Abstract: The present study was conducted to standardize the crop geometry under net-house with micro-plants of two popular potato varieties, Kufri Himsona and Kufri Girdhari planted at two spacing viz., 20 x 10 cm and 15 x 10 cm at Central Potato Research Station, Shillong during 2013 and 2014. The effect due to spacing and varieties was significant for all the plant growth and yield parameters except for plant survival among varieties. Plant survival was better in all treatments (> 80%). The plant growth was superior in terms of plant height, at wide spacing (20 x 10 cm) although canopy cover was more at narrow spacing (15 x 10 cm). Kufri Himsona exhibited better growth with more stem height, number of leaves/plant, stems per plant and better canopy cover at 30 DAP than Kufri Girdhari. Kufri Himsona yielded better in terms of numbers and weight of mini-tubers per plant as well as per unit area compared to the variety Kufri Girdhari. More number of tubers per plant was observed at closer spacing (15 x 10 cm) but better yield per plant was obtained at wider spacing (20 x 10 cm) due to increased competition for nutrients, space, sunlight etc. leading to an increase in number of tubers per plant but subsequent decrease in total tuber yield per plant at closer spacing. At closer spacing more small sized tubers were harvested (<3g to 20g) while at wider spacing more larger sized tubers were harvested (over 20g). Among varieties, Kufri Himsona yielded more large sized tubers as compared to Kufri Girdhari. Thus depending on the seed size requirement and availability of area under net house, either narrow or wide spacing can be followed for production of mini-tubers from potato micro-plants in North Eastern Himalayan region.
Mahbube Someh, Ghaffar Kiani, Gholam Ali Ranjbar and Seyyed Mohamad Alavi
Department of Biotechnology and Plant Breeding, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran. 2Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute of Tabarestan, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran.
Abstract: Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the most economically important plants in many countries of the world. The identification of cultivars is extremely important both for cultivation and breeding of crop plants. There is little known about the genetic relationships between cucumber genotypes in Iran. The genetic diversity and the relationships among 20 cucumber varieties were evaluated by RAPD markers. A total of 155 bands were generated with15 RAPD primers, out of which 114 bands were polymorphic (73 %). The mean polymorphism index content (PIC) was 0.24. Considerable levels of polymorphism were observed within cucumber varieties. Cluster analysis based on Jaccard similarity coefficients grouped varieties into three main clusters. The data obtained from this study can be used to select suitable parents in hybridization breeding programs in cucumber.
C.N. Muruli, K. Bhanuprakash and B.C. Channakeshava
University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru-560065, India. ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru-560089, India. University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru-560065, India.
Abstract: An investigation was undertaken to identify the effect of seed priming on vigour in fresh and aged seeds of onion (var. Arka Kalyan). It was observed that seed priming with GA3 (50 ppm), KNO3 (3 %) and PEG (-1.5 Mpa) were shown significant impact on germination and vigour. Aged seeds responded to the priming treatments effectively than fresh seeds. Among various treatments studied, there was an increase of germination in fresh seeds to the extent of 5 % due to treatment with GA3, whereas in aged seeds it was to the extent of 11 % due to PEG treatment.
H. Ramrez, J. Mendoza-Castellanos, L.J. Ramrez-Prez, J.H. Rancano-ArriojaV. Robledo-Torres, and R. Mendoza-Villarreal
Departamento de Horticultura, Direccien de Investigacion, Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Calz. Antonio Narro N. 1923, Saltillo, Coahuila, C.P. 25315. Mexico.
Abstract: In recent years, the cultivated area of habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) has grown in Mexico as a result of increasing the culinary diet among consumers and the knowledge on its high healthy components such as antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients. The actual worldwide demand of this vegetable requires the application of new production systems in order to increase yield per hectare as well as to improve the fruit quality of this commodity. The use of growth retardants is an alternative for this challenge, therefore, the effect of prohexadione-Ca (P-Ca) was evaluated on the vegetative growth, gibberellins at the stem apex, yield and antioxidants content in ripen fruits of habanero pepper cv. Jaguar. The dosages of P-Ca were: 0,100, 175 and 250 mg L-1 sprayed to seedlings at one (10 days after transplanting) or two (10 and 31 days after transplanting) occasions. Results showed that P-Ca temporally reduced growth in height and diameter of main stem. This effect was related with a reduction in the synthesis of gibberellins A1, A4 and A7 at the apex. The fruit number and yield per plant increased with one application of P-Ca (at 175 mg L-1). The content of capsaicin and total carotenoids showed a remarkable increment in ripen fruits when plants have received one application of P-Ca at any concentration.
M. Pal, R.L Lal, P. Nautiyal and P. Joshi
Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145, U.S. Nagar (Uttarakhand), India. E-mail: pankajnautiyal2009@gmail.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37855/jah.2016.v18i01.16
Key words: Shade, GA3, BA, litchi, quality, maturity time
Abstract: An investigation was carried for extening harvesting span of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. Rose Scented on twenty year old litchi trees at Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar (Uttarakhand, India). The experiment consisted of 10 treatment [30% shade net (T1), 50% shade ne, (T2), 20 ppm GA3 (T3), 40 ppm GA3 (T4), 20 ppm BA (T5), 40 ppm BA (T6), 4% KNO3 (T7), perforated polyethylene bagging (T8), STS, 10 m Mol (T9) and Control (T10)] in Randomized Block Design with four replications. The application of KNO3 @ 4% resulted in significantly higher fruits set per panicle (64.93). Maximum fruit drop of 79.05 per cent was observed under control while under shade net (30%) 71.91 per cent fruit drop was checked. Shade net (50%) checked the fruit cracking (4.49%) whereas; maximum fruit cracking took place in untreated trees. The maximum delay in harvest (16 days) was recorded in shade net 50% closely followed by shade net 30% (14 Days). Significantly more fruit yield per tree (116.50 kg) was recorded in shade net (50%). Treatment of GA3 (40 ppm) being at par with BA @ 20 and 40 ppm exhibited significantly more TSS, total sugars and non-reducing sugars. Application of KNO3 @ 4% exhibited significantly highest reducing sugars and significantly lower titratable acidity, however, difference in ascorbic acid content were found to be non-significant among different treatments. Shading delayed the harvesting span and maximized fruit quality and yield of litchi.
S.K. Patra and S. Beura
Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37855/jah.2016.v18i01.17
Key words: Gerbera, pre-hardening, hardening, MS liquid medium
Abstract: Experiment was carried out to standardize media for pre-hardening and hardening of in vitro regenerated plantlets taking two cultivars of gerbera namely Red Star and Jallisse. During hardening, soil, sand, FYM and coco peat mixture with a proportion of 1:1:1:1, 1:1:1:2,1:1:2:1, 1:2:1:1, ½:1:1:1 , ½:1:1:2,½:1:2:1, ½:2:1:1, respectively and control (only soil) were tried for transplanting the regenerated plants. Among these, soil: sand: FYM: coco peat in ½:1:1:2, ½ :2:1:1 and ½:1:1:1 proportion for cv. Jallisse and ½:1:1:2 proportion for cv. Red star were found to be most promising combinations for 100% survival of regenerated plants in both the cultivars.
Sangeeta Saxena, Vijay K. Singh and Saurabh Verma
Department of Biotechnology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Lucknow., India
Abstract: The global papaya cultivation faces a major threat from various fungal and viral diseases, apart from the uncertainty in the identification of sex at juvenile stage. In case of papaya, only female and hermaphrodite plants bear fruits and the diagnostics discriminating male, female and hermaphrodite based on molecular markers used widely for sex determination, can be of great help. On the other hand, the papaya cultivation faces major challenge by leaf curl disease, which needs to be detected timely and simultaneously along with respective sex in order to achieve a higher yield. This review highlights the significance and detection of papaya sex and virus using molecular approaches; however, the authors feel that using multiplex PCR, a reliable and cost-effective technique giving results in a single attempt is by far the best approach. These molecular diagnostics may save papaya industry and give farmers a complete package of healthy (virus free) female/hermaphrodite seedling.
D.D. Douds Jr., J. Lee, J.E. Shenk and S. Ganser
USDA-ARS ERRC, 600 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, PA 19038 [DD, JL]; Shenk’s Berry Farm, 911 Disston View Drive, Lititz, PA 17543 [JS]; and Eagle Point Farm, 477 Hottenstein Road, Kutztown, PA 19530 [SG].
Abstract: Vegetable farmers who grow seedlings for later outplanting to the field have the opportunity to incorporate arbuscular mycorrhizal [AM] fungus inocula into potting media to produce plants ready to benefit from the symbiosis upon outplanting. Inocula of AM fungi are available commercially or may be grown on-farm. The impact of AM fungus inoculum produced on-farm upon yield of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatus L.) was studied in a field experiment over six site-years. Rooted cuttings were inoculated with AM fungi either directly in the planting hole or were grown first in a greenhouse in potting media amended with AM fungus inoculum. Controls received the same compost and vermiculite mixture in which the inoculum was grown. Available P levels in the soil ranged from 242 to 599 kg ha-1. Mean increase in yield of sweet potatoes of the inoculated plants for the experiment was statistically significant at 10.0 ± 1.9 % over uninoculated controls. Further, roots collected at the time of harvest indicated significantly greater colonization by AM fungi of previously inoculated plants than in controls which became colonized by the indigenous population of AM fungi. Utilization of AM fungi produced on-farm reliably increased the yield of sweet potato in high P soils.
H.L. Alvarez, C.M. Di Bella, G.M. Colavita, P. Oricchio and J. Strachnoy
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, National University of Comahue, Ruta 151 km 12, 8303 Cinco Saltos R.N., Argentina Instituto de Clima y Agua – INTA – Los Reseros y Las Cabañas S/N (B1712WAA), Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Abstract: The use of reflective particles on apple fruits has been suggested as a tool to diminish its thermal charge and thus mitigate stress effects caused by high temperature. The products effectiveness is often expressed in terms of damaged fruit, however it is influenced by the sensitivity of the variety, growing conditions and application method. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify the temperature of the fruits surface (FST) achieved according to the residue deposited to determine the degree of thermal protection for each product. Moreover, the residue deposited in the canopy enhances the albedo on the leaves reduces the availability of incidental light. The goal of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of reflective particles in the reduction of superficial temperature of the fruits and its effect on net CO2 assimilation rate (ACO2) in apple trees (Malus domestica, Borkh). The fruits were treated with: one, two and four (1X; 2X and 4X) applications of kaolin (treatment K) or calcium carbonate (treatment C) at 2.5% P/V and untreated fruit as control. The residue effect on ACO2 was evaluated in individual leaves at 2X concentration. Both products showed a thermic protective effect as compared with control. The protection degree depended upon the concentration. The highest temperature of the control was 49.8 ºC and in these conditions kaolin was significantly more effective than carbonate, the thermic reduction was 1.9 ºC vs. 1.3 ºC at 2X and 2.5 ºC vs 2.1 ºC at 4X for kaolin and carbonate, respectively. At 1X there were no statistical differences between products. In turn ACO2 is only negatively affected under low intensities of light (< 700 mmoles m2 s-1 of PAR). Higher radiation levels compensate the shading effect over leaves and also the maximun ACO2 (Amax) was not affected.
Bruce L. Dunn, Arjina Shrestha, Carla Goad and Amir A. Khoddamzadeh
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Oklahoma State University, 358. Ag Hall, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. 74078-6027. Department of Statistics, Oklahoma State University, 301F MSCS Bldg., Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. 74078-6027. Department
Abstract: Greenhouse production of Gaillardia is becoming increasingly popular for potted production due to growing interests in drought tolerant plant material. The objective of this study was to see if nondestructive handheld sensors could be used to monitor nitrogen (N) status in Gaillardia aristata ‘Arizona Apricot’. Topdressed fertilizer treatments of 0, 4, 8, 10, or 12 g of controlled release fertilizer (CRF) 16N-3.9P-10K were added to greenhouse grown plants. Individual plants were scanned from 10 pots per treatment for Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) and Soil-Plant Analyses Development (SPAD) over eight different sampling dates starting 7 days after fertilizer treatment application (DAT). Height, width, leaf N concentration, and number of panicles were also recorded. Linear, cubic, and quadratic trends were seen for NDVI and SPAD. Plant height was greatest in the 10 g treatment, but was not different than any other treatment. Plant width was greatest in the 12 g treatment, but was not different from the 4 g and 10 g treatments. Number of panicles was highest in the 12 g treatment, but was not different from the 10 g fertilizer treatment. Neither sensor showed correlations with leaf N concentration 7 DAT; however, the NDVI sensor showed the earliest correlation with leaf N concentration starting 14 DAT. Both sensors were correlated with each other at 35, 42, and 56 DAT. Results from this study indicate that 10 g CRF was sufficient for plant growth and flowering. Both sensors can be used to predict N status in potted Gaillardia; however, consistency in sample collection and sampling time may be necessary to correlate values with N status.
Mirta Esther Galelli, Gabriela Cristina Sarti and Silvia Susana Miyazaki
Área de Agroalimentos. Departamento de Biología Aplicada y Alimentos. Facultad de Agronomía. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. San Martín 4453, C1417DSE. Argentina.
Abstract: Biofertilizers can be an alternative to chemical fertilizer as they increase sustainable soil fertility without causing pollution; however, their major problem is the poor survival of the free cells in the soil. A possible solution is the use of cells immobilized in biofilms; it provides a more suitable microenvironment for prolonged cell survival and allows the interaction of the bacterium and its metabolites with the plant. In this work, the planktonic Bacillus subtilis subsp. spizizenii showed a PGPR activity on Lactuca sativa,increasing the weight, 64 % the aerial part and 68 % the roots growth. This bacterium was able to produce a thick biofilm using glycerol as a sole carbon source. Different culture conditions were evaluated for biofilm production. The shear stress and the oxygenation during bacterial culture affected negatively the biofilm formation; a mechanically disrupted biofilm never recovered its integrity. The optimum temperature for biofilm production was between 30 ºC and 37 °C. The presence of different divalent cations salts affected the biofilm formation; 2 mM MgSO4 and 1 mM FeSO4 in static growth culture increased the biofilm production 36 % and 72 % respectively, and CoSO4 and CuSO4 affected negatively its formation. The immobilized cells had a PGPR effect; it showed a higher benefit as a biofertilizer than the planktonic form, producing an increment of 39 % of the aerial part and 59 % the roots growth.
M. Munir, S. Iqbal, J.U.D. Baloch and A.A. Khakwani
Fronteir Agriculture, SOYL Precision Crop Production Division, Newbury, RG14 5PX, United Kingdom. Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, Pakistan.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37855/jah.2015.v17i03.36
Key words: Strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa, explants sterilization, in vitro bud initiation, media formulation
Abstract: A series of in vitro experiments were conducted using four strawberry cultivars to investigate their survival response to different disinfectants, explants regeneration response to liquid and solid media, in vitro bud initiation response to BAP enriched media, clonal multiplication response to various BAP concentrations in MS and Knop media and bud initiation response to sugars sources. Highest meristem survival (75%) was recorded in cultivars Osogrande and Toro when treated with 0.5% NaOCl for 15 minutes, however, 75% explants of Chandler survived when treated with 1% NaOCl for 10 minutes. Similarly, maximum survival (58-71%) was observed in Chandler, Osogrande and Islamabad Local when internodal segments were treated with 0.5% NaOCl for 15 minutes. However, the survival percentage of these cultivars significantly varied at different NaOCl concentrations when petioles segments were used as explants. The results of second experiment indicated that highest rate of survival (79.20%) was achieved in Toro when meristems were cultured on solid MS media containing 0.5 mg/L GA3. In another experiment, maximum percentage (83) of bud initiation was recorded in Osogrande at 0.5 mg/L BAP. Findings of experiment regarding clonal multiplication of in vitro shoots derived from meristem showed that maximum buds formation per culture (25, 20 and 15) were obtained in MS media containing 1.5 mg/L BAP and 0.1 mg/L IBA in cultivars Osogrande, Chandler and Islamabad Local respectively, however, similar buds formation response was varied with the cultivars when knop media was used. Similarly, when sugar sources were studied cultivar Osogrande initiated highest number of buds (20) at sucrose based MS media containing 0.8 mg/L Kinetin and 0.2 mg/L NAA, however, cultivars Chandler and Islamabad Local initiated 15 buds at sucrose based MS media containing 0.6 mg/L Kinetin and 0.2 mg/L NAA.
S.J.R. Underhill, and Salesh Kumar
Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, Queensland, 4558, Australia. Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation,The University of Queensland, St Lucia Qld 4072, Australia.
Abstract: This paper reports on a detailed case study of postharvest losses along a commercial small holder tomato supply chain in Fiji. It is the first systematic quantification of postharvest horticultural losses undertaken in Fiji. Postharvest loss was measured from harvest through to product arrival at the Suva municipal fruit and vegetable markets, with post-municipal market loss determined using simulated storage conditions. In this study, 32.9% of the harvested product was removed from the commercial supply chain due to rots (8.8%), failure to ripen (8.9%), insufficient volume fill a carton (7.8%), physical damage during transport (0.1%) and fruit being over-ripe (6.4%). Poor temperature management during on-farm product ripening and limited on-farm postharvest hygiene were key contributors to the observed loss. In trace-back studies to identify the end-use of all product removed from the commercial chain, of the 32.9% total commercial postharvest loss, 11.0% was consumed at home and/or traded within the village, 6.3% was fed to domestic livestock, and a further 14.7% ended up as on-farm waste or dumped at the municipal refuge. Based on simulated ambient storage condition, once the fruit arrived at the municipal markets, daily postharvest loss thereafter was between 8.3% and 13.4%. Overall accumulative postharvest losses based on three days post-market ambient storage was 60.8%. Postharvest ripening, storage and transport conditions along the supply chain are discussed.
V. Eyarkai Nambi, K. Thangavel, S. Shahir and V. Geetha
Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
Abstract: Machine dependent (RGB) and machine independent (CIE-Lab) colours were measured during ripening of Banganapalli mangoes, at 24 h interval and evaluated throughout the ripening period. The machine dependent colour coordinates red (R), green (G) and blue (B) were extracted from the digital images of mangoes taken every day. All the colour coordinates were increasing significantly during the ripening of mango. In total colour difference, major change was observed during 10th day. A steep rise was found in hue angle between 10-11th day of ripening. Croma was increasing up to 20th day and started decreasing. It was found that, the R and G would be more suitable to predict the ripening colour change rather than B value. In case of ratios, the red ratio (R/B), the green ratio (G/B) and both blue ratios would be suitable to predict the ripening of mangoes. These observation could be used as one of the nondestructive tool for mango quality evaluation, mango ripening and optimization studies.
Yoshihiko Shiga, Sakio Tsutsui and Tetsuo Mikami
Hokkaido Agricultural Laboratory for Business Development, Eniwa, 061-1405, Japan.
Abstract: Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an ancient and clonally propagated crop that has been under rather continuous selection since antiquity. In Japan, each garlic-growing region had its own local cultivars (clones) at one time. This is still the case in some regions, but with expanding transport networks and the requirements for high yield of commercial quality, only a few clones dominate the garlic production in the country. Here we describe the morphological characteristics of Japanese garlic clones. The review also focusses on the possible ancestry of Japanese garlics inferred from molecular genetic analysis.
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