Combining ability studies were carried out for yield and its related traits by considering 72 hybrids, 12 lines, 6 testers and 3 checks during kharif-2012 at college of Agriculture, Dharwad. Parents and crosses showed highly significant differences for yield traits. The traits were further analyzed for general combining ability and specific combining ability effects.Combining ability estimates revealed, line BM254 and testers BM59 and BM258 as good combiners for cob weight. Similarly, for number of rows per cob, line BM5, for 100-grain weight, line BM8 and tester BM59 were considered as good combiners. With respect to grain yield per plant, line BM254 and testers BM59 and BM258 were found to be potential good combiners apart from expressing significant gca effects in desirable direction. The derived hybrids, BM24 x RNBL4611 and BM136 x BM1 were considered as early for flowering and silking respectively. For cob weight, cross BM60 x BM59 recorded highest sca effects with high mean cob weight. The hybrids BM51 x BM258 and BM24 x BM59 were found to be promising for number of rows per cob and 100-grain weight respectively. The complex/quantitative trait, grain yield per plant of the cross BM51 x BM258 was found to be good combination. Thus, the present study confirms BM254, BM59, BM258, BM5 and BM8 as best general combiners for the yield dependent traits. Therefore, these parental lines could be utilized in improvement of traits directly correlated with grain yield. The cross BM254 x BM285 with high specific combing ability for grain yield proves a best combination of these parents in exploitation of heterosis for grain yield in the form of single cross hybrids.

Karnataka is the third largest sugar producing state in the county and one of the major revenue sources to the farmers and factories. Thus, present study has made an attempt to assess the financial performance of the factories in the state. The study selected 10 sugar factories, of which four each were from private and co-operative sector and two were from public sector, which were further sub divided into above and below average performing factories based on the parameters like installation capacity, cane crushed, sugar produced and sugar recovery percent. The required data for the study was from secondary sources, were gathered from the respective factories balance sheets, profit and loss account etc. from 1990-91 to 2012-13 and analytical tools used were financial ratios like liquidity ratio, leverage ratio, inventory ratio, and profitability ratios. The result of the study shows that, there was not much significant financial progress was observed in any of the selected public, private and co-operative sugar factories. However, with respect to comparison of the factories across the three sectors and among above and below averages, private sector (above and below average) and co-operative sector (above average) factories were found better. Whereas, other two below average co-operative sector factories and public sector factories, the situation was worst. Hence, poor performing factories are needs government support to uplift from the present situation else these factories may be handed over to the private ownership management for improving the financial progress.

Triple test cross analysis was used to detect epistasis for eleven quantitative traits in maize. Analysis of variance for detection of epistasis revealed the presence of epistasis for all traits studied. Additive × additive (i type) digenic epistasis was highly significant for the traits such as days to tasseling, days to silking, cob width, kernel rows cob-1 and shelling per cent except ASI, cob length, kernels row-1, grain yield plot 1 and 100 grain weight. Both additive × dominance (j type) and dominance × dominance (l type) epistasis were significant for all characters. The degree of dominance was less than one for all the traits, indicating the presence of partial dominance in inheritance of all the traits. The correlation coefficient of sums and differences and F-value were found non-significant for all the traits. The magnitude of additive components was higher compared to dominance components for all traits.

The paper aims to analysis the performance of sugar industry in major sugar producing states of India relating to various parameters such as area under sugarcane, sugarcane production, productivity of sugarcane, sugar production, cane utilization for sugar production, number of factories in operation, installed capacity, capacity utilization, sugar recovery percent and duration of cane crushing. The growth rate technique was employed to assess the performance of sugar factories for the period 1985-86 to 2012-13. The results of the study revealed that majority of the states showed positive significant growth in the area under sugarcane, sugarcane yield, sugarcane production, number of sugar factories in operation, utilization of sugarcane for sugar production, installed capacities and sugar production. This positive growth rates was due to increase in demand for sugar consumption, diversion of cane increase sugar consumption, diversion of cane from khnadasari and gur manufacturing units to sugar factories and increased demand for by-products of sugarcane (bagasse and molasses) for further production of alcohol and co-generation and blending of ethanol with petrol. On the other side, the capacity utilization and duration of crushing season were showed negative growth rate. This could be due to cyclicality of sugarcane production which is usually happens once in two or three years i.e. surplus or shortage production of cane, frequent floods, droughts, pest and disease attack on crops.

Countrywide many initiatives on mitigation and adaptation approaches in coping with the climate change for smallholder vulnerable farmers to increase their production through adoption of appropriate techniques fail due to inadequate attention to interests and characteristics of stakeholders. The study had been conducted at Manasa block of Neemuch district and Malhargarh block of Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh (MP). Two villages were selected purposively from each of the selected blocks thereby constituting four villages for the study. A total of 60 farmers were selected by way of proportionate random sampling method. As many as 14 and 15 stakeholders were selected from Manasa and Malhargarh blocks respectively by following snowball sampling method. In both the blocks, State Department of Agriculture turned up to be the most active stakeholder and it was revealed that majority (70.00%) of the respondents belonged to category of high level of decision-making followed by 18.33% and 11.67% who belonged to medium and low level category of decision-making on adoption of mitigation and adaptation of climate change practices in agriculture respectively. The study recommends that key stakeholders should be identified by any Government/Private agencies before introducing any new program. On the basis of Power, Interest and Legitimacy stakeholders should be given task related to Climate Change in agriculture.

The study was undertaken to analyses the trend and functional analysis of sugarcane production, sugarcane supplies to the factory, sugarcane price and sugar price in the Karnataka state. The data required for the study relating to the area, production and productivity of sugarcane, sugarcane price, sugar price, gur prices, installed capacity, rainfall, levy percent of sugar, SMP were sourced from cooperative sugar publications, DES, Bangalore and indiastats.com from 1985-86 to 2012-13. The data were analysed by using trend equations, multiple regressions, two-stage simultaneous equations and growth rate analysis. The results of the study found that, the sugarcane prices, factory supplies of sugarcane, sugar prices and sugarcane production were increasing trends with highly significant growth rates (8.39 %, 6.29 %, 5.48 % and 2.10 %, respectively) and also showed higher instabilities (66.54 %, 58.83 %, 49.96 % and 31.12 %, respectively) in the study period. These fluctuations were due to cyclical nature of sugarcane production which usually happens once in 2-3 years i.e. two year surplus production followed by deficit production of cane and also due to changing government policies like levy obligations, quarterly or monthly sugar release mechanism, influence of state government advisory price and export and import restrictions etc.

A research trial was conducted at Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Agronomy farm on "Effect of land configuration, plant population and nitrogen management on productivity of sweet corn" during Kharif season of 2010-11 and 2011-12. The experimental site has semi-arid tropical climate and Vertisol soil. The growth, yield attributes, yield, quality and economics of the sweet corn were significantly superior with the sowing of sweet corn on ridges and furrow with plant population of 55556 plants ha-1 (60 x 30 cm2) along with 100 percent N through inorganic fertilizers to sweet corn. The highest GMR, NMR, B:C ratio was recorded with 100 percent N through inorganic fertilizers over flat bed sowing, 45 x30 cm spacing (74074 plants per hectare) and integrated nitrogen management at 75% N through inorganic fertilizer+ 25% N through vermicompost, 50% N through inorganic fertilizer + 50% N through vermicompost and vermicompost @ 2.5 t per hectare. The same trend was reported about total nitrogen uptake during both the years.

The productivity level of potato is observed to be low in Madhya Pradesh due to various reasons among these are climate and adoptability of technologies. In order to narrow down the gap in the productivity, potato growers need to adopt the recommended technology package in their situation. With this back ground the status of adoption of production technologies and productivity of potato crop are to be essential to be assessed and training needs are the other important issue to be looked into for the policy makers in general and the farmers in particular. There is an urgent need in this direction to channelize our efforts to increase the yield by identifying the training needs and the extent of adoption of improved practices. It is in this background this study was taken up with an objective to know the extent of adoption of scientific practices and their training needs. Training is essential to induce motivation, create confidence and inculcate efficiency in an individual. Training is also inevitable for imparting new knowledge and updating the skills of the farmers. Training of farmers had assumed further importance and need in the context of the high yielding varieties and improved practices in agriculture and allied fields.

The 10 x10 half diallel cross investigation was carried out in order to determine gene action as well as general and specific combining ability in the material studied. All the traits were predominantly controlled by non-additive type of gene action. The parents GBhv- 287 and 824 were found to be good general combiners for seed cotton yield and most of the fibre quality traits, respectively. Variety GAM-165 had maximum number of dominant genes for oil content while GBhv- 283 had maximum number of dominant genes for boll weight. Hybrid, GBhv-282 x G 27 had significant sca effects for seed cotton yield per plant with good fibre quality in aspect of many fibre quality traits such as fibre strength, fibre elongation percentage and fibre maturity coefficient. 824 x G 27 proves superiority proved superior for fibre length and fibre fineness for sca effects. 824 x GAM- 173 was useful for oil content improvement in future as it showed high sca effects.

A severe yellow mosaic disease on ridge gourd with a significant disease incidence was observed during the survey at different locations of southern dry zone of Karnataka in the year 2013-2014. The disease consisted of yellow mosaic accompanied with slight curling of leaves and the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) population was also observed in the field during survey. The characteristic yellow mosaic disease symptoms and whitefly population indicated the possibility of begomovirus infection. PCR was carried out using the total DNA isolated from infected leaf samples and a pair of begomovirus specific primers which resulted in the expected size (~750 bp) amplicon indicated the presence of begomovirus. For further identification of the begomovirus, the PCR amplicons were cloned and sequenced. The sequence data analysis revealed highest of 93-92% similarities with several isolates of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) at nucleotide levels. The phylogenetic analysis also showed closest relationships of the causal virus with various variants of ToLCNDV. Based on highest sequence similarities and closest relationships with ToLCNDV, the virus isolated from ridge gourd was considered as an isolate of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus.

Rice is an important staple food crop in most of Asian countries and feeding more than half world population. India is having rich source of rice germplasm and the local rice genotypes are reservoirs of valuable traits. Unscientific nitrogen application at different crop growth stages mainly influences grain yield and environmental quality. The increase nitrogen application directly and indirectly affects emission of methane gas, finally leads to global warming. Hence, an attempt was made to identify high nitrogen use efficient genotypes by studying genetic variability parameters for nitrogen use efficiency and yield component traits in a set of 55 local rice genotypes under low soil nitrogen conditions. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant genotypic differences for all the traits studied. High Genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV) and Phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV) values with less difference observed for nitrogen use efficiency, yield related traits indicating less influence of environment factors on their expression. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for plant height, number of productive tillers, panicle length, number of spikelets per panicle, grain yield per plant and nitrogen use efficiency at low nitrogen conditions. This indicated that these traits were predominantly controlled by additive gene action and more amenable for selection. Significant positive correlation was observed for nitrogen use efficiency with grain and straw yield in low nitrogen conditions. The SSR marker RM20 was found to be associated with nitrogen use efficiency in local rice genotypes studied. The genotypes Parimalakalavi, Mosaleputtabatta, Mundoni, Bilihasudiand Bolumallige were found to be high nitrogen use efficient

The present study was conducted to find out the effect of milking intervals on milking attributes like milk let down time, milking time, milk flow rate, milk yield, composition and somatic cell count in Sahiwal cows. The experiment was carried out on 88 lactating healthy Sahiwal cows in hot- humid (n=38) and winter (n=50) season. All the animals were managed in loose housing system and were machine milked during morning, noon and evening time. Milking attributes like milk letdown time, milking time and milking rate was determined during milking time in each season. The aliquots of milk samples from individual animal were composited and fat, protein, lactose, SNF and total solids were measured. Somatic cells present in the pooled milk samples from individual animals were estimated. Milk let down time was significantly lower (P<0.05) in morning milking as compared to evening milking in hot humid season. Milking time and total milking time was significantly higher (P<0.05) in morning milking as compare to noon and evening milking in winter season. Milk flow rate was significantly higher (P<0.05) in morning milking as compare to noon and evening milkings in both summer and winter season. Milk yield was significantly higher (P<0.05) in morning milking as compare to noon and evening milking in both hot-humid and winter season in Sahiwal cows milked three times in a day. Fat % was significantly lower in morning milking than the evening milking in both hot-humid (P<0.01) and winter season (P<0.05) in Sahiwal cows milked three times a day. SNF content was higher (P<0.05) in morning milking as compare to noon milking in both hot-humid and winter season. However, fat. % of noon milking was higher (P<0.05) than the morning milking and lower than evening milking but the difference was non-significant in both seasons in Sahiwal cow milked three times in a day. Variation of TS % was non-significant between morning, noon and evening milking in hot-humid season but TS % was significantly (P<0.05) higher in evening milking as compare to noon milking in winter season. Protein content was higher in evening milking as compare to morning and noon milking in both hot-humid (P<0.01) and winter season (P<0.05). Lactose % varied non-significantly between different milking intervals in the cows milked three times a day. SCC was lower (P<0.05) in morning milking as compared to noon and evening milking in hot-humid season. In winter season SCC was significantly (P<0.05) lower in morning milking as compared to noon milking but varied non-significantly (P<0.05) with evening milking. Milking intervals had significant impact on milk let down time, milk flow rate, milk yield, fat %, SNF %, TS %, protein % and SCC.

Tillage is the basic operation in agriculture and its energy represents a considerable portion of the total energy utilized in crop production. Performance evaluation of different types of tillage tools was studied by using a tool carrier in vertisol condition. The tools include shallow sweep, right side sweep, left side sweep and heavy duty sweep. split plot design was used to study the performance evaluation of different types of tillage tools. Each tool was attached to the tool carrier and put in lower hitch position of the tractor. For maintain the proper depth of operation, 200 kg weight was kept in the center of the tool carrier. Tool carrier was also operated at fixed speed (2.12 km/h). It was found that, for all the tillage tools unit draft was inversely proportional to the depth of operation. Minimum unit draft was observed for heavy duty sweep i.e. 14.35 N/cm2 followed by shallow sweep, right side sweep, left side sweep (i.e. 15.43, 25.45, and 23.58 N/cm2). Statistical analysis reveals that tool shape had significantly effect on the unit draft. From the results, it can be concluded that heavy-duty sweep showed maximum performance index i.e. 70%. Also heavy duty was found superior over other tools, although shallow sweep gave satisfactory results in respect to field capacity and energy requirement.

A study was conducted to find out the yield gap, adoption pattern, and constraints in adoption of soybean production technologies. The primary data were collected from 98 farmers selected on the basis of yield levels, as high, moderate and low from the Central Narmada Valley agro-climatic zone of Madhya Pradesh. The study revealed that at overall yield level Gap-I, II, and III were found to be 52.20, 52.96 and 77.09 per cent, respectively. More than 60 per cent of respondents were not adopting intercropping, land leveling, irrigation management, plant protection, seed treatment, and nutrient management due to various constraints such as lack of capital, high cost, lack of knowledge etc. In both one tail and two tail test deep ploughing, harrowing and land levelling was positive and significant, while irrigation management was negative and significant.

Collar rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de bary is one of the most important diseases of Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L .var. grossum Sendt.) causing severe damage to the crop and reducing potential yield. To develop an effective management practice against stem rot of bell pepper, integration of Cultural components, Chemical and biological control revealed that combination of ridge planting + E. globulus(10%) + Bavistin (0.1%) was the most effective treatment with minimum disease incidence (22.15%) and maximum disease control (77.17%) followed by raised bed + Eucalyptus globulus + Bavistin, flat field + Eucalyptus globulus + Bavistin, ridge planting + Bavistin, raised bed + Bavistin. Ridge planting + Eucalyptus globulus, raised bed+ Eucalyptus globulus, flat field + Bavistin and flat field + Eucalyptus globules were also effective. It is cheaper and eco-friendly practice for the control of collar rot of sweet pepper.

The Pigeon pea, an excellent source of protein and well balanced nutritionally has very low productivity as compared to its potential yield despite several government efforts for productivity enhancement. Many grassroots innovative farmers have also developed improved varieties of pigeon pea. With the objective to channelize successful farmers’ pigeon pea varieties, an ex situ evaluation trial comprising of three farmers’ developed varieties and two locally popular varieties was conducted during Kharif 2014 and 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Results revealed significant superiority and suitability of farmers’ varieties over local varieties for the area during both the years. Kudrat 3 variety [3253.7 kg/ha] outperformed the other varieties in yield and majority of yield attributing traits followed by Richa 2000 [3075.6 kg/ha]. Strong positive correlation coefficients between yield and yield attributing traits show that these traits have strong impact on yield of the farmers’ varieties tested. Superior performances of the varieties also depict their adaptability to the local conditions.More productive results can be obtained by promoting location specific farmers’ plant varieties. From the exertion it was established that these farmers’ varieties can be considered for channelization and dissemination in similar agro-climatic zones.

Field experiments were conducted at Department of Pulses, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to evaluate the tank mix application of herbicide and insecticide on weeds and yield of soybean during kharif season of 2013 and 2014. Results showed that application of imazethapyr 10 SL @ 100 g/ha + Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC @ 100 ml/ha was found to be more efficient to control monocot and dicot weeds in soybean which recorded lowest weed density (46.7 No./m2), dry weight (20.67 g/m2) and higher weed control efficiency (77.2%) and it was closely followed by indoxacarb 14.5 SC @ 300 ml/ha along with imazethapyr 10 SL @ 100 g/ha. It also found superior in respect of various growth and yield attributes. Highest seed yield (1082 kg/ha) of soybean and maximum net return (₹ 15499/ha) and B:C ratio of 1.69 were recorded in imazethapyr 10 SL @ 100 g/ha + Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC @ 100 ml/ha. Based on the results, it can be concluded that tank mix application of imazethapyr or quizalofop-ethyl were compatible with insecticides of Chlorantraniliprole or indoxacarb can be recommended as an effective weed and pest management practices with respect to yield and profit of soybean.

A field survey was undertaken in Akola and Washim districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state for present study. Total 140 farmers were selected from two blocks namely Akola and Washim from above districts as respondents by using random sampling method. The constraints have been operationally defined as the problems encountered by the respondent with regards to the adoption of improved dairy management practices. Constraints are, therefore, the factors that limit the farmer’s development process and hence these cannot be over looked. Constraints found during presenting were structured and further classified into different categories viz. infrastructural constraints, economic constraints, marketing constraints, technological constraints, socio-psychological constraints and communicational constraints. Every identified constraint with farmers has been measured on the three point continuum according to the degree of severity i.e. high severity, medium severity and low severity. Majority of dairy farmers expressed the major constraints as lack of improved equipments with mean constraints severity score (MCSS) 1.59 and which ranked first, high charges of emergency veterinary services with MCSS 1.51, lack of technical guidance was major technical constraints mentioned by the farmers with MCSS 1.46 etc. While overall constraints severity index shows that maximum number of the respondents had medium (33.34 to 66.66%) category level in adoption of improved dairy management practices. At last suggestions were obtained from dairy farmer to overcome the constraints faced in adopting improve dairy management practices indicated that large majority of the respondents were suggested that medicine should be available at low cost followed by the milk price should be increased.

Blackgram (Phaseolus mungo L.) is one of the important pulse crops grown in India, which belong to the family “Leguminoseae”. It is consumed in various forms as whole or split, husked and unhusked. It is rich in protein, carbohydrate, fat, amino acids, vitamins, and also provides large quantity of green fodder which serves as the nutrition food for the livestock. The number of factor responsible for low productivity (receives low fertilizer input, moisture, pesticides, poor quality seed etc.,) of blackgram, among that factors most important but not recognized factor liable for poor yield due to inadequate weed control. Weed offer severe competition to their crop during early stage of growth and reduce the yield ranges between 27 to 90 per cent due to uncontrolled weed growth. However, different weed control methods like cultural, physical/mechanical, biological and chemical management practices to effectively controlled weeds. Hence, physical/mechanical methods of weed control was achieved by hand weeding or any small weeder (twice) at 20 and 40 DAS not effectively because of high labour wages, continuous rainfall and non-availability at peat period of crop weed competition. Now days, more number of herbicides are available for controlling many weed species very effectively. When in fact, high quantity of herbicides are applied into soil it will contaminating the soil fertility, soil living organisms etc. finally led to damage or affect the life’s of plants, wildlife and even human beings. Keeping these points in view, more population of weeds at later stage of Blackgram pleas for a suitable combination of various weed control techniques to achieve maximum benefits through minimum yield loss and reasonable weed control to the sustainable crop production.

Twenty six advanced varietal lines of sesame genotypes were grown during kharif 2015-16 at the Project Coordinating Unit Sesame and Niger, JNKVV, Jabalpur for the estimation of phenotypic and genotypic variances, heritability, genetic advances, correlation and path coefficient analysis for seed yield and yield related traits. High values for phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was recorded for seed yield per plant (g) followed by number of capsules per plant and hence improvement through selection could be possible. High heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean were recorded for seed yield per plant followed by number of capsules per plant indicating that selection could be effective for improvement of these characters. Phenotypic and genotypic correlation analysis revealed strong positive association of seed yield per plant with number of secondary branches per plant and number of capsules per plant. Path coefficient analysis revealed high positive direct effect of number of secondary branches and number of capsules per plant on seed yield per plant. Hence number of secondary branches and number of capsules per plant may be good selection criteria for seed yield per plant.

Weeds are the greatest menace in agriculture, which reduces the yield of crop by 10-90 per cent. Weeds are dangerous not only because of their competition for inputs, but also due to their survival capacity as per the old saying “one year seedling seven year weeding”. The worst annual species are those having a high seed production and/or those producing seeds over a prolonged period of time. To reduce weed pressure it is important to prevent inflow of weed seeds from the environment. In stale seedbed land management practice, the weeds are stimulated to emerge and controlled by various measures prior to cropping. A key component of a well prepared stale seedbed is the absence of weeds at sowing, as well as uncontrolled weeds at sowing/planting have the potential to significantly impair stand establishment and crop yields. Often, many weed seeds in germination zone germinate and emerge before sowing thereby weed population is reduced during the cropping season. Stale seedbed (SSB) can be done between harvest and sowing and emerged weeds were controlled by tillage or foliar application of non-selective herbicides. Adoption of shallow tillage to kill emerged weeds in SSB method of weed control could result in a rapid depletion of the weed seed bank. Tillage helps to control weeds by killing the emerging seedlings, burying seeds, delaying growth of perennials and providing a clean uniform surface for efficient action of herbicides. However, weed populations could be reduced by utilising stale seedbed preparation to provide a less competitive environment for crops during earlier growth stages.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationships between yield and yield contributing traits and identify their direct and indirect effects on fruit yield of ash gourd genotypes. The correlations and path analyses was performed by the method suggested by Wright. Forty accessions were evaluated for the following eighteen traits: days to first female flower opening (DTFFA), node at first female flower appearance (NFFA), sex ratio (SR), vine length (VL), internodal length (INL), number of primary branches (NPB), number of fruits per vine (NFPV), average fruit weight (AFW), flesh thickness (FT), polar diameter (PD), equatorial diameter (ED), number of seeds per fruit (NSF), hundred-seed weight (HSW), yield per vine (YPV), carbohydrate content (CHO), crude fibre content (CRUDE), protein content (PRO) and total soluble solids (TSS). The correlation analysis indicated that NFFA, VL, INL, NFPV, AFW were positively and significantly correlated with YPV at genotypic as well as phenotypic levels respectively. Path coefficient analysis indicated that VL, INL, AFW, NSPF, HSW, NFPV and CHO exhibited positive direct effect on FYPV. Positive indirect effect was observed by VL, INL, DFFA, NFFA, SR, AFW, PD and ED, NSF, HSW, NFPV, CHO and TSS expressed positive and indirect effect on yield via their respective component traits where as NPB, FT, CRUDE and PRO recorded negative indirect effects via their component traits. Selection among genotypes based on these analyses can be made for further improvement in fruit yield and component characters.

The study revealed highest tree height, tree volume, stock girth, and scion girth and in Sweta variety; while lowest stock girth, scion girth and tree volume was in Kohir Safeda. Sweta was first to flower, while the duration of flowering was longer in Allahabad Safeda, followed by Lalit and shortest in Arka Amulya. Sweta was superior to all other varieties in terms of yield attributes as it registered highest fruit yield and fruit set. Among the various physical characters studied, fruit weight (137.33 gm) and fruit volume (153.33 ml) was highest in Philipines variety, on the other hand, specific gravity was highest in Hisar Safeda. In Arka Amulya variety highest number of seeds/fruit (306.33) was obtained, and lowest seed number was observed in Sweta. In terms of tree vigorous, flowering, yield with less number of seeds. The Sweta variety was well performed under West Bengal condition.

Rice is one of the most important world food crops, serving as the staple food for over one-third of the world’s population. Three line method or CMS system, which is possible and has been found to be most effective genetic tool for developing hybrids. Another efficient method is identification of a pollen sterility system that is dependent on temperature known as the thermo-sensitive genic male sterility called two line system. The TGMS system have three main advantages over the three line methods; no need of restorer line, no need of maintainer line and does not have any negative effect of cytoplasm. TGMS lines become sterile when the environmental temperature is higher than 25–30°C, during the panicle initiation and anthesis stages, and it convert fertile condition, when the temperature goes down below the 25–30°C. Two line method of hybrid seed production is more economic and efficient than to three line method.

The present study was undertaken at Post Harvest Laboratory, Dr. Y.S.R Horticultural University, Hyderabad during 2014 and 2015 to envisage the effect of different chemicals and growth regulators in post harvest life of banana cv. Grand Naine where fruits were subjected to ten treatments with different concentration of GA3, BA, CaCl2 and Control (without any treatment) and replicated thrice. Fruits are treated in different chemicals/growth regulator delayed colour, texture, pulp to peel ratio and total soluble solids (TSS) content as compared to openly kept control banana. But, fruits treated with GA3 150ppm (Dipping) recorded significantly lowest PLW (2.52 %) by maintaining significant amount of TSS (119.91o B), Brix-acid ratio (36.88%) and total sugars (16.50%), reducing sugar (7.72%) and non-reducing sugar (8.78%)in longest storage observation (on day 15) with a maximum shelf life up to 20.23 days compared to 9 days only for untreated fruits.