically. Theback side was coated with insulatingtape.

Electrodeposition setup :Electrodeposition setup consists of aconventional three electrode systemwith saturated calomel electrode


Laser Induced Changes in Structural and Electrical Propertiesof CdSe Thin Films on Silver Substrate

A. N. Joshi1 and P. A. Joshi2

Department of Physics, A. S. College of Agril. Engineering Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri 413 722 (India)

(Received : 20-01-2008)

ABSTRACT

The CdSe thin films are used for various characterisations such as XRD, surfacemorphology and electrical properties. These films have been successfully synthesized using anelectrodeposition technique. Electrodeposition provides control over CdSe stoicheometry atroom temperature. In study of laser excited changes in I-V characteristics of Ag/CdSe junction,it has been observed that there was increase in charge carrier concentration across the junctionand hence the conductivity of CdSe was found to be increased as the excitation periodincreases. Silver substrate seems to be suitable for the junction formation. Photo excitation bylaser of CdSe junctions was found to be significant.

Key words : CdSe thin films, laser induced changes, properties, silversubstrate.

1. Guest lecturer, 2. Lecturer, Art,Science and Commerce College, Rahuri.

Fig. 1. Schematic electropositionset up of alloy.

(SCE) as the reference electrode, thegraphite as counter electrode andsilver as working electrode. In thissystem the sample waselectrodeposited in a "vertical cell"when the electrode (working,counter and reference) weresuspended vertically from the top ofthe cell. The electrolysis wasaccomplished potentiostatically in35 ml cell; three electrodes wereconnected directly to the scanningpotentiostat with the help of plugkeys.

The backside of the substratewas covered with insulating tape.The distance between graphite andplate (Anode) and silver substratewas 0.6 cm. The deposition wascarried out at potentiostaticcondition. Schematic electrodeposition set up as shown figure 1.

Characterization technique :

XRD Pattern : This pattern ofCdSe film was recorded on PhillipsPW-3710 diffractometer usingCuKa radiation. The presence ofsharp peaks shows that the film ispolycrystalline in nature. The basisof X-ray diffraction is Bragg's lawwhich is defined as 2dSinφ= nλ. Thevalues of d obtained from X-Raydifractograms were compared withstandard d-values from ASTM datavalues of CdSe

Experimental set-up for I-Vcharacteristics studies : Manyresearchers attempted to form thejunction of metal and semiconductorand I-V characteristics across thesejunctions were studied. Thephotoexcitation enhances thecharge carriers across thesejunctions and hence theconductivity. The schematicdiagram to study the photoinducedchanges in the I-V characteristics of

these materials is as shown in figure2. The contacts were made by airdrying silver paste and connectionswere made as shown in figure. Thepotential was varied and current andvoltage measured in dark. The He-Ne Red laser (A, = 362.8 nm,power = 2 mW) and Green laser the(A, = 55 nm, power - 0.9 mW) werenormally incident in the windowcontact and I-V were measured fordifferent period of excitation.

Surface morphology : Thesurface morphology of CdSedeposited on silver substrate wasstudied with Meltzer opticalmicroscope (Magnification 500X)with close circuit T. V. arrangement.


The cathodic polarization curveof CdSe deposited on silversubstrate shown in figure 3deposited at -0.7 V vs. SCE. Thedeposition was carried out to obtainsticky more adherent filme. Thevariation of current density withdeposition time during deposition ofCdSe thin films onto silver substrateis shown in figure 4. The currentdensity for CdSe thin film depositiononto silver substrate decreasedsuddenly from 18.2 to 13 mA/cmat zero seconds and was attributedto the formation of thick doublelayer from 50 to 250 seconds andthere was decrease in surfaceresistance; after this decrease incurrent density still remains constantfrom 250 to 1400 seconds due tosteady flow of ions across theelectrodes (Fig. 4). The thickness ofthe film is important factor whichdecided the one of theprocessing parameters i.e. period ofdeposition.

Thickness was measured byweight difference method.

Difference in weightsThickness = ––––––––––––––––––––

Ap

Joshi and Joshi312

Fig. 2. Experimental set-up tomeasure photo inducedchanges in I-V charact-eristics of heterojunctions.

Fig. 3. Cathodic polarization curvefor deposition of CdSe tosilver substate.

Potential V vs. SCE

Cur

rent

4.7 mA

Deposition period (sec)

Cur

rent

den

sity

(mA

/cm

)

Fig. 4. Cathodic polarization curvefor deposition of CdSe tosilver substate.

Characterization of CdSethin films : XRD measurement: X-ray diffraction of CdSe film was

recorded on Philips PW- 3710diffractrometer using CuKaradiation. X-ray diffraction patternof well developed CdSe films onsilver substrate was obtained. Figure5 shows X-ray diffraction patterns ofCdSe deposited on silver substrate.The presence of (002), (102), (103),(110), (200), (203) peaks in figure(5) indicated hexagonal structure ofCdSe. The peak at 29 = 25.46corresponds to diffraction from(002) plane of CdSe hexagonalphase (ASTM data), the stablestructure of CdSe at roomtemperature.

Thermoelectric powermeasurements (TEP) : It wasfound that the polarity ofthermoelectric voltage of CdSe filmwas positive towards hot end,indicating the CdSe as n-typeconductivity which was same asreported earlier (Liu and Kamat,1993). It was also observed that asthe temperature differenceincreased there was increase ininduced e.m.f. That was attributedto the increase in carrierconcentration and / or mobility ofcharge carriers with rise intemperature.

Laser excited changes in I-Vcharacteristics metal / CdSejunction : The metal CdSe junctionwas fabricated by D.C.electrodeposition technique. Asshown in the circuit diagram (Fig. 2),the current was divided into twopaths. The actual current wasrecorded in ij path, normal junction,to measure the change in irradiatedjunction.

I-V characteristics of Ag /CdSe junction : The Ag/CdSejunction was used to measure the I-

V characteristics and plotted (Fig.6).For I-V characteristics in darkshowed the linear curve obtained atroom temperature when thesejunctions were irradiated by redlaser. That was attributed todecrease in resistance across theexcited junction. That might be dueto the increase in charge carrierswhen CdSe with band gap of 1.72eV was excited by the energetic redlaser Helium Neon Laser (Photonenergy = 2.01 eV). These carrierswere accelerated due to the appliedpotential and hence the resistanceacross the junction decreasesed.The same phenomenon wasobserved (Fig. 7) when thesejunctions were excited using thegreen He-Ne laser but wider changeis observed for green laser than redlaser. This may be due to thegreater photon energy of greenlaser than red laser.

Surface morphology : It wasobserved that the films deposited onsilver were homogeneous, uniformand well covered the substrate. Thegrain size of the film increased whenannealed at 300° C for 120minutes.

Electro-deposition techniqueproved to be efficient for depositionof CdSe. By this technique CdSefilms of required stoichiometry withhexagonal crystal structure havebeen successfully synthesized. Silversubstrate seems to be suitable forthe junction formation. CdSe wasfound to be photosensitive becauseas photoexcitation increased itshowed significant change in I-Vcharacteristics.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We have great pleasure toexpress our thanks to Professor S.H. Pawar former Co-coordinator;


2θ

Inte

nsity

(a.u

.)

Fig. 5. XRD pattern of CdSedeposited on silver substrate

Voltage (mV)

Cur

rent

(mA

)

Fig. 6. Laser excited changes in I-Vcharacteristics of Ag/CdSejunction. (Red He-Ne)

Voltage (mV)

Cur

rent

(mA

)

Fig. 7. Laser excited changes in I-Vcharacteristics of Ag/CdSejunction. (Green He-Ne)

Evapotranspiration is a majorcomponent in agriculture watermanagement, irrigation schedulingas well as water resources planning(Vazquex and Feyen, 2004).Successful irrigation schedulingmainly depends on the accurateestimation of evapotranspiration.

The measurement of evapotrans-piration by lysimeter or field studiesis time consuming and costly affair.Therefore, scientists have resortedto estimation of ET fromclimatalogical parameters. TheASCE task committee onstandardization of references ETand water management committeeof the irrigation association studiedthe different major referenceevapotranspiration equations and

recommended the FAO-56 PenmanMonteith (PM-56) equation as astandard equation (Allen et al.l999).

In present study the modelsbased on temperature, radiation andcombination of both (temperatureand radiation) were tested whichrequire less data as compared toPM-56 model, so that in absence ofPM-56 model the other modelscould be utilized. The FAO-56Penman Monteith (PM-56) modelwas taken as the bench mark forcomparison of reference evapo-transpiration with pan evaporationmodel (Epan), Blaney-Criddle model(B-C), Hargreaves-Samani model(H-S) and Radiation model (FAO-24).


The study was carried out atDapoli, located at 15° 6' N to 20°22' N latitude and 72° 39 'E to 73°

School of Energy studies ShivajiUniversity, Kolhapur for suggestingthis project & his expert guidancethroughout the project work. It givesus great pleasure to acknowledgeour thanks to Dr. S.V. Chaudhari,Reader, Arts, Science andCommerce College, Rahuri Dist.,Ahmednagar for his valuableguidance and suggestions for writingthis report.

LITERATURE CITED

Gutierrez, M. T. and J. Ortega. 1989.Photoelectrochemical study of electro-deposited polycrystalline CdSe in ferro-ferricyanide system J. Electrochem.Soc., 136, [8], 2316-2320.

Hodes, G., 1993. Size-quantized nano-crystalline semiconductor films Israel. J.of Chemi. 33, 95-106.

Liu, D. and P. V. Kamat. 1993.Photochemical behavior of thin. CdSeand coupled, semiconductor Dims. J.TiO. 2. /CdSe. J. Phys. Chem., 10769:

97.

Pandey, R. K., S. R. Kumar, J. N. Rooza. andS. Chandra. 1991. "Photoelectro-chemical and solar cell studies of n-CdSefilm grown by repeated cycle ofelectrodeposition" J. Thin Solid Filmspp. 200 (1), PP 1-9.

Samarth, N., H. Luo,. J. K. Furdyna., S. B.Qadri., Y. R. Lee., A. K. Ramdas and N.Otsuka. 1990. Molecular beam epitaxyof CdSe and the derivative alloys Zn1-xCdxSe and Cd1-xMnxSe. J. Electron.Mat. 19(6): 543-547.

Joshi and Joshi314


Prediction of Reference Evapotranspiration for KonkanRegion of Maharashtra

P. M. Ingle1, U. S. Kadam2, R. T. Thokal3 and R. G. Manjarekar4

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Kokan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

The results showed that when the Epan model is compared with Penman Monteith modelit over estimates reference evapotranspiration by 3.22 per cent (3.20 mm day-1), which, is veryless than other models. Similarly the lesser RMSE was found for Blaney criddle (B-C) model(0.52). The smaller Mean bias Error (MBE) value for ETo was also found for Epan model,similarly the higher correlation coefficient of 0.94 was found between the Epan and PenmanMonteith (PM-56) model followed by B-C model (0.85). The estimation also showed that the 't'value was least for Epan model followed by B-C model, which indicates that Epan model showsbetter performance with PM-56 model. The B-C model also had less deviation with Epanvalues. In absence or lack of meterological data the Epan model followed by B-C model gaveless disagreement with P-M model.

Key words : Evapotranspiration, model.

______________

1. Assistant Professor. 2. Head,Department of Irrigation & DrainageEngineering, 3. Associate Professor, 4.Technical Assistant.

48' E longitudes and at altitude of250 m near the coastal area ofMaharashtra State. The climaticconditions are typically coastal (hotand humid) with average annualrainfall of 3423 mm (Mahale,2004). The temperature of theregion ranges from 7.5 °C to 38.5°C. The relative humidity variesfrom 55 to 99 per cent (Savane andKubal, 2005). The topography ishilly, undulating and soils are oflateritic type.

To estimate referenceevapotranspiration the daily datafrom year 1985 to 2005 (21 years)was collected from the Departmentof Agronomy, College ofAgriculture Dapoli. The datacontains Anemometer height (windmeasurement height), wind speed,air temperature (minimum andmaximum), relative humidity(minimum and maximum) andsunshine hours. The differentevapotranspiration models wereused for estimation of referenceevapotranspiration.

Pan evaporation model(Epan) : Evaporation from panprovides a measurement of thecombined effect of temperature,humidity, wind speed and sunshineon the reference cropevapotranspiration (Doorenbos andPruitt, 1977). For computation ofreference evapotranspiration thepan factor was taken as 0.7. For theclass A evaporation pan, the Kpvaries between 0.35 to 0.85, theaverage Kpan is 0.7 (Brouwer andHeibloem, 1986).

Hargreaves-Samani model(H-S) : The Hargreaves-Samani(1985) model is one of the olderevapotranspiration models. Themodel is computationally simple and

can be used over a variety ofclimates with minimal amount ofclimatic data (Hargreaves and Allen,2003).

Blaney-Criddle model (B-C):Blaney and Criddle (1950)developed model for arid farm landsof Western U.S. The model wasdesigned to use monthly values onlywhich gave erroneous results whichwere due to the use of temperatureas the sole climatic variable. Fordaily calculation the model wasrevised by Jensen et al, (1990).

Radiation model (FAO-24) :The radiation model was firstintroduced by Doorenbos and Pruitt(1977) as a modification of Makkink(1957) method. It was suggestedthat this model be used where thedata of air temperature and solarradiation is available even thoughlack of wind and humidity data andwhere the quality data is a question.However, the radiation modelderived by Jenson performs muchbetter with measured data (Jensenet al. 1990).

Penman-Monteith model(PM-56) : Penman-Monteith modelis Penman family based model. ThePenman family models are generallyconsidered among the mostaccurate ET models in virtually anyclimate. The Penman-Monteithmodel is recommended as the soleETo method for determiningreference evapotranspiration if dataare available (Allen et al. 1998).

The results of eachevapotranspiration model werecompared with PM-56 model. Theassociation between the models wastested by performance indicatorslike the Root Mean Square Error(RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE),


Table 1. Input data requirement for various models.

Models Data requirement Para- Rankmeters

Pan Evaporation (Epan) Epan, Pan coefficient 2 1

Hargreaves Samani (H-S) Air Temp. (Min. Max. Mean), Exteraterrestrial 4 2radiation

Blaney Criddle (B-C) Air Temp. (Mean), Crop -specific coefficient, 8 3Consumptive use factor, Sunshine Hours, Minimum Humidity, Daytime Wind speed. Mean per cent of annual daytime hours.

Radiation method Solar radiation, Slope of saturated vapor 9 4(FAO-24RD) pressure curve, Psychometric constant,

Relative humidity (mean), mean daytime wind speed, constants

Penman-Monteith (FAO-56) Net radiation, Soil heat flux, Slope of 16 5saturated vapor pressure curve, Psychometric constant, Saturation vapor pressure, Actual vapor pressure, Air Temp. (Min., Max. Mean), Mean daily wind speed, Altitude, Latitude, Relative sunshine duration, Sunshine Hours etc.

Fig. 1. Average reference evapot-ranspiration for variousmodels.

Coefficient of correlation (r) and 't'test. Jacovides and Kontoyiannis(1995) suggested that modelassessment based on RMSE andMBE alone may be misleading in theabsence of 't'-values. So for thepresent study the 't'-values were alsocalculated.


The data requirement for PM-56method is more than other methodsused in present study. The methodsand ranks based on the less datarequired (Rank 1) and high datarequired (Rank 5). The ranks forvarious ETo models is given inTable 1.

The reference evapotrans-piration was calculated usingdifferent methods. The 21 years (Fig1) average reference evapotrans-piration (ETo) estimated by PM-56(Penman-Monteith) was 3.10 mmday-1, Epan model was 3.2 mmday-1 and radiation model was of4.92 mm day-1. The Blaney-Criddlemodel (B-C) and Hargreaves-Samani model (H-S) showed lessETo as the models are temperaturebased and wind speed and RH arenot considered.

It is seen that the ETo estimatedby Evaporation pan (Epan) andradiation model (FAO 24) was over-estimated by 3.22 per cent (3.20mm day-1) and 58.61 per cent (5.11mm day-1) respectively over P-Mmodel. The ETo computed byBlanney- Criddle (B-C) andHargreaves -Sammani (H-S) modelswere underestimated by 8.74 percent and 11.13 per centrespectively over P-M model. In caseof radiation model, the predictedETo was very high as compared toPM-56, which may be due to longduration of bright sunshine hours

during some of the months of theyear. i.e. during the March, April,May and October. Similar resultwere also observed by Rao andRajput, (1993).

Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)measures the average differencethat involves the square of thedeparture and therefore, becomessensitive to extreme values. If theRMSE values are smaller, the betteris the model performance. Themagnitudes of RMSE values areuseful to identify modelperformance but not the degree ofunder or overestimation byindividual model. It is observed (Fig2) that the RMSE values rangedfrom 0.52 to 1.95. Smaller thevalue of RMSE better is the modelperformance. The maximum RMSEvalue of 0.95 and 1.95 wasrecorded for radiation model andEpan model respectively. The lesserRMSE value was observed for B-Cmodel and H-S model, which shows

better performance over othermodels and indicates less error withPenman- Monteith model.

Ingle et al.316

Fig. 2. Root Mean Square Errorand Mean Bias Error forvarious models.

Table 2. Correlation matrix for differentmodels.

Models Epan B-C H-S Radia- PM-tion 56

Epan 1 - - - -B-C 0.89 1 - - -H-S 0.63 0.67 1 - -Radiation 0.65 0.54 0.80 1 -PM-56 0.94 0.85 0.62 0.67 1

Fig. 3. Comparison of various ETo models with Penman-Monteith model.

The Mean Bias Error (MBE)positive values indicateoverestimation and vice versa andthe absolute values is an indicator ofmodel performance i.e. smaller thevalue better is the performance(Jacovides & Kontoyiannis, 1995).The MBE value is a performanceindicator which illustrates theoverestimation or underestimationof reference evapotranspiration byother models with the standardmethod. The positive MBE valuesindicate overestimation and negativevalue indicates under estimation.The absolute value is an indicator ofmodel performance. It is observed(Fig 3) that the MBE values rangedfrom -0.35 to 1.82. Based on MBEvalues the B-C and H-S modelsunder estimates the referenceevapotranspiration while Epan andradiation models over estimate thevalues when compared withPenman-Monteith model. Thesmaller MBE value for ETo wasfound for Epan model, whichindicates that Epan model showsbetter agreement with PM-56model.

The coefficient of correlation(Table 2) showed that the highercorrelation coefficient of 0.94 wasfound between the Epan andPenman-Monteith model followedby B-C model (0.85). The leastcorrelation was found for radiationmodel and H-S model with 0.67 and0.62 respectively. The comparisonamong the different models withPM-56 model showed that thecoefficient of correlation wasmaximum for Epan model. Thecoefficient of correlation valueindicated that the Epan modelpredicted ETo near to the PM-56model followed by B-C model (Fig4). The linear relationship wasobserved between the Epan and

PM-56 model with strongcorrelation (0.94). The ETo valuesfor Epan and PM-56 model showednearly stable values. This indicatedthat the pan evaporation provides ameasurement of the combinedeffect of temperature, humidity,wind speed and sunshine onreference crop evaporation(Doorenbos and Pruitt, 1977).According to Rao and Rajput (1993)during the deficit rainfall year forDapoli region, the ETo estimated bymodified Penman and radiationmethods were quite higher while thePenman-Monteith and Kimberly-Penman equations estimated ETonearer to the corrected Epan values.Similarly when the pan evaporationrates were on the lower side, littlehigher estimations were made bythe Penman- Monteith andKimberly-Penman method (Fig 3a).When the B-C model comparedwith PM 56, the ETo values formedtwo separate clusters at the lowerand upper ends of lines (Fig.3b).The clusters at the lower ends ofthe figures are values of ETo for thewinter and summer season while thecluster at the upper end of the lineare the ETo values for the rainyseason. The underestimated valuesof ETo were predicted for rainyseason using B-C model. As B-Cmodel is temperature based modeland in rainy season the temperatureof the region was lowered down dueto high rainfall, underestimation of

ETo values were observed. SimilarlyH-S model and radiation modelwere also compared with PM-56model (Fig. 3c, 3d). The H-S modelalso formed clusters which alsoshowed deviation in prediction ofETo values with PM-56 model. Theradiation model overestimates theETo values when compared withPM-56 model.

According to Jacovides andKontoyiannis (1995) the modelbased on RMSE and MBE alonemay be misleading in the absence of't' value. The 't' value for differentmodels was computed. The 't' valueof 0.48 was least for Epan modelfollowed by B-C model (2.75). Thehighest 't' value was observed forradiation model. The 't' values alsoshowed that the Epan modelperform very well with Penman-Monteith model as compared toother models.

Based on performanceindicators such as number ofparameters required forcomputation of ETo, per centdeviation, RMSE, MBE, coefficientof correlation (r) and 't' value, theranking for various ETo model wasdone. From Table 3 it is evident thatEpan performed well for almost allindicators except the RMSE andranked first. The B-C modelfollowed second rank and showedvery less RMSE value as compared


Table 3. Ranking to various ETo model based on performance indicator.

Model Rank–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Data Per cent RMSE MBE Coeff. of t'requirement deviation correlation value

Epan 1 1 3 1 1 1B-C 2 2 1 2 2 2H-S 3 3 2 3 4 3Radiation 4 4 4 4 3 4

to Epan model when compared withPenman-Monteith models. The H-Smodel showed moderate ranking.The radiation model ranked last withother model. Based on the rankingand performance indicator the Epanmodel has less deviation and closeagreement with Penman Monteithmodel. Similar results were alsoobserved by Rao and Rajput, (1993)for humid place like Dapoli, thePenman-Monteith and Kimberly-Penman equations estimated ETonearer to the corrected Epan values.

The study concluded that forDapoli station the Penman-Monteithequation was in conformity with themeasured Epan values. The Blaney-Criddle model also had lessdeviation with Epan values. Thehighest deviations in the estimationwas observed in between Penman-Monteith and radiation model. Thestudy supported that in absence orlack of meterological data the Epanmodel followed by Blaney-Criddlemodel gave very less disagreementwith Penman-Monteith model.

LITERATURE CITED

Allen R. G., I. A. Walter, R. Elliott, B.Mecham, M. E. Jensen, D. Itenfisu, T.

A. Howell, R. Snyder, P. Brown, S.Echings, T. Spofford, M. Hattendorf, R.H. Cuenca, J. L. Wright and D. Martin.l999. Issues, requirements andchallenges in selecting and specifying astandardized ET equation. The ASCETask Committee on Standardization ofReference ET and/or the WaterManagement Committee of theIrrigation Association.

Allen, R. G., L. S. Pereira, D. Raes and M.Smith. 1998. Crop Evapotranspiration- Guidelines for computing crop waterrequirements. FAO Irri. and Drain. Pap.56. Food and Agric. Org., Rome.

Blaney, H. F., and W. D. Criddle. 1950.Determining water requirements inirrigated areas from climatological andirrigation data. Soil Conser. ServiceTech. Paper 96. Soil ConservationService. U.S. Deptt. of Agriculture:Washington DC.

Brouwer C. and M. Heibloem. 1986.Irrigation water needs, Irrigation WaterManagement FAO Training Manual, 3,II-11, Food and AgricultureOrganization, Rome.

Doorenbos, J., and W. O. Pruitt. 1977.Guidelines for predicting crop waterrequirements. FAO Irri. and Drain.Paper 24 , Rome, Italy.

Hargreaves, G. H. and R. G. Allen. 2003.History and evaluation of Hargreavesevapotranspiration equations. J. of Irri.and Drain. Eng. 129(1): 53-63

Hargreaves, G. H. and Z. A. Samani. 1985.Reference crop evapotranspiration fromtemperature. Applied Engineering in

Agriculture 1 (2) : 96-99.

Jacovides, C. P. and H. Kontoyiannis. 1995.Statistical procedures for the evaluationof evapotranspiration computingmodels. Agric. Water Manage, 27, 365-371.

Jensen, M. E., R. D. Burman and R. G.Allen. 1990. Evapotranspiration andIrrigation Water requirements. ASCEManuals and Reports of EngineeringPractice 70. New York : ASCE.

Mahale, D., R. T. Thokal, B. G. Malandakar,D. D. Satavlekar, S. B. Nandgude, A. G.Powar and M. R. More. 2004. Effect ofsoil and water conservation measures ongroundwater recharge in Priyadarshaniwatershed, Integrated Water Resources :Planning and Management. : 349-356.

Makkink, G. F. 1957. Testing the Penmenformula by means of lysimeters. J. of theInstitution of Water Eng. 11(3): 277-288.

Rao, G. G. S. N., and R. K. Rajput. 1993.Evapotranspiration estimates for cropwater requirements under differentAgro-climatic conditions in India. J.Water Manage. 1(2): 93-97

Savane, A. B., and D. S. Kubal. 2005.Development of rainfall frequency-duration relationship for Dapoli region,B. Tech thesis, College of Agric. Eng.and Tech. Dr. B.S.K.K.V., Dapoli,Ratnagiri, Maharasthra.: 18.

Vazquex, R. F. and J. Feyen. 2004. Potentialevapotranspiration for the distributedmodeling of Belgian catchments. J. ofIrrigation and Drain. Eng. 130(1): 1-8.

Ingle et al.318

______________

The information available onscheduling of irrigation water inwatermelon under summerconditions is limited. Duringsummer, evapotranspirationdemand is high and hence timelyapplication of irrigation isimportant. Besides water, the mostcritical input which seriously affectsthe growth and yield of crop,especially vegetable crop likewatermelon is plant nutrients i.e.fertilizers. As the fertilizer is costlyinput, the saving of fertilizers byavoiding the wasteful losses duringfield application can reduce theproduction cost. This can beachieved well by applying fertilizersthrough irrigation water wheneverthe crop is grown with drip methodof irrigation. Fertigation techniqueapplies both water and fertilizer at alow rate to the vicinity of the plantroot zone, resulting in the higheryield and better quality of crops. Bykeeping these points in mind, the

present study was undertaken todetermine the water and fertilizerrequirement, their use efficiency inwatermelon through drip irrigationmethod and benefit cost ratio.


The experiment was carried outat the Instructional Farm ofDepartment of Irrigation and

Drainage Engineering, Dr. A. S.College of Agril. Engg., MPKV.,Rahuri on clay soil during the periodfrom December, 2004 to April,2005. The topography of theexperimental field was uniform andlevelled. The EC and pH of theexperimental plot were 0.549dSm-1 and 8.20, respectively. Theavailable N, P and K were 426.87,25.82 and 685.48 kg ha-1,respectively. The quality of waterwas of class C3S1. The experimentwas carried out in split plot designwith three main plot treatments andfour sub plot treatments with controltreatment replicated thrice. Thetreatment included main plottreatment : I1 : Irrigation at 0.2 PEby drip irrigation method, I2 :Irrigation at 0.3 PE by drip irrigationmethod and I3 : Irrigation at 0.4 PEby drip irrigation method. The


Effect of Irrigation Scheduling and Fertigation Levels onGrowth and Yield of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.)

U. S. Kadam1, A. D. Deshmukh2, P. M. Ingle3 and R. G. Manjarekar4

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

The maximum yield (454.38 and 420.56 q ha-1) was obtained with irrigation level I2(0.3PE) and fertigation level F1 (80% RD). The yield was 51.99 and 40.68 per cent higher inirrigation level I2 and fertigation level F1 respectively, as compared to conventional method.The irrigation and fertilizer levels showed significant effect on yield. However, the interactionbetween irrigation and fertilizer combination was found to be non significant. The total quantityof water applied through drip irrigation system for I2 was 326.71 mm and for conventionalmethod of irrigation was 600 mm, which showed 45.22 per cent water saving over control.The maximum benefit cost ratio (2.18) was observed due to irrigation level I2 (0.3 PE) andfertigation level F1 (80% RD).

Key words : Watermelon, irrigation, fertigation, WUE, yield, B:C ratio.

1. Head, Department of Irrigation andDrainage Engineering, 2. M. Tech (A.E.)student, 3. Assistant Professor and 4. Tech.Asstt.

Table 1. Water and fertilizer use efficiency as influenced by different treatments.

Treatments Yield Depth of WUE Saving Quantity of Fertilizer (q ha-1) water (q ha-1 in water fertilizer use

applied cm) (%) applied efficiency(cm) (kg ha-1) (FUE)

Irrigation levels :I1 362.37 25.02 14.48 58.29 200 181.19I2 454.38 32.67 13.78 45.55 200 227.19I3 339.09 39.82 8.51 33.64 200 169.54Fertilizer levels :F1 420.56 32.50 12.94 45.83 160 262.85F2 402.12 32.50 12.37 45.83 200 201.06F3 375.49 32.50 11.55 45.83 240 156.45F4 342.95 32.50 10.55 45.83 200 171.47Control 298.94 60.00 4.98 4.98 200 149.47

Irrigation Fertilizer Interactionlevels levels (I x F)

S. E.+ 9.54 13.30C. D. at 5% 37.48 39.50 N.S.

integrated factors derived from cropcoefficient (Kc), pan factor (Kp) andwetted area (Wa) were 0.2, 0.3 and0.4.

Sub-plot treatment included 80,100 and 120 per cents ofrecommended dose through watersoluble fertilizers and compard withapplication of N through drip and P,K by band placelnent according torecommended dose. A suitablecontrol with conventional method ofirrigation (Ridges and furrows) wasmaintained.

The twelve treatmentcombinations of three irrigationschedules and four fertilizer levelswere studied in split plot design withthree replications and one controltreatment replicated thrice. Theexperimental plot was 20 x 48 mwith 40 x 1 m treatment plots. Thelength and width of control plot was48 x 2 m.

The seeds of watermelon (Cv.Sugerbaby) were sown on 29th

December, 2004 by dibblingmethod in the pits of 30 x 30 x 30cm. To bring the economy in dripunit cost, the plant spacing of 0.5 x2.0 m was kept. One lateralcommanded two rows of

watermelon plants.

Water soluble fertilizer of grade(19:19:19) and urea (46% N) wasused for fertigation levels of F1, F2and F3. While, urea (46% N), singlesuper phosphate (16% P2O5) andmurate of potash (60 % K2O) wereused for treatment with fertigationlevel F4 and conventional method ofirrigation . The recommended doseof fertilizer (NPK) for thewatermelon is 100:50:50 kg ha-1.Water soluble fertilizers wereapplied at sixth day interval as perdifferent treatments. The fertilizerdose was divided into eight splitsincluding 9 per cent at sowing andrest of seven of 13 per cent each.The dose for top dressing was alsodivided into eight equal splits . Incontrol, single super phosphate andmurate of potash and half dose ofurea were applied by bandplacement as a basal dose at thetime of sowing. Remaining half doseof urea was applied after one mothof sowing as top dressing. Thefertilizer use efficiency (FUE) wascalculated using standard method.

The effect of fertigation levelsand irrigation levels on growth andyield contributing parameters viz.,length of vine, diameter of fruit,

weight of fruit, number of fruits,specific gravity of fruit and yield offruit were observed.


It is seen that the maximum 600mm depth of irrigation was appliedfor control treatment followed by398.12, 326.17 and 250.28 mmas in irrigation levels I3, I2 and I1respectively through drip system.The maximum saving of water in I1(58.29 per cent) was achieved withdrip irrigation system over thecontrol. It was observed that yieldper hectare of watermelon differedsignificantly due to irrigation levels.The yield of 454.38 q ha-1 wasrecorded in I2 (0.3 PE), which wassignificantly superior to I1 (0.2PE)and I3 (0.4 PE). The treatments I1and I3 were at par with each other.The minimum yield of 339.08 qha-1 was observed in irrigation levelof I3. Similarly, it was revealed thatmean yield per hectare ofwatermelon differed significantlydue to fertilizer levels. Themaximum yield (420.56 q ha-1) wasobserved in F1 (80 per cent RD) andwas significantly superior overfertilizer levels F3 and F4. TreatmentF1 and F2 were at par with eachother. Treatment F2 was superior

Kadam et al.320

Table 2. Cost analysis for different treatment combinations.

Particulars I1F4 I1F2 I1F1 I1F3 I2F2 I2F3 I2F1 I2F4 I3F3 I3F1 I3F4 I3F2 Control

Cost of 40396 49200 46923 51486 49200 51486 46923 40396 51486 46923 40396 49200 33506production (Rs. ha-1)

Yield (q ha-1) 327 380 399 344 471 448 497 402 335 366 300 354 299

Gross monetary 98100 114000 119700 103200 141300 134400 149100 120600 100500 109800 90000 106200 89700returns (Rs. ha-1)

Net incom 57704 64800 72777 51714 92100 82914 102177 80240 49014 62877 49604 57000 56104(Rs. ha-1)

B:C ratio 1.43 1.32 1.55 1.01 1.8 1.62 2.18 1.99 0.96 1.34 1.23 1.16 1.68

Cost of production = seasonal fixed cost Rs. 8890/-, Variable and fertilizer cost, rental value Rs. 1000 ha-1 and interest on working capital10%, selling price Rs. 300 q -1.

over treatment F4 but at par withtreatment F3. The minimum yield(342.95 q ha-1) was observed in F4and was at par with F3. Theinteraction effect between irrigationlevels and fertilizer levels was foundto be non-significant in respect ofmean yield per hectare. In controltreatment, the yield per hectare offruit was observed to be 298.94 qha-1, which was minimum ascompared to other treatments.

From Table 1, it was revealedthat WUE ranged from 4.98 to14.48 q ha-1 cm due to differenttreatments. It was revealed thatmaximum WUE was reported intreatment with irrigation level I1 (0.2PE) and with fertigation level F1 (80per cent RD). The increase in WUEwas due to reduction in total waterused. The saving in irrigation waterwas to the extent of 58.29 per centin case of irrigation level I1 (0.2 PE)in drip irrigation system and 45.55in irrigation level I2 as comparedwith conventional method ofirrigation. In other words, within thesame quantity of water, about 58.29and 45.55 per cent additional area

could be brought under irrigation.The above results are in closeconformity with those reported bySivanappan (1979) for okra(bhendi), Dukure (1991) for okraand Surve (1998) for cucumber.

The maximum value of FUE(262.85) was observed in fertigationlevel F1 (80 per cent RD), followedby F2 (100 per cent RD), F4 (Nthrough drip and P, K by bandplacement) and F3 (120 per centRD), whereas in case of irrigationlevels FUE was observed maximum(227.19) in I2 (0.3 PE), followed byI1 (0.2 PE) and I3 (0.4 PE). The dripirrigation treatment registeredmaximum values of FUE ascompared to those obtained withconventional method of irrigation(Table 1).

The maximum B:C ratio wasobserved in treatment combinationI2F1 (2.18) and least in treatmentcombination I3F3 (0.96) for dripirrigation system (Table 2). Incontrol the B:C ratio was found tobe 1.68.

The study revealed that there

was 28.89 per cent increase in yieldand 20 per cent saving in fertilizerover control. The highest water useefficiency (WUE) (14.48 q ha-1 cm)was found in treatment withirrigation level I1 (0.2 PE) whereas incase of fertigation level highest valueof WUE (12.94 q ha-1 cm) wasrecorded in F1 (80 % RD). Thehighest (227.19) fertilizer useefficiency was recorded in irrigationlevel I2 whereas in case offertigation level highest value(265.85) was recorded for F1. Themaximum B:C ratio of 2.18 wasfound in treatment combination I2F1(0.3 PE and 80 % RD).

LITERATURE CITED

Dukure, M. V. 1991. Efficiency of liquidnitrogen fertilizer through twin drip(biwall) irrigation for okra. M. Sc. (Agri.),thesis, MPKV, Rahuri (M.S.)

Sivanappan, R. K., C. R. Muthukrishnan, P.Natrajan, and S. Ramdas. 1979.Response of bhendi to drip irrigationsystem. South Indian Hort. 33(3/4): 98-100

Surve, U. S. 1998. Efficiency of liquidfertilizer through drip irrigation forcucumber. M. Sc. (Agri) thesis, MPKV,Rahuri (M.S.).


______________

Deccani is a dual purpose breedof Western India. Growth and woolproduction are important economictraits in sheep. In view of recenthike in meat prices in the IndianMarket, a well quantum jump in theexport of mutton in recent years,the sheep farmers have startedrealizing the significance of fastgrowing lambs.

Growth traits in sheep are goodindicator of their adaptability toparticular environmental conditions.Such studies are also of greatinterest to the sheep breeders inview of the correlation betweengrowth performance and age atpurberty. In the present study, anattempt has been made to evaluatethe production performance andcertain factors affecting theperformance in Deccani sheep.


The data for the present

investigation were recorded on 524lambs born during the year 1995-99 at Network Project on SheepImprovement, Mahatma PhuleKrishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri. Theanimals were maintained under theproject are improved for growth andwool production traits throughselection. Standard managementalpractices were followed. The traitsconsidered were live body weights atbirth (WB), 3 (W3), 6 (W6), 9 (W9)and 12 (W12) months of age alongwith greasy fleece yield of first clip(GFY1). The data on growth andwool production were classifiedaccording to sire, sex, season andyear. The least-square analysisprocedure were adopted usingLSMEMW programme (Harvey,1990). Modified Kramer's (1957)Duncun Multiple Range test wasused for comparison of significantsub-class means.


The least square means andanalysis of variance for body weights

and greasy fleece yield of first clipalong with standard error arepresented in Table 1 and 2.

Growth traits : The overallleast-squares means for bodyweights at birth 3, 6, 9 and 12months age were 3.33 + 0.04,13.93 + 0.21, 19.30 + 0.25,21.90 + 0.27 and 23.41 + 0.28kg, respectively. These findings arein close agreement with resultsreported by Tomar et al. (2000) inBharat Merino for birth weight.Similar results for 3 and 6 monthsbody weights in Deccani and 9 and12 months body weights in Kheriwas reported by Singh et al. (2005).

Effect of sire : The effect ofsires on birth weight, 3, 6, 9 and 12months body weight was highlysignificant (P < 0.01). Thesignificant effect of sires on all bodyweights indicated that superior sirescould be used effectively forimprovement of these traits. Similarsignificant (P < 0.01) differences inall body weights due to genetic meritof sires were recorded by Tomar etal. (2000) in Bharat Merino.

Effect of sex : The effect of sexon body weights at birth, 3, 6, 9 and12 months age was found to behighly significant (P < 0.01). Themale lambs weighed heavier thanfemale lambs at all ages. Thedifferences in birth weight of maleand female lambs could be due todifference in sex harmones relatedto growth of lamb. Similar resultshave been reported by Dass and


Impact of Genetic and Non-genetic Factors on Growth andProduction Traits in Deccani Lambs

Y. B. Kandalkar1, B. R. Ulmek2, D. Z. Jagtap3, M. G. Mote4 and S. A. Dhage5

Department of Animal Science and Dairy Science, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidaypeeth, Rahuri - 413 722 (India)(Received : 25-08-2008)

ABSTRACT

Records on 524 lambs pertaining to Deccani were utilized to assess the impact of certaingenetic and non-genetic factors on growth and production traits. Results revealed thatestimated overall least squares means were 3.33 + 0.04, 13.93 + 0.21, 19.30 + 0.25, 21.90+ 0.27, 23.41 + 0.28 kg and 472.85 + 7.58 g for body weight at birth, 3, 6, 9, 12 monthsof age and greasy fleece yield of first clip, respectively. The effects of sire, sex and season weresignificant on body weights at all ages. The effect of year on body weights at all ages were non-significant except 3 months body weight. The effect of sire, sex and year were significant ongreasy fleece yield of first clip. However, season had non-significant effect on greasy fleece yieldof first clip.

Key words : Genetic and non-genetic factors, growth traits, production traits,Deccani lambs.

1. Ph. D. student, 2. Asso. Dean,College of Agriculture, Pune 3. Head, 4 and5. Asstt. Professors, College of Agriculture,

Singh (2002) in Marwari.

Effect of season of birth :Season of birth had significant (P <0.01) effect on body weight at birth3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The offseason (April to September) bornlambs were heavier than mainseason (October to March) bornlambs at all ages. It might be due tothe abundant availability of greenand nutritious grass and foragesduring off season to the ewes whichhas resulted in better developmentof foetus as well as lambs.Significant effect of season of birthon all body weights has beenreported by Kulkarni andDeshpande (1986) in Deccani andits crossbred and Mishra et al.(2006) in Garole, except Kulkarniand Deshpande (1986) for birth andMishra et al. (2006) for 12 monthsbody weights.

Effect of year of birth : Thebody weights of lambs did not differdue to effect of year of birth exceptbody weight at 3 months age. The

effect of year of birth was highlysignificant (P < 0.01) on 3 monthsbody weight.

The DMRT revealed that overall3 months body weight for differentyears differed significantly. Thelambs borned in year 1995 weresignificantly heavier from lambsborned in rest of the years. Thelambs born in year 1996, 1997,1998 and 1999 were at par, exceptlambs born in year 1998 and 1999.This may be due to reason thatpreweaning growth rate is largely afunction of the mothering ability ofthe dam. Similar results were

reported by Mishra et al. (2006) inGarole for all body weights, except3 months body weight.

Production trait : The overallleast-squares means of greasy fleeceyield of first clip was found to be472.85 + 7.58 g. The resultobtained was in close agreementwith findings of Lal et al., (2000) inMuzaffarnagri.

Effect of sire : The greasyfleece weight of first clip wassignificantly (P < 0.05) influenced byeffect of sire. The significant effectsof sire on greasy fleece yield of first


Table 1. Least squares means of body weight (kg) at different stages of age and greasy fleece yield of first clip (g) in Deccani sheep.

Effect N Body weight (kg) at different stages of age Greasy fleece –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– yield (1st clip)

Birth 3 months 6 months 9 months 12 months –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––– –––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– –––––––––––––– Mean S. E.Mean S. E. Mean S. E. Mean S. E. Mean S. E. Mean S. E.

Over all mean 524 3.33 0.04 13.93 0.21 19.30 0.25 21.90 0.27 23.41 0.28 472.85 7.58

Sex of lamb :Male 253 3.41a 0.04 14.46a 0.22 20.24a 0.26 23.34a 0.28 25.22a 0.30 492.84a 8.22Female 271 3.24b 0.04 13.40b 0.22 18.36b 0.26 20.47b 0.29 21.60b 0.30 452.85b 8.26

Season of birth :Main season 477 3.24b 0.03 13.60b 0.19 18.71b 0.21 21.35b 0.23 22.86b 0.24 465.92 6.22Off season 47 3.41a 0.05 14.26a 0.29 19.88a 0.36 22.46a 0.39 23.96a 0.41 479.77 12.03

Year of birth :1995 84 3.43 0.06 14.45a 0.31 19.71 0.39 22.28 0.42 23.82 0.44 530.09a 13.101996 126 3.34 0.05 13.77bc 0.29 19.37 0.36 22.14 0.39 23.75 0.41 447.88b 12.121997 76 3.38 0.05 13.97bc 0.28 19.36 0.35 22.04 0.38 23.48 0.40 433.27b 11.801998 81 3.26 0.05 13.52c 0.30 19.04 0.38 21.72 0.41 23.21 0.43 435.32b 12.661999 157 3.22 0.06 13.94b 0.32 19.01 0.40 21.33 0.44 22.79 0.46 517.68a 13.72

Similar superscript did not differ significantly from each other.

Table 2. Least squares analysis of variance of body weights at different stages of age andgreasy fleece yield of first clip (g) in Deccani sheep.

Source of d. f. MSSvariation ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Birth 3 months 6 months 9 months 12 months GFY1

Sire 33 0.18** 5.85** 8.28** 9.79** 10.78** 8120.20*Sex 1 3.27** 135.04** 431.75** 1007.93** 1593.29** 194925.60**Season 1 1.09** 15.84** 50.71** 45.49** 44.77** 7124.03Year 4 0.20 7.78** 2.32 2.95 3.52 155917.07**Error 484 0.09 2.20 4.01 4.66 5.17 5077.14

** = P < 0.01 and * = P < 0.05

clip indicated that superior sire couldbe used effectively for improvementof this trait. Similar significantdifferences in greasy fleece yield offirst clip due to genetic merit of sireswas also recorded by Tomar et al.(2000) in Bharat Merino.

Effect of sex : The averagegreasy fleece yield of first cliprecorded for males and femaleswere 492.84 + 8.22 and 452.85 +8.26 g, respectively. The effect ofsex was highly significant (P < 0.01)on greasy fleece yield of first clip.The effect of sex on greasy fleeceyield of first clip was also reportedhighly significant by Dass and Singh(2002) in Marwari which is inconsonance with present finding.

Effect of season of birth :Season of birth had non-significant effect on greasy fleeceyield of first clip. Similar result wasrecorded by Ganai (1992) inMarwari.

Effect of year of birth : Theleast squares means of greasy fleeceyield of first clip ranged from aminimum of 433.27 + 11.80 g inthe year 1997 to a maximum of

530.09 + 13.10 g in year 1995 forgreasy fleece yield of first clip.

Year of birth was significant (P <0.01) source of variation for greasyfleece yield of first clip. The lambsborn in year 1995 and 1999 as wellas in year 1996, 1997 and 1998were at par to each other for greasyfleece yield of first clip, while allthree years 1996, 1997 and 1998showed significantly lower greasyfleece yield of first clip than lambborn in the year 1995 and 1999.

The year to year variationsusually occur due to droughts,environmental changes and changesin the age structure of the folk.These variations suggest that thewool production per head could beincreased to a certain limit bynutrition, along with selectivebreeding. The result was supportedby the findings of Dass and Singh(2002) in Marwari.

LITERATURE CITED

Dass, G, and V. K. Singh. 2002.Improvement of Marwari sheep in hotarid climate. Indian J. Anim. Sci. 72(3):253-256.

Ganai, N. 1992. Selection indices for genetic

improvement of Marwari sheep. M. V.Sc. thesis, Rajasthan Agril. Univ.,Bikaner (India).

Harvey, W. R. 1990. User's Guide forLSMLMW. Mixed model least squaresand maximum likelihood computerprogramme, PC-2 Version. Ohio StateUniv., Columbus (Mimeograph), USA.

Kramer, C. Y. 1957. Extension of multiplerange test to group correlated adjustedmeans. Biometrics. 13: 13-18.

Kulkarni, A. P. and K .S. Deshpande. 1986.Genetic studies on weaning weight andsubsequent body weights in Deccanisheep and its crosses. Indian J. Anim.Sci. 56(11): 1180-1181.

Lal, N., B. S. Misra, P. K. Singh and S. N.Shukla. 2000. Growth rate and woolproduction in Muzaffarnagri sheep andits exotic grades. Indian J. SmallRuminants. 6(2): 68-72.

Mishra, A. K., A. L. Arora, S. Kumar and V.K. Singh. 2006. Performanceevaluation of Garole sheep in semi-aridregion of Rajasthan. Indian J. Anim. Sci.76(5): 393-397.

Singh, V. K., A. K. Mishra and S. Kumar.2005. Genetic improvement of sheepfor wool and mutton production in India.A review. Indian J. Anim. Sci. 75(3):356-364.

Tomar, A. K. S., B. S. Mehta, J. Jaishankarand G. Singh. 2000. Genetic studies ongrowth and greasy fleece yield in BharatMerino sheep. Indian J. Anim. Sci.70(5): 537-539.

Kandalkar et al.324

______________

Indian dairy industry is seekingnew product ideas and technologiesfor diversification to meet theexpanding consumer's requirementsand to increase profitability. Today,demand for milk products isincreasing among all the classes ofconsumers and particularly noveltyproducts are preferred.

Milk pudding is one of the milkproducts having prime importancein the world consumer market. It isquite popular in western countriesas dessert market. It is producedabroad more frequently at industrialas well as at home level. In India it isyet considered as a luxury and it ismost consumed in parties. However,slowly the demand of this product isalso increasing in Indian market.

Jackfruit (Artocarpusheterophyllus Lam.) is a cropcommonly grown in humid westerncoastal track of India .It is foundnear the household gardens and invarious plantations. It has highnutritive value as well as delectabletaste. Thus, for producing noveltymilk product, the presentinvestigation was undertaken to

standardize the technique ofmanufacturing milk pudding usingjackfruit pulp.


Sweetened condensed milk (2.5:1) was used as base material for themilk pudding. Jackfruit pulp andgelatin (as stabilizer) were used atdifferent levels as per treatments.Soft flesh type jackfruit was used forthe extraction of pulp.

Due to great variation in thechemical and ingredientcomposition and nature of milkpudding, control treatment couldnot be included in the trial. Somepreliminary trials were conducted todetermine the range of stabilizer(gelatin) and jackfruit pulp forincorporation in milk pudding. Thetrials three levels of gelatin (1, 1.5and 2.0 per cent)and four levels ofjackfruit pulp (5, 10, 15 and 20 percent) were selected on the basis ofpreliminary trials for further studies

in seven replication.

Gelantin was dissolved in 50 mlof water by heating. The dissolvedgelatin was mixed with 200 g ofsweetened condensed milk.Jackfruit pulp was added at differentlevels in the above mixture andmixed well. The mixture was thenkept in a refrigerator for setting for3-5 hours.

The treatment wise samples ofsweetened condensed milk, jackfruitpulp and pudding were analyzedchemically as per the followingmethods: Fat-IS :1224 (Part-I)1977; protein, total solids and ash-IS :1479 (Part -II) 1961; titratableacidity -IS :1479 (Part -1) 1960 andtotal sugars Ranganna (1986). Thesensory evaluation of product wascarried out using nine point hedonicscale as per IS : 6273 (Part - II)1971. The data were statisticallyanalyzed according to Snedecor andCochran (1994) using factorialrandomized block design.


Table 1 represents the averagechemical composition of jackfruitpulp and sweetened condensedmilk. The chemical composition ofsweetened condensed milk observedin the study is comparable to that


Utilization of Jack Fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.)Pulp in Manufacture of Milk Pudding

A. P. Holmukhe1, S. V. Joshi2, V. A. Toro3, V. B. Kadav4 and Ujjwala Kanake5

Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy ScienceDr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli 415 712 (India)

(Received : 27-09-2008)

ABSTRACT

The jackfruit pulp could be successfully utilized for preparation of milk pudding using gelatinas gelling agent. Base material used for the pudding was sweetened condensed milk. Milkpudding made with 15 per cent jackfruit pulp and gelatin 2.0 per cent of the base material wasfound superior over rest of the treatments.

Key words : Jackfruit pulp, milk pudding, gelatin, sensory quality.

1 and 5. M. Sc. (Agri.) students, 2. Asstt.Professor, 3. Professor, 4. Agril. Officer.

Table 1. Chemical composition of pudding ingredients (per cent).

Ingredient Fat Protein Ash Sugar Total Acidity Lactose Fiberssolids

Jackfruit pulp 0.21 1.67 0.97 16.07 23.92 0.23 - 1.43Sweetened 8.67 8.18 1.18 42.39 72.83 0.25 11.07 -condensed milk

reported by Arora (1987), De(1993) and Rajadhyax et al. (2000).The data revealed that jackfruit hashigh nutritive value. It is a goodsource of minerals and sugars. Thecomposition of jackfruit pulp are inagreement with those reported byBhore, et al. (1980) and Bhatia etal. (1995).

The data pertaining to thechemical composition and quality ofmilk pudding as influenced bydifferent levels of jackfruit andgelatin are presented in Table 2.There were significant decrease infat, protein, total sugar and totalsolids content of milk pudding withthe increase in the level of jackfruitpulp. This is obviously due to lowercontent of these nutrients in jackfruitas compared to condensed milk, themajor base ingredient of pudding.The titratable acidity of milk puddingwas not significantly influenced bythe level of jackfruit pulp.

Apparently there weresignificant decrease in the fat, totalsugar and total solids content in milkpudding due to increase in the levelof gelatin. There was slightsignificant increase in the proteincontent of milk pudding due toincrease in the gelatin level , whichmay be due to the fact that gelatin isa proteinaceous material (Anglemierand Montgomery, 1976).

The average score for allparameters of sensory quality (Table3) at any level of jackfruit was nearabout 7.0 indicating that the sensoryquality of all samples of pudding wasgood irrespective of the treatments.The pudding with 5 per cent level ofjackfruit pulp was more soft andloose as compared to pudding withhigher levels of jackfruit pulp. It alsohad comparatively weak body and

lacked characteristic gel structureand there was no uniformdistribution of jackfruit particles inthe body. Increase in the levels ofjackfruit pulp to 15 per centsignificantly improved to body andtexture of pudding. Further increasein the level of jackfruit pulp upto 20per cent, however, produced slightinferior quality pudding with roughbody and reduced jelling effect.There was significant variation inscores obtained by pudding atdifferent levels of jackfruit. Upto 15per cent level of jackfruit pulpshowed characteristic clean,moderate jackfruit flavour, but athigher pulp levels i.e. above 15 percent score was reduced due to verystrong aroma of jackfruit. Theoverall acceptability score wasdetermined on the basis of averageof score obtained for differentsensory attributes viz. colour andgeneral appearance, body andtexture and flavour. Average highestoverall acceptability score of 8.007

was recorded at 15 per cent level ofjackfruit pulp.

Gelatin produced considerablevariation in general appearance ofdifferent levels. The pudding at 1.0per cent and 1.5 per cent level hadslightly loose and soft body. Thegeneral appearance wassignificantly improved by increasingthe level of gelatin to 2.0 per cent.The gelatin at 1.0 per cent and 1.5per cent level was not effective inproducing desired viscosity andjelling effect in the product. At thislevel, body of the pudding was notfirm and texture showed lack ofsmoothness. The body and textureof pudding was significantlyimproved at the level of 2.0 per centof gelatin. There was significantvariation in score obtained bypudding at different levels of gelatin.The highest overall acceptabilityscore was recorded at 2.0 per centlevel of gelatin.

From result of the present study

Holmukhe et al.326

Table 2. Chemicals composition of pudding (per cent).

Constituent Levels of jackfruit pulp (per cent) Level of gelatin (per cent)–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––

5 10 15 20 1.0 1.5 2.0

Fat 8.271a 7.799b 7.367c 6.699d 7.635a 7.534a 7.433b

Protein 8.043a 7.727b 7.404c 6.968d 7.405a 7.536b 7.667c

Total sugar 41.136a 39.572b 38.208c 36.779d 39.217a 39.135a 38.420b

Total solids 70.6987a 66.967b 65.171c 63.323d 66.821a 66.409b 66.388b

Titratable acidity 0.269 0.269b 0.266c 0.265d 0.246a 0.265a 0.292b

Mean with different subscript in a row differed significantly (P < 0.01)

Table 3. Sensory quality of milk pudding (9 point hedonic scale).

Constituent Levels of jackfruit pulp (per cent) Level of gelatin (per cent)–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––5 10 15 20 1.0 1.5 2.0

General appearance 6.525a 6.506a 7.756c 6.980b 6.424a 6.984b 7.418c

Body and texture 6.623a 7.559c 8.226d 7.248b 6.969a 7.361b 7.913c

Flavour 6.302a 7.921c 8.041d 7.398b 7.184a 7.486b 7.576c

Overall acceptability 6.483a 7.329c 8.007d 7.208b 6.859a 7.277b 7.636c

Mean with different subscript in a row differed significantly (P < 0.01)

The studies on qualityfortification of kalakand using fruitjuice/pulp are rare. In view ofavailability and popularity ofAlphonso mango in konkan region,there is great scope for its use infortification of milk product like

kalakand for producing noveltyproduct. Alphonso mango is mostpopular and choicest fruit of tropicsand also known as the 'king of fruit'because of its high palatability,excellent taste, flavour and nutritivevalue. Alphonso is one of theleading commercial cultivars ofmango with good source of vitamins'A' and 'C'. Attempts were,

therefore, made to study thechemical and sensory quality ofkalakand prepared with differentlevel of mango pulp.


For the preparation ofkalakand, cow and buffalo milk wasreceived from the herd maintainedat the Dairy farm, College ofAgriculture, Dapoli, where asAlphonso mango pulp and otheringredients like sugar, citric acid etc.were purchased from the localmarket.

The kalakand was prepared asper the procedure given by De(1999) with slight modificationsusing two types of milk viz. cow milk

it may be concluded that thejackfruit pulp could be successfullyutilized for preparation of milkpudding using gelatin as the jellingagent. The best acceptable qualitypudding can be prepared by using15 per cent jackfruit pulp and 2.0per cent gelatin.

LITERATURE CITED

Anglemier,A. F. and M. W. Montegomery.1976. In "Principles of Food Science,Part-I, Food Chemistry" Edited byFennema, O. R. Marcel Dekker, Inc.New York and Basel : 238-239.

Arora, K. L. 1987. Quality of sweetenedcondensed milk manufactured in India,Indian Dairyman. 39(9): 415-417.

Bhatia, B. S., G. S. Siddapa and G. Lab.1995. Composition and nutritive valueof jackfruit. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 55(4):303-305.

Bhore, D. P., S. M. Ghunk and V. G. Shelke.1980. A promising type of jackfruit(Artocarpus hetrophyllus Lam.). J.Maharashtra agric. Univ. 5(1): 81-82.

De, Sukumar 1993. Outlines of DairyTechnology. Oxford University Press,New Delhi.

IS : 1479 (Part-I) 1960. Methods of test fordairy industry. Rapid examnination ofmilk. Indian Standards Institution,Manak Bhavan, New Delhi.

IS : 1479 (Part-II) 1961. Methods of test fordairy industry. Chemical analysis of milk.Indian Standards Institution, ManakBhavan, New Delhi.

IS : 6273 1971. Guide for sensory evaluationof food (Part-I) and (Part-II). IndianStandards Institution, Manak Bhavan,New Delhi.

IS : 1224 (Part-I) 1977. Determination of fatby Gerber's method (Revised). IndianStandards Institution, Manak Bhavan,New Delhi.

Rajadhyax, M. B., V. A. Toro and S. V. Joshi.2000. Utilization of tender colour forpreparation of milk pudding. Indian J.Dairy Sci. 53(6): 419-423.

Ranganna, S. 1986. Analysis and qualitycontrol for fruit and vegetable products.2nd Education Tata McGraw Publ. Co.Ltd, New Delhi.

Snedecor, G. W. and W. G. Cochran. 1994.Stastical Methods. 6th Ed. The IowaState College Press. Anines, Oxford andIBA Publi. Co. Calcutta.



Preparation of Kalakand Fortified with Mango Pulp

Archana Dongale1, V. A. Toro2, S. V. Joshi3, V. B. Kadav4 and P. V. Jadhav5

Dept. of Animal Science and Dairy ScienceDr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)

(Received : 27-09-2008)

ABSTRACT

Kalakand fortified with 5, 10 and 15 per cent mango pulp was prepared by using cow andbuffalo milk. Addition of mango pulp reduced the fat content while the total solids increased inthe cow milk and buffalo milk kalakand. The highest acidity observed in plain kalakandshowed decreasing trend with increasing level of mango pulp. From overall acceptability it isclear that buffalo milk was superior to cow milk for preparation of kalakand with or withoutmango pulp.

Key words : Kalakand, mango pulp chemical quality, sensory quality.

______________

1. M. Sc. (Agri.) student 2. Ex. Professor3. Asstt. Professor 4. Sr. Res. Asstt. 5. Sr.Surveillance Officer.

(T1) and buffalo milk (T2), with threelevels of mango pulp (L1-5%, L2-10% and L3-15%) and trial wasconducted with six replications.

The fat content of milk wasdetermined by using standard gerbermethod as per IS: 1224 (part-I),1977. The acidity of milk wasestimated according to IS: 1479(part-I), 1960. The total solidscontent of milk and Kalakand weredetermined by gravimetric methodas per IS: 1479 (part-II), 196.1. Thefat and the acidity content of all thesamples of kalakand wereestimated by the method given byChoudhary (1959) and bysubtracting per cent total solids from100, moisture was calculated. Thefat, total solids, acidity, total sugars,reducing sugars and non reducingsugar of mango pulp weredetermined as per the proceduregiven by Ranganna (1986).

The sensory attributes ofkalakand prepared by using cowand buffalo milk with different levelsof mango pulp were evaluated byconducting sensory evaluation bypanel of ten judges. Colour andappearance, flavour, body andtexture and overall acceptabilitywere assessed by nine point hedonicscale as per IS : 6273 (part-II),1971. The data obtained from sixreplications were analyzedaccording to the method describedby Snedeccor and Cochran (1994).


The chemical analysis indicatedthat cow and buffalo milk used forkalakand preparation had averagefat content 4.45 and 6.06 per cent,total solids 13.27 and 15.53 percent and acidity 0.14 and 0.12 percent, respectively. All these valueslie within the range of legal

standards for cow and buffalo milkas described by PFA rules 1976.

The average chemicalcomposition of Alphonso mangopulp used in the present studyshowed fat conteni 0.84 per cent,total solids 30.73 per cent, acidity0.42 per cent, total sugar 14.96 percent and reducing and non reducingsugars 4.45 and 10.51 per cent,respectively . The analytical figureswere similar to the values reportedby Joshi and Roy (1989), Patil(1990) and Desai (1992).

The data pertaining to chemicalcomposition and quality ofkalakand as influenced by differenttypes of milk and levels of mangopulp are presented in Table-1.

There was significant decrease inmoisture and fat content ofKalakand with the increase in thelevel of mango pulp. This isobviously due to lower contents ofthese constituents in mango pulp ascompared to the type of milk usedfor kalakand preparation, whereas

decrease in acidity from 0.47 to0.37 per cent which may be due toslightly lower acidity of mango pulp(0.42%) compared to plainkalakand and its addition at laterstage of kalakand preparation. Thetotal solids content of kalakandincreased with the increase in thelevel of mango pulp. This is due tohigher total solid content in pulp ascompared to total solids content oforiginal milk from which kalakandwas prepared.

There was decrease in themoisture content of kalakand dueto type of milk and this decrease isobviously due to initial lowermoisture content in buffalo milk (T2)than cow milk (T1). There wasincrease in the total solids and fatcontent of kalakand which is due tothe initial higher percentage of theseconstituents in buffalo milk (T2)compared to cow milk (T1), whereasdifferences in titratable acidity ofkalakand due to types of milk werenon-significant.

Dangale et al.328

Table 1. Chemical quality of Kalakand (per cent).

Constituent Level of mango pulp (per cent) Types of milk–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––0 5 10 15 T1 T2

Moisture 31.24a 30.00a 28.97a 27.73b 34.67a 24.29b

Total solids 68.76a 70.00a 71.03a 72.27b 65.32a 75.71b

Fat 24.72a 23.96a 22.76b 21.39c 20.17a 26.25b

Titratable acidity 0.47a 0.42b 0.39b 0.37c 0.42 0.40

Means with different alphabets in row differed significantly (P < 0.01).

Table 2. Organoleptic quality of Kalakand (Nine point hedonic scale).

Characteristics Level of mango pulp (per cent) Type of milk––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––0 5 10 15 T1 T2

Colour and appearance 6.88a 7.36b 7.47b 7.76b 7.25 7.49Flavour 6.84a 7.20a 7.23a 7.46b 7.03 7.33Body and texture 6.83 7.07 7.10 7.30 6.87a 7.28b

Overall acceptability 6.85a 7.21a 7.26b 7.50b 7.05a 7.36b

Mean with different alphabets in a row differed significantly (P < 0.01).

The average score for all theparameters of sensory quality (Table2) at any level of mango pulp wasabove 7.0 indicating that thesensory quality of all the samples ofKalakand was good irrespective ofthe treatment, whereas thekalakand without mango pulp didnot like much to the judges ascompared to the other samples.

Body and texture characteristicsof kalakand have great influence onits acceptability. A good qualitykalakand has hard grains withgranular appearance. The variationin body and texture score due todifferent level of mango pulp wasnon-significant. It may be due to thefact that the type of milk and aciditydeveloped by addition of citric acidhas the greatest influence on bodyand texture of kalakand. Additionof mango pulp at later stage ofkalakand preparation did not havemuch impact on the body andtexture. Kalakand prepared byusing cow and buffalo milk showedthe significant differences for bodyand texture. Kalakand from buffalomilk was preferred most to that ofcow milk kalakand. Buffalo milkkalakand had bigger grains withbetter appeal than the cow milkkalakand which had small sandygrains and more dry surface.

The data pertaining to sensoryscore of flavour revealed thatdifferences in values for flavourshowed significant variatioo due toaddition of mango pulp. Kalakandwith 15 per cent mango pulp wassuperior over rest of treatments dueto typical appealing alphansoflavour, whereas the variation insensory score of flavour due to type

of milk was non significant.

The data revealed that there wasnon-significant variation betweentype of milk in respect of colour andappearance of the product.However, the addition of mangopulp significantly improved thecolour and appearance ofkalakand. The kalakand withoutmango pulp irrespective of type ofmilk recorded the lowest score(6.88) which were significantlyincreased with increase in the levelof mango pulp. The highest scorewas obtained at the level of 15 percent mango pulp. However, all thelevels of mango pulp werestatistically at par with each other.

The overall acceptability scorewas determined on the basis ofaverage of the total score obtainedfor different sensory attributes viz.general appearance, body andtexture, and flavour. The higheracceptability score of 7.50 wasrecorded at 15 per cent level ofmango pulp, as this product at thelevel showed attractive yellowishcolour of mango and typicalappealing flavour of alphanso.Kalakand prepared from cow andbuffalo milk did not have significantvariation in respect of appearanceand flavour. Whereas in respect ofbody and texture, buffalo milkkalakand had acceptable biggergrains with better appeal. Thehighest overall acceptability scorewas recorded for kalakandprepared from buffalo milk (7.36).

From the result of present studyit may be concluded that the buffalomilk produced better qualitykalakand. Fortification of kalakand

with mango pulp improved sensoryquality and acceptability of theproduct. The optimum level ofmango pulp for fortification wasfound to be 15 per cent for bothcow and buffalo milk kalakand.

LITERATURE CITED

Chaudhari, A. C. 1959. Practical dairyscience and laboratory methods.Scientific Book Agency, Culcutta.

De, Sukumar. 1999. Outlines of dairytechnology. Oxford University Press,New Delhi.

Desai, S. R. 1992. Preparation of fruityoghurt using cow milk. M. Sc. (Agri.)thesis submitted to Dr. B. S. KonkanKrishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli.

IS: 1479 (Part-I) 1960. Methods of test fordairy industry. Rapid examination ofmilk. Indian Standards Institution,Manak Bhavan, New Delhi.

IS: 1479 (Part-II) 1961. Methods of test fordairy industry. Chemical analysis of milk.Indian Standards Institution, ManakBhavan, New Delhi.

IS: 6273 (Part-II) 1971. Guide for sensoryevaluation of food. Indian StandardsInstitution, Manak Bhavan, New Delhi.

IS: 1224 (Part-II) 1977. Determination of fatby Gerber method (Revised). IndianStandards Institution, Manak Bhavan,New Delhi.

Joshi, G. D. and S. K. Roy. 1989. Effect ofintegrated post harvest handling onquality and shelf life of alphonso mangofruits. Maharashtra J. Hort. 4 (2) : 96

Patil. S. A. 1990. Evaluation of mango(Mangifera indica L.) cvs. Alphonso,Ratna, Pairi and Kesar fruits for physico-chemical, composition, storage andprocessing. M. Sc. (Agri.) thesissubmitted to Dr. B. S. Konkan KrishiVidyapeeth, Dapoli

Ranganna, S. 1986. Handbook of analysisand quality control for fruit andvegetable products. Tata Mc. Graw HillPubli. Co. Ltd. New Delhi.

Snedccor, W. G. and G. W. Cochran. 1994.Statistical Methods. East - West PressPvt. Ltd., New Delhi.


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Plants meet their energyrequirements autotrophically byphotosynthesis. However, in tissueculture, the explants lack thisautotropic ability since the normalfunctions of the chloroplasts areeither absent or blocked as reportedby Maretzki et al. (1974). Success inthe technology and application of invitro methods is due largely to abetter understanding of thenutritional requirements of culturedcells and tissues as reported byThorpe (1978). The two factors,which most frequently determinethe success of cell cultures, areexplant origin and the generalnutritional milieu. The nutritionalmilieu consists of inorganic salts, acarbon and energy source, vitaminsand phytohor-mones (growthregulators).

Fully organized, green shoots inculture also show better growth andproliferation with the addition ofsuitable carbon source in themedium. The carbohydrate sourcesused in plant tissue culture aremainly sucrose, fructose and glucoseand to a lesser extent maltose,galactose, mannose and lactose(Gautheret, 1959). The best andmostly used source of carbohydratefor plant tissue culture is sucrose ata concentration of 2-5 per cent. Thequantity of carbohydrate absorbedand its fate dependens on the typeof carbohydrate supplied and on theexplant (Butenko, 1968). It isimperative to supply externalcarbon sources to produce enoughcarbohydrate in order to promote

cell growth and subsequentregeneration. Another importanceof sucrose in tissue culture is its roleas an osmoticum. Sucrose alongwith agar is the major component inthe media to affect the uptake ofwater by plant cells.

The main objective ofconducting this experiment was tostandardize the concentration ofsucrose for the micropropagation ofsugar beet varieties Palma and DS4061.

The experiment was carried outat Biotechnology Laboratory ofVasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune.Seeds of sugar beet varieties, Palmaand DS 4061 were obtained fromDanisco Seed Company ofDenmark.

Media preparation : In allstages the medium used was MS(Murashige and Skoog, 1962). pH

of the medium was adjusted to 5.8before autoclaving and the mediumwas gelled with agar 0.8 per cent.The medium was dispensed in jambottles (45 ml bottle-1) and sterilizedby autoclaving at 121°C for 20minutes.

Surface disinfection andseed germination (stage I) :Seeds were washed and then soakedin distilled water for 12 hr. Soakedseeds were surface disinfected withan aqueous solution of mercuricchloride (0.1%, w/v, 3 min)followed by repeated washings withsterile distilled water under asepticconditions and then placedaseptically on hormone-freeMurashige and Skoog's (1962)medium containing 2 % sucrose.Seeds were incubated at 25 ± 2 °C.

Multiple shoot induction(stage II) : Using a scalpel, theshoot meristems were excised from

RESEARCH NOTESJ. Maharashtra agric. Univ., 34 (3) : 330-331 (2009)

Effect of Different Concentrations of Sucrose onMicropropagation of Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris L).

Table 1. Effect of different concentrations of sucrose on micropropagation of two varieties ofsugarbeet Palma and DS 4061.

Sucrose Variety Number of Height of Fresh weightconc. shoots longest of culture(%) explant-1 shoot (cm) (g)

0 Palma 4.00 ± 0.00 2.4 ± 0.06 0.44 ± 0.02DS 4061 3.00 ± 0.00 3.13 ± 0.12 0.46 ± 0.02

1 Palma 5.99 ± 0.14 3.7 ± 0.26 1.59 ± 0.20DS 4061 8.00 ± 1.24 4.84 ± 0.19 1.79 ± 0.06

2 Palma 9.33 ± 0.54 4.7 ± 0.10 2.49 ± 0.06DS 4061 9.33 ± 0.54 4.47 ± 0.12 1.75 ± 0.21

3 Palma 13.22 ± 0.09 5.00 ± 0.24 3.64 ± 0.15DS 4061 16.70 ± 0.26 4.67 ± 0.11 3.78 ± 0.06

4 Palma 9.77 ± 0.36 4.10 ± 0.11 2.47 ± 0.18DS 4061 11.33 ± 1.08 4.24 ± 0.21 2.63 ± 0.34

5 Palma 7.55 ± 0.18 3.30 ± 0.24 1.52 ± 0.29DS 4061 7.11 ± 0.39 3.85 ± 0.03 1.92 ± 0.19

• Evaluation was done after 20 days in culture.

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is animportant winter forage crop ofgramineae family. Owing to itsexcellent growth habit, better

palatability, quick regrowth andgood quality forage, it has become apromising forage crop for thelivestock feeding. Multicut ability of

oat reduces the cost of establishingnew crops. Forage plants especiallythe multicuts are heavy feeders ofplant nutrients and remove large

the 30-day-old in vitro grown plantunder aseptic condition in thelaminar flow. These dissectedmeristems were transferred to MSmedium + cytokinin (BAP) for shootinduction. The culture vessels werekept on the shelf in the cultureroom. The cultures were maintainedat 25 ± 2°C with 12 hr daylight.The photoperiod was maintained byan automatic timer system and lightintensity of 1000 lux.

Inoculation on media withdifferent sucrose concentra-tions (stage III) : The MS mediawas prepared with differentconcentrations of sucrose (0, 1, 2,3, 4, and 5 %). Axillary shootcuttings were excised from the invitro cultures obtained in stage II(meristem culture). During excision,the large leaves were discarded toensure an unvarying growth of thenew shoots. The shoots cutting werethen inoculated on the fresh MSmedia and cultured for 20 days.

Statistical design : Theexperiment was conducted using acompletely randomized design withthree replications and repeatedthree times. Pooled analysis wascarried out and conclusions weredrawn on the basis of pooled dataover three experiment.

ANOVA revealed significantdifferences among the differentconcentrations of sucrose onmultiple shoot formation, heightand fresh weight of culture. (Table1). In both the cultivars number ofshoots, height and fresh weightsignificantly increased as theconcentration of sucrose increasedfrom 0 to 3 per cent. The highestnumber of shoots, 13.22 and 16.7were induced on medium containing3 per cent sucrose in 20 days invarieties palma and DS 4061respectively. The number of shootswas significantly reduced in both thecultivars when sucrose concentra-tion in media was further increased(4 and 5 %).

The highest level of growth inthe presence of 3 per cent sucrose(30 gm liter-1) in the mediumindicates the signaling role ofsucrose on micropropagation andthe threshold effect.

It can thus be concluded that forgetting more number of shoots andgood plant growth in micropro-pagation of sugar beet the sucroseconcentration in the culture mediumshould be 3 per cent.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Authors are grateful to DaniscoSeed Company, Denmark for

providing the seed for the researchwork. Facilities provided by theDirector General, VSI are gratefullyacknowledged.

S. S. SalokheA. R. ZawareY. S. Nerkar

Vasantdada Sugar InstituteManjari (Bk.), Pune-412 307 (India)December 10, 2005.

LITERATURE CITED

Butenko, R. G. 1968. Nutrition in tissue. In:Plant Tissue Culture and PlantMorphogenesis. (Ed M. K. Chailekhyan),Israel Prog, for Scientific Translation 31-33.

Gautheret, R. J. 1959. In: La Culture desTissus Vegetaux, Techniques etRealisation. Paris, Masson et Cie.

Maretzki, A., M. Thom and L. G. Nickell.1974. Utilization and metabolism ofcarbohydrates in cell and callus cultures.In: Tissue Culture and Plant Science,(Ed. H.E. Street) Acad. Press, London.329-361.

Murashige, T. and F. Skoog. 1962. A revisedmedia for rapid growth and bioassy withtobacco tissue culture. Physiol. Plant.15: 473.

Seetohul, S. 1995. A study of the effects ofcarbohydrates in tissue culture ofNicotiana tabacum. Dissertation forrequirement of B.Sc, University ofMauritius, Mauritius.

Thorpe, T. A. 1978. Plant tissue culture,Methods and Application in Agriculture.Acad. Press. 23.


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Effect of Nitrogen Levels on Forage Yield of PromisingVarieties of Multicut Oat

amount of nutrients from the soil.Nitrogen is an essential primarynutrient for profuse plant growththat plays a pivotal role inquantitative as well as qualitativeimprovement in productivity offorage under multicut condition(Kumar et al. 1997). Now a daysmany new improved genotypes ofoat are developed and hence it feltnecessary to exploit the greenforage yield of these genotypes withdifferent nitrogen levels.Information on response of effect ofnitrogen on multicut oat varietiesunder irrigated condition is verylimited. Keeping these in view, thepresent study was undertaken.

The field experiment wasconducted at Forage Crops

Research Project, MPKV, Rahuriduring rabi season of 2004-05. Theexperiment was laid out in factorialrandomized block design with threereplications. Treatments comprisedof five oat varieties (JHO-2000-1,JHO-2002-3, RO-19, OS-317 andUPO-212) and four nitrogen levels(0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1). Thesoil of the experimental field wasclayey in texture, low in availablenitrogen (208 kg ha-1), medium inphosphorus (10.14 kg ha-1) andhigh in available potash (432 kgha-1). The crop was fertilized with60 kg P and 40 kg K per hectare.The half quantity of N and full doseof P and K were applied as basaldressing. The remaining half dose ofN was top dressed 30 days aftersowing. The first cut was taken at60 days after sowing and second cutat 50 per cent flowering.

Varieties : The differences ingreen forage, dry matter and crudeprotein yield were differedsignificantly due to varieties (Table1). The variety RO-19 recordedsignificantly higher green forage(505.4 q ha-1) and dry matter yield(90.7 q ha-1) than other varieties;however, for crude protein yield itwas at par with JHO-2002-1 (9.3 qha-1). Similar results were alsoreported by Gill and Malik (1983)and Kumar et al. (1997).

Nitrogen levels : Datapresented in Table 1 revealed that,with increasing level of nitrogenfrom 0 to 120 kg ha-1 significantlyincreased green forage, dry matterand crude protein yields. Anincrease of green forage, dry matter

and crude protein yields by 102.14,150.67 and 130.77 per cent wereobserved by 120 kg N ha-1 overcontrol. These results are inagreement with those reported byKumar et al. (1997), Singh et al.(1998), Hasan et al. (2000) andSharma and Bhunia (2001).

Thus, it could be concluded thatfor higher productivity of multi-cutoat, variety RO-19 should be grownwith application of 120 kg N ha-1.

S. H. Pathan R. L. Bhilare A. D. Kadlag

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri-413722 (India)November 11, 2007.

LITRERATURE CITED

Gill, P. S. and B. S. Malik. 1983. Responseof oat varieties to soil moisture regimeand nitrogen levels. Forage Res. 9 :151-154.

Hasan, B., W. A. Shah. and B. Hasan. 2000.Biomass, grain production and quality ofoats (Avena sativa) under differentcutting regimes and nitrogen levels.Cereal Res. Communication. 28 (1-2) :203-210.

Kumar, Y., B. L. Sharma, G. L. Yadav and P.K. Sharma. 1997. Nitrogen manage-ment in fodder crop of double cut oat(Avena sativa). Indian J. Agron. 42 (2) :313-315.

Sharma, S. K. and S. R. Bhunia. 2001.Response of oat (Avena sativa) tocutting management, method of sowingand nitrogen. Indian J. Agron. 46 (3) :563-567.

Singh, R., B. R. Sood, V. K. Sharma and N.S. Rana. 1998. Effect of cuttingmanagement and nitrogen on forageand seed yields of oat (Avena sativa).Indian J. Agron. 43 (2) : 362-366.

Pathan et al.332

Table 1. Green forage, dry matter and crudeprotein yields of multicut oatvarieties as influenced by nitrogenlevels (Total of two cuts).

Treatment Green Dry Crudeforage matter proteinyield yield yield(q ha-1) (q ha-1) (q ha-1)

Varieties :JHO-2002-1 414.6 83.6 9.3JHO-2002-3 458.2 77.9 8.6RO-19 505.4 90.7 9.8OS-317 416.4 75.9 8.3UPO-212 454.8 52.6 9.1S. E.+ 4.9 0.9 0.2C. D. at 5% 13.9 2.6 0.5

Nitrogen levels (kg ha-1) :0 285.3 44.8 5.240 399.6 70.0 7.680 538.0 101.4 11.4120 576.7 112.3 12.0S. E.+ 4.4 0.8 0.1C. D. at 5% 12.5 2.3 0.4

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Oat (Avena sativa L.) is animportant winter forage crop grownunder irrigated condition of North,North west and central parts ofIndia. At present, country has nearly40 per cent short supply of forageproduction, which needs to bebridged in order to achieve the goalof white revolution. Forage is thechepest source of animal feed. Inview of these facts, there is anurgent need of increasing goodquality forage supply by adoptingimproved agronomic techniques,among which the improvedgenotypes and balance fertilizer useare one of them. Nitrogen is anessential primary nutrient forprofuse plant growth that plays apivotal role in productivity of forageproduction (Kumar et al. 1997).Now a days many new improvedgenotypes of oat are coming up asforage varieties. It is therefore,necessary to exploit the greenforage yield of these genotypesunder different nitrogen levels.Keeping these in view, the presentstudy was undertaken.

The field experiment wasconducted at Forage CropsResearch Project, MPKV, Rahuriduring rabi season of 2006-07. Theexperiment was laid out in factorialrandomized block design with threereplications. Treatments comprisedof five oat genotypes (JHO-2004-4,UPO-04-1, Kent, OS-6 and RO-19)and four nitrogen levels (0, 40, 80and 120 kg ha-1). The soil of theexperimental field was low inavailable nitrogen (219.5 kg ha-1),medium in phosphorus (16.8 kg

ha-1) and high in available potash(438.7 kg ha-1). The crop wasfertilized with 60 kg P2O5 and 40kg K2O per hectare. The N wasapplied into three equal splits. The1/3 quantity of N and full dose ofphosphorus and potassium wereapplied as basal dressing. Theremaining two splits of N were topdressed at 25 and 45 days aftersowing. The cut was taken at 50 percent flowering.

The data presented in Table 1revealed that the yield attributes andgreen forage, dry matter and crudeprotein yield were differedsignificantly due to genotypes. Thegenotype UPO-04-1 being at parwith kent and OS-6 recordedsignificantly higher plant populationper metre row length than othergenotypes. However, significantlyhigher plant height was registeredby genotype RO-19 as compared to

other genotypes. The genotype kentnoticed significantly more leaf : stemratio than other genotypes exceptgenotype OS-6. The genotypeUPO-04-1 being at par with RO-19recorded significantly higher greenforage (292.04 q ha-1) and drymatter yield (53.64 q ha-1) thanother genotypes; however,genotype RO-19 recordedsignificantly higher crude proteinyield (4.89 q ha-1) than all othergenotypes. The higher yieldrecorded by genotype UPO-04-1might be due to maximum plantpopulation per metre row length.Similar results were also reported byPathan et al. (2005).

An increase in level of nitrogenfrom 0 to 120 kg ha-1, showedprogressive increment of yieldattributes and green forage, drymatter and crude protein yield. Anapplication 120 kg N ha-1 being at


Response of Nitrogen Levels to Single Cut Oat Genotypes

Table 1. Yield contributing characters and green forage, dry matter and crude protein yield ofsingle cut oat genotypes as influenced by nitrogen levels.

Treatment Plant Plant L:S Green Dry Crudepopu- height ratio forage matter proteinlation (cm) yield yield yield m2 (q ha-1) (q ha-1) (q ha-1)

Varieties :JHO-2004-04 91.58 109.25 0.860 271.32 48.21 4.41UPO-04-1 94.17 99.78 0.893 292.04 53.64 4.39Kent 93.75 111.07 0.895 260.55 45.21 3.83OS-6 93.83 124.93 0.680 250.37 41.84 3.79RO-19 92.17 129.70 0.843 289.21 52.13 4.89S. E.+ 0.23 0.70 0.012 5.95 0.78 0.08C. D. at 5% 0.65 2.00 0.035 17.03 2.23 0.22

Nitrogen levels (kg ha-1) :0 93.00 100.04 0.777 188.95 34.61 2.7240 93.13 114.43 0.822 274.05 46.69 3.9180 93.13 122.00 0.852 310.82 55.32 4.92120 93.00 123.32 0.885 316.97 56.20 5.50S. E.+ 0.20 0.62 0.011 5.32 0.70 0.07C. D. at 5% NS 1.79 0.032 15.23 1.99 0.20

Anthracnose of chilli caused byColletotrichum capsici is known tocause extensive losses in chilli(Mishra, 1988; Ratnaparakhi,1988; Patil et al. 1993). Severity ofdisease is dependent on growth ofpathogen, its sporulation and sporegermination of the fungus, whichare reported to be influencedstrongly by the temperature. (Singhet al. 1977, Mazlan and Sarion,1980, Chung and Lee, 1986, Alabiand Emechabe, 1992, Thakur andKhare, 1993; Mishra and Gupta1994).

Considerable variation forrequirement of optimum tempera-ture for fungal growth, sporulation,

spore germination, disease initiationand spread may exist. Present studywas therefore, undertaken to findout optimum temperature require-ment of C. capsici on the aboveaspects in the Marathwada region ofMaharashtra State.

To study the effect oftemperature on mycelial growth ofC. capsici, 5 mm (diameter) growthof C. capsici from seven-day-oldculture on PDA in petri dish was cutwith sterilized cork borer and wastransferred at the center of sterilizedand solidified PDA medium inpetriplates under aseptic condition.The plates were inverted, coveredand incubated at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25,

30 and 35°C in BOD incubators.Observations regarding meancolony diameter of fungus wererecorded on 4th and 7th day ofincubatian.

Germinability of conidia of C.capsici was studied at aforesaidtemperatures, by slide germinationtechnique (Chung and Lee, 1986).Standard cavity glass slides wereused for this purpose. In each cavityslide 0.1 ml sterilized water wasadded. The cavities were uniformlydusted with freshly harvestedconidia of C. capsici. The slides thusprepared were transferred tosterilized petriplates with moistblotter and were incubated in BOD

par with 80 kg N ha-1 recordedsignificantly higher yield attributesviz., plant height and leaf: stem ratiothan all other levels of nitrogen,however, plant population did notdiffer significantly due to differentnitrogen levels. The application of120 kg N ha-1 producedsignificantly higher green forageyield (316.97 q ha-1), dry matteryield (56.20 q ha-1) and crudeprotein yield (5.50 q ha-1) than allother levels of nitrogen except 80kg N ha-1 where it was found at parfor green forage and dry matteryield. An increase of green forage,dry matter and crude protein yieldsby 102.14, 150.67 and 130.77 percent respectively was observed by120 kg N ha-1 over control. Thismight be due to higher magnitude of

yield attributes at 120 kg N ha-1.These results are in agreement withthose reported by Kumar et al.(1997), Singh et al. (1998), Sharmaand Bhunia (2001) and Pathan etal. (2007).

Thus, it could be concluded thatfor higher productivity of single cutoat in terms of quantity and quality,variety RO-19 should be grown withapplication of 80 kg N ha-1.

S. H. Pathan R. L. Bhilare

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri- 413 722 (India)October 14, 2007.

LITERATURE CITED

Kumar, Y., B. L. Sharma, G. L. Yadav and P.

K. Sharma. 1997. Nitrogenmanagement in fodder crop of doublecut oat (Avena sativd). Indian J. Agron.42 (2): 313-315.

Pathan, S. H., R. M. Gethe, R. M. Manjareand A. D. Kadlag. 2005. Response ofmulticut oat to spacing and nitrogen forgreen forage yield. Forage Res., 31 :150-151.

Pathan, S. H., R. L. Bhilare, K. B. Nawaleand V. T. Jadhav. 2007. Response ofmulticut oat varities to nitrogen levels.Forage Res., 32 : 269-270.

Sharma, S. K. and S. R. Bhunia. 2001.Response of oat (Avena sativa) tocutting management, method of sowingand nitrogen. Indian J. Agron. 46 (3):563-567.

Singh, R., B. R. Sood, V. K. Sharma and N.S. Rana. l998. Effect of cuttingmanagement and nitrogen on forageand seed yields of oat (Avena sativa).Indian J. Agron. 43 (2) : 362-366.

Pathan and Bhilare334

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Effect of Temperature on Growth and Spore Germination ofColletotrichum capsici and Disease Development in Chilli

incubators at temperatures rangingfrom 5 to 35°C.

For studying pathogenic effect ofC. capsici in vitro at temperaturesranging from 5 to 35°C apparentlyhealthy leaves and fruits of variousdevelopmental stages of chilli (Cv,Parbhani Tejas) were collected fromfield. These were surface sterilizedfor 2 minutes in 0.1 per centmercuric chloride solution and weresubsequently rinsed in three changesof sterilized water under asepticcondition and then spores of C.capsici was separately dusted onthem, these were transferred inpetriplates with moist blotter. Theseplates were incubated in BODincubators. The development ofsymptoms on inoculated leaves andfruits was recorded by dailyobservations. There were 3replications for each of aboveexperiment.

C. capsici grew well from thetemperature ranging from 10 to35°C as evidenced from increase incolony diameter is observed up to30°C temperature. Its growth wasnot observed at 5°C up to 7 days.Maximum growth was observed at30°C which was at par with 25°Cand significantly superior to rest ofthe temperatures (Table 1). It is seenfrom the study made by earlierworkers that there is a difference ofopinion for the optimumtemperature required for growthand sporulation of C. capsici.(Mazlan and Sarian, 1980; Chungand Lee 1986; Alabi andEmechebe, 1992; Thakur andKhare 1993 and Mishra and Gupta1994). Variation in requirement oftemperature range can be due tovariation in isolates of C. capsici.

C. capsici germinated readily in

the temperature range of 10 to35°C. Conidial germination up to48 hours of incubation was not seenat 5°C. Maximum conidialgermination was observed at 30°C,which was significantly more thanrest of the temperatures andfollowed by 25, 20, 15 and 10°C.Observations of present study aremore or less similar to thoseobserved by Chung and Lee (1986),Mishra and Gupta (1994) but differfrom the observations made byAlabi and Emechebe (1992) andThakur and Khare (1993), whoreported that 25°C temperature wasmost favorable for maximum growthand sporulation. This variationseems to be because of variation inthe physiology of the isolate.

It is seen from results thattemperature influenced incubationperiod of anthracnose disease andalso development of symptoms onleaves and fruits. Symptoms could

not develop up to a fortnight at 5°Cwhile developed readily at thetemperature range of 10 to 35°C.Minimum incubation period of 7days was required at temperature of25°C and was slightly more for 20and 30°C. Maximum incubationperiod was observed for 10°C.These observations are inconformity with Manale (1984),Austuti and Suhardi (1986) andDatar (1995) who reported thattemperature between 20-30°C wasconducive for fruit rot developmentin chilli.

D. G. Hingole B. P. Kurundkar

Depart. of Plant Pathology College of Agriculture, Badnapur - 413 202 (India)September 1, 2007.

LITERATURE CITED

Alabi, O. and A. M. Emechebe. 1992. Effectof temperature on growth and


Table 1. Growth, conidial germination and symptom expression of C. capsici as influenced byincubation temperatures.

Tempe- Mean colony Mean conidial germi- Days rature diameter (mm) nation on (%) required (ºC) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––– after

4 days 7 days Per day Hours of incubation inoculation––––––––––––––––––––– for symptom

24 48 expression

5 5.00 5.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -(12.90) (12.90) (0.00) (0.00)

10 5.50 6.66 0.24 16.54 24.29 15(13.56) (15.00) (24.65) (29.47)

15 7.66 14.66 1.38 37.94 43.23 13(16.11) (22.54) (38.01) (41.10)

20 20.16 34.33 4.19 48.73 53.05 9(26.71) (35.85) (44.25) (46.76)

25 25.73 45.63 5.80 75.33 80.72 7(30.46) (42.48) (60.23) (63.96)

30 27.83 49.00 6.29 81.13 83.94 8(31.82) (44.43) (64.24) (66.38)

35 9.33 17.33 1.76 46.79 50.01 12(17.76) (24.58) (43.16) (45.00)

S. E.+ 0.64 0.59 - 0.80 0.75 -

C. D. at 5% 1.96 1.81 - 2.58 2.33 -

Among the various majorlimiting factors in crop production,water management plays animportant role. Major source ofwater for rainfed agriculture israinfall during kharif season.However, rainfall is erraticcharacterized by uneven distributionand inadequacy for crop production.Therefore, to increase cropproduction in rainfed and dry landfarming it is necessary to adopt thesoil and water conservationmeasures like strip cropping,contour farming, contour andgraded bunding, terracing,trenching, mulching etc. Use ofvegetative bunds and various landtreatments increases the moistureintake and yield of crop werereported by Agrawal (1991). Bharadet al. (1995) also reported increasein yield by about 55.6 per cent ofmillet in treatment of contourcultivation with vetiver key line overthe sowing along the slope. Keepingthese in view, the presentexperiment was conducted.

The field experiment wasconducted during kharif season of1998-99, on Model Watershed,(Agro ecological and EnvironmentCentre) at Dr. PDKV, Akola toevaluate the effect of landtreatments on growth, yieldattributes and yield of maize crop.The experiment was laid out in arandomized block design with fivereplications. Treatments comprisedof four land treatments (T1 - sowingalong the slope, T2 - contour sowingalong the vetiver hedge at 1 m VI,T3 - sowing along the graded bundat 1 m VI and T4 - sowing acrossthe slope). The soil of the

experimental field was silt clay loam,medium deep with 1.7 per cent landslope. The sowing of maize (cv.Cargill-633) was done on 8th July1998 and harvested on 21st Nov.1998. Other agronomic practiceswere followed as perrecommendation. The rainfallreceived during kharif 1998 was796.7 mm in a 44 rainy days andwell distributed.

Growth and yield attributes :The plant height (160.93 cm) andnumber of functional leaves (12.36)were significantly more in vetiverhedge treatment (T2) followed by

sporulation of cowpea brown blotchpathogen (Colletotrichum capsici).Samaru J. Agric. Res., 9: 99-102.

Austuti, E. B. and F. Suhardi. 1986. Theeffect of storage temperature and fruitmaturity on incidence of anthracnose ofchilli pepper. Bull. Penelition Hort.13(1): 40-45.

Chung, B. K. and S. B. Lee. 1986. Effect ofconidial number and nutrition on thegermination of conidia inColletotrichum capsici causing redpepper anthracnose. Korean. J. Pl.Prot., 25(1): 41-46.

Datar, V. V. 1995. Pathogenicity and effectof temperature on six fungi causing fruitrot of chilli. Indian J. Mycol. Pl. Pathol.,25(3): 195-197.

Manale, V. B. 1984. Investigations onanthracnose of chilli. (C. capsici.) M. Sc.(Agri.) thesis, Marathwada Agril. Univ.,Parbhani (M.S.), pp 1-76.

Mazlan, S. and M. Sarian. 1980.Anthracnose of chilli in Malesia. Biologyof pathogen and varietal susceptibility.Pertanika. 3(1): 47-52.

Mishra, A. and O. M. Gupta. l994. Influence

of environment on growth andsporulation of Colletotrichumdematum. Indian J. Mycol. Pl. Pathol.,24(2): 85-87.

Singh, R. P., P. N. Singh and D. R. Singh.1977. Note on fruit rot disease of chilli.Indian J. Mycol. Pl. Pathol., 23(2): 188-190.

Thakur, M. P. and M. N. Khare. 1993.Factors affecting sporulation andconidial germination of two species ofColletotrichum from mung. Indian J.Mycol. Pl. Pathol., 23(2): 188-190.

Hingole and Kurundkar336

______________


Effect of Land Treatments on Growth and Yield of Maize (Zea mays)

Table 1. Growth attributes of maize as influenced by land treatment.

Treatment Plant Functional Leaf area Dry matter Days height leaves dm2 plant-1 (g) to 50%(cm) plant-1 plant-1 tasseling

T1 147.43 11.08 44.92 149.73 52.60T2 160.93 12.36 56.48 158.28 52.40T3 155.23 11.90 54.33 154.14 52.60T4 154.11 11.66 52.41 153.12 52.80S. E.+ 0.34 0.11 0.16 0.14 0.40C. D. at 5% 1.05 0.34 0.48 0.43 NS

graded bund treatment than sowingacross and along the slopetreatments (Table 1). As numbers ofleaves are higher in vetiver hedge,the leaf area was also significantlyhigher in vetiver hedge treatmentfollowed by graded bund treatmentthan sowing across and along theslope treatments. Increase innumber of functional leaves invetiver hedge was also reportedearlier (Anonymous 1998). The drymatter production was significantlymore in vetiver hedge treatmentfollowed by graded bund treatmentthan sowing across and along theslope treatments. This was due tomore height, more number offunctional leaves, and morephotosynthetic area which resultsinto more dry matter accumulationin vetiver hedge treatment andgraded bund treatment. Days to 50per cent tasselling did not differsignificantly due to land treatment.The data presented in Table 2revealed that, the value of yield

attributes viz., number of grains,weight of grain per plant and testweight were significantly higher withcontour sowing along the vetiverhedge at 1 m VI (T2) than all othertreatments under study.

Yield of maize : The grain andfodder yields of maize weresignificantly increased under vetiverhedge treatment followed by gradedbund treatment as compared tosowing across and along the slopetreatments. An increase of grain andfodder yield by 12.32, 8.87, 3.22and 12.60, 8.73, 6.76 per centwere observed by contour sowingalong the vetiver hedge, sowingalong graded bund and sowingacross the slope over sowing alongthe slope respectively. The increasein yield of maize in vetiver hedgeand graded bund treatment was dueto more conservation of rain water,less runoff, more moisture storagein soil profile resulted in to moremoisture available to crop and

higher yield. Grain to fodder ratiodid not differ significantly understudy. These results are inconformity with the findings ofBharad et al. (1995), Gund et al.(1995) and Chaplot et al. (1998).

J. B. Patil I. A. Khan A. G. Jadhav P. P. Kharade J. P. Kharade

Padmabhushan Vasant DadaCollege of Agriculture, Ambi-Talegaon Dabhade, Pune - 410 506 (India)July 30, 2007.

LITERATURE CITED

Agrawal, A. J. 1991. Studies on differentsystem for rainwater management. M.Tech. Thesis submitted to Dr. P.D.K.V.,Akola.

Anonymous 1998. Agresco report, C.R.S.P.K.V., Akola. Report on research workdone by Vidharbha Soil Conservationand Demonstration Scheme.

Bharad, M. B., M. B. Nagdeve, S. K. Kohaleand S. M. Taley. 1995. Contour systemfor in-situ soil and moistureconservation. PKV, Res. J. 19(1): 1-3.

Chaplot, P. C., P. K. Singh, S. C., Mahnotand G. S. Chauhan. 1998. Effect of in-situ moisture conservation practices onrunoff, soil loss and productivity ofsorghum. Indian J. agric. Sci., 68(9):627-628.

Gund, M. D. and A. G. Durgade. 1995.Influence of contour and subabul livebund on runoff, soils loss and yield ofpearl millet + pigeon pea intercropping.Ind. J. Soil Consev. 23(2): 171-173.


Table 2. Yield attributes and yield of maize as influeced by land treatments.

Treatment Grains Weight of Test Grain Fodder Grain toplant-1 grains weight yield yield fodder

plant-1 (g) (g) (q ha-1) (q ha-1) ratio

T1 460.80 138.00 310.88 51.85 81.48 0.63T2 483.60 148.80 330.24 58.24 91.75 0.63T3 477.80 144.30 321.04 56.38 88.60 0.63T4 466.60 140.20 318.16 53.52 86.76 0.61S. E.+ 3.60 1.50 2.63 0.77 0.91 0.01C. D. at 5% 11.09 4.23 8.10 2.37 2.80 NS

______________

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is themost important and potential oilseed crop to meet the increasingdemand of the edible oil. Theproduction is not coping with thenational requirements. The crop canbe increased by adopting theintercropping and sequentialcropping system (Reddy et al.1985) in rainfed situation in blacksoil areas.

The success or failure of wintercrops depends on the residual soilprofile moisture. Intercropping isreceiving greater emphasis in Indianagriculture because of the increasingevidence, the intercroppingpractices give stabilized yieldadvantage, especially under adverseweather condition and substantiallyincreases economic returns. Anintercropping of pigeonpea,sorghum, maize and rajmabean insoybean having different growthhabits, canopy adoption and rootingpatterns can easily beaccommodated with leastcompetition. Therefore, the fieldexperiments were conducted toevaluate yield stability in soybeanbased intercropping system underrainfed agriculture.

A field experiment wasconducted for two years during rainyseason of 2004 and 2006 atAgricultural Research Station,Gadhinglaj Dist. Kolhapur on a typichaplustert with pH 7.5, available N210.07 kg ha-1, P2O5 20.83 kgha-1 and 474.87 kg ha-1 K2O. Ninetreatment combinations were laidout in a randomized block designwith three replications. The grossand net plot sizes were 7.20 x 4.80

m2 and 3.60 x 3.60 m2,respectively. The varieties DS-228of soybean, BSMR-736 ofpigeonpea, CSH-14 of hybridsorghum, MPQ-13 of maize andVarun variety of rajmabean wereused in the investigation. Soybeanand rajmabean were sown at 30 x10 cm, pigeonpea 45 x 20 cm,sorghum 45 x 15 cm and maize 60x 20 cm following soybean +pigeonpea 3:1 row ratio, soybean30-60 x 10, pigeonpea 120 x 20cm, soybean + hy. sorghum 3:1 row

ratio soybean 30-60 x 10, hy.sorghum 120 x 15 cm, soybean +maize 3:1 row ratio soybean 30-60x 10 maize 120 x 20 cm andsoybean + rajmabean 3:1 ratiosoybean 30-60 x 10 and rajmabean120 x 10 cm. Soybean was fertilizedwith recommended fertilizer dose of50:75 kg N, P2O5 ha-1, pigeonpeaand rajmabean 25:50 kg N, P2O5ha-1 as basal dose and hy. sorghum80:40:40 N, P2O5 and K2O kgha-1 and maize 120:60:60 N, P2O5and K2O kg ha-1. Half dose of


Evaluation of Yield Stability in Soybean Based IntercroppingSystem Under Rainfed Agriculture

Table 1. Mean yield monetary returns, soybean equivalent yield and LER influenced bydifferent treatments (Pooled mean).

Treatments Yield (kg ha-1) M. R. (Rs ha-1) Soybean LER B:C–––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––– equivalent ratioSoy- Inter- Gross Net yield bean crop (kg ha-1)

Sole soybean 2269 - 22685 5658 2269 1 1.34Sole rajmabean - 1511 16828 8222 1683 1 1.95(Varun)Sole pigeonpea - 1407 24123 12952 2412 1 2.16(BSMR-736) (1691)Sole hy. sorghum - 3016 18691 3906 1869 1 1.19(CSH-14) (4997)Sole maize - 5488 27343 11338 2734 1 1.71(MPQ-13) (3314)Soybean + 1677 496 24937 10038 2494 1.22 1.52rajmabean (3:1)Soybean + 1816 1052 36468 20874 3647 1.55 2.35pigeonpean (3:1) (1175)Soybean + 1624 1355 24508 7837 2450 1.15 1.47hy. sorghum (3:1) (2132)Soybean + 1513 2552 28409 11609 2811 1.14 1.71maize (3:1) (1676)S. E.+ - - 874 877 91.23 - -C. D. at 5% - - 2629 2671 270.89 - -

Market price 2004 (Rs. q-1) 2006 (Rs. q-1)–––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––Grain Fodder Grain Fodder––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Soybean 900 - 1000 -Sorghum 500 50 600 50Pigeonpea 1500 50 2000 50Maize 400 50 600 50Rajmabean 1500 - 2000 -

Figures in parenthesis indicates fodder yield.

nitrogen and full dose ofphosphorus and potash wereapplied as a basal dose andremaining half dose of nitrogen as atop dressing was applied thirty daysafter sowing.

Soybean equivalent yield :The soybean equivalent yield (Table1) was found to be significantlyinfluenced by different intercroppingsystems during both the years andalso in pooled results. The pooleddata showed that the intercroppingof soybean + pigeonpea (3:1)produced significantly the highestsoybean equivalent yield of 3647 kgha-1 followed by soybean + maize(3:1), 2811 kg ha-1. This might bedue to the higher yield of pigeonpeaand maize as an intercropping dueto the long duration, which couldcapitalize on the resources afterharvest of soybean. Similar resultswere also reported by Danawale etal. (1996), Dudhade et al.(2002)and Gare et al. (2004). It isobserved that yield stability wasgreater with intercropping than solecropping. The reduction in soybeanyield might be due to greatercompetition between thecomponent crops. These finding arein concurrence with results of Willey(1979), Tomar et al. (1987) andNimje (1995).

Gross monetary returns :The gross monetary returns werefound to be influenced significantlyby the different intercroppingsystems (Table 1). The intercroppingof soybean + pigeonpea 3:1 rowratio recorded significantly highestgross monetary returns in both theyears. Pooled results also showedthat the intercropping of soybean +pigeonpea 3:1 row ratio gave

significantly higher gross monetaryreturns (Rs. 36468 ha-1) followedby soybean + maize 3:1 row ratio(Rs. 28409 ha-1).

Net monetary returns : Thenet monetary returns wereinfluenced significantly by thedifferent intercropping systems(Table 1). The intercropping ofsoybean + pigeonpea 3:1 row ratiorecorded significantly highest netmonetary returns during both theyears. As regards to the pooledresults the intercropping of soybean+ pigeonpea 3:1 row ratio recordedsignificantly highest net monetaryreturns (Rs. 20874 ha-1) than rest ofthe treatments followed by solepigeonpea (Rs. 12952 ha-1). Thehigher economic returns due topigeonpea intercropping might bedue to its higher yield as anintercrop, as compared to solesoybean.

Land equivalent ratio : TheLER values (Table 1) forintercropping systems indicated thatthe soybean + pigeonpea 3:1 rowratio recorded maximum LER, 1.49and 1.61 in 2004 and 2006respectively. The pooled datashowed that the similar results (1.55LER) recorded by the soybean +pigeonpea 3:1 row ratio.

Benefit cost ratio : MaximumB:C ratio was recorded by thesoybean + pigeonpea 3:1 row ratiointercropping system in both theyears and pooled results 2.49, 2.21and 2.35 respectively.

Considering trends of soybeanequivalent yield of 3647 kg ha-1,gross monetary returns (Rs. 36468ha-1), net monetary returns (Rs.

20874 ha-1) and LER 1.55 showedthat soybean + pigeonpea 3:1 rowratio appears to be the mostproductive, efficient and profitableintercropping system under rainfedcondition of sub-montane zone ofMaharashtra.

B. N. GareS. M. MoreA. V. BurliS. S. Dodake

Agricultural Research Station,Gadhinglaj - 416 502 (India)May 20, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Danawale, N. J., S. H. Shinde and P. S. Pol.1996. Crop row ratio in pigeonpea -soybean intercropping system. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ; 21 (3) : 479-480.

Dudhade, D. D., S. R. Dhonde and L. N.Tagad. 2002. Studies on intercroppingof tur and Soybean. J. Maharashtraagric. Univ; 27 (2) : 228-229.

Gare, B. N., S. M. More, M. G. Jadhav, andA. V. Burli. 2004. Effect of pigeonpeaand sorghum intercropping on yield ofsoybean under rainfed condition in sub-montane zone of Maharashtra. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ; 29 (2) : 170-172.

Nimje P. M. 1995. Effect of spatialarrangement and phosphorusfertilization in pigeonpea (Cajamtscajan (L.)) soybean (Glycine max (L.))intercropping system. Indian J. Agron.40 (3) : 380-385.

Reddy, M. S., M. Natarajan, M. R. Rao, R.W. Willey and C. K. Ong. 1985.Cropping system for rainfed situationswith particular reference to ICRISAT aexperince. Pap. presented at Nat Symp.on cropping system, held at Kernal onApril 3-5 : pp. 13.

Tomar, R. W., M. S. Upadhya and R. A.Sharma. 1987. Effect of plantingpatterns in pigeonpea + soybeanintercropping system. Indian J. Agron.32 (4) : 322-325.

Willey, R. W. 1979. Intercropping, itsimportance and research needs Part-1competition and yield advantage. FieldCrop Abst. 32 (1) : 1-13.


______________

Loss of nitrogen is imperativeand hence its rational application atright stages of crop growth isdesired for higher productivity(Reddy and Giri, 1997). Similarlythere is a need to promote use oforganic manures in addition toinorganic fertilizers for sustainedmanagement of soil fertility andproductivity. Several studies haveestablished the ill effects ofcontinuous use of inorganicfertilizers alone on the soil physico-chemical properties andenvironment besides their highercosts. Thus judicious use of bothorganic and inorganic sources ofnutrients can alone lead to sustainedmanagement of soil fertility andproductivity.

The field experiment wasconducted at the Crop ResearchFarm, the Department ofAgronomy of the AllahabadAgricultural Institute-DeemedUniversity during the spring season

of 2005. The treatments consistedof providing 50 or 75 per cent Nthrough urea in combination with50 per cent and 25 per cent Nthrough FYM or poultry manure,which was compared to 100 percent N provided through urea, FYMor poultry manure. In addition tonitrogen, the recommended dosesof phosphorus and potassium wereapplied in all the treatments. Thetreatments were laid out in arandomized block design andreplicated thrice. The soil of theexperimental plot was sandy loamwith a pH of 7.5, low in organiccarbon, available nitrogen (180 kgha-1) and phosphorus (8 kg ha-1) buthigh in potassium (246 kg ha-1).Morden variety of sunflower wassown at a spacing of 40 x 30 cm.The plant growth was assessed bymeasuring the plant dry weight andcalculating the CGR and RGR atregular intervals. The effect ofvarious treatments on the yield wasassessed by measuring the diameter

of capitulum, number of seeds/capitulum, seed yield, test weightand oil percentage.

The growth contributingcharacters viz., plant dry weight,crop growth rate and relative growthrate differed significantly amongstthe various treatments. Themaximum plant dry weight (33.50g), crop growth rate (25.83 g day-1

m-2) and relative growth rate (0.096g g-1 day-1) were recorded by theapplication of 50 per cent Nthrough urea and 25 per cent Neach through poultry manure andFYM, followed by an application of75 per cent N through urea + 25per cent N through poultry manure.The minimum plant dry weight(15.63 g), crop growth rate (11 .82g day-1 m-2) and relative growth rate(0.075 g g-1 day-1) were observedunder control (recommended doseof N through urea alone). Dayal andAgarwal (1999) have reported thatapplication of FYM increases the


Effect of Integrated Nitrogen Management on Growth andYield of Spring Planted Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

Table 1. Effect of growth, yield attributes and yield of spring planted sunflower in relation to integrated nitrogen management.

Treatments Plant Crop Relative Diameter No. of Test Seed Oildry growth growth of seeds weight yield contentweight rate rate capitu- capitu- (g) (q ha-1) (%)(g) (g g-1 (g g-1 lum lum-1

day-1) day-1) (cm)

Control (RDF-60, 40, 20 N, P, K* ha-1) 15.63 11.82 0.075 9.28 339.00 29.50 14.33 36.00

100% N FYM (12 t ha-1) 16.07 12.17 0.076 9.28 374.93 31.81 15.20 36.67

100% N poultry manure (1.98 t ha-1) 17.53 13.32 0.078 9.48 380.78 33.07 15.67 40.00

50% N urea + 50% N FYM 21.00 16.06 0.083 10.10 399.00 33.83 16.00 46.67

50% N urea + 50% N poultry manure 21.67 16.53 0.084 10.10 414.44 35.17 16.17 50.00

75% N urea + 25% N FYM 23.63 18.10 0.086 10.29 451.89 36.17 16.30 51.60

75% N urea + 25% N poultry manure 24.20 18.49 0.087 10.61 501.67 39.83 17.23 56.67

50% N urea + 25% each FYM + poultry manure 33.50 25.83 0.096 12.20 502.33 42.83 18.90 58.67

S. Ed.+ 0.31 0.26 0.002 0.35 7.90 0.44 0.34 0.88

C. D. (P=0.05) 0.67 0.56 0.005 0.76 16.95 0.94 0.74 1.88

*Blanket dose for all treatments, RDF-Recommended Dose of Fertilizer.

water holding capacity of soil andalso checks the leaching ofnitrogenous fertilizers. Therefore,application of FYM in combinationwith nitrogenous fertilizers mighthave increased the nitrogen useefficiency, leading to higheravailability of nitrogen to plants,resulting in increased plant dryweight accumulation and henceenhanced CGR and RGR ofsunflower.

The maximum diameter ofcapitulum (12.20 cm), number ofseeds capitulum-1 (502.33) and testweight (42.83 g) were recorded foran application of 50 per cent Nthrough urea and 25 per cent Neach through FYM and poultrymanure, followed by the applicationof 75 per cent N through urea and25 per cent N through poultrymanure. The minimum diameter ofcapitulum (9.28 cm), number ofseeds capitulum-1 (339) and testweight (29.50 g) were observedunder control (recommended doseof N through urea alone). Shakatwatand Bansal (1999) have reportedthat application of gobar gas slurrywith nitrogenous fertilizers not onlysupplements nitrogen but alsoincreases the availability ofmicronutrients which ultimatelyincreases the seed yield ofsunflower. Therefore, yieldincrement due to FYM applicationmight be attributed to the higher

micronutrient availability and higherapplied nitrogenous fertilizer useefficiency due to reduced leachinglosses of nitrogen.

The maximum seed yield (18.90q ha-1) and oil percentage (58.67%)were recorded for the application of50 per cent N through urea and 25per cent N each through FYM andpoultry manure and the valuesobtained were significantly higherthan all other treatments. This maybe attributed to the favourableinfluence of all the yield contributingcharacters viz., diameter ofcapitulum and seeds capitulum-1.The higher seed yield and oilpercentage obtained in the plotsapplied with one fourth dose of therecommended dose of nitrogenthrough FYM and one fourththrough poultry manure, incombination with half dose of therecommended dose of nitrogenthrough urea might be due toincreased nitrogen use efficiency ofapplied nitrogenous fertilizers (Raoet al. 1985). Besides highernitrogen use efficiency, theincrement in yield can also beattributed to the enhancedavailability of micronutrientsthrough organic manures, whichlead to better crop growth, higherdry matter accumulation andenhanced seed and oil yield ofsunflower.

It can be concluded that, for

obtaining better growth and yield ofsunflower, 50 per cent of therecommended dose of nitrogenshould be provided through FYMand poultry manure in addition to50 per cent of the recommendeddose of nitrogen through urea inaddition to the recommended dosesof phosphorus and potassium.

Ganesh Kumar SinghThomas AbrahamRajesh SinghHarbhajan Singh

Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, AllahabadAgricultural Institute-DeemedUniversity, Allahabad - 211 007 (India)September 27, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Dayal, Devi and S. K. Agarwal. 1999.Response of sunflower genotypes(Helianthus annuus L.) to nutrientmanagement. Indian J. of Agric. Sci. 69(1) : 10-3.

Rao, C. M., M. S. Raju, B. B. Reddy and Y.K. Rao. 1985. Response of sunflowervariety plant populations. J. of OilseedsRes. 2 (2) : 295-297.

Reddy, G. P. and Gajendra Giri. 1997.Influence of time of seeding pollinationand nitrogen on yield of sunflower(Helianthus annuus L.). Indian J. ofAgron. 42 (3) : 506-511.

Shakawat, R. P. and K. N. Bansal. 1999.Effect of different organic manuars andnitrogen level on growth and yield ofsunflower. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 69 (1) :8-9.


______________

Increased use of high analysisfertilizer materials and continuousmultiple cropping with fertilizerresponsive varieties of crops haveaccelerated the depletion of theirreserves in the soils, often leading tosignificant responses to theirapplication. Very little use of organicmanure is another reason forobtaining the responses tomicronutrients application for highproductivity of the crops. Noinformation on micronutrient needof greengram in the soils ofMarathwada region is available. Thepresent investigation, therefore,undertaken to get better insight intodifferent micronutrients viz.; zinc,boron, sodium and iron nutrition ongreengram crop in relation to yieldand economics.

A field experiment comprisingof ten treatments and threereplications was conducted duringkharif seasons of 1999, 2000 and2001 at Agril. Research Station,Badnapur on vertisols having 0.49per cent organic carbon, 35 kg ha-1

available 'P' and 391 kg ha-1

available 'K' with 0.56, 6.0, and 3.3ppm of available Zinc, Boron,Sodium and Ferrous respectively.The treatments comprising control(no macro and micro nutrients)recommended dose of fertilizers(RDF i.e. 25 kg N + 50 kg P2O5ha-1), RDF with 15 kg and 25 kgZnSo4 ha-1, RDF with borax at 5and 10 ha-1, RDF with 1 and 2 kgsod. Molybdate ha-1 and RDF with 1and 2 kg chelated iron ha-1 whichwere applied in the soil at the timeof sowing.

Greengram variety BM-4 was

sown with a spacing of 30 x 10 cmon 6th July, 3rd July and 24th Juneof 1999, 2000 and 2001respectively. The total rainfall duringthe crop period (in 1999, 2000 and2001) was 321, 578 and 384 mmrespectively. The crop washarvested at maturity.

An application of recommendeddose of fertilizer (25 kg N + 50 kgP2O5 ha-1) to greengram eitheralone or along with micronutrientsincreased the seed yield (Table 1)significantly over control (nofertilizer application) during all threeyears of experimentation and inpooled results. The yield differencesdue to different micronutrienttreatments were found to be nonsignificant during each individual

years of experimentation.

In pooled analysis theapplication of micronutrients viz.;zinc (15 and 25 kg ha-1) and boron(5 and 10 kg ha-1) withrecommended dose of fertilizersgave significant increase ingreengram yield over theapplication of recommended doseof fertilizer alone or along with othermicronutrients. These results are inclose conformity with the findings ofSarkar et al. (1998).

The channelization of photo-synthesis during reproductive stagemight have been influenced withzinc by way of its involvement inelectron transfer (Baker et al. 1982)and activation of enzymes (Okhi


Productivity of Greengram as Influenced by VariousMicronutrient Applications on Vertisols

Table 1. Seed yield of greengram as influenced by different nutrient combinations (pooled).

Treatment Seed yield kg ha-1 GMR NMR C:B–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– (Rs. (Rs ratio1999- 2000- 2001- Pooled ha-1) ha-1)2000 2001 2002 mean

T-1 Absolute control 207 570 373 383.3 7666 2666 1:1.53(No macro/micro)

T2 N:P 25:50 kg ha-1 (RDF) 261 841 536 546.0 10920 4420 1:1.68

T2 + ZnSO4 15 kg ha-1 285 993 656 644.7 12894 6169 1:1.91

T2 + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1 292 988 652 644.0 12880 6005 1:1.87

T2 + Borex 5 kg ha-1 275 919 652 615.3 12306 5706 1:1.86

T2 + Borex 10 kg ha-1 283 918 649 616.7 12334 5634 1:1.84

T2 + Sod. Molybdate 1 kg ha-1 266 861 580 569.0 11380 4830 1:1.73

T2 + Sod. Molybdate 2 kg ha-1 273 779 587 546.3 10926 4326 1:1.65

T2 + FeSO4 1 kg ha-1 280 792 583 551.7 11034 4506 1:1.69

T2 + FeSO4 2 kg ha-1 290 817 612 573.0 11460 4910 1:1.74

S. E.+ 11 58 40 16.9 - - -

C. D. at 5% 33 173 120 49.7 - - -

C. V. % 8 12 12 12.6 - - -

Mean 271 848 588 569 - - -

Pooled data Year Year x treatment

S. E.+ 22.67 71.70 - - - - -

C. D. at 5% 64.12 202.76 - - - - -

Major portion of grain andfodder production of sorghum inMaharashtra comes from kharifseason, because of higherproductivity. Rabi sorghum ismainly grown on residual moistureafter the cessation of monsoonrains. Present study was carried outwith the objective to find out theextent of heterosis and heritabilityexhibited in cross combinations, forten economically importantcharacters in rabi Sorghum.

Four cytoplasmic male sterile

lines viz., 18-3 A, 104 A, 296 A,2077 A were crossed to eighttesters viz., JD-1, Ruchira, M 35-1,LM 97-1, SPV 1359, CS 3541,CSV 15 and SPY 839 (cultivatedvarieties) in line x tester designduring kharif 1998 to generate atotal of 32 hybrids. These 32hybrids with parents were planted ina RBD with three replications in asingle row of 6 m length during1998-1999 rabi season underirrigation at MPKV, Rahuri. Rowswere spaced at 45 cm and plant toplant spacing was kept at 15 cm.

Observations were recorded on fiverandomly chosen competitive plantsfor ten economically importantcharacters. For days to 50 per centflowering, the number of daysrequired from date of sowing toanthesis of nearly 50 per cent ofpanicles in entire row wasconsidered. Line x tester analysiswas carried out according toKempthorne (1957). The heterosisover the checks and heritability innarrow sense were estimated as perthe standard procedure.

1978). Similarly higher yield withboron than sodium molybdate andchelated iron might be due togreater assimilation of carbohydrateand protein synthesis as the formeracts in N assimilation (Nicholas etal. 1954) and increased intensity ofphotosynthesis. Most inefficientresponse of chelated iron waspossibly due to absence of specificrole of this element on greengramby reduction in uptake andtranslocation of chelated iron ashigh dose of "P" applied to thelegume (Tandon 1982).

The yield data was subjected toeconomic analysis which showedthat the application of zinc sulphate@ 15 kg ha-1 with recommendeddose of fertilizers was found mostbeneficial treatment in respect ofgross monetary returns (Rs. 12894ha-1) C:B ratio (1:1.91) and netmonetary returns (Rs. 6169 ha-1).

This was closely followed by borax 5kg ha-1 by giving gross monetaryreturns (Rs. 12306 ha-1), C:B ratio(1:1.86) and net monetary returns(Rs. 5706 ha-1). Singh and Yadav(2000) reported that sulphur andzinc were most remunerative andeconomical micronutrients ingreengram crop. The similar resultswere also reported by Lal andJaiswal (1981).

B. V. AsewarA. S. JadhavS. B. PawarS. S. Gosalwad

Department of Agronomy, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani - 431 402 (India)September 27, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Baker, N. R. P., T. T. Fernyhough and Meek.1982. Light dependent inhibition ofphotosynthetic electron transport of

zinc. Plant Physiol. 56: 217-222.

Lal, R.B., and P.C. Jaiwal. 1981. Influence ofsulphur fertilization on grain yield andeconomics of urd cultivation. Indian J. ofAgron., 26: 329-330.

Nicholas, D. J. D., A. Nason and W. D.Meleroy. 1954. Molybdenum andnitrate reductase. J. of Bio. Chem. 207:241-251.

Okhi, K. 1978. Zinc concentration insoybean as related to growth,photosynthesis and carbonic anhydraseactivity. Crop Sci. 18: 79-82.

Sarkar, R. K., B. Bhattacharya, A.Chakraborty and B. Bala. 1998. Growthand productivity of greengram inrelations to micronutrients applicationon rice fallow land. India J. of Agron.43(3): 555 - 559.

Singh, U. and D. S. Yadav. 2000. Economicsof summer greengram (Phaseolusradiatus L.) cultivation as influenced bysulphur and zinc levels. Legume Res.23(1): 67-68.

Tandon, P. K. 1982. Effect of zinc, iron andphosphorus supply on three ricevarieties. Indian J. of Agron. 27(2): 167- 170.


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Heterosis and Heritability Studies in Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moench

The analysis of variance revealedhighly significant differences amongparents vs crosses, which can betaken as a measure of heterosis, forall the characters except number ofleaves plant-1 and panicle breadth.The values of heterosis expressed asper cent increase over better parent(BP), over mid parental value (MP)and over standard checks (SC) viz.,SPV 1359 for grain yield traits andRuchira for fodder yield traits. Themagnitude and direction of heterosisdiffered in different crosscombinations. For plant height,three crosses had significant positivestandard heterosis over Ruchira.The cross combination 2077A xSPV 1359 recorded maximumpositive standard heterosis overRuchira (18.43%). However, noneof the crosses had shown significantpositive heterotic effect for stemthickness over Ruchira. Standardheterosis over Ruchira wassignificant and positive in only twocross combinations for leaf lengthand one for leaf breadth. Significantnegative heterosis for flowering is anindication of earliness. All the 32crosses recorded significant negativeheterotic effects over SPV 1359.Nine crosses showed significantnegative heterotic effects overRuchira. Eleven crosses recordedsignificant and positive heterosisover standard check SPV 1359 forpanicle length. For grain weightpanicle-1, standard heterosis overcheck SPV 1359 was significantand positive in eight crosses. Bestcombinations were found to be296A x Ruchira (93.26%) and104A x Ruchira (76.55%) with highstandard heterotic values over SPV1359. For 1000 grain weight, noneof the crosses was found to havesignificant and positive heteroticeffects over SPV 1359. None of the

crosses was found to be superiorover Ruchira for green fodder yieldplant-1 and dry fodder yield plant-1.These results are in conformity withthe findings reported by Amsalu andBapat (1990) and Mistry and Patil(1994). Heritability estimatesprovide information on thetransmission of the characters fromparents to offspring. Heritability innarrow sense (Table 1) was high forplant height, days to 50 per centflowering, panicle length, 1000-grain weight and moderate for leaflength, leaf breadth, grain weightpanicle-1 and green forage yieldplant-1, while it was low for stemthickness, panicle breadth and dryfodder yielc plant-1. Shelke (1995)reported similar results, for theabove traits. The crosses showinghigh heterosis for grain weightpanicle-1 and dry fodder yieldplant-1 also showed high heterosisfor other components like paniclelength, 1000-grain weight, stemthickness, leaf length, leaf breadthand green fodder yield plant-1. Thecrosses showing high heterosis forone or two characters also showedhigh heterosis for other charactersindicating the role of component

heterosis in selection of hybrids. Itshowed the similarities in theinheritance of these traits anddistinct possibilities exist to pickuphybrids giving heterosis simultane-ously for these characters. The perse performance had reflection inhighly heterotic crosses. Therefore,the per se performance of thehybrids needs to be considered inselection, in addition to heteroticeffects. The crosses 18-3 A x JD-1,104 A x JD-1, 18-3 A x CSV-15,296 A x Ruchira, 18-3 A x Ruchira,104 A x Ruchira, 2077 A x SPV1359, 2077 A x SPV839 showedsuperior performance than thechecks, need to be further studiedand exploited.

K. SumaliniJ. S. Desale

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri - 413 722 (India)October 19, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Amsalu, A. A. and D. R. Bapat. 1990.Heterosis studies in sorghum. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ. 15(3): 229-302.

Kempthorne, O. 1957. An Introduction to

Sumalini and Desale344

Table 1. Range, means and heritability in narrow sense (h2) for 12 caracters in sorghum.

Character range h2 (n.s)–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– (%)Parents Crosses

Plant height (cm) 91.53 - 259.73 141.6 - 275.86 61.36Stem thickness (cm) 4.11 - 5.99 4.66 - 6.12 27.49No. of leaves plant-1 8.60 - 12.13 9.53 - 13.80 10.09Leaf length (cm) 54.30 - 76.26 62.2 - 79.33 38.23Leaf breadth (cm) 4.60 - 6.94 5.38 - 7.20 36.84Days to 50% flowering 55.80 - 81.20 59.43 - 76.0 80.02Panicle length (cm) 12.63 - 25.96 17.53 - 28.66 79.38Panicle breadth (cm) 12.30 - 25.84 13.33 - 21.36 26.65Grain weight ear-1 (g) 8.84 - 49.04 14.66 - 73.63 35.841000 - grain weight (g) 18.63 - 41.60 12.40 - 66.52 77.39Green fodder yield plant-1 (g) 55.66 - 568.33 104.66 - 438.66 29.74Dry fodder yield plant-1 (g) 16.14 - 166.16 30.35 - 130.61 22.31

Milk blending with different fruitjuices increase the acceptability aswell as palatability of consumers.With the purpose of increasingpalatability and acceptability of milk,this study was undertaken.

The experiment was conductedat Department of AnimalHusbundry and Dairy Science, Dr.Balasaheb Sawant, Konkan KrishiVidyapeeth, Dapoli, Dist. Ratnagiri(M.S.) during the year 2000-2001.The milk shake was prepared as perthe procedure given by Sharma andGupta (1978) with slightmodification.

The milk shake was evaluatedorganoleptically by the panel ofjudges with help of nine pointhedonic scale given by Amerine etal., (1965). The fat content of milkshake was determined by using thestandered Gerber method asdescribed in IS:1224 (Part-I), 1977,total solids content was determinedby gravimetric methods as perIS:1479 (Part-II),1961 and titratableacidity of milk shake as per cent wasdetermined according toIS:1479(Part-I),1960. The datagenerated was analysed statisticallywith completely randomized design.The treatments include 5, 10, 15and 20 per cent pineapple andjammun juice maintaining suitable

control.

The fat per cent was decreasedwith increasing the level ofpineapple syrup and jamun juice.These observations werecomparable with those of Sharmaand Gupta (1978) and Kshirsagar(1996) for plain milk shake andVarpe (1992) in milk shake fortifiedwith mango pulp, respectively.

The total solids of milk shakefortified with pineapple syrupshowed increasing trend withincrease in the level of pineapplesyrup. Further it was observed thathigher level of jamun juice gavelower per cent of total solids. It waswithin the range of what wasreported by Varpe (1992) andKshirsagar (1996), milk shakeprepared by blending with fruit pulp.

The water per cent of milkshowed decreasing trend inpineapple flavoured milk shake andreverse trend i.e. increasing injamun flavoured milk shake.Considerably less percentage ofwater was determined in presentcase as was reported by Sharma andGupta (1978), Varpe (1992),Kshirsager (1996).

The titratable acidity of milkshake under study showed increasedtrend with increasing the level of

pineapple syrup and jamun juice.The highest acidity was observed at20 per cent. The acidity was morein jamun flavoured milk shake ascompared to pineapple flavouredmilk shake. The results of acidity ofplain milk shake were very wellcomparable with those of Varpe(1992) and Kshirsagar (1996).

The pineapple milk shake wassuperior to jamun flavoured milkshake in respect to colour andappearance. Milk shake containingpineapple syrup at the rate of 15per cent recorded the maximumscore 7.98. While the milk shakeflavoured with jamun juice at 10 percent level recorded highest score(7.19) The control samples recordedlowest score (6.73).

The flavour scores for pineappleand jamun differed significantly fromeach other showing their influenceon the flavour of milk shake. Thehighest score of 7.96 was obtainedby pineapple milk shake at the levelof 15 per cent. The flavour at 20and 5 per cent level reported strongaroma and mild flavour, respectivly.Milk shake fortified with jamun juiceat 10 per cent showed maximumscore of the product i.e. 7.34. Theincrease in the level of jamun juiceat 15 and 20 per cent causeddecreased in score, which may be

Genetic Statistics. John Wiley and SonsInc., New York., USA.

Mistry, P. K. and F. B. Patil. 1994. Heterosisfor forage yield and its components in

sorghum. Forage Res. 20(2 and 3): 132-136.

Shelke, G. V. 1995. Heterosis andcombining ability studies for grain and

forage traits in sorghum (Sorghumbicolor (L.) Moench) by line x testeranalysis. M.Sc. (Agri.) thesis submittedto MPKV, Rahuri.


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Preparation of Fruit Flavoured Milk Shake

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) isan important non-edible oilseedcrop grown throughout the world.The total castor seed and oilproduction of the world is 13.27and 5.47 lakh MT, respectively. InIndia, it is grown mainly underrainfed conditions over an area of7.13 lakh ha with annual productionof 8.50 and 3.36 lakh MT of castorseeds and oil, respectively.

The crop is infested with anumber of insect pests (Rai. 1976),of which the most important areserpentine leaf miner (Liriomyzatrifolii B.), semilooper (Achoeajanata L.) and tobacco caterpillar(Spodoptera litura F.). The

serpentine leaf miner is apolyphagous pest feeding onseventy nine host plants belongingto various vegetables, ornamentalsand field crops (Srinivasan et al.1995). It has high potential for thedevelopment of resistance tocommonly used pesticides.Moreover, this pest is assumingimportance on castor in recent yearsbecause of the wide host range,ability to survive and multiply overwide range of seasonal conditionsand low sensitivity to commonlyused insecticides. Presentinvestigation was therefore,undertaken with an objective toassess the efficacy of differentinsecticides and bio-pesticides in

controlling the serpentine leaf mineron castor.

The field experiment wasconducted at ZARS, MPKV, Solapur(MS) during kharif 2007-2008 witheight treatments including absolutecontrol (Table 1). The susceptiblecultivar DCS-9 was sown in theplots of 3.80 x 5.40 m2 at 90 x 30cm spacing with three replications.Two pesticide sprays were given at30 and 45 DAS. The observationson the incidence of leaf miner i.e.number of mines plant-1 wererecorded in top, middle and bottomleaves of five randomly selectedplants in each plot. Seed yield wasalso recorded at harvest. The data

due to the slight astringent aroma ofjamun.

The consistency of milk fortifiedwith pineapple and jamun juice wasincreased in the level of bothpineapple and jamun juice. Higherlevel of pineapple (20 per cent) andjamun juice (15 and 20 per cent)gave excessive thick consistency tomilk shake, with the score of 7.08for pineapple and 6.83 for jamun.Milk shake without addition of anyfruit flavour (control) showed veryless acceptability and score of 6.80only which may be due to thinconsistency.

The effect of fortification ofpineapple and jamun juice atdifferent levels on overallacceptability of milk shake showed

that milk shake prepared by 15 percent pineapple syrup scored highestpoint 7.82.

Acceptability of milk shakeflavoured with jamun with 10 percent was superior (7.19). Among allthe treatments milk shake withoutaddition of any fruit flavour (control)obtained very low score (6.70). Onthe basis of result obtained, it canaffirmatively be stated that 15 percent level of pineapple syrup wasfound most acceptable by the judgesfollowed by 10 per cent level ofjamun juice.

V. B. KadavS. V. JoshiV. V. SagvekarP. B. Sanap

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant KonkanKrishi Vidyapeeth,Dapoli - 415 712 (India)August 25, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Amerine, M. A., R. M. Panghorn and, R. B.Rossier.,1965. Principles of sensoryevaluation of food. American Press,London.

Kshirsagar, D. V. 1996. Studies on blendingof milk shake with different fruitflavouring agents. M.Sc. (Agri.) thesissubmitted to Dr. Balasaheb SawantKokan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli.

Sharma A. K. and S. K. Gupta. 1978.Manufacture of milk shake. IndianDairyman. 30 (8) : 585.

Varpe, N. K. 1992. Studies on blending ofmilk shake with different fruit pulp.M.Sc. (Agri.) thesis submitted to Dr.Balasaheb Sawant Kokan KrishiVidyapeeth, Dapoli.

Kadav et al.346

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Field Evaluation of Botanicals and Chemical Insecticides for CastorLeaf Miner (Liriomyza trifolii Burgess) under Rainfed Condition

were analyzed by following Panseand Sukhatme (1967).

The results revealed thesignificant differences amongtreatments in respect of both leafmines due to leaf miner after boththe sprays and seed yield at harvest(Table 1). However, significantlyhighest damage (24.28 and 25.28mines plant-1) was recorded byabsolute control over rest of thetreatments. Among the treatments,45 SC spinosad 0.018 per centrecorded the minimum leaf damageof 13.55 and 15.28 mines plant-1

after first and second sprayings,respectively and thus controlled theleal miner very effectively. This wasfollowed by 50 WP carbaryl 0.2 percent (14.39 and 17.28 minesplant-1). So also, the significantlyhighest seed yield of 1072.10 kgha-1 was obtained from 0.018 percent spinosad followed by 0.05 percent triazophos (1015.30 kg ha-1).These two treatments werestatistically at par with each other inrespect of seed yield.

Significant yield losses due todefoliator were reported(Anonymous, 2006). The suscepti-bility of cv. DCS-9 to serpentine leafminer on castor was reported byBoreddy et al. 2003. Efficacy ofinsecticides on defoliator wassupported by Ahuja et al. (1998)and Shingh and Kanujia (2003)reported NSKE to be less effectiveagainst the defoliator which is inagreement with the presentfindings. It was also reported thatthe commonly recommendedinsecticides for the control of insect

pests in castor viz., monocrotophos,acephate and quinalphos increasedthe incidence of leaf miner. Onlymethyl oxydemeton 0.05 per cent,dimethoate 0.05 per cent and neemformulation (neem guard 0.5%)contained the infestation as that ofuntreated control (Anonymous,2006). The botanicals were found tobe less effective over the chemicaltreatments, which is in agreementwith the results of Singh and Kanujia(2003). Overall results indicated thatthe two sprayings of 0.018 per centspinosad at 30 and 45 DAS areeffective for the control ofserpentine leaf miner and increasingthe seed yield of castor under dryland conditions.

V. B. AkasheM. A. GudS. K. ShindeJ. R. Kadam

Zonal Agricultural Research StationMPKV, Solapur-413 002 (India)September 27, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Ahuja, B. D., A. Noor and B. N. Mathur.1998. Efficacy of some insecticidesagainst castor semilooper, A. janata L.on castor. J. Ins. Sci., 11 (2) : 141-144.

Anonymous, 2006. Research Achievementsin castor. AICRP on castor. Directorateof Oilseeds Res., Hyderabad, pp. 111.

Boreddy, Y., H. Bassapa, Harvir Singh andD. Rajasekhar Reddy. 2003.Preferential incidence of serpentine leafminer on castor cultivars. ISOR Natl.Sem.: Stress Management in Oilseeds,Jan. 28-30, pp.111-113.

Panse, V.G. and P. V. Sukhatme. 1967.Statistical Methods for AgriculturalWorkers, ICAR, New Delhi. pp. 145-146.

Rai, B. K. 1976. Pests of oilseed crops inIndia and their control. Indian Council ofAgril. Research, New Delhi, pp. 121.

Singh, A. N. and K. R. Kanujia. 2003.Residual toxicity of some biopseticidesagainst Spilarctia obliqua (Walker) oncastor. Indian J. Ent, 65 (2) : 297-298.

Srinivasan, K., C. A. Viraktamath, M. Guptaand G. C. Tiwari. 1995. Geographicaldistribution, host range and parasitoidsof serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyzatrifolii B. in South India. Pest Manage.in Horti. Ecosystem, 1 : 93-100.


Table 1. Efficacy of pesticides for the control of leaf miner on castor.

Treatment Concen- Average leaf mines plant-1 Seedtration –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– yield

Ist spray IInd spray (kg ha-1)

Carbaryl 50 WP 0.2% 14.39 17.28 651.4Endosulfan 35 EC 0.05% 17.17 15.33 641.7Triazophos 40 EC 0.05% 16.11 15.39 1015.3Spinosad 45 SC 0.018% 13.55 15.28 1072.1Fipronil 5 SC 0.01% 15.50 19.39 527.9Neem seed extract 5% 15.50 18.11 360.6Bacillus thuringiensis 0.1% 16.17 16.28 334.6Control - 24.28 25.28 73.1S. E.+ - 0.98 1.77 22.79C. D. at 5% - 2.98 5.38 69.12

CV % - 10.25 17.26 6.75

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In the parabolic concentratortype solar cooker, temperature ofthe order of 45°C can be obtainedby concentrating solar radiation onthe focal point of cooker. Theconcentrating type solar cookercould be most viable option forcooking different types of foodmaterials due to less cooking timerequired as compared to box typesolar cooker. The acceptability ofsolar cooker depends on the timerequired to cook the food material(Rai, 1995). Keeping this in view,experiment was conducted onperformance evaluation of concen-trating cooker at Dapoli in Konkanregion of Maharashtra. The solarenergy is abundantly available in theregion for the period of seven toeight months of year; excluding thefour monsoon months of heavyrainfall. The climate of Dapoli(latitude 17°45' N, Longitude 73°26' E and altitude 250 m from MSL)is hot and humid. The averageminimum and maximum tempera-tures of Dapoli ranges from 11.4 to32.7° C; whereas average relativehumidities of the region varies fromminimum 43.7 to maximum 95.2per cent. The cooker manufacturedby Eco-Solar System (India) Ltd.Pune, model Eco Sun 1400, havingdiameter 1.4 m and focal length of28 cm was used for testing.Aluminum sheets of thickness 0.4mm having reflectivity about 90 percent were used in cooker as areflector. The total surface area ofreflector was 2.20 m2.

The cooker was tested in themonth of March during morningsession of the day to cook 300 grice (with 760 ml water), 200 g lentildal (with 730 ml water) and to boil1.5 litre water in the pot of 2 litrecapacity painted black from outside.Pot was covered with lid whilecooking rice and dal. The cookerwas tested for nine successive days.On each day, all the three tests(water boiling, dal cooking and ricecooking) were carried out in specificsequence one followed by other viz.,water boiling, dal cooking and ricecooking. The starting time wassharply observed for individual testsand kept same on each test day.The water boiling test was started at9 am; dal cooking test was started at10 am, while rice cooking test wasstarted at 11 am on each test day.During the test, cooker was facingtowards sun and its position wasadjusted from time to time to getmaximum solar reflection at focalpoint.

The various parameters recordedduring test were lapsed time, solarintensity, ambient temperature andwater temperature.

At the start of water boiling test,in the morning session, solarintensity was low henceatmospheric temperature was alsolow. As the time lapsed, solarintensity was started increasing andtemperature of water kept forboiling was also increased. The solar

intensity during water boiling testwas varied between 34000 to60200 lux with average value of47100 lux. While cooking dal, solarintensity varied between 70500 to90800 lux with average value of80650 lux. For rice coking test thesolar intensity varied between91000 to 102400 lux with averagevalue of 96700 lux. The averagetime required to boil water, to cookdal and rice using solar concentratorcooker was 40, 45 and 25 minrespectively. The time required toboil water was found more,compared to time required to cookrice, due to lower solar intensityduring morning hours. Dal also tookmore cooking time compared to ricebecause of hard texture and lowersolar intensity in the morning hours.The quality of cooked rice and lentildal found acceptable for humanconsumption. Similar results werealso recorded by Nahar (2002).

H. T. Jadhav

College of Agricultural Engineeringand TechnologyDapoli - 415 712 (India)February 25, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Nahar, N. M. 2002. Performance and testingof hot box storage solar cooker, J. ofEnergy Conversion and Manag. 44 (8) :1323-1331.

Rai, G. D. 1995 . Solar Energy Utilization.Khanna Pub., Delhi, pp 523-524.


Performance Testing of Parabolic Concentrating Type SolarCooker in Konkan Region of Maharashtra

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The study on dehydration ofmushroom was undertaken todevelop appropriate processingtechnology in order to extend themarketability and availability ofmushrooms to consumers. Thepresent research work was carriedout at Department of AgriculturalProcess Engineering, Faculty ofAgricultural Engineering, M.P.K.V.,Rahuri. The oyster mushroom ofPleurotus sajor caju variety wastaken for study.

Freshly harvested mushroomwas cleaned manually to removetrashes of wheat straw and otherundesirable matter. Whole freshmushroom was used fordehydration. The fourpretreatments applied to freshmushroom were : control (withoutany pretreatment); CaCl2 treatmentby soaking mushroom in 0.5 percent solution for 10 minutes (Sonarand Sonawane, 2000); sulphuringtreatment by burning 2 g sulphurpowder per kg of mushroom for 2hours in fumigation chamber(Chavan et al. 1993) andcombination of above two (soakedin 0.5 per cent calcium chloridesolution for 10 mintes, then spreadon blotting paper to drain offsolution and finally sulphuring wascarried out by burning 2 g sulpurpower per kg of soaked mushroomfor 2 hours in a fumigationchamber).

The drying of mushroom wascarried out using tray dryer. Thedryer used for study was having 12aluminium trays of size 800 x 400mm and temperature range of 50 to

250°C. The two temperatures usedfor drying were 50°C (Gopale,2000) and 60°C (Pruthi et al.1978). The mushroom drying wascarried using intermittent tray dryingmethod, the special case of traydrying in which drying (dryer on)and tempering (dryer off) werecarried out alternately upto the endof drying process. This methodminimizes the problem of casehardening and also reduces energyrequired for drying as some drying iscarried out during tempering (dryeroff). Three cases of intermittentdrying viz., 1 h drying and 0.5 htermpering, 1 h drying and 1 htermpering and 1.5 h drying and 1h termpering were used duringstudy.

In all, twenty four treatments(combinations of 4 pretreatments x2 temperatures x 3 cases ofintermittent drying) were used formushroom dehydration. The samplesize of each treatment was keptconstant (500 g of freshmushroom). Each treatment wasreplicated thrice. Loss in weight ofmushroom samples during dryingwas recorded at 15 min. interval forfirst hour and half an hour intervalthereafter upto the end of drying.The weight was recorded byweighing two marked pieces ofmushroom. Data recorded was usedto determine the moisture contentand drying rate using standardformulae.

The decrease in moisturecontent was noted down withrespect to total drying time. Totaldrying time includes both drying(dryer on) and tempering (dryer off)

periods, whereas effective dryingtime includes only drying (dryer on)period.

The total drying time required toprepare dehydrated mushroomusing different treatments variedbetween 7½ to 8 h and 6 to 7 h fordrying temperatures 50 and 60°Crespectively. Whereas the effectivedrying time required to preparedehydrated mushroom usingdifferent treatments varied between4 to 5½ h for 50°C and 3 to 4½ hfor 60°C. The minimum total dryingtime (6 h) was recorded for 60°Cdrying temperature; while effectivedrying time was also minimum (3 h)for 60°C drying temperature.

It was observed that the totaldrying time required for preparationof dehydrated mushroom, was morethan that required in continuousdrying method. This was becauseduring tempering the dryer was offand hence actual heat supplied fordrying was zero. Till some usefuldrying was took place duringtempering using available heat inthe dryer. The effective drying timerequired was lower for 1:1 hintermittent drying cycle astempering time in this case wasmore and some useful drying wascarried out during tempering. Alsothe drying time was found minimumfor mushrooms with control andsulphuring pretreatments. Themoisture content of mushroom wasdecreased with total as well aseffective drying time and moisturereduction trends were similar in allthe treatments. The moisturecontent decreased rapidly duringinitial stages of drying due to high


Effect of Drying Technique, Time and Drying Rate on OysterMushroom

India has emerged as the world'slargest milk producing country,producing 14 per cent of the world'smilk production and 57 per cent ofAsia's total milk production. ThoughIndia possesses about 15 per cent ofthe world's livestock, theproductivity of cattle is very low.Pune is one of the major milkproducing districts in Maharashtra.The milk producers are mostlymaintaining crossbred cows andbuffaloes for milk productionactivity. However, the rural milkproducers have several problems inadopting the dairy enterprise.Keeping this view in mind thepresent investigation was

undertaken to study the constraintsperceived by dairy farmers in Punedistrict of Western Maharashtra.

The present study was conductedduring the year 2006-07 in Punedistrict of Western Maharashtra.Four blocks viz.; Baramati, Indapur,Daund and Shirur were selected forthe study. Three villages wererandomly selected from each block.Fifteen dairy farmers havingcrossbred cows and buffaloes wereselected from each village. The datawere collected by survey methodwith specially designedquestionnaire. The socio-economicindicators of different categories of

dairy farmers were studied by thetabular method of analysis.

The results revealed that malpractices in purchase and sale ofmilch animals (86.67 per cent), longdistance of market place (75.56 percent), non-availability of nearbyregular weekly market (71.67 percent), financial difficulties in runningthe business (64.44 per cent) werethe major constraints. Gavali (2001)had reported the similar results.Yadav et al. (1995) also reportedweak financial status as a mainconstraint.

High cost of feed and fodder

initial moisture content of freshmushroom. But it decreased slowlytowards the end of drying. It wasalso observed that moistureremoved during tempering was lessas compared to that during drying.

The drying rate varied fordifferent treatments from 762.32 to322.67 g/h-100 g of d. m. and1076.56 to 516.25 g/h-100 g of d.m. for 50 and 60°C dryingtemperatures respectively. Thedrying rate was maximum (1076.56g/h-100 g of d. m.) for CaCl2solution + sulphuring, 60°C, 1.5:1h treatment; while it was foundminimum (322.67 g/h-100 g of d.m.) for control, 50°C, 1:0.5 htreatment. It was observed that thedrying rate was higher initially at thestart of drying process. As the

drying time advanced, the dryingrate decreased. At higher moisturecontent initially the drying rate wasalso higher. The drying rate thendecreased with decrease in moisturecontent. The drying rate decreasedrapidly during initial stages ofdrying. But it decreased slowlytowards the end of drying. It wasalso observed that the drying ratewas less during tempering ascompared to that of during drying.The relationship between dryingrate and total drying time for alltreatments was appeared to beexponential in nature.

H. T. Jadhav

College of Agricultural Engineeringand TechnologyDapoli - 415 712 (India)

February 25, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Chavan, U. D., R. N. Adsule and S. S.Kadam. 1993. Processing of Ber III:Preperation of dried ber, powder andtuty fruity. Beverage and Food World.20 (4) : 28-29.

Gopale, M. S. 2000. Studies on dehydrationof mushrooms (Pleurotus sajor caju ).M. Tech. (Agril. Engg.) thesis. MahatmaPhule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri (India),pp. 74-77.

Pruthi, J. S., M. Gopalkrishnan and A. V.Bhat. 1978. Studies on the dehydrationof tropical paddy straw mushroom(Volvariella volvaced). Indian FoodPacker. 32 (3) : 107-115.

Sonar, D. J. and A. S. Sonawane. 2000.Influence of pretreatments on dryingcharacteristics and quality of bananaslices. B.Tech. (Agril. Engg.) thesis,Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri(India), pp. 9-11.

Jadhav H. T.350

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Constraints in Adoption of Dairy Enterprise in Pune Districtof Western Maharashtra

Yield is a complex characterwhich depends upon manydetermining characters. Therefore,the knowledge on the correlationcoefficient of yield and itscomponent characters is of vitalimportance for planning an effectiveselection strategy. The phenotypiccorrelation indicates the extent ofobserved relationship between thetwo characters, while genotypiccorrelation provides informationabout linkage for the genescontrolling the pair of characters.

Hence genotypic correlationcoefficient studies provide anopportunity for critically assessingthe relationship of these characterswith yield. The correlation over thewide range of environment is likelyto give true picture about therelationship, which will help thebreeder to formulate strategies forindirect selection. Therefore, thepresent study was undertaken toestablish correlations among theeconomic parameters in chilli(Capsicum annum L.).

The experimental materials forthe present study comprised of sixdiverse parents viz., Phule Jyoti,Jayanti, Arka Lohit, PhuleSuryamukhi, G-4 and Surakta andtheir 15 hybrids. Trial wasconducted in a randomized blockdesign with three replications duringkharif, 2003 at Botany farm,College of Agriculture, Pune. Eachentry was represented by single rowof 4.5 m length spaced at 60 x 45cm distance between rows andwithin plants. The fertilizer dose of

(93.89 per cent), high wage rate oflabour (77.78 per cent), nonavailability of green fodder throughout the year (65.56 per cent) andlack of knowledge about scientificfeeding of animals (64.44 per cent)were the major constraints inmaintenance of milch animals.Yadav et al. (1995), Dixit et al.(2004), Singh and Chauhan (2006)reported similar constraints.

In marketing of milk, it wasrevealed that 58.33 per centfarmers preferred to supply milk toprivate dairy traders rather thancooperative dairy society. Thereason being the attractive price andtimely payment given by the privatedairy traders. The low price of milk(68.89 per cent), marginal profit inpreparation of milk products athome (59.44 per cent) andunsuitable time of milk collection(50.56 per cent) were the otherconstraints in marketing of milk.

Dixit et al. (2004), Singh andChauhan (2006), Ravikumar et al.(2006) reported similar constraints.Most of the farmers expected facilityand incentives from milk societiesfor fodder seed and grass sets(87.22 per cent), loan for purchaseof animals (71.11 per cent),veterinary services (50.56 per cent)and feed and concentrates (41.67per cent). Yadav et al. (1995) alsoreported similar findings.

It can be concluded from presentstudy that the high cost of feed andfodder, high wage rate of labour, lowprice for milk, non availability ofgreen fodder throughout the yearand lack of knowledge aboutscientific feeding of animals, werethe major constraints in adoption ofdairy enterprise in Pune District ofWestern Maharashtra.

V. K. KauthaleD. L. Sale

BAIF Development ResearchFoundation, Urlikanchan, Pune - 412 202 (India)December 07, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Dixit, P. K., J. P. Dhaka, M. S. Sajeesh andM. K. Aravinda Kumar. 2004.Economics of milk production in Kerala-An inter-regional empirical study, IndianJ. of Agri. Econ. 59 (3) : 646.

Gavali, A. V. 2001. An economic analysis ofcooperative dairy industry in WesternMaharashtra, Ph.D. thesis submitted toMPKV, Rahuri.

Mahendra Singh and Anil Chauhan. 2006.Constraints faced by dairy owners inadoption of scientific dairy farmingpractices, Indian J. of Dairy Sci. 59, 1,49-51.

Ravikumar, S., V. Jagadeeswary and P. V. K.Sasidhar. 2006. Constraints in adoptionof dairy production technologies, IndianVet. J., February, 82 : 185-186.

Yadav, D. B., S. L. Mali and M. G. Nema.1995. Constraints of dairy enterprise,Indian J. of Agri. Econ. 50 (3), PP355.


______________


Correlation Studies of Quantitative Characters with Dry FruitYield in Chilli

75:120:60 kg NPK ha-1 wasapplied during field preparation andplant growth. Regular plantprotection measures wereundertaken to protect the crop frominsect pests and disease. All thecultural operations like thinning andweeding was carried out as per therecommendations. The observationswere recorded on five randomlyselected plants from each replicationfor ten characters and correlationcoefficients were calculatedaccording to Singh and Chaudhary(1977).

From the correlation studies(Table 1), it was evident that thecharacter dry fruit weight plant-1

exhibited significant positiveassociation with plant height, fruitlength and days to maturity. Kauland Sharma (1988), Warade et al.(1996), Ahmed et al. (1997),Gandhi (1998), Sreelathakumaryand Rajamony (2000) reportedsimilar findings. The characters fruitgirth and number of fruits plant-1

exhibited negative and significantassociation with dry fruit weightplant-1. Results of Kaul and Sharma(1988) and Gandhi (1998) werecontradictory to the presentfindings.

Among the association betweencomponent characters days to 50per cent flowering showedsignificant positive association withdays to maturity, whereas it showednegative and non significantassociation with fruit length, fruitgirth, plant spread and numbers ofsecondary branches plant-1. Days tomaturity showed positive andsignificant association with plantheight and days to 50 per centflowering. These results were inagreement with the results of Nair etal. (1984).

Number of primary branchesplant-1 exhibited significant andpositive association with number ofsecondary branches, fruit girth andnumber of fruits plant-1. Plantheight exhibited significant positiveassociation with days to maturitywhere as plant spread was positiveand significantly associated with fruitlength. The fruit length exhibitedsignificant positive association withplant spread. Sarma and Roy(1995) reported the similar findings.Fruit girth showed significantpositive association with number ofprimary branches plant-1. Nair et al.(1984) and Sarma and Roy (1995)reported contradictory results.

Numbers of fruits plant-1 showedsignificant positive association withnumber of primary and secondarybranches plant-1. These results werein contradictory with Jayashankar etal. (1987) and Gandhi (1998).

Thus it could be clearly inferredfrom the above discussion that plantheight, fruit length and days tomaturity are the major dry fruit yieldcontributing character in chilli whichshowed positive and significantassociation with dry fruit weightplant-1. Therefore, due emphasisshould be given to these charactersto evolve high yielding genotypes ofchilli for dry fruit yield.

D. B. LadR. G. SatishP. K. Jagtap

Mahatma Phule Krishi VidyapeethRahuri - 413 722 (India)December 31, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Ahmed N., J. Nayeema and M. J. Tanaki.1997. Character association in hotpepper. Ejggplant News Letter. 16 : 68-71.

Gandhi S. D. 1998. Heterosis and combiningability studies in chilli (Capsicumannuum L.). M. Sc. "Thesis submitted to

Lad et al.352

Table 1. Simple correlation among the different quantitative characters with dry fruit yield in chilli.

Chracters Days to Days to Primary Secon- Plant Plant Fruit Fruit Fruits Dry fruit50% maturity bran- dary height spread length girth plant-1 weightflower ches branches (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) plant-1ing plant-1 (g)

Days to 50% flowering 1.0000 0.3993* -0.0523 -0.1377 0.0737 -0.1549 -0.2609 0.1920 0.1324 -0.0966days to maturity 1.0000 -0.3074 -0.5077 0.3450* 0.1573 0.1030 0.0032 -0.5276** 0.3081*Primary brnaches plant-1 1.0000 0.7279** -0.4244** 0.0099 -0.0137 0.3082* 0.4145** -0.2783Secondary branches plant-1 1.0000 -0.3887** -0.1135 0.0756 0.1185 0.5914** -0.2007Plant height (cm) 1.0000 0.1522 0.2475 -0.1096 -0.3239 0.6370Plant spread (cm) 1.0000 0.5665** -0.0843 -0.2213 0.2689Fruit length (cm) 1.0000 -0.3835* -0.2317 0.5004**Fruit girth (cm) 1.0000 0.0962 -0.4521**Fruit plant-1 1.0000 -0.3819*Dry fruit weight plant-1 (g) 1.0000

Soybean (Glycine max) is animportant leguminous and pulsecrop grown in Maharashtra on 15.6lakh hectares with total productionof 19.5 lakh metric tonnes with theproductivity of 12.53 kg ha-1

(Anonymous, 2004). Soybean fixesatmospheric nitrogen in soil whichmaintains soil fertility. Organicamendment plays a major role inimproving the soil physicalcondition, nutrient availability,nutrient uptake and yield of crop.Azotobacter a nitrogen fixingbacteria is one of the constituents oforganic amendment Purna-11.

Therefore, the present experimentwas conducted to study the effect ofPurna-11 on nutrient availability,uptake and yield of soybean.

A field experiment wasconducted with eight treatmnentcombinations (T1-Control, T2-RDF,T3- RDF + Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1,T4-50 per cent RDF + Purna-11 @150 kg ha-1, T5-50 per cent RDF +Purna-11 @ 300 kg ha-1, T6-Purna-11 @ 300 kg ha-1, T7- Purna-11 @500 kg ha-1, T8-FYM @ 10 t ha-1)with four replications in RBD duringkharif 2004-2005, on College

farm, MAU, Parbhani. Theexperimental soil was clayey intexture having pH 7.8, EC 0.35dSm-1, CaCO3 5.4 per cent,organic carbon 0.5 per cent, low inavailable N, P and high in availableK. The composition of Purna-11(organic amendment) was organiccarbon 32.4, nitrogen 2.6,phosphorus 1.4 and potassium0.43 per cent, Fe 550 ppm, Zn1561 ppm, Mn 146 ppm and Cu390 ppm. The crop was sownduring kharif 2004 and all thenecessary cultural operations andplant protection measures were

M.P.K.V., Rahuri.

Jayashankar, S., I. Iulappan and R.Armugum. 1987. Association analysisin the segregation generation of hotpepper. South Indian Hort., 35 (3) :202-205.

Kaul, B. L. and P. P. Sharma. 1988.Heterosis for morphological fruits andgreen fruits yield in sweet pepper. Veg.Sci. 15 (2) : 171-180.

Nair, P. M., M. K. George, N.Mohankumarrin, V. Gopinathanair andP. Saraswathy. 1984. Studies andcorrelation and path analysis inCapsicum annuum L. South IndianHort. 32 (4) : 212-218.

Sarma, R. N. and A. Roy. 1995. Variationand character association in chilli. Ann.Agric. Res., 16 (2) : 179-183.

Singh, R. K. and B. D. Chaudhary. 1977.Variance and covariance analysis in

"Biometrical methods in quantitativegenetic analysis". Kalyani Publ. NewDelhi, pp. 39-68.

Sreelathakumary and L. Rajamony. 2002.Variability, heritability and correlationstudies in chilli (Capsicum spp.) undershade. Indian J. Hort., 59 (1) : 77-83.

Warade, S. D., M. M. Dhumal and K. D.Shinde. 1996. Correlation studies inchilli. J. Maharashtra agric Univ. 21 (1): 55-57.


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Effect of Organic Amendments on Soil Nutrient Availability,Uptake and Yield of Soybean

Table 1. Availability of nutrients (kg ha-1) at different stages as influenced by organic amendment (Purna-11).

Treatment Flowering Pod formation Harvest–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––N P K S N P K S N P K S––––––––––––––––––––– (mg kg-1) ––––––––––––––––––––– (mg kg-1) ––––––––––––––––––––– (mg kg-1)

(kg ha-1) (kg ha-1) (kg ha-1)

T1 181.3 19.90 413 15.66 176.3 18.54 385 16.23 154.7 18.45 367 13.37T2 194.2 20.94 414 18.48 191.9 19.78 429 19.66 181.2 21.19 433 15.55T3 197.3 28.25 442 19.25 199.0 29.91 477 20.05 185.6 23.77 475 15.63T4 188.1 19.32 457 18.31 181.8 23.97 416 19.60 168.5 19.48 405 15.28T5 184.1 21.02 442 18.32 188.5 24.79 418 19.97 165.3 23.73 480 15.51T6 190.9 20.00 452 17.13 185.7 24.46 410 18.38 161.0 22.16 449 14.61T7 188.8 21.07 442 17.62 188.3 24.95 406 18.53 178.6 22.59 469 14.91T8 200.6 22.89 476 18.08 192.8 26.09 490 19.42 185.0 22.31 489 15.18S. E.+ 1.33 1.42 13.61 0.24 0.89 1.04 13.70 0.16 2.82 1.79 12.65 0.15C. D. at 5% 3.92 4.19 40.6 0.714 2.61 3.07 40.02 0.47 8.29 5.38 37.78 0.45

carried out. The soil and plantsamples were collected at flowering,pod formation and harvest stage.The crop was harvested after 90days of sowing and recorded theyield. The soil samples wereanalysed for available N (Subbiahand Asija, 1956), P, K (Jackson,1967) and S (Williams andSteinbergs, 1959). The N, P and Kin plant samples were determined asoutlined by Piper (1966), andsulphur estimated as per theprocedure given by Tandon (1993)and uptake of nutrients wascomputed.

The data (Table-1) indicateddecrease in availability of N withincrease in period of crop growth.Significantly higher availability of N(200.6 kg ha-1) was recorded atflowering with an application ofFYM @ 10 t ha-1 (T8) over othertreatments except an application ofrecommended dose in combinationwith Purna-11@ 60 kg ha-1 (T3).While at the time of pod formation,significantly higher availability ofnitrogen (199 kg ha-1) was recordedwith treatment T3 over all othertreatments. Similar pattern wasrecorded at the time of harvest. Thedata (Table-1) also showedmaximum availability of P both atflowering and pod formation stage(29.9 kg ha-1) with an application ofRDF in combination with Purna-11@ 60 kg ha-1 (T3) followed bysignificant decrease with othertreatments. The highest availabilityof K (476 kg ha-1) at flowering andpod formation (490 kg ha-1) stagewas recorded with an application ofFYM @ 10 t ha-1. While theapplication of RDF + Purna-11 @60 kg ha-1 showed the highestavailability of S at all the stagesfollowed by application of RDF.Maximum N availability recordedwith FYM @ 10 t ha-1 (T8) at

flowering and with RDF + Purna-11@ 60 kg ha-1 (T3) at pod formationand harvest stage may be due tofavorable effects of organicamendment which released availablenitrogen on mineralization. Thephosphorus, potassium and sulphuravailability in soil recorded in thepresent study confirm the findingsof Tiwari et al. (2002) andRavankar et al. (2000).

The total uptake of N (202.7 kgha-1) was significantly higher withthe application of RDF along withPurna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 (T3) over allother treatments (Table-2). Similarly,maximum uptake of P, K and S wasnoticed with the addition of RDFalong with Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1.Maximum nutrient uptake recordedwith RDF + Purna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1

(T3) may be attributed to the factthat integration of organicamendments with RDF resulted inhigher availability and therebyhigher uptake of nutrients insoybean (Giri and Rana, 2003).

The data on grain and straw yieldof soybean (Fig-1) indicated thataddition of RDF in combination withPurna-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 (T3)

produced significantly higher grain(29.53q ha-1) and straw (53.9 1qha-1) yield over other treatments.Similarly, the treatment T3 showedmaximum per cent increase in grainyield (66.83) over control. Thus,application of RDF in combinationwith Puma-11 @ 60 kg ha-1 wassuperior to other treatments. Thismight be attributed to highernutrient availability and their uptakeresulted in better proliferation anddevelopment of roots that favoredthe crop to extract soil moisture andnutrients from greater volume of the

Gajbhiye and Mali354

Grain yield (q ha-1)

Straw yield (q ha-1)

Treatment

Gra

in /

str

aw y

ield

% increase in yield overcontrol

Fig. 1. Grain and straw yield of soybean as influenced by organicamendments.

Table 2. Total uptake of nutrients (kg ha-1)by soybean as influenced byorganic amendment.

Treat- Nitro- Phos- Pota- Sul-ments gen phorus ssium phur

T1 114.0 11.6 43.8 6.0T2 187.5 24.61 79.1 12.8T3 202.7 28.9 87.7 14.5T4 172.5 21.7 72.6 10.8T5 179.5 23.0 75.5 12.1T6 131.7 15.5 54.8 8.1T7 134.8 15.1 53.4 8.2T8 155.3 19.9 66.5 10.2S. E.+ 2.32 0.81 2.467 0.39C. D. 6.83 2.38 7.264 1.16at 5%

Intercropping system is an age-old practice of growingsimultaneously two or more crops inthe same piece of land at the sametime or in the same season. It hasbeen a common practice followedby the farmers in India, Africa, SriLanka and West Indies (Ayyangarand Ayyer, 1942). The basic idea ofintercropping is not only to growtwo or more crop species togetherwhich can exploit the resourcesbetter than either of them grownseparately, but also when two ormore crops occupy the same field,the inherent risk in agriculture andmore so, under dry land conditionsare buffered to some extent called as"biological insurance" (Ayyer, 1963).

Aiyer (1949) reported that theresources with regard to the plantnutrients present in the soil or addedto it as manure were utilized to thefullest extent in mixed stand than

when components were grownseparately. The different cropshaving varying root depths toextract moisture and nutrients fromdifferent soil layers. The periodicalincome and distribution of labourrequirement throughout the year isof great help to poor cultivators.Efficient utilization of nutrient,moisture, space and solar energycan be derived through mixed orintercropping system. Yieldadvantages in intercropping systemare mainly because of differentialuse of growth resources by thecomponent crops. The main way ofcomplimentarity occur when thegrowth pattern of component cropsdiffer in time.

The field experiment wasconducted at the Agronomy farm ofDr. B. S. K. K. V., in DapoliMaharashtra during kharif seasonof 2007-2008, on lateritic soil. The

farm is located in tropical region on17°N latitude and 73°E longitude atan elevation of 250 meter above themean sea level. The variety used forthe experiment was Vari No. 10 andJNC-6 of proso millet and nigerrespectively. The treatmentsconsisted of five row ratios (1:1,2:1, 3:1, 1:2, 1:3) along with solecrop of proso millet and niger andtwo sources of nutrients i.e. organic(5 t ha-1 through FYM (W1) andinorganic (50 % of recommended Nand 100 % of P + K throughSampurna (19:19:19) andremaining 50 % N top dressedthrough urea (W2). There were 14treatment combinations replicatedthrice in a randomized block design.The plot size was 4.8 x 3.6 meter.Seed rate used were 5 and 3 kgha-1 for both the crops respectively.All recommended agronomicpractices were followed for raisingthe crop.

soil and ultimately produced higheryields (Ravankar et al. 2000).

B. R. Gajbhiye C. V. Mali

Department of Soil Science andAgril. Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Parbhani - 413 402 (India)September 27, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Anonymous. 2004. State wise data on areaand production of soybean. Project

coordinators Report (1999-2000).AICRP on soybean. Nat. Res. Center forSoybean, Indore, PP. 1-7.

Giri, G. and D. S. Rana. 2003. Intigratednutrient management in oil seeds forbalanced nutrition. Farmers Forum. 3(1) : 18-22.

Jackson, M. L. 1967. Soil Chemical AnalysisPrentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, NewDelhi, PP46, 128, 152 and 283.

Piper, C.S. 1966. Soil and Plant Analysis,Hans, Publ. Mumbai.

Ravankar. H. N., D. M. Patil, N. B. Mohodand P. W. Deshmukh. 2000. Effect oforganics and inorganics on yield andnutrients availability under soybean-wheat sequence in vertisol. P.K.V. Res.

J. 31 (2) : 75-79.

Subbiah, B. V. and J. Asija. 1956. A rapidprocedure for estimation of availablenitrogen in soils. Curr. Sci. 25 : 259-262

Tiwari, A., A. K. Dwivedi and P. R. Dixit.2002. Long term influence of organicand inorganic fertilization on soil fertilityand productivity of soybean-wheatsystem in a vertisol. J. Indian Soc. SoilSci., 50(4): 472-475.

Tandon, H. L. S. 1993. Methods of Soil,Plants, Water and Fertilizers Analysis,FDCO, New Delhi, PP. 190-205.

Williams, C. H. and A. Steinbergs. 1959.Effect of pyrite and organic manures onsulphur nutrition of crops. Aust.J. Agric.Res. 10 : 340.


______________


Intercropping of Niger in Kharif Prosomillet (Panicummilliaceum L.) with Organic and Inorganic Sources of Nutrients

Line sowing of proso millet wasdone in nursery with well preparedraised bed of size 5 x 1 meter. After15 days 1 kg N for 100 sq. m. areawas given, and transplanting wasdone after 20 days in main plotleaving rows for niger sowing. Onthe same day niger was sown in linein main plots. The total rainfall of4260 mm was received from Juneto October. Growth, yield attributesand yield were studied and based onthese characters the most efficientintercropping was evaluated. Thedata indicated significant differencesdue to different row ratios andsources of nutrients and theirinteraction effects.

Proso millet : Grain yield levelof sole proso millet (Table 1) wassignificantly more than theirrespective intercrop ratios of 1:1,2:1, and 1:3. The proso millet +niger in 3:1 row ratio was found atpar with sole proso millet and thesetreatments were significantly betterthan rest of the treatment. Grainyield of proso millet was found toincrease due to application ofinorganic sources of nutrient overthe application of organic source ofnutrient. Straw yield of proso millet+ niger in 3:1 row ratio was foundat par with sole proso milletfollowed by 2:1 row ratio. Similartrends were found in case of harvestindex.

Niger : It was observed that testweight (Table 1) was significantlyhigher in 1:1 row ratio overremaining treatments, followed by1:3 row ratios. Test weight of nigerwas significantly higher due toapplication of inorganic sources of

nutrients over the application oforganic source of nutrient. Thegrain and straw yield of niger wasaffected due to different rowproportions. Significantly highestgrain and straw yield was recordedunder sole crop of niger. Among theintercropping systems proso millet +niger in 1:3 row ratio recordedsignificantly higher weight of grainsand straw per hectare followed byproso millet + niger in 1:2 row ratioover rest of the treatments. Thegrain yield was found to beincreased due to inorganic sourcesof nutrients over organic source ofnutrient. Similar findings wereearlier reported by Reddy et al.(1983) and Thorat et al. (1986b).

A. N. UgaleA. C. Sawant P. G. Chavan

Department of Agronomy, Dr. Balasaheb Sawant KonkanKrishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli - 415 712 (India)August 27, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Aiyer, A. K. Y. N. 1949. Mixed cropping inIndia. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 19: 439-523.

Ayyanger, G. N. R. and Ayyer. 1942. Mixedcropping a review. Madras Agri. J. 30:3-13

Ayyer, A. J. Y. N. 1963. Principales of crophusbandry in India. Bangalore press, pp.406.

Reddy, V. C., B. K. Linga Gowda, M. G.Rajappa and A. S. Kumar Swamy.1983. Intercropping of finger milletunder rainfed condition. Mysore J. ofAgric. Sci. 17: 5-7.

Thorat, S. T., S. P. Sonune and S. A.Chavan. 1986b. Intercropping of somepulse and oil crop in kharif ragi. J.Maharashtra agric. Univ. 11(2): 268-271.

Ugale et al.356

Table 1. Mean value of yield of proso millet and niger as affected by different treatments.

Treatments Prosomillet Niger–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––1000 Grain Straw Harvest 1000 Grain Strawgrain yield yield index grain yield yieldweight (q (q (%) weight (q (q (g) ha-1) ha-1) (g) ha-1) ha-1)

Sole proso millet 1.85 12.52 68.17 15.49 - - -Sole niger - - - - 2.93 4.38 46.13Proso millet + Niger 1:1 1.80 7.76 56.77 12.42 3.54 2.30 21.57Proso millet + Niger 2:1 1.73 8.67 61.20 14.33 2.92 2.01 18.18Proso millet + Niger 3:1 1.62 11.20 66.02 14.50 2.78 1.80 15.20Proso millet + Niger 1:2 1.74 8.16 54.25 10.93 3.02 3.29 26.67Proso millet + Niger 1:3 1.75 4.90 38.65 11.96 3.21 4.12 29.95S. E.+ 0.06 0.66 3.16 0.84 0.06 0.06 0.72C. D. at 5% NS 1.94 9.26 2.47 0.17 0.17 1.10

Sources of nutrients :Organic 1.70 7.89 55.24 12.93 2.96 2.96 23.68Inorganic 1.80 9.88 59.79 13.61 3.17 3.17 28.89S. E.+ 0.04 0.38 1.82 0.49 0.03 0.03 0.41C. D. at 5% NS NS NS NS 0.10 0.10 NS

______________

Increasing attention is being paidto the role of micronutrients inagriculture. Experiments andagricultural practice have provedthat micro-nutrients are commonconstraints to crop production andthat soils defficient in microelements are wide spread in India.Micronutrient element Bo isreceiving a considerable attention inacidic soils of Terai zone of WestBengal due to its deficiency(Pakrashi, 1991). Basic informationregarding distribution of Bo in soilsof this area, which are responsiblefor poor crop growth, is verymeager to make any definiterecommendation. Hence, thepresent investigation was carried outto study status of boron in thesurface and sub-surface soils of Teraizones of West Bengal.

Soil samples were collected fromvarious locations of Inceptisols andEntisols of Terai zones of WestBengal. Air-dry soil samples passedthrough 2 mm sieve were analyzedfor mechanical analysis byhydrometer method (Dey, 1956),pH by glass electrode pH meter (1:2soil: water), organic carbon byWalkley and Black's wet digestionmethod, (Jackson 1973). Hot watersoluble boron was determinedcalorimetrically using Azomethine-H-indicator following the methodsof Wolf (1971). Correlation co-efficient (r) value was calculated byfollowing the procedures asdescribed by Gomez and Gomez(1976).

The pH of the soils ranged fromstrongly acidic (4.4) to slightly acidic

(6.6) in reaction (Table 1). However,the pH of the surface soils wasfound lower in comparison with the

subsurface soil of the same site. Theorganic carbon status of the soilsamples ranged from low (0.22%) to


Distribution of Available Boron in the Selected Surface andSub-Surface Soils of Terai Zone of West Bengal in Relation to

Physico-Chemical Properties

Table 1. Distribution of available Boron content along with the relevant physico-chemicalproperties of selected surface and sub-surface soil of Terai Zone.

District Depth Physico-chemical properties HWS sampling site (cm) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Boron

pH OC (%) Clay (%) Clay + (ppm)silt (%)

Cooch-behar :Sitalkuchi 0-15 5.0 1.02 13 24 0.32

15-30 5.1 0.88 16 29 0.35Dinhata 0-15 4.9 1.12 12 28 0.24

15-30 5.0 0.90 18 35 0.26Patchhara 0-15 6.2 1.12 14 34 0.50

15-30 6.5 0.89 16 41 0.26Talapakha 0-15 6.1 0.92 19 46 0.37

15-30 6.3 0.66 25 50 0.20Kumarganj 0-15 5.9 1.42 26 59 0.51

15-30 6.0 1.15 31 65 0.35Hoglabari 0-15 6.0 0.90 9 45 0.40

15-30 6.2 0.66 13 49 0.30Dharmabari 0-15 5.4 0.88 18 60 0.41

15-30 5.7 0.62 19 63 0.38Thingabari 0-15 6.6 0.43 20 79 0.43

15-30 6.9 0.23 21 80 0.39Salbari 0-15 5.6 0.85 18 72 0.38

15-30 6.0 0.67 20 73 0.32Tofanganj 0-15 5.9 1.02 15 45 0.36

15-30 6.4 0.85 18 42 0.33

Jalpaiguri :Falakata 0-15 5.0 0.78 10 32 0.30

15-30 5.6 0.66 15 30 0.30Moynaguri 0-15 5.0 0.41 19 34 0.33

15-30 5.5 0.30 22 35 0.34Hasudanga 0-15 5.4 1.10 16 38 0.34

15-30 6.0 0.88 20 40 0.38Mal 0-15 5.1 0.87 12 42 0.33

15-30 5.6 0.62 15 45 0.37Alipurduar 0-15 6.1 1.00 15 72 0.36

15-30 6.5 0.78 19 80 0.41Lalitbari 0-15 5.1 0.35 11 23 0.30

15-30 5.6 0.25 16 33 0.38Kumarpur 0-15 4.9 0.80 11 64 0.31

15-30 5.5 0.64 16 70 0.40Rajgonj 0-15 4.9 0.38 10 27 0.28

15-30 5.4 0.25 14 35 0.33Dhupguri 0-15 6.2 0.33 13 33 0.38

15-30 6.6 0.22 17 40 0.41Patkidaha 0-15 6.2 1.40 13 32 0.53

15-30 6.7 1.10 18 39 0.51

Milk has a high nutritive value. Itsupplies proteins, minerals, vitaminsand furnishes energy giving lactoseand milk fat. Water, salt, sugar,wheat flour, blotting paper, bakingsoda, washing soda, caustic soda,

urea and formalin have been knownto be used as adulterants (Kumar etal. 1998). To find out the exactsource of adulteration of milk, it isnecessary to check it at producerlevel. Therefore, the present study

was carried out to find out theintensity of adulteration in milk atproducers level.

For the present study, in all 240samples were collected from

high (1.42%) and soils of surfacelayer showed higher organic carboncontent (0.33 to 1.42%) than thesub-surface layer (0.22 to 1.15%).Clay content varied from (9 to 31%)and it has also been found that theper cent clay increases with depth.Whereas, clay plus silt also showedthe same trend of result as that ofclay. Available boron contentranged from 0.24 to 0.53 ppm.Relatively higher amount of HWSboron were found in the sub-surfacelayer than the surface layer of thesame locations, except a few sites,where surface layer contain higheravailable boron. The content ofHWS boron in soils of the districtsof Coochbehar ranged from 0.24 to0.51 ppm with a mean value of0.392 ppm. Whereas, the same inthe soils of the district of Jalpaiguriranged from 0.28 to 0.53 ppm withmean value of 0.346ppm. Similar

observations have also beenreported by Saha (1992).

The statistical analysis (Table 2)showed that, there was a positiveand significant correlation betweenpH, organic carbon, clay contentand HWS boron of the surface soilbut a positive and non significantcorrelation found between organiccarbon, clay, clay plus silt and HWSboron in sub-surface soils. Similarrelationship has also been reportedby Bansal et al. (2003) andChaudhary and Sukla (2004).

P. DebnathM. K. MahataS. K. Ghosh

Dept. of Soil Science and Agril.ChemistryBhidan Chandra KrishiVishwavidyalayaMohanpur - 741 252 (India)

July 8, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Bansal, R. L., V. K. Nayyar and J. S. Brar.2003. Available boron status of soils inCentral Plain Region of Punjab. J. Res.PAU. 2 : 172-176.

Chaudhary, D. R and L. M. Sukla. 2004.Profile distribution of boron forms inrelation to soil characteristics in acidsoils of Western Rajasthan. AnnalsAgric. Res. 24 : 314-321.

Dey, P. R. 1956 . Report of the committeeon physical analysis, 1954-55, Soil Sci.Soc. Am. Proc. 20 : 167-169.

Gomez, K. A and A. A. Gomez. 1976.Statistical procedures for agricultureresearch. 2nd ed IRRI. Los Banos.Philippines.

Jackson, M. L. 1973. Soil ChemicalAnalysis, Prientice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.New Delhi.

Pakrashi, A. C. 1991. Studies on theavailability of boron in acid soils of NorthBengal in relation to growth andnutrition of green gram (Vigna radiatacv. B1). Ph. D. thesis, Bidhan ChandraKrishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal.

Saha, A. R. 1992. Studies on boron in acidsoils of North Bengal in relation togrowth and nutrition of green gram(Vigna radiata var. Pusa Baisakhi). Ph.D. thesis, Bidhan Chandra KrishiViswavidhyalaya, West Bngal.

Wolf, B. 1971. The determination of boronin soil extracts, plant materials,compost, manures, water and nutrientsolution. Commun. Soil. Sci. Plant Anal.2 : 363-374.

Debnath et al.358

Table 2. Correlation coefficient (r) between HWS boron content and some relevant soilcharacteristics.

Agro-climatic Depth Correlation coefficient (r) between HWS boronzone (cm) content and some relevant soil characteristics

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––pH OC (%) Clay (%) Clay + silt (%)

Terai zone 0-15 0.7613** 0.4629* 0.4916* 0.310915-30 0.6536** 0.2256 0.1160 0.3447

*,** Significant level of 5 and 1% respectively.

______________


Quality of Milk Supplied by Producers to Co-operativeSocieties in Nagpur (Maharashtra)

producers at co-operative societylevel and 80 samples were fromproduction level, and they wereanalysed for physio-chemical qualityand detection of adulteration inmilk. The raw milk sample fromindividual producer was collected insociety and were also collected fromthe milking animals at productionlevel. The samples were collected atone month interval in 3 phases fromco-operative society level and singletime at production level. The kit wasdeveloped for chemical analysis.Physico-chemical and milkadulteration analysis was done onthe platform of dairy co-operativesociety. Acidity, specific gravity andfat test were determined as per theprocedure recommended in BISHandbook of Food analysis [sp. 18(part xi) 1981]. SNF test wasdetermined by using Zealslactometer at 84°F by using ISIformula,

CLRSNF = ––––––– + 0.22 F + 0.72per cent 4

where,

CLR = Corrected lactometerreading

F = Fat per cent of milk

After the analysis of milksamples, other information of milk

producer was collected. The datawas analyzed and studied criticallyfrom different angles consideringthe averages obtained separatelyfrom different phase of work.Standard error was calculated as perthe formula given by Panse andSukhatme(1978).

Physico-chemical quality ofmilk : The results obtained aredepicted in Table 1, revealed that nosignificant variation in averagespecific gravity at each level ofcollection was recorded. The rangeof average specific gravity was 1.02to 1.03 at both levels of samplecollection. These findings are inagreement with (Lavania (1969) andKarpude et al. (1987). Averageacidity of milk collected at co-operative society level was 0.142per cent. Maximum samples(76.66%) recorded acidity in therange of 0.13 to 0.18 per cent.Acidity below 0.13 per cent wasrecorded by 18.75 per cent sampleshowever, above 0.18 per cent wasrecorded by 4.58 per cent samplesindicating long storage of milk atproducers level. Similar findingshave been reported by Reddy et al.(1989) and Kothawade (1999).

The average fat content of themilk at society level was 3.83 percent and at production level it was

4.05 per cent. Low fat content thanPFA standard was recorded in21.66 per cent and 7.50 per centsamples collected at society leveland production level respectively.The average SNF content was8.122 per cent and 8.416 per centat co-operative society level andproduction level respectively. Thelow percentage of SNF content inmilk at production level might bedue to inadequate feeding and alsodue to different class of animals formilk production. The average totalsolids content in milk collected atsociety level was 11.95 per centwhich was lower (12.47 per cent)than total solids in milk collected atproduction level. The average totalsolids content at society level werebelow the PFA standard. From thetotal samples studied 56 and 35 percent collected at society andproduction level respectivelyrecorded lower total solids than PFAstandard. The low total solidscontent at society level could be dueto adulterating milk with water andlow SNF content of milk. Theseresults obtained are on similar linewith the finding by Wathore (1998).Highest per cent (25.83)adulteration was recorded byaddition of sugar followed by sodiumbicarbonate 17.08 per cent, starch12.91 per cent and urea 4.16 percent. The majority of producers


Table 1. Quality parameters of milk collected from different levels.

Source Ph- No. of Specific gravity Acidity Fat S. N. F. Total solidsase sample –––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––

anal- Average SE + Per cent SE + Per cent SE + Per cent SE + Per cent SE +yzed average average average TS

Co-operative I 80 1.0265 +2.76 0.144 +2.184 3.89 +0.0511 8.204 +0.0772 12.100 +0.120society level II 80 1.0263 +2.69 0.137 +1.682 3.82 +0.0529 8.143 +0.0753 11.969 +0.121

III 80 1.0259 +2.51 0.146 +2.121 3.78 +0.0510 8.02 +0.0719 11.795 +0.115Total 240 1.0262 +1.54 0.142 +1.186 3.83 +0.0300 8.122 +0.0435 11.955 +0.0694Production 80 1.0272 +2.41 - - 4.05 +0.0726 8.416 +0.0784 12.470 +0.145level

Pearlmillet-wheat croppingsequence has gained popularity inhot and humid agro climaticcondition of scarcity zone ofAhmednagar district. Croppingsequence is traditionally a low costinput agriculture system.Information on nutrientmanagement on individual crops isavailable, while cropping system, itis lacking. Moreover, the singlenutrient approach has beenreplaced by multinutrient to provebalanced nutrients to boost up cropproductivity and nutrient useefficiency. The nutrientmanagement in cropping system ismore efficient and judicious thanindividual crop, as following cropuses residual nutrients. Keepingthese considerations in view, thepresent field investigation wasundertaken, during 2006-07.

A field experiment wasconducted for two consecutiveseasons (2006-2007) on inceptisolin scarcity zone of Ahmednagardistrict of Maharashtra. The soil waslow in organic carbon (0.53),medium in nitrogen (205.17 kgha-1), low in available phosphorus(15.42 kg ha-1) and high in availablepotassium (538.34 kg ha-1). Theexperiment was laid out in arandomized block design with sixreplications and five treatments. Thetreatment consisted of N (60 kgha-1), P2O5 (30 kg ha-1) and K2O(30 kg ha-1) along with control andN (120 kg ha-1), P2O5 (60 kg ha-1)and K2O (40 kg ha-1) in pearlmilletand wheat crop respectively. Thehalf dose of N was applied at topdressing 30 days after sowing topearlmillet crop and 25-30 days

after sowing to wheat crops.Pearlmillet (cv. Saburi) was sown inthe second week of June followedby wheat (cv. 'NIAW-301') in thesecond week of November duringkharif and rabi respectively.Drillling was carried out at 45 x 15-cm row spacing in pearlmillet andwheat of 22.5 cm. Azotobactor andPSB were used for seed treatmentwherever applicable as pertreatments. The chemical analysis ofsoil and plant were carried out inlaboratory by adopting standardprocedure as described byJackson(1973). The grain yield ofpearl millet increased significantlywith increasing levels of N up to 60kg ha-1. On an average, applicationof 60 kg N ha-1 increased the grainyield by 6.81 q ha-1 over absolutecontrol. These findings were

supplied cow milk or mixed milk tosociety. There was decrease inspecific gravity from production tocooperative society level. Mixing ofmorning and evening milk withaddition of various preservatives orneutralizers maintains the averageacidity within the acceptable limit.The low fat, SNF and TS content isdue to dilution of milk, inadequatefeeding of milch animals andmaintaining different class ofanimals.

R. B. AherP. V. BhireM. G. Mote

Department of Animal Husbandryand Dairying,College of Agriculture, Nagpur - 440001 (India)May 20, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

B.I.S. 1981. Handbook of Food Analysis SP: 18 (Part XI) Bureau of IndianStandards, Manak Bhavan, BahadurShaha Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 001.

Karpude, A. A., S. D. Rathi, N. V. Jogalekarand U. M. Ingle. 1987. Adulteration ofmilk sold in Parbhani town. Asian J.Dairy Res. 6 (2) : 83-86.

Kumar, R., D. K. Singh and N. K. Chawla.1998. Adulteration or contamination ofmilk demystified. Indian Dairyman 50 (7): 25-33.

Kothawade, U. D. 1999 : Comparative studyof quality of milk sold by organiseddairies in Nagpur city. M.Sc. (Agri.)thesis submitted to Dr. P.D.K.V., Akola.

Lavania, G. S. 1969. Quality of milk assupplied to the town Baraut (Meerut),U.P. Indian J. Dairy Sci. 22 (3) : 181-186.

Panse, V. G. and P. V. Sukhatme. 1978.Statistical Methods for AgriculturalWorkers. Indian Council of Agri. Res.,New Delhi., 1 : 43-44.

Reddy, I. S., R. K. Reddy, B. T. Jairam andD.Venkayya, 1989. Bacteriologicalquality of cow milk. Indian J. Dairy Sci.42 (3) : 650-652.

Wathore, D. K. 1998. Studies on chemicaland bacteriological quality of milk sold inNagpur city. M.Sc. (Agri.) thesissubmitted to Dr. P.D.K.V., Akola.

Aher et al.360

______________


Effect of N, P and K on Productivity and Nutrient Uptake inPearlmillet Wheat Cropping Sequence

confirmed with the results of Varma(1996) and Yadav et al. (1997).Application of P showed markedresponse up to 30 kg P2O5 ha-1

only (Table-1). This might beattributed to more P fixing capacityof soil. Pearlmillet remainedunaffected by potash application.This might be due to suffificientpotash reserve and high potashbuffering capacity of soil. Similarresults were also reported by Patel(1991).

The yield of wheat increasedsignificantly with increasing levels ofN (Table- 1), and a linear responseto N was observed up to 120 kgha-1. The application of N, P and Krecorded significantly higher grainyield of pearlmillet (28.83 q ha-1)and wheat (42.67 q ha-1) followedby the treatment involvingapplication of N and K to both thecrops. (Table- 1) However, thesetwo treatments were at par witheach other for both the crops.

Similar results were obtained in caseof stalk/fodder yield of pearl milletand wheat, respectively. Theavailable nitrogen (189.60 kg ha-1),phosphorus (24.52 kg ha-1),potassium (161.44 kg ha-1) andorganic carbon (0.53%) content wasobserved due to application of 100% RDF followed by N and K.

The data on economic studies ofPearlmillet - wheat croppingsequence under all recommendedpackage of practices revealed thatgross monetary returns weresignificantly higher due toapplication of 100 per cent RDF(Rs.81044 t ha-1) and followed bytreatment T4. However, treatmentT5 has highest net returns and B:Cratio occurred due to 100 per centRDF to both the crops were (Rs.49726 t ha-1 and 2.58) followed byother treatments. Thus, it could bepossible to achieve maximumproductivity and monetary returnsfrom pearlmillet- wheat cropping

sequence with the application ofRDF to both the crops.

R. B. HileS. M. TodmalA. G. Wani

Department of AgronomyMahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri - 413 722 (India)July 12, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Jackson, M. L. 1973. Soil chemical analysis.Prentice Hall Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

Patel, A. M. 1991. Response of nitrogenthrough manures and fertilizers aloneand their combinations on pigeonpea. AM.Sc. thesis submitted to MPKV, Rahuri(India).

Verma, O. P. S. 1996. Integrated nutrientmanagement in pearlmillet under rainfedconditions. Indian J. Agron. 41 (1) : 58-60.

Yadav, R. P., R. K. Sharma and V. K.Shrivastava. 1997. Fertilitymanagement in pigeonpea basedintercropping system under rainfedconditions. Indian J. Agron. 42 (1) : 46-49.


Table 1. Nutrient uptake, yield and monetary returns and B:C ratio of pearl millet - wheat cropping sequence.

Treatment Pearlmillet Wheat Pearl millet Wheat yield Gross Net B:Cdetails ––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––– yield (q ha-1) (q ha-1) mone- mone- ratio

N P K N P K ––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––– tary taryGrain Straw Grain Straw returns returns

(Rs. ha-1) (Rs. ha-1)

Control 51.32 10.24 56.52 95.87 11.56 81.33 10.83 16.27 18.67 28.97 333954 8938 1.35(No fertilizers)N 82.62 12.52 89.74 136.41 16.76 117.68 17.64 26.65 28.34 42.51 52292 23808 1.81N & P 98.54 15.42 99.64 151.26 19.20 132.38 22.76 33.85 35.35 53.03 65789 35068 2.13N & K 112.32 24.35 114.21 158.16 19.38 139.68 24.91 37.36 36.64 55.08 67564 40084 2.57N, P & K 134.66 24.52 138.62 189.60 22.11 161.4 28.83 43.25 42.67 64.41 81044 49726 2.58SE. m. + 7.12 0.81 3.26 12.24 0.75 3.54 0.05 0.21 0.57 0.76 1.113 0.80 0.02C. D. at 5% 21.88 2.47 9.88 25.53 1.57 7.39 0.15 0.64 1.69 2.24 3.28 2.37 0.08

Rates : -Rs q-1. Pearl millet - 700/-, Wheat - 1300/-, Straw 50/-

______________

The application of compost tosoil increased the size of water stableaggregates more than 0.25 mm.(Bavaskar and Zende, 1973) andinfiltration rate (Alok Kumar andTripathi, 1990).

An application of organicmanures in combination withinorganic fertilizer and blofertilizerproved to obtain better yield.Amarchandra (1998) obtainedhighest marketable yield of cabbage(729.36 q ha-1) by the application of50 per cent NPK and 5 tonnespoultry manure over the control(241.80 q ha-1) and othertreatments.

Keeping this in mind the presentinvestigation was undertaken tostudy the effect of IPNS (IntegratedPlant Nutrient Supply) on physicalproperties of soil and yield of okra.

The experiment was laid out in arandomized block design with threereplications and ten treatmentcombinations. The fertilizers wereapplied as per recommended dosefor Okra. i.e. 100:50:50 NPK kgha-1. The organic manures viz.,FYM @ 10 t ha-1 and SW-PMC @10.15, and 20 t ha-1 were appliedalong with recommended dose ofNPK. The Azospirillum wasapplied @ 30g kg-1 seeds of okra.Soil samples were analysed inrespect of bulk density, hydraulicconductivity, soil moisture at 33 and1500 kpa and water stableaggregates, as influenced bydifferent treatments.

Application of recommendeddose of fertilizers with without

organic sources decreased bulkdensity of soil and on par with eachother. Bulk density was decreaseddue to organic sources whichimproved porosity and void ratio.Similar results were also recorded byNimje and Seth (1970).

The hydraulic conductivity wasincreased due to organic manuresand was higher in treatment T9(SW-PMC 20 Mg ha-1 and BF) andT10 (SW-PMC 20 Mg ha-1), while itwas lower in treatment T2 (RDF100:50:50 kg ha-1). This might bedue to influence of more organicmatter and porosity of soil asreported by Alok kumar andTripathi (1990).

There was gradual increase insoil moisture with increase inorganic matter. The treatment withcombination of organic manuresand inorganic fertilizers showedgradual increase in available water.Thus addition of organic sourcesfound to be beneficial for increasingavailable moisture. This might bedue to improvement of soil physicalproperties like pore space,improvement in soil structure,decrease in bulk density andincrease in water holding capacity asreported by Acharya et al. (1988)The application of organic manures(FYM and SW-PMC) in combinationwith inorganic fertilizers and bio-fertilizers showed significantly betteraggregation. Application of SW-PMC was found better than FYMsince organic matter acts as acementing agent. Similar resultswere also obtained by Bawaskar andZende (1973) and Shiralipour et al.(1992).

The conjoint use of organicmanures, inorganic fertilizer andbio-fertilizers showed siunificanlincrease in the yield of okra.

The combined use of organicmanures, inorganic fertilizers andbiofertilizer (NPK + 10 M t ha-1

FYM+ Azospirillum) recorded thehighest fruit yield of 92.71 q ha-1.However, recommended dose offertilizer along with biofertilizerrecorded 86.29 q ha-1 fruit yield.The conjoint use of organicmanures, inorganic fertilizers andbiofertilizer enhanced the fruit yieldof okra. However, integrationwithout biofertilizer did not increasethe yield. This might be related withthe use ol Azospirillum, whichincreased the plant height, girth andnumber of leaves, root growth andvolume, which in-turn enhance theuptake of water and therebynutrients resulting in better plantheight, girth and ultimate fruit yield.Thus the present study proved, useof IPNS (Integrated Plant NutrientSupply) is beneficial for soil in termsof physical properties and therebyto increase the yield of okra.

K. A. JadhavA. S. PatilN. B. Mane Deshmukh

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri - 413 722 (India)May 20, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Acharya C. L. S. K. Bishnoi, H. S.Yaduvanshi. 1988. Effect of long termapplication of fertlizers and organic,inorganic amendments under


Studies on Physical Properties of Soil and Yield of Okra asInfluenced by IPNS

The larvae of M. vitrata web theleaves and inflorescence and feedinside the flowers, flower buds andpods (Sharma. 1998). The mothand larvae of M. vitrata are photonegative and nocturnal (Usua andSingh, 1979). Patnaik et al. (1986)reported 8.2 to 15.9 per cent poddamage resulting in 3.7 to 8.9 percent loss in grain yield.

Hazardous and unlimitedapplication of insecticides is causinga serious threat of insect resistanceas well as residual effect. In the lightof above, investigations on efficacyof some synthetic insecticides andbiopesticides against legume podborer i.e. M. vitrata wasundertaken.

The field experiment wasconducted during kharif season of2001 at the instructional farm ofPGI, MPKV, Rahuri. Thirteentreatments alongwith untreatedcontrol in three replications wereimposed in a randomized blockdesign. The crop was raised bysowing 'ICPL-87' variety with a plotsize of 3.9 x 2.7 m and plantspacing of 30 x 15 cm. Insecticidetreatment included endosulfan,monocrotophos, dichlorvos,

profenophos, acephate, lambdacyhalo-thrin, cartap and spinosad.Three sprays each were appliedusing hand operated knapsacksprayer with the spray fluid @ 500 lha-1 for each spray. The first spraywas given at 50% flowering andsubsequent sprays were given at 15days interval. The fungal andbacterial insecticides treatment inthe study were Metarrhiziumanisopliae (MVD1), Beauveriabassiana (MVD2) and Bacillusthuringiensis. Neem seed kernelextract (NSKE) was prepared by sundrying neem seeds, grinding them tocoarse powder using grinder andsoaking for overnight then filteringthrough muslin cloth and later usingfor application. The efficacy of eachtreatment was evaluated by selectingten plants randomly from each plotfor recording larval count of M.vitrata. Observations were recordeda day before and 3 and 7 days afterinsecticide application. The dataobtained were subjected to statisticalanalysis. The significance oftreatment was assessed bydetermining critical difference (C.D.)at 5 per cent level of significance.The larval numbers weretransformed into n + 0.5 for further

statistical analysis.

The data obtained (Table 1)clearly revealed that larvalpopulation of M. vitrata continuedto increase from DBT to 1 DAT anddeclined thereafter in the untreatedcontrol. At 1 DAT the population inall the treatments was significantlylower than in control. The plotstreated with dichlorvos 500 g a.i.ha-1 recorded the lowest number oflarvae i.e. 4.56 and proved to besignificantly superior to rest of thetreatments except monocrotophos200 g a.i ha-1 (4.65) to which, itwas at par. However, theeffectiveness of monocrotophos isin agreement with Bhat et al.(1988). Similarly Prince andChambnya (1983) suggestedspraying of monocrotophos 250 ga.i ha-1 for maximum reduction ofM. vitrata at flowering stage.

This was followed by endosulfan350 g a.i. ha-1 and acephate 500 ga.i. ha-1 by recording 5.55 larvaeper plant which is in conformitywith findings of Degri andChaudhary (1998). Next, in theorder of effectiveness werecyhalothrin, cartap andprofenophos.

continuous cropping soil physical andchemical properties of alfisol J. IndianSoc. Soil Sci. 58 (7) : 509-11.

Alok Kumar and R. P. Tripathi. 1990. Bffectof continuous use of manures andfertilizers on physical properties of soilunder paddy-wheat-cowpea croppingSystem, Crop. Res. 3 (1) : 7-13.

Bawaskar, V. S. and G. K. Zende. 1973. Soilfertility under continuous manuring andcopping. Indian J. agric. Sci. 43 (5) :492-499.

Nimje, P. M. and J. Seth. 1970. Effect ofphosphorus, farm yard manure andnitrogen on some soil properties insoybean maize sequence. J. agric. Sci.

10 : 555-559.

Shiralipour. A. P. Mcconnel and D. B. Smith.1992. Physical and chemical propertiesof soil as affected by municipal solidwaste and compost application.Biomass and Bioenergy. 3 (3) : 216-266.


______________


Efficacy of Synthetic Insecticides and Biopesticides AgainstMaruca vitrata on Pigeonpea

Almost a similar trend wasnoticed at 3 DAT. On 7 DAT thelowest population of larvae of M.vitrata was recorded in thetreatment of dichlorvos(0.58). Itwas however, at par withmonocrotophos (0.73), endosulfan(0.73), cyhalothrin (0.84) andprofenophos (0.84). Amatobi(1994) reported that cyhalothrin(0.008%) was effective againstlegume pod borer.

In the present investigation,

MVD1 (0.98) was found to bepromising against M. vitrata amongbiopesticides, but cannot becompared due to lack of literature.Bacillus thuringiensis and NSKEwere inferior to syntheticinsecticides against M. vitrata. Itwas in contrast to the finding ofSingh et al. (l985) who reported theeffectiveness of neem seed powderand neem seed kernel extract.Hence, the experimental evidenceobtained after the study of efficacy

of synthetic insecticides andbiopesticides clearly implies thatdichlorvos was throughout superiorover other treatments.

S. M. AnkaliC. S. PatilK. A. JadhavY. T. Jadhav

Mahatma Phule Krishi VidyapeethRahuri - 413 722 (India)May 20, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Amatobi, C. J. 1994. Filed evaluation ofsome insecticides for the control ofinsect pest of cow pea (Vignaunguiculata) in the Sudan savannah ofNigeria. Internatl. J. of Tropical PestManag, 40 : 13-17.

Bhat, N. S. G. T. T. Majunatha, G. G.Nagabhushana and V. P. Deshpande.1998. Chemical control of cowpea podborers. Indian J. Plant Prot. 16 : 2, 197-200.

Degri, M. M. and J. P. Chaudhary. 1998.The chemical control of cowpea podborer M. testulalis on cowpea inBauchi. Nigeria. J. Econ. Ent., 60 : 148-151.

Patnaik, H. P., A. P. Samalo and B. N.Samalo. 1986. Susceptibility of someearly varieties of pigeonpea for podborers under protected conditions.Legume Res. 9 : 7-10.

Prince, M. and R. I. Chambnya. 1983.Insecticidal evaluation and timing ofspray application for insect control incowpea in Tanzania. Trop. Grain Leg.Bulletin, 28 : 4-8.

Sharma, H. C. 1998. Bionomics, host plantresistance and management of legumepod borer, M. vitrata. A review. CropProt. 17 : 373-386.

Singh, R. P. Y. Singh and S. P. Singh. 1985.Field evaluation of neem (Azadirachtaindica A.) seed kernel extracts againstthe pod borers of pigeonpea, Cajanuscajan (L.) Millsp. Indian J. Ent., 47 :111-112.

Usua, E. and S. R. Singh. 1979. Behaviourof cowpea pod borer, M. testulalis(Geyer). Nigerian J. Ent., 3 : 231-239.

Ankali et al.364

Table 1. Efficacy of synthetic insecticide and biopesticide against M. vitrata.

Treatment Dose Larval population / plant Mortality––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– at1 DBT 1 DAT 3 DAT 7 DAT 1 DAT

(%)

Endosulfan 350 g a.i. ha-1 9.48 5.55 2.18 0.73 41.45(3.16) (2.46) (1.64) (1.11)

Monocrotophos 250 g a.i. ha-1 8.38 4.65 2.09 0.73 44.51(2.98) (2.27) (1.61) (1.11)

Dichlorvos 500 g a.i. ha-1 10.32 4.56 2.09 0.58 55.81(3.29) (2.25) (1.61) (1.04)

Profenophos 500 g a.i. ha-1 9.04 6.00 3.26 0.84 33.62(3.09) (2.55) (1.94) (1.16)

Acephate 300 g a.i. ha-1 9.48 5.55 3.26 1.43 41.45(3.16) (2.46) (1.94) (1.39)

Lambda 15 g a.i. ha-1 9.48 6.00 2.81 0.84 36.70Cyhalothrin (3.16) (2.55) (1.82) (1.16)

Cartap 500 g a.i. ha-1 9.04 6.00 3.26 1.43 33.62(3.09) (2.55) (1.94) (1.39)

Spinosad 12.5 g a.i. ha-1 9.04 6.79 3.70 1.66 24.88(3.09) (2.70) (2.05) (1.47)

NSKE 25 kg ha-1 9.04 7.68 3.70 1.43 15.04(3.09) (2.86) (2.05) (1.39)

MVD1 5 x 1012 spores ha-1 9.04 7.28 2.81 0.98 19.46(3.09) (2.79) (1.82) (1.22)

MVD2 5 x 1012 spores ha-1 8.38 7.68 3.26 1.43 8.35(2.98) (2.86) (1.94) (1.39)

Bacillus 500 g ha-1 (formulated) 9.04 7.68 3.70 1.43 15.04thuringiensis (3.09) (2.86) (2.05) (1.39)

Untreated control - 9.04 9.35 5.11 2.49 -3.42(3.09) (3.14) (2.37) (1.73)

S. E.+ - 0.06 0.08 0.03 0.05 -

C. D. at 5% - NS 0.24 0.11 0.16 -

C. V. % - 4.69 6.96 3.53 7.05 -

Figures in parentheses are means after n + 0.5 transformation. DBT : Day before treatment,DAT : Day after treatment

______________

The climatic conditions ofCentral and Peninsular India arevery congenial for the wheat stemrust (Puccinia graminis f. sp.tritici). Monitoring the rust flora forsuccessful incorporation of Sr genesin wheat breeding programme fortheir effective deployment in the allzones is necessary along thepuccinia path. Thus investigationswere carried out by collecting stemrust samples from offseason andrabi season grown wheat ofdifferent states during 2004-05 and2005-06.

Stem rust infected samples ofwheat were collected / receivedfrom farmers fields of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Maharashtra Statesof India during 2004 to 2006. Total101 samples were inoculated on

seven day old seedlings ofuniversally susceptible wheat variety,Pusa-4 to raise fresh crop ofinoculum. The rust inoculum in theform of urediospores from theestablished samples was further usedfor inoculating the seedlings ofdifferential hosts of "OAB" set(Bahadur et al. 1985). Hostpathogen interactions wererecorded after 15 days by followingstandard method of Stakman et al.(1962). The virulence of each of theisolate was identified by binarynotation system (Bahadur et al.1985) and per cent frequencydistribution of each of the pathotypewas worked out and consolidatedstate wise. The reaction of Sr genesin differential sets is presented inTable 1.

Entire work was carried outunder glasshouse conditions atRegional Wheat Rust ResearchStation, Mahabaleshwar. Theprevalence and frequency pattern ofdifferent pathotypes of stem rust inCentral and Peninsular Indiarevealed that in Tamil Nadu duringoff-season pathotypes 40,40-1,40A, 42, 122, 295, 117-2, 117-3,117-5 and 117-6 were detectedduring 2004-2005, whilepathotypes 40, 40-1, 40A, 122 and117-3 were detected during 2005-2006. Pathotype complex 40 wasreported most frequently duringboth years under study, while it wasfollowed by complex 117 during2004-05 and pathotype 122 in2005-2006 in Tami Nadu duringoff-season. During rabi 2004-05


Prevalence and Distribution of Stem Rust (Puccinia graminisf. sp. tritici) Pathotypes in Central and Peninsular India

Table 1. Reaction of Sr geneline in "OAB" set to the reported pathotypes.

Sr. geneline Pt. 40 Pt. 40-1 Pt. 40A Pt. 42 Pt. 117-2 Pt. 117-3 Pt. 117-5 Pt. 117-6 Pt. 122 Pt. 295(104G13) (62G29-1) (62G29) (19G35) (33G3) (167G3) (166G2-2) (37G19) (7G11) (7G43)

"O" set :Sr-24 R S R R R R R R R RSr-25 R R R R R R R R R R

"A" set :Sr-13 R R R S S S R S S SSr-9b R S S S R S S R S SSr-11 R S S R R S S S S SSr-28 S S S R R R R R R RSr-8 R S S S R R R R R RSr-9e S S S R S S S S R RSr-30 S R R R R R R R R RSr-37 R R R R R S S R R R

"B" set :Marquis S S S S S S R S S SEiticorn R R R S S S S S S SKota S S S R R R R R R RReliance S S S R R R R R S SCharter R S S R R R R S R RKhapli R R R S R R R R R S

Pt = pathotype, R = resistant, S = susceptible

The wrapping and storage of cutflowers is aimed to restrict thechange in metabolic activities inorder to conserve the water statusand sugars in the petal cells with aview to maintain the fresh weightand dry weight of the cut flowersduring the storage and theprotection of flowers from physicaldamage.

The cut spikes of tuberose wereharvested in the morning whenlower most two basal florets werefully opened. Spikes were cutuniformly with 60 cm length, basal

leaves were removed and weighedin the laboratory.

The fresh cut spikes of tuberosecv. Local Double were kept inplastic bottles holding 200 mlpulsing solution (250 mg lit-1 8-HQC + 3 % sucrose) for 45minutes, then after three spikeswere wrapped (40 x 15 cm) withpolyethylene 100 gauge (W1), newspaper (W2), tissue paper (W3) andwithout wrapping (W4) andimmediately kept them in coldstorage rooms at 2°C (C1), 5°C (C2)

and 10°C (C3) temperaturerespectively. Spikes were removedfrom the cold storage after 4th (D1),6th (D2), 8th (D3) and 10th (D4) days'storage duration, respectively. Aftercold storage treatmentsexperimental material was kept inplastic bottles of 300 ml capacityholding distilled water in thelaboratory at room temperature.

The experiment was laid out incompletely randomized design.Observations were recorded on percent of weight after cold storage,

stem rust was not reported fromMaharashtra and Karnataka. Duringrabi 2005-06 it was reported inKarnataka state only in whichpathotypes 40 (4.0%), 40-1(6.0%)40A (60%), 122 (26%) and 117-3(4.0%) were reported duringanalysis. According to statewisefrequencies, in Karnataka state thepathotype 122 (53.84%) wasreported with highest frequencyduring 2005-06. The pathotypes40(15.38%),40-1(15.38%), and 40-A(15.38%) were reported withsimilar frequency. The stem rust wasalso not reported in Maharashtrastate during 2005-06.

The data from Table 1 revealedthat the most resistance genes in"OAB" set are Sr 25 and Sr 30. It istherefore, necessary to incorporatethese genes in future breedingprogramme. The pathotype

complex 40 and 117 were alsoreported by Lokhande and Patil(1996), Mutkekar et al. (1987).Patil et al. (l992) also reportedpresence of pathotypes complex40, 117 and 122 in nature. Thereappearance and disappearance ofpathotypes 117 and 122 is alwaysobserved in nature (Lokhande andPatil 1996).

R. J. PatilG. G. KhotV. S. ShindeS. R. LohateA. M. TirmaliB. P. Kurundkar

Regional Wheat Rust ResearchStation,Mahabaleshwar - 412 806 (India)August 25, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Bahadur, P. S., Nagrajan and S. K. Nayar.

1985. A proposed system for virulencedesignation in India 2. Pucciniagraminis f. Sp. tritici. Proceed. theIndian Acad. of Plant Sci. 95 : 29-33.

Lokhande, S. B. and R. J. Patil. 1996.Prevalence and distribution ofphysiological races of stem rust(Puccinia graminis f. Sp. tritici) inPenninsular and Central India during1993-94 and 1994-95. Cer. Rust andPow. Mill. Bull. 24 (1&2) : 79-80.

Mutkekar, M. L., A. R. Kalekar, J. V. Patiland R. T. Sapkal. 1987. Prevalence anddistribution of physiological races ofwheat in Penninsular India during 1984-86. Cer. Rust and Pow. Mill. Bull. 15 (2): 69-71.

Patil, R. J., R. T. Sapkal and M. L. Mutkekar.1992. Prevalence and distribution ofphysiological races of stem rust(Puccinia graminis f. Sp. tritici) inPenninsular India during 1986-87 and1988-89. Cer. Rust and Pow. Mill. Bull.20 (1&2) : 50-51.

Stakman, E. C., D. M. Steward and D. M.Loegering. 1962. Identification ofphysiologic races of Puccinia graminisvar. tritici U.S. Dep. Agric. Res. Ser.Bull. pp 53.

Patil et al.366

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Influence of Wrapping Material, Storage Temperature andDuration on Post Harvest Life of Tuberose (Polianthes

tuberosa L.) cv. Local Double

per cent of weight at the end of vaselife, per cent of open florets and percent of unopened florets at the endof vase life, uptake of water,longevity of single open floret,useful vase life of spike, total vaselife of spike, total post harvest life ofspike and visual quality of flower.

The significantly minimum lossin weight after cold storage (3.99%)and at the end of vase life (15.32%)was observed at 5°C dry coldstorage temperature withpolyethylene wrapping (3.93,14.99% respectively) at 4 daysstorage duration (3.48, 11.72%,respectively) in cut tuberose spikes.Low cold storage temperatureslowdown the transpirational loss ofwater and respirational loss ofcarbohydrate which reduces the lossof weight during storage. Shankarand Bhattacharjee (2003) in roseand Singh et al. (2003) in gladiolusalso reported similar results.

The significantly maximum percent of opened florets (57.98%,58.93% and 60.64% respectively)and minimum unopened floretspercentage (42.01%, 41.06 and39.35% respectively) of tuberosespike was recorded at 5°C dry coldstorage temperature withpolyethylene wrapping after 4 daysstorage duration. While, minimumper cent of florets opening andmaximum percentage of unopenedflorets was recorded at 2°C drystorage temperature withoutwrapping and 10 days of coldstorage duration. The opening offlorets in tuberose spikes is directlyrelated to the normal metabolicactivities mainly respiration andcarbohydrate content in cut spikes.Prolonged storage leads todesiccation and unopening of florets

and depletion of storedcarbohydrates and water loss whichincrease with increase in duration(Kumar et al. 2003b). This leads todecrease in bud opening of cutspikes which stored for longerduration. These findings are inagreement with those obtained intuberose by Kumar et al. (2003 aand b) while in gladiolus by Patil etal. (1994) and Singh et al. (2003).

The significantly higher wateruptake was observed at 5°C dry coldstorage temperature (67.91 ml),polyethylene wrapping (69.40 ml)and 4 days storage duration (73.93ml). The water uptake decreated incut spikes which stored for longerduration because the ability of xylemcells to absorb water wascontinuously decreased as theduration of storage increased(Katwate et al. 1995). These resultscorroborate well with those reportedby Kumar et al. (2003 a), Kumar etal. (2003 b) in tuberose and Patil etal. (1994) and Singh et al. (2006) ingladiolus.

The significantly maximumlongevity of single open floret wasrecorded at 5°C dry cold storagetemperature (2.69 days), W1-polyethylene wrapping (2.74 days)and 3.14 days in 4 days cold storageduration while minimum in 2°C coldstorage temperature (2.57 days), nowrapping (2.63 days) and 10 dayscold storage duration (2.19 days).Similarly, significantly maximumuseful vase life (6.81 days, 7.10days and 7.44 days), total vase life(8.88 days, 9.14 days and 9.58days) and total post harvest life(13.81 days, 14.10 days and 15.90days) of tuberose spikes wasrecorded in treatment of 5°C drycold storage temperature withpolyethylene wrapping and 4 days

storage duration respectively whileminimum useful vase life, total vaselife and total post harvest life werefound in 2°C cold storagetemperature without wrapping(control) with 10 days cold storageduration. The transpirational loss ofwater and respirational loss ofcarbohydrate is slowdown due tolow temperature and polyethylenewrapping maintained the weight aswell as cell turgidity of cut spikesafter cold storage at the end of vaselife (Kumar et al. 2003 a). Thisfurther continued to more wateruptake and less depletion ofcarbohydrate in the flower spikes(Singh et al. 2006). Similar resultswere also obtained by Katwate et al.(1995), Kumar et al. (2003 b),Kumar et al. (2003 c) in tuberosewhile Madaiah and Reddy (1994),Patil et al. (1994), Singh et al.(2003) and Patil and Prasant (2003)supported above results.

The increase in duration ofstorage without wrapping decreasedthe useful vase life and deterioratedthe flower quality. The flower qualityi.e. turgidity, shining and freshness,was excellent in polyethylenewrapping spikes stored for 4 days incold storage at different storagetemperatures. The better cut flowerquality of the spikes was observed intissue paper than newspaperwrapping and unwrappingcondition. Low temperature andwrapping material maintain thefreshness, shining and quality of cutflowers which has been positivelycorrelated with the turgidity and therespiratory substrates in the flowerswhich influence the vase life. A lossof turgidity and carbohydrates in theflower tissue would lead to flowerfading and ultimately withering,hence for longer vase lifecontinuous uptake of water is


necessary. These results are in closeassociation with those reported bySingh et al. (2006) in gladiolus andShankar and Bhattacharjee (2003)in cut rose.

Sudha D. Patil

B. K. Dhaduk

Dept. of Floriculture andLandscapingASPEE, College of Horticulture andForestryNavsari - 396 450 (India)October 19, 2008.

LITERATURE CITED

Katwate, S. M., M. T. Patil and B. R. Singh.1995. Influence of low temperaturestorage on longevity of cut spikes oftuberose. J. Maharashtra agric. Univ.,

20 (2) : 289-290.

Kumar, V., S. K Bhattacharjee, R. Kumar, R.L. Misra and K. P. Singh. 2003 a. Postharvest life and quality of tuberose spikeas affected by colouring agents andstorage. J. Ornam. Hort., 6 (2) : 119-125.

Kumar, V., S. K. Bhattacharjee, R. L. Misraand Suchitra. 2003 b. Influence ofpulsing followed by duration of dry coolstorage on vase life of tuberose spikes.Ann. Agric. Res., (New series), 24 (3) :639-644.

Kumar, V., S. K. Bhattacharjee, Suchitra andK. P. Singh. 2003 c. Influence of pulsingand dry cool storage on cut spikes oftuberose cv. 'Double'. J. Applied Hort.,5 (1) : 16-20.

Madaiah, D. and T. V. Reddy. 1994.Influence of polyethylene packaging onthe post harvest life of tuberose floretscv. 'Single'. Karnataka J. Agri. Sci., 1 (2): 154-157.

Patil, M. T., S. M. Katwate, B. R. Singh, P.N. Kale and A. B. Deokar. 1994.Influence of low temperature storage onlongevity of cut spike of Gladiolus cv.Suchitra. J. Maharashtra agric. Univ.,19 (1) : 142-143.

Patil, V. S. and S. G. Prasant. 2003. Post-harvest physiology of gladiolus. Nat.Symp. on recent advances in IndianFloriculture, pp. 374-376.

Shankar, M. V. and S. K. Bhattacharjee.2003. Efficacy of various wrappings forpackaging on vase life of cut roses. J.Ornam. Hort., 6 (2) : 147-148.

Singh, A., P. Kumar and J. Kumar. 2006.Standardization of postharvesttechnologies in gladiolus cut spikes.Ph.D. thesis. Dep. of Hort., C.C.S.University, Meerut.

Singh, K., P. J. Singh and J. S. Arora. 2003.Studies on dry refrigerated storage ofgladiolus spikes. J. Ornam. Hort., 6 (2) :107-109.

Patil and Dhaduk368

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AAbuj, M. D. 68Adsul, P. B. 186Adsule, P. G. 114Adsule, R. N. 4Aglawe, B. N. 237Aher, R. B. 358Ajit, K. R. 282Akashe, V. B. 188, 346Anarase, S. A. 33, 134Andhale, R. P. 86, 210Ankali, S. M. 363Armarkar, S. V. 181Asewar, B. V. 229, 342Ashok Kumar. 249Awari, H. W. 63Awatade, S. M. 272

BBabar, M. S. 241Bachkar, S. R. 25, 123, 125Bagul, R. S. 18Bajaj, V. H. 190Bangar, N. D. 10, 147, 235Bankar, S. P. 183Barhate, K. K. 151Battikopad, G. M. 251Belhekar, P. S. 151Bhagat, S. B. 260Bhalekar, S. G. 275Bharud, R. W. 28Bhave, S. G. 272Bhilare, R. L. 101,164, 219, 331, 333Bhingarde, M. T. 33Bhire, P. V. 358Bhoite, S. V. 128Bhoite, U. Y. 208Bhondave, T. S. 222Bhor, T. J. 289, 292, 295Bhosle, N. S. 210Bhujbal, S. V. 302Bhutada, S. H. 68Biradar, D. P. 154Borle, U. M. 286Borude, S. G. 302Burli, A. V. 144, 338

CChandele, A. G. 81Changule, R. B. 243Channabasavanna, A. S. 154Chaudhari, P. P. 256Chavan, B. H. 10Chavan, B. N. 239Chavan, K. D. 93Chavan, P. G. 355Chavan, S. A. 14, 260Chinchmalatpur, U. R. 300

DDabke, D. J. 90Dahat, D. V. 289, 292, 295Dahifale, H. N. 6Dahiphale, A. V. 99Dalavi, N. D. 107, 108, 141, 222Dalavi, P. N. 141, 222Dale, R. M. 125Dalve, P. D. 122Dalvi, V. A. 116, 233Debnath, P. 357Deokar, D. K. 208, 210Desai, L. J. 256Desai, U. T. 275Desale, J. S. 343Deshmukh, A. D. 319Deshmukh, J. D. 233Deshmukh, M. R. 30Deshmukh, S. B. 167Deshmukh, S. G. 120Deshmukh, S. V. 227Deshpande, A. N. 6, 54, 178Dhaduk, B. K. 366Dhage, S. A. 80, 217, 322Dhage, S. J. 186Dhane, J. B. 141Dhane, Manjusha 231Dhane, S. S. 90Dhonde, M. B. 106, 109, 149, 224Dhuppe, S. U. 88Dhutraj, D. N. 243Dodake, S. B. 90Dodake, S. S. 144, 338Dongale, Archana 327Dorugade, Kavita 194Durgude, A. G. 6

FFirake, N. N. 161Fulpagare, Y. G. 210

GGade, R. M. 181Gaikwad, C. B. 109, 224Gaikwad, S. P. 240Gajbhiye, B. R. 266, 353Ganesaraja, V. 92Ganesh, M. 138Gangarde, S. A. 147, 235Gare, B. N. 144, 338Garkar, R. M. 46Ghalme, V. C. 242Gholkar, M. D. 306Ghosh, S. K. 357Girase, C. P. 300Golasangi, B. S. 282Gore, C. T. 306Gosalwad, S. S. 342

Gosavi, S. P. 260Gud, M. A. 54, 183, 188, 346

HHarer, P. N. 172, 174, 289, 292, 295Harpal Singh 85Hile, R. B. 360Hingole, D. G. 77, 334Holmukhe, A. P. 325

IIndi, D. V. 54, 183Ingle, P. M. 314, 319

JJadhav, A. B. 125Jadhav, A. G. 336Jadhav, A. S. 86, 229, 239, 342Jadhav, B. B. 272Jadhav, B. S. 131Jadhav, D. J. 43, 158Jadhav, H. T. 348, 349Jadhav, K. A. 111, 362, 363Jadhav, K. T. 237Jadhav, M. B. 107, 227, 251Jadhav, P. V. 327Jadhav, S. B. 240Jadhav, V. T. 1, 128, 214Jadhav, Y. T. 363Jadhavar, V. V. 71, 74Jagtap, A. D. 278Jagtap, D. D. 278Jagtap, D. T. 43, 111, 158Jagtap, D. Z. 71, 74, 80, 88, 95,

97, 104, 217, 322Jagtap, P. K. 351Jat Vijay, 108Jawale, S. M. 107, 108, 141, 222Jhansi Rani, K. 138Joshi, A. N. 311Joshi, Manoj 170Joshi, P. A. 311Joshi, S. V. 325, 327, 345

KKachapur, R. M. 38Kachhave, K. G. 186Kadale, A. S. 103Kadam, A. S. 278Kadam, B. A. 269Kadam, D. D. 131Kadam, J. R. 167, 188, 346Kadam, M. B. 240Kadam, U. S. 314, 319Kadav, V. B. 325, 327, 345Kadlag, A. D. 125, 219, 331Kakade, D. S. 275Kalbande, S. R. 200


INDEX TO AUTHORSVolume 34, 2009

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Kale, S. D. 4, 167Kamble, Neelam 241Kamble, S. K. 151, 243Kamble, S. S. 80, 217Kanake, Ujjwala 325Kandalkar, Y. B. 322Kanherkar, S. H. 230Kanse, R. V. 43, 158Karanjikar, P. N. 120Kareppa, S. M. 225Kashid, N. V. 151Katare, N. B. 151Katore, T. D. 147, 235Kaul, Swarnalata 138Kauthale, V. K. 350Kavitha, M. P. 92Kenghe, R. N. 65, 205Khairnar, A. V. 215Khambal, P. D. 99Khan, I. A. 336Khan, Y. A. 239Khanna, V. 85Kharade, D. P. 84Kharade, J. P. 84, 336Kharade, P. P. 336Kharbade, S. B. 81Kharbade, S. H. 245Khatod, J. P. 46Khot, G. G. 365Kolase, S .V. 298Kulkarni, M. S. 59Kulkarni, R. V. 231Kulkarni, S. R. 131Kurundkar, B. P. 77, 334, 365

LLad, B. L. 43, 158Lad, D. B. 351Lakra Amita 10Lal, G. M. 249Lele, A. B. 298Lohate, S. R. 365

MMadrap, I. A. 116, 233Mahadkar, U. V. 20, 22Mahata, M. K. 357Mali, C. V. 266, 353Mandokmale, S. D. 217Mane, A. V. 272Mane Deshmukh, N. B. 362Mane, S. R. 227, 251Mane, S. V. 122Manjare, M. R. 18Manjarekar, R. G. 314, 319Masu, M. M. 170Mehetre, S. S. 81, 286Mhase, L. B. 225More, S. M. 338Mote, M. G. 88, 322, 358Mule, R. S. 57Murali, D. 59

Murumkar, D. R. 54, 178NNagaraja, T. E. 282Nalawade, R. G. 43, 158Nasare, M. D. 109Nerkar, Y. S. 330Nijamudeen, M. S. 161Nikam, A. V. 242Nimase, R. G. 210Nimbalkar, C. A. 190, 275Nimbalkar, R. D. 240

PPacharne, D. T. 242, 306Pachkhede, A. U. 230Pachpute, S. T. 208Palled, Y. B. 49Pareek, B. L. 262Patel, P. T. 256Pathan, S. H. 101, 219, 331, 333Patil, A. S. 111, 362Patil, A. V. 227Patil, B. B. 144Patil, B. D. 52, 71, 74, 95, 97, 104Patil, B. P. 20, 22Patil, C. S. 363Patil, H. B. 78Patil, J. B. 84, 336Patil, J. V. 225Patil, P. A. 86Patil, P. P. 118Patil, R. J. 365Patil, R. R. 149Patil, R. S. 57Patil, S. B. 196, 278Patil, S. C. 231Patil, S. G. 30Patil, S. J. 80, 217Patil, S. M. 106Patil, S. S. 306Patil, Sudha D. 366Patil, V. P. 242, 306Patil, V. S. 118, 125Paulpandi, V. K. 92Pawar, B. G. 275Pawar, B. K. 71, 74, 93, 95, 97, 104Pawar, H. D. 237Pawar, N. B. 298Pawar, P. P. 99Pawar, S. B. 342Pawar, S. M. 46Pendke, M. S. 63, 68, 103Phad, D. S. 116, 233Pharate, D. N. 194Pol, K. M. 46Potdar, S. N. 65, 205Prabhudev, K. N. 154

RRajput, H. D. 300Ramdasi, S. S. 306Ramteke, S. D. 113

Rana, B. S. 138Ranadive, S. N. 122Randive, S. N. 111Rani, S. 92Ranpise, S. A. 240Rao, Lalit Kumar 249Rao, S. S. 138Rasal, P. H. 52Raut, D. B. 224Raut, K. R. 172, 174Reddy, B. V. S. 38Rodge, B. M. 269

SSable, K. R. 243Sagvekar, V. V. 345Sale, D. L. 350Salimath, P. M. 38Saloke, S. S. 330Sammauria, R. 262Sananse, S. L. 302Sanap, P. B. 345Sankpal, V. Y. 25, 107Sarambekar, H. L. 59Sarwade, S. G. 237Satish, R. G. 351Satisha, J. 113Sawale, D. D. 251Sawant, A. C. 355Sawant, D. M. 119Sawant, M. N. 134Sawant, P. K. 123Sawashe, S. G. 119Shahare, N. H. 230Shaikh, A. A. 25,107, 108, 123,

141, 222Sharma, A. K. 196Shelar, J. R. 52Shelke, D. K. 1, 214Shende, D. H. 95, 97, 104Shinde, P. P. 99Shinde, P. S. 107Shinde, S. B. 88Shinde, S. K. 54, 167, 188, 346Shinde, Swati 225Shinde, V. S. 365Shirke, V. S. 194, 241Shirole, M. S. 245Shukla, K. K. 85Singh, Ganesh Kumar 340Singh, Harbhajan 340Singh, Rajesh 249, 340Solanke, A. V. 215, 245Somkuwar, R. G. 113, 114Sonawane, S. P. 90Sonawane, V. M. 93Sonone, A. H. 134Sumalini, K. 343Supe, S. V. 300Surana, P. P. 18Suryawanshi, S. L. 68Suryawanshi, V. P. 214

Journal of Maharashtra Agricultural Universities370

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TTambe, A. B. 18Tamboli, B. D. 251Tamboli, N. D. 81Tarde, V. J. 194, 241Taresh Kumar, 262Thaware, B. L. 272Thokal, R. T. 314Thomas Abhram 78, 340Thorat, D. R. 84Thorat, T. N. 20, 22Thul, S. R. 57Tirmali, A. M. 365Todmal, S. M. 360Toprope, V. N. 220Toro, V. A. 325, 327

Tuse, B. P. 108

UUgale, A. N. 355Ugale, S. D. 33Ulmek, B. R. 322Unde, P. A. 65

VVarma, L. R. 170Venkatesh, L. 49

WWagdhare, D. S. 111Wani, A. G. 360

Wardhe, S. R. 181Wayal, C. B. 81

YYadav, P. S. 172, 174, 289, 292, 295Yadav, R. M. 28Yadav, S. T. 118Yadav, V. K. 25Yadlod, S. S. 269

ZZade, K. K. 78Zagade, M. V. 14Zaware, A. R. 330Zol, S. R. 208


Page Page Page

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Amaranth (Amaranthus hypochodriacus L.)Moisture and N management 256

Animal scienceAngora cross breed 80Buck postnatal histomorphology 210Constraints in enterprise 350Cow, soy milk paneer 71, 74Jackfruit milk pudding 325Mango pulp kalakand 327Mango whey beverage 95, 97, 104Milk production in goat 88Milk quality 358Milk shake 345Osmanabadi goat 217Phule Triveni breeding performance 208Production traits in Deccani lambs 322Straw berry shrikhand 93

Aster (Callistephus chinensis (L)Ness)Nutrient management 90

Banana (Musa paradisiaca)Growth regulators and nutrients 269

BarleyFertilization 262

Black gram (Vigna mungo)Biofertilizer application 186

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)INM 278

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum)Callus induction 231Conjoint fertilizer application 125Irrigation and sowing 225Plant growth substances 28

Chilli (Capsicum annum)Anthracnose 77, 334Cultivaters knowledge 300Quantitative characters 351

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemummorifolium)Varieties 170

Cotton (Gossypium sp.)Antagonism to leaf spot 230Fertility restorer strains 286Inter cropping 229INM 78Pink ballworm management 81

Cropping systemMaize - lucerne 49Niger - prosomillet 355Pearl millet - wheat 360Potato - cereals - legumes 245Rice - wheat 128Soybean intercropping 338

Finger millet (Eluesine coracana)Correlation and path analysis 131

French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)AMMI model 190Nitrogen levels 120

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesanii)Potash levels 227Rhizosphere Azotobacter 298

GladiolusFertilization 122

Grape (Vitis vinifera)Constraints in new technology adoption 84Grafting 30, 113, 114

Green gram (Vigna radiata)Growth regulators 239Micronutrients 342Potash level 106, 215

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)Genetic divergence 272Irrigation, plant densities 14N levels 331, 333Physiological variation 43Water use efficiency 158

Guava (Psidium guajava)Bronzing leaves 6

Jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllusLam)Milk pudding 325

Lime (Citrus limonia)VAM and Azospirillum 183

Linseed (Linnum usitatissum)Genetic variability 282

Maize (Zea maize)Correlation and path analysis 214Fertilizer levels 260Fertilizers and sowing dates 108INM 222, 249Irrigation and fertilizer management 92Land treatment 336

Mango (Mangifera indica)Intercropping 237Kalakand 327

Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia)Genetic divergence 10

MushroomHybrid strains 119Drying technique 349

Oat (Avena sativa L.)New variety 18Nitrogen levels 164Potash levels 219

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)Flea beetle management 57INM 111IPNS 362Irrigation scheduling 99New variety 275

Onion (Allium cepa)Mulches 161, 224

Papaya (Carica papaya L.)Callus culture 240

Pearl millet (Pannisetum typhoides)Environment and banding pattern 33Varieties and N levels 101

Pest and diseaseAnthracnose in chilli 77Bud necrosis in sunflower 188Caster leaf minor management 346Cotton ballworm 81Cotton leaf spot, antagonists 230Flea beetle management 57Rice leaf folder 85Shelf life of Trichoderma sp. 181Sorghum shoot fly 243Variability in Fusarium 178Wheat stem rust 365

Physical scienceAgrometeorological advisory 118Bael fruit processing 65, 205Biodiesel from caster 200Evapotranspiration 314Farm mechanisation 302Gabion structure 103Ground water recharge 63Hydrological behaviour 68Properties of CdSe 311Solar cooker 348Techniques in Agril. Engg. 306Tillage implements 196


TABLE OF CONTENTSVolume 34, 2009

Page Page Page

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)Endophytic antagonists 52Fertility restoration 233Genetic variability 144Maruca vitrata management 363Path analysis 134

Rice (Oryza sativa)Crop weather relation 20Genetic divergence 172Genetic variability 174Integrated farming 154Leaf folder management 85Phule Samruddhi variety 151Sowing, fertilizer, yield 22

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)Heterosis 116Leaf spot management 54Phosphorus management 167

Sesamum (Sesamum indicum)Genetic association 235Heterosis 220Variability and heritability 147

Social scienceAMMI 190

Anthropometry of women 59Chilli cultivation knowledge 300Contraints in dairy enterprise 350Effectiveness of horticulture programme241Grape technology adoption 84Mechanisation 302Resource optimisation 242Training need for tribal leaders 194

Soil scienceBoron distribution 357Compost enrichment 251

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolour)Genetic diversity 38Heterosis and heritability 343Layout for fodder 123Line improvement 138Shool fly x weather 243

Soybean (Glycine max)INM 86, 107, 266Intercropping 338Organic amendments 353Weed management 25, 141

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.)Micro propagation 330

Sugarcane (Saccharum officianarum)Drought tolerance 292Genotype x environment 46Salt tolerance 289Varieties 295

Sun flower (Helianthus annus L.)Bud necrosis 188INM 340Sulphur level 4

Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas)Irrigation 109

Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)Post harvest life 366

Water melon (Citrullus lanatusThunb.)Irrigation and fertigation 319

Wheat (Triticum sp.)Stem rust 365Weed management 149


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FORM IV

1. Place of Publication : College of Agriculture,Pune - 411 005 (Maharashtra State)

2. Periodicity of its Publication : Thrice in a year

3. Printer's Name : S. R. GuptaNationality : IndianAddress : Flamingo Business Systems

19, Laxminagar Commercial Complex No. 1Shahu College Road, Pune - 411 009

4. Publisher's Name : Dr. P. N. HarerNationality : IndianAddress : College of Agriculture,

Pune - 411 005

5. Editor's Name : Dr. P. N. HarerNationality : IndianAddress : College of Agriculture,

Pune - 411 005

6. Names and Address of Individuals, The Registrar,who own the Journal and partners or share 1. Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,holders holding more than Rahuri - 413 722one per cent of the total 2. Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth,

Akola - 444 1043. Marathwada Agricultural University,

Parbhani - 431 4024. Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth,

Dapoli - 415 712

I, Dr. P. N. Harer, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge andbelief.

Date of Issue : September, 2009

Date of Publication : September 1, 2009 P. N. HarerEditor-in-Chief

––––––––––––––

FIGURES - Identify graphs, line drawings and photographs with consecutive Arabic numbers, as Fig. 1, Fig. 2. Place figures after tables. Photographs must be clear,glossy prints. Original graphs and drawings must be in Indian ink or equivalent on plain, white drawing paper. Letter in Indian ink with a lettering guide large and boldenough to permit reduction. Each figure should be referred to in the text. The title of paper and fig. number should be placed in pencil on the back of each fig. foridentification.

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The correspondence regarding exchange of journal should be done with the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture of respective Agricultural University in Maharashtra State(India).

Journal of Maharashtra Agricultural Universities is published thrice in a year preferably in the month of January, May and September. The Journal is devoted to paperson original research in any branch of Agricultural Sciences. The contribution of papers is open to the subscribers only.

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Submit with a covering letter one original and one copy of the manuscript typewritten on one side, on bond paper (22x28 cm) anddouble space including title, abstract, text, literature cited, tables, headings and figure legends. One copy should be without author'sname, address and acknowledgement. Footnotes should be avoided. Liberal margins should be left for Editorial marking. Number thepages of title, text, literature cited, tables and figures in that order. Tables and captions of figures should be separate and every sheetof manuscript should be numbered. A serial number, assigned to each new manuscript accompanies its acknowledgement to the authorwho submitted it. Refer to that number in all subsequent correspondence.

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TITLE - The title should be unique and concise description of the paper. It should not exceed 10 to 15 words. Names of the authorsshould be centered directly below the title. The name and location of the senior author/institution (The institution where most of theresearch work is conducted) is centered below the author's name. The designations and addresses of the author/s are foot noted.

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KEY WORDS - A list of additional Key words may be included below the abstract.

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STYLE - Manuscripts must conform to current standards of English style and usage. The first person pronoun is accepted and oftenpreferred for clarity. Main clauses should usually be stated first. The introduction without a heading should state clearly why the researchwas conducted with reference to earlier work. Give enough information on methods to indicate how the research was conducted sothat the reader will have confidence in the validity of the result. Omit details unless it is method paper. Present results succinctly withemphasis on main effects. Use tables and figures to illustrate the text, interprete the results in discussion. Brief conclusion can terminatethe discussion. Complex conclusions should form a separate section. Underline the botanical/scientific names.

LITERATURE CITED - List citations alphabetically by names of authors and type them after the text. The form should be in the orderof names of the authors, year, subject title, name of publication (in Roman), Vol. and inclusive page numbers.

EXAMPLES :Dorsey, M.J. and J.W. Bushnall. 1920. The hardiness problem. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 17:210-224.

Snedecor, G.W. 1956. Statistical Methods. 5th Edn. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames, Iowa, pp.534.

Whiteside, W.F. 1973. A study of light as influenced by time and planting date on growth of onion (Allium cepa L.) in the glasshouse and the field. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pp.53.

TABLES - Type tables in double-space on separate pages, each one referred to in the text and numbered with Arabic numerals (e.g.Table 1). The title of each table should identify its contents so that reference to the text is not necessary. Title and column headingshould be brief. Unnecessary descriptive matter should be avoided. Column and row heading with footnotes should be self explanatory.Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of each column and row heading. Use lower case letter from the end of alphabet (x,y,z)to identify tabular footnotes. Use lower case letters from the beginning of alphabet (a,b,c) or asterisks with explanatory footnotes at 5%level, capitals for significance at 1% level.

(Continued on inside back cover)

Registered with the Registrar of Newspaper for India under R.No. 27971/76

Edited and Published by Dr. P. N. Harer at College of Agriculture, Pune 411 005.Typeset Processed and Printed by : Flamingo Business System, 19, Laxminagar Comm. Complex-1, Pune-411 009. Tel. : 24214636

Date of Issue : September, 2009

Date of Publication : September 1, 2009

volume 34 number 3 september, 2009 - jart

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