Rapeseed-mustard is premium oilseed crop as far as edible oil availability is considered. Even after intensive improvement programme, still there is need to fill the gap between demand and supply. Estimates of epistasis though plays highly significant role, still always overlooked in almost all the statistical analysis. In present investigation, the epistasis is calculated using triple test cross analysis. The additive × additive [i] type epistasis was found to be significant for days to maturity and plant height. The estimates of non-additive [j+l] epistasis emerged highly significant for all the characters except days to 50% flowering, length of main raceme, siliquae on main raceme, primary branches per plant, number of seeds per siliqua and test weight. Total epistasis showed highly significant estimates for days to maturity, plant height, secondary branches per plant, siliqua length, siliqua density, oil content and seed yield per plant. The [i] type epistasis × blocks exhibited significant estimates only for siliqua length. None of characters showed significant estimates of [j+l] type epistasis x blocks and total epistasis x blocks. The present investigation reflected significant role of epistatic components which should be taken into consideration while suggesting breeding methodology to attain maximum outcome.
Field experiment was conducted at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand) during the rabi season of the year 2014-15 for -three dates of sowing and five planting geometries of mustard crop to test the truthfulness and usefulness of InfoCrop model; and subsequently to optimize the farm resources and decision making. In this study InfoCrop v 2.1 model was used to derive genetic coefficients of the Indian mustard var. RGN - 73 followed by its validation. After successful calibration of the model, simulated and observed values of the experiment were found to be in a good agreement for seed and biological yield while model underestimated the ¬LAI. Results showed a reduction of seed yield from 1780.5 kg/ha to 1556.5 kg/ha for the delay in sowing from 22nd October to 11th November under field conditions and a similar trend of decrease in yield was also simulated¬. Probability analysis was carried to optimize date of sowing at three levels e.g., 90%, 75%, and 60% for the past five years (2010 -2014). The results showed that optimum sowing window for mustard under Pantnagar region lies in the month of October (22nd -28th October) giving a potential yield of up to 2091.7 kg/ha. The planting geometry of 30 × 10 cm and, 30 × 20 cm and 30 × 30 cm was found favorable to get maximum yield under late and timely sown conditions, respectively.
The present study entitled was conducted with an aim to find out the efficacy of endophytes and their Microbial Consortium (MC) on per cent germination of rice seeds and effect on vigour index of rice seedlings. The parameters for vigour index were recorded on 7th, 14th and 21st days after germination. Rice seeds of CAU-R1 variety was used for determining the plant growth promoting (PGP) activity of the endophytes alone and in consortium under In vitro. It was found that Microbial Consortium (MC) of endophytes showed more effectiveness than the individual endophytes on Per cent seed germination (98.33%) and vigour index after 7(778), 14(2134.50) and 21(2541.42) days of seed germination.
To study the impact of the subsurface placement of vermicompost manure on the root density, growth and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Var. UP 2526) the most important cereal crop in the Northern region of India, an experiment was conducted under field conditions in Mollisols soil at Honey Bee Research and Training Centre, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar by using Tractor Drawn Subsurface Manure and Seed Applicator which was designed in Farm Machinery and Power Engineering Department of the University. An experiment was conducted with five different treatments by the subsurface manure applicator machine on the field at different exposure lengths of rectangular orifice of manure hopper viz., control, ¼th, ½nd, ¾ th and full opening position. The exposure length of fluted roller seed metering device of the machine was fixed at 1/2nd opening position by a seed rate adjustable lever under all treatments for different forward speeds viz., 2, 4 and 6 km/h and the vermicompost having 31 % moisture content (d.b) was used in all treatments. The depth of placement of wheat was fixed 50 mm by tractor automatic draft and position control lever. The treatment T1 (100 % RDN) showed the best results due to providing maximum plant height, leaf area index, root length and yield of wheat crop. Thus, subsurface application of vermicompost is recommended for higher wheat production. Subsurface placement of vermicompost by the machine resulted in thrice benefits by increasing the wheat yield as well as reducing the application rate of vermicompost per hectare in the field and reducing the labour requirement.
The field experiment was carried out during Rabi season of 2020-2021 at experimental block of School of Agricultural Sciences of the Shri Guru Ram Rai University (SAS-SGRRU), Pathribagh, Dehradun, Uttarakhand to study the effect of various nutrient management approaches on growth, yield, quality and net profit of the wheat crop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with eight treatments viz., Control (T1 ), 100 % RDF (T2 ), 0 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 (T3 ), 0 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 + PSB (T4 ), 50 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 (T5 ), 50 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 + PSB (T6 ), 75 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 (T7 ) and 75 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 + PSB (T8 ) which were replicated three times. The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam with low available nitrogen & organic carbon, medium available phosphorous and available potassium. Application of 50 % RDF + FYM @ 3 t ha-1 recorded 74.3 % more wheat grain yield; 34.2 and 79.7 % more wet and dry gluten per cent respectively, compared to 100 % RDF, which is significantly higher than other nutrient management approaches. Substitution of 50 % inorganic fertilizers with FYM can be adopted for economical viable and sustainable wheat production with improved yield and quality in Western Himalayan region of Uttarakhand.
