Azarian Journal of Agriculture
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Feb 2015

An experiment was conducted during the spring season of 2013 at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. The experiment was laid out in a strip plot design with three replications having 12 treatments, and consisted of two tillage treatments: no tillage (NT) and conventional (CT), two genotypes: Rampur Hybrid-2 and RML-32/RML-17, and three planting geometries: D1=75cm× 25cm, D2=70cm× 25cm and D3= 60cm×25cm between rows and between plants, respectively. Higher Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values of 0.747 were recorded in NT over the CT with 0.657. Rampur Hybrid-2 had the lowest value of NDVI with 0.747 and the highest value was found in RML-32/RML-17 with 0.757. Plant height in CT (167.88 cm) was higher than one (167.17 cm) in NT. Similarly, the highest plant height of 169.91cm was recorded in RML-32/RML-17 over 165.14 cm in Rampur Hybrid-2. The highest number of cobs (73,177 /ha) was recorded at G3. A higher number of 27.3 kernels per row in NT was recorded over the 25.8 in CT. RML-32/RML-17 produced the highest test weight of 363.94g over the Rampur Hybrid-2 with 362.17g. Significantly higher grain yield of 9.24t /ha was recorded in planting geometry of D3. The experiments need to be further tested with higher plant population densities in Nepalese hybrids.

Nowadays environmental pollution by pesticides application is a major concern for health. Efficiency of many herbicides can be increased by adding adjuvants to the spray solution. Therefore greenhouse study was conducted during 2014 to determine the efficacy of three adjuvants (Citogate, Castor oil and Canola oil) at concentrations of 0.1 and 0.2 (%v/v) with 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g a.i\ha of sulfosulfuron herbicide on littleseed canary grass. Results showed that the adjuvants enhanced the efficacy of sulfosulfuron in decreasing the dry weights of littleseed canary grass. Performance of herbicide was increased with enhancing its concentrations. Measured ED50 and ED90 concentrations of sulfosulfuron in control were 16.74 and 32.22 g a.i\ha, respectively. Whereas the values for Citogate 0.2 (%v\v), was 5.86 and 13.34 g a.i\ha, respectively. The addition of Citogate and Castor oil had the highest and lowest effect on sulfosulfuron efficacy against Littleseed canary grass. In conclusion, the study revealed that Citogate concentrations had powerful effects on herbicide efficacy followed by Canola oil.

A laboratory bioassay was conducted to investigate the allelopathic effects of Chrozophora tinctoria on germination and seedling growth of barley and wheat. Aqueous leave extracts of C. tinctoria at 5, 10, 15 and 20 % concentrations were prepared and distilled water was used as a control. Results showed that germination percentage of two species decreased with increasing the extract concentrations; however, wheat germination was relatively resistant to allelochemicals than barley. In contrast to germination behavior, seedling traits showed different responses. The extracts improved seedling dry weights, particularly barley, whereas seedling lengths were inhibited. Roots of both species were more affected than shoots by extracts. The extracts reduced seed reserve mobilization significantly (p≤0.05). It was concluded that the used extract had inhibitory effects on seed germination of the crops; however, at seedling stages the effects were severely reduced.

Cucumber damping off caused by Pythium aphanidermatum is the most important root and stem rot that limits greenhouse cultivations. In this study, relative susceptibility of grafting commercial cucumber cultivars including Alpha, Caspian 340, Storm 5910, Shalim 616, Delta scar, Janette 810, Festibal C5, Royal, Negyn, Soltan and Fadia on two Cucurbita rootstocks were evaluated against P. aphanidermatum . Disease severity, survival and seedling growth were used for the evaluation. The results showed significant differences between the studied cultivars (p≤0.01). Caspian 340 and Alpha with 15.7% and 100% disease severity had more and less tolerant to P. aphanidermatum, respectively. Cucurbita maxima rootstock was more resistant than Cucurbita pepo to P. aphanidermatum. C. pepo had less compatibility with the cucumber and showed little resistance to the pathogen. The study revealed that grafting Caspian340 on the resistant cucurbit rootstock i.e. Cucurbita maxima could be used as disease control strategies in greenhouses.

Wheat is the most important crop in the world that plays an important role in rural people’s income of Iran. With increasing world population and limitation in arable lands, increase in productivity is main programs to researchers. Therefore modern science and modified technology are the best approach to cover that issue. Active graduates in consulting institutes could be important for enhancing the productivity. For these reasons, 115 farmers and 30 consulting members were randomly selected in order to investigate the effectiveness of the cooperation. The findings indicated that the most important concerns to cooperation were insurance and clear contracts. Also from farmers viewpoints, respect to farmer’s experiences; equipment and updated softwares were effective in accepting new graduates cooperation. In conclusion, the cooperation increased wheat productivity in the survey compared to conventional systems.