To assess the impact of foliar spray of urea 2 (%), thio-urea (1000ppm), and PGRs (GA3, 100ppm, NAA 40ppm, ethephon 200ppm, SA 100 and 200ppm and triadimefon 1000 and 2000ppm) alone and in combination with urea 2 percent on marketable yield and quality characters of Amrapali mango under agro-climatic condition of Ranchi were carried out at the Department of Horticulture, Birsa Agriculture University, Jharkhand during two fruiting season 2008-2010. Maximum duration of panicle emergence (37 days) and minimum days required for anthesis (19.33 days) were observed from ethephon 200ppm treated tree. However, minimum fruit drop (86.16%) and maximum fruit retention per panicle (5.41%) was observed with SA 100ppm in combination with urea spray over control (water spray). The highest yield per tree (16.21kg) was recorded under plant treated with SA 200ppm in combination with urea 2 percent. Highest total sugar (11.97%) as well as non reducing sugar (9.51%) in the fruits of the plant sprayed with triadimefon 200ppm. Similarly, the highest increase in ascorbic acid and β-carotene were measured highest from the fruits of the plants sprayed with triadimefon 2000ppm in combination with urea 2 percent. Beside salicylic acid 100ppm along with urea 2 percent recorded minimum spoilage (10.62%) over control.

Combining ability analysis was studied in a diallel mating design of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The analysis of variance for combining revealed that the variance due to gca and sca were highly significant for all the characters indicated that both the additive and non-additive gene actions were involved in the expression of the traits. The genotypes HW 5206, HD 2964 and PBW 373 were considered as the best general combiners, while hybrids HW 5207 x RT, PBW 550 x PBW 373, COW (W) 1 x PBW 373, HW 5206 x HD 2964, HD 2964 x PBW 373, HD 2833 x HD 2687, HD 2964 x WH 711, COW (W) 1 x PBW 550, HD 2833 x HW 5207, HD 2687 x WH 711 and COW (W) 1 x HW 5206 as good specific combiners for grain yield and other yield contributing and quality traits. The promising parents namely PBW 373, HD 2964 and HW 5206 which are having high gca effects in desirable direction for yield components and for quality traits may be incorporated in crossing programme to have better genotypes for yield better and quality. The crosses PBW 550 x PBW 373, COW (W) 1 x PBW 373, HW 5206 x HD 2964, COW (W) 1 x PBW 550 and HD 2833 x HW 5207 exhibited good sca effects for major yield and more than six yield contributing characters. They were also found to be superior for gluten content, ash content and showed low reaction of phenol on the grains. This may be exploited for better yield and chapati quality either by exploiting them through heterosis breeding or involving them in multiple cross breeding programme.

The most modern tool for evaluating morphological variations of seeds is image analysis. Shape and size are amongst the most important traits in visual inspection of seeds as they affect yield and price. To promote genetic analysis and selection for seed characteristics in crop improvement sciences, efficient, reliable, high-throughput seed phenotyping methods are required. This study aimed at verifying the efficiency of the seed imaging analysis software and using it to assess high-throughput morphological differences with measurement and facilitate the unique identification and grouping of seeds of 12 pearl millet genotypes. The seeds of pearl millet, four hybrids viz., Shraddha, Shanti, DHBH 9070 and DHLB 1307 and their female and male parents viz., RHRB 1A, RHRBI 138, RHRB 13A, RHRBI 1314, DHLB 8A, DHLBI 967, DHLB 17A and DHLBI 731, each of which represented by three different sets, were grown and evaluated in randomized completely block design with three replicated trial in two different environments created by adopting two sowing dates and field locations (Kharif-2014 and Summer-2015) at MPKV, Rahuri, India. For this, onetime assessment was performed to quantify morphological characters of seeds by means of seed area, length, width, diameter and perimeter of seeds, using the seed image analysis. The investigation leads to conclude that the computerized analyses of seeds through the implementation of image analysis method are reliable and fast for identification and classification. It is of seeds is of major technical and economical importance in the agricultural seed industry. As expected, seed size and shape characteristics have larger selective command than other. However, all these features of the seed are required to reach up to an identification performance, acceptable for practical applications. In spite of its simplicity, the image analysis reveals itself astonishingly good for the identification and grouping of seed species. Investigation applies computer image analysis to group together pearl millet cultivars according to their similarity in seed traits. Based on the results it is recommended that current qualitative seed descriptors routinely used for cultivar characterization may be enhanced by more instructive seed quantitative descriptors obtainable at low cost.

Exploitation of heterosis through the cultivation of hybrid cultivars is one of the landmark achievements of plant breeding. Heterosis breeding has been extensively used for improving yield potential in most of the crops through development of hybrids. Hence, an attempt was made in this study to assess 48 F1 hybrids derived by crossing 3 cytoplasmic male sterile lines with 16 genotypes of pigeonpea to identify the best heterotic combinations to achieve a quantum jump in yield. The results showed that a wide range of variation in the estimates of heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis in positive and negative direction was observed for seed yield per plant as well as remaining ten traits. In case of seed yield per plant, heterobeltiosis ranged from -84.46% to 25.26% and standard heterosis varied from -84.18% to 22.46%. The cross NDACMS 1-3A x NDA 1 showed highest mean performance (63.00g) for seed yield per plant and it also exhibit 25.26% and 22.46% heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis, respectively. The crosses NDACMS 1-3A x NDA 1, NDACMS 1-2A x NDAGC 35, NDACMS 1-6A x NDA 1, NDACMS 1-2A x NDA 7-14, NDACMS 1-6A x BHUA 8-2 and NDACMS 1-2A x NDA-selection showing high mean performance and significant heterosis for seed yield per plant and its important components like primary & secondary branches per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, biological yield per plant and harvest index were most promising combinations and need to be tested on large scale for their feasibility of commercial utilization.

The export performance of tea in India has been examined using secondary data for the period from 1981 to 2010. The trend present in the export of tea was confirmed by fitting the original value with linear trend equation. Then double exponential smoothing technique (Holt’s) was applied to forecast the export of tea from India up to year 2020. The result revealed that export of tea shows the declined to the value of 30328 for the year 2020 compare to the base year value of 30387 in the year 2010.

Microsatellite markers are very useful for the analysis of genetic purity and diversity assessment. Present study was aimed to analyze genetic purity in seed mixture and diversity assessment among different rice varieties. All the 6 (RM 1, RM 242, RM 276, RM285, RM 429, and RM 341) primers used in this investigation were found polymorphic, revealing 28 allelic variants at 9 loci with an average of 3.1 alleles per locus among the 7 rice varieties and their seed mixture tested. A total of 13 shared and 15 unique allelic variants were generated among the varieties and varietal mixture tested. Considering the number of alleles in conjunction with the level of polymorphism detected, these 4 SSR markers (RM 1, RM 429, RM 242 and RM 341) appeared to be more informative primers. Among the primer pairs used for molecular profiling, RM 1, RM 242 and RM 341 appeared to be relatively more useful in revealing comparatively more easily recognizable and predictable pattern of polymorphism for genetic purity testing.

The investigation on bio-efficacy of newer insecticides against pod borer complex of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh) were carried out at Center of Excellence for Research on Pulses, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar during Kharif 2012-13. Among the various insecticides, chlorantraniliprole @ 30 g a.i./ha was the most effective insecticide against gram pod borer and blue butterfly while profenophos 50 EC @ 250 g a.i./ha was the most effective insecticide against tur plume moth. Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 % SC @ 30 g a.i./ha registered the lowest pod damage due to borer and pod fly and recorded the highest yield of pigeonpea.

In this study, rainfed lowland rice variety, Swarna and semi-deep lowland rice variety Varshadhan with Sub1 or without it were screened for submergence tolerance during seed germination and seedling stage. During seedling stage, the survival capacity was higher in Swarna-Sub1 than Varshadhan-Sub1 and however, the level expression of SUB1A gene was stronger in both cases. There was difference in the plant growth between them i.e. more in Varshadhan-Sub1 when compared to in Swarna-Sub1. In case of cultivars with no Sub1, there was more survival and less growth rate in Swarna when compared to Varshadhan. In case of submergence tolerance during seed germination, no difference was observed in seed germination in both cultivars with Sub1 or without it. But, there was difference in growth rate between Swarna and Varshadhan i.e. the growth rate was more in Varshadhan with Sub1 or without it under submergence whereas in Swarna with SUB1 was less and more in rice line with no Sub1. In gene expression analysis, expression of RAmy3C, Adh1 and Adh2 genes was found to be induce strongly in Varshadhan with Sub1 and without it under aerobic and anaerobic condition as compared to Swarna. Thus, Varshadhan with Sub1 has possessed both capacity to tolerate submergence during seed germination and seedling stage. This rice variety could be used by rice farmers who are facing problems by flash-flood at the time of seed sowing and transplanting in lowland and semi-lowland areas.