This investigation was elucidated seedling characters effects of soybean cultivars i.e. Crawford, Giza 111, Giza 21, Giza 22 and Giza 35 due to ageing (storage) in different packaging material i.e. seeds or pods in plastic or cloth bags for different periods i.e. 3, 6, 9 and 12 months under ambient and refrigerator conditions. Seedling parameters i.e. root and shoot length, seedling fresh and dry weight root/shoot ratio and seedling vigor index were decreased with the period of ageing. Soybean cultivars are stored in plastic bags were affected due to storage but the effects were more pronounced in the plastic bags as compared to cloth bags. It could be stated that Giza 111 exceeded the other cultivars in root length, shoot length and seedling vigor index. Giza 22 and Giza 21 cultivars exceeded the other cultivars in root/ shoot ratio. Giza 35 exceeded other cultivars in seedling dry and fresh weight. Storage under refrigerator conditions at 10ºC ± 1 exceeded storage under ambient conditions in root length, shoot length, root/shoot ratio and seedling fresh and dry weight and seedling vigor index. Results clearly showed that root and shoot length, root/shoot ratio, seedling fresh and dry weight and seedling vigor index significantly affected by the varies interactions.

In order to examine the effect of storage period, storage conditions and storage materials on seed quality of some soybean cultivars. A Laboratory experiment was conducted in Agronomy Department, Fac. of Agric., Mansoura Univ., Egypt during 2011 and 2012. The results showed that acid number, peroxide number and electrical conductivity (dSm-1)were increased with the period of ageingwere increased. The obtained results indicated that Giza 22cultivar exceeded other cultivars in electrical conductivity and moisture percentage. Giza 35 cultivar exceeded the other cultivars in acid number and peroxide number. Crawford cultivar exceeded the other cultivars in oil percentage. Storage under refrigerator conditions at 10°C ± 1 exceeded storage under ambient conditions in oil percentage and moisture percentage. Storage under ambient conditions exceeded storage under refrigerator conditions at 10°C ± 1 in acid number, peroxide number and electrical conductivity. Acid number and peroxide number significantly affected by storage material. Storage soybean cultivars as seeds or pods in plastic bags recorded lowest values of peroxide and acid number compared with other package materials. Results clearly showed that oil percentage, moisture percentage, acid number, peroxide number and electrical conductivity significantly affected by the varies interactions.

A detailed soil survey was carried out in the 4D5A2s, 4D5A2t, 4D5A2u and 4D5A3j Subwatersheds of Nagarjunasagar catchment, Lingasugur taluk of Raichur district, Karnataka, India covering an area of 22381 ha, spread over 47 villages. The survey area is represented by four major physiographic division namely subdued hills, upper pediplains, lower pediplains and alluvial plains developed over granite. Nine soil series were identified and mapped into 27 mapping units. The soils developed subdued hills is excessively drained, shallow, yellowish red to reddish brown, gravely sandy loam to gravelly clay, mapped into a single mapping unit and classified under LCC VI. The soils is spread over 0.7 percent of the total area and classified into Lithic Ustorthents. The soils of upper pediplains are well drained, shallow to deep, reddish brown to dark yellowish brown, gravelly sandy loam to gravelly clay and mapped into 14 mapping units. These soils belong to LCC II, III and IV and classified into Typic Haplustalfs, Typic Ustorthents and Typic Haplustepts which represent the 18.7 percent of the total area. The soils of lower pediplains and alluvial plains are moderately well drained to well drained, moderately deep to very deep, dark brown to dark grayish brown, calcareous, gravelly clay loam to clay, mapped under 12 mapping units which belongs to land capability classes II, III and V and classified into Typic, Sodic and Fluventic Haplustepts which represents the 78.04 percent of the total area.

The development of crops adapted to the semi-arid and arid regions would enhance food security in Africa. As part of research towards ensuring food security, field trials were carried out to evaluate the performance of sixteen hybrids of drought tolerant Quantitative trait loci (QTL) introgression lines of pearl millet in a Guinea-Savannah zone of Ghana, where the crop is one of the cereals popularly cultivated by farmers as a staple. The hybrids were obtained from ICRISAT in India and the validation trial was laid out in a randomized complete block design with (4) replicates. All the sixteen lines (843A × H77/833-2, ICML03048 × H77/833-2, ICML03050 × H77/833-2, ICML03051 × H77/833-2, ICML03052 × H77/833-2, ICML03056 × H77/833-2, ICML03057 × H77/833-2, 841B × H77/833-2, 863B × H77/833-2, 843A × ICMR01029, 843A × ICMR01031, 843A × ICMR 01040, 843A × ICMR 01046, 843A × ICMR 01042, 843A × ICMR 01044 and 843A × PRLT2/89-33) were able to withstand the environmental conditions during the trial period. Three entries (843A × PRLT 2/89-33, 843A × ICMR 01046 and 843A × ICMR 01029) took fewer days to boot. Two hybrids (843A × H77/833-2 and 843A × PRLT 2/89-33) had the highest values of 100-seed weight. The hybrid 863B × H77/833-2 was outstanding in terms of plant height, fresh and dry stover weights, ear head length and diameter; 100-seed weight, head yield and grain yield. It is, therefore, concluded that marker-assisted selection could be used to breed for high yielding millet cultivars in drought prone savannah agro-ecological zones of northern Ghana to enhance yields and improve food security.

The Present paper is an attempt to study the role of National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) in Marathwada region of Maharashtra state of India. The study showed that farmers covered under NAIS in Maharashtra in kharif season increased at the rate of 1.50% during the period under study. But the area covered and farmers benefitted declined by -6.05% and 4.14% respectively in Maharashtra during 2000-2010. The farmers covered under NAIS in Marathwada in kharif season increased at the rate of 10.67% but area declined by -1.90% during the period under study. In Marathwada claims paid (10.43%) and farmers benefitted (8.72%) in kharif season increased during the period under study.