The study was carried out to determine the bagging time and quality of mango fruits using various bagging materials in Chittagong hill tracts areas of Bangladesh from April to July 2018. Treatments were bagged with brown paper bag (T1), white paper bag (T2), transparent polyethylene bag. (T3) and control (T4). The results showed that among all treatments, the brown paper bag gave the best performance for all parameters after 35 days, while without the bagging it gave poorer results. To increase the fruit quality in terms of fruit color change (green-yellow and green-yellow), fruit length (8.81 cm and 14.30 cm), fruit diameter (6.39cm and 16.39cm), fruit weight (229.10g and 585.95g), TSS (22.33% and 21.85%) and marketable yield (20.41 t / ha and 23.52 t / ha) in BARI Aam 3 and BARI Aam 4. Finally, it can be concluded that the results of this experiment in terms on bagging time and bagging of fruits in mango are very effective in improving fruit quality. So, brown paper treatment is recommended for mango traders and growers as it is easy and cost-effective for small organic growers who want to sell high quality healthy fruit in the market, also as environmentally friendly technology. This has a positive impact on BARI Aam 3 and BARI Aam 4. However, researchers continue to study the bagging techniques using standard bagging time and bagging material.
Feed shortage is the major limiting factor in the tropics during the dry season, particularly in Ethiopia. This study was designed to assess indigenous fodder tree/shrub species and evaluate the nutritional quality, which can easily be found during the dry season. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to conduct the present study. Group discussion, key informant interviews, and questioners were tools used to collect primary and secondary data. Leaf samples of fodder tree/shrub species were collected, dried, ground, packed, and send to the laboratory for nutritive value analysis. In the wet season, the feed source is green grass whereas leaf biomass of trees/shrubs, crop residue/straw, and cuttings of Enset with other additive concentrate are used as an alternative feed source during the dry period. The present study result revealed that Milletia ferruginea, Vernonia amygdalina, Hygenia abysinica, Terminalia laxiflora, Ficus sure, and Musa species were most ranked and have good nutritional quality. These species are taken the concentration of farmers because of their availability during the dry season to sustain livestock production. Based on the result in the study area , livestock feed is a main factor in the dry season, at the same time there are enough feed sources with higher nutritional value but not similarly well known by all farm households. Therefore, indigenous fodder trees/shrubs are recommended as suitable sources of feed during the dry period, and integrating into different agroforestry practices and management options should be designed to provide sustainable feed for livestock production.
In many developing countries mining plant nutrients by crop removal without adequate replenishment combined with imbalance plant nutrition practices, poses a serious threat to agricultural production. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2017 to 2018) to observe the response of maize to different rates of NPSB fertilizer. The experiment comprises of five treatments: control (no fertilizer), 150 kg NPSB + 41 kg urea (46N, 54P2O5, 10S, 1.07B), 200kg NPSB + 72kg urea (69N, 72P2O5, 13.5S, 1.4B), 250kg NPSB 102 kg urea (92N, 90P2O5, 17S, 1.75B), and 100kg NPSB + 260kg urea (138N, 36P2O5, 6.7S, 0.71B) were tested using randomized complete block design with three replications. The initial soil physical and chemical analysis indicated that the study area is generally characterized as medium in soil fertility and moderately acidic. The analyzed soil data after harvesting showed that the application of blended fertilizer rates numerically increased the total nitrogen and available sulfur in the soil. However, some nutrients like available P, K, and B become decreased numerically in the soil after harvesting. The result showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between treatment. The application of different levels of NPSB fertilizer significantly influenced maize grain yield but there were no significant difference on plant height and biomass yield of maize. 65 to 117% grain yield improvements over control was obtained by application of different rates of NPSB. The highest grain yield of maize was recorded from 100kg NPSB + 260kg urea (138N, 36P2O5, 6.7S, 0.71B) application of the highest net benefit (ET Birr 24226.7) and MRR% (699.1) was also obtained by application of 100kg NPSB + 260kg urea (138N, 36P2O5, 6.7S, 0.71B). It is then recommended that to improve maize yield at Debub Ari and similar agro ecology and soil condition areas application of 100kg NPSB + 260kg urea ha-1 (138N, 36P2O5, 6.7S, 0.71B) is recommended.
Source-sink and translocation capacity of assimilate can plays an important role during the grain formation. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of source-sink manipulation on grain weight of rice using two rice varieties viz. BRRI dhan49 and Balam. Seven treatments were employed in the experiment and analyzed the data by randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Considering yield and yield contributing characters, BRRI dhan49 performed better than Balam. The grain weight of BRRI dhan49 was increased when the half spikelets were removed. Manipulation on grains number which had strong effects on grain yield might be the main reason causing the lower grain yield. However, the individual grain weight increased in the 25% and 50% spikelet removal in between two rice varieties. When 50% or full flag leaves were removed, the grain size and percentage of filled grain were drastically reduced, resulting the ultimate lower yield. Moreover, the results suggested that the grain yield of BRRI dhan49 and Balam were limited by the sink activity, more than source capacity.
Forage pea is a new crop for Nepali farming systems where searching for alternate winter forage legumes with better herbage and seed yield is one of the prioritized approaches to mitigate the severe nutrient deficit of the ruminants. In order to select the superior pea cultivar(s) for the promising and potential winter forage legume crop, the study was conducted for two consecutive years at three locations. The experiments were conducted at a location of middle hill (Lalitpur district) and at two locations of Terai (Banke and Sunsari districts). A total of five cultivars of pea (Banke local, Arkel, Journey, PRL88054-46 and PRL H3-2) were compared as the treatments for herbage and seed production. The experiments were executed in a Split-split plot design where pea cultivars were used in the Sub-sub-plots. The results of the study had revealed that the year effect, location effect and cultivar effect were significant. The cultivar Banke local at Banke district, Banke local, Journey and PRL H3-2 at Sunsari district and Banke local, PRL 88054-46 and PRL H3-2 at Lalitpur district had shown better herbage dry matter (DM) yield. Likewise, the Banke local had shown better seed yield at middle hill ecology whereas Banke local, Arkel and Journey were better for Terai ecology. The cultivar Banke local had produced better herbage as well as seed yield in middle hill and Terai ecologies.
Depleting of soil fertility, inappropriate and imbalanced fertilizer application including different blended fertilizers are among the most important factors that reduce the productivity of onion. Therefore, the study was conducted to evaluate the blended fertilizer type effect on improving the productivity of onion in Bena Tsemay District, Southwestern Ethiopia. The study was conducted in the 2018 and 2019 cropping season and laid out in RCBD following three replications with spacing of 10cm and 20cm between plants and rows respectively. Control, (38N + 46P2O5) kg ha-1, (182NPS+125Urea) kg ha-1, (191NPSB+125Urea) kg ha-1 and (204NPSZnB+125Urea) kg ha-1 treatments were used for the experiment. The full dose of blended and P fertilizers was applied at planting time and urea was applied in two splits. The result was revealed that application of 191 kg ha-1 NPS+125 kg ha-1 Urea resulted in the highest total (30590.28 kg ha-1) and marketable (28079 kg ha-1) bulb yield, while the lowest total (18043.98 kg ha-1) and marketable (15278 kg ha-1) bulb yield were recorded from the nil. Moreover, the highest net benefits of 425585.8 ETB ha-1 and economic returns of 1119.76% were obtained in response to the application of 191 kg ha-1NPSB+125 kg ha-1 Urea. Application of 191 kg ha-1NPSB + 125 kg ha-1 Urea gives 45.59% yield increment and 43.46% increment in economic return over the control. Therefore, the application of 191 kg ha-1 NPSB+125 kg ha-1Urea was recommended for the study area and similar agro-ecologies. Further investigation should be done on plant nutrient uptake and nutrient use efficiency and bulb chemical composition.
Ten malt barley genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications under farmers’ participatory selection scheme at four locations in western Shoa, Central Ethiopia during 2019 main cropping season. The objectives of this experiment were to select superior malt barley varieties in the study area and to identify farmers’ preference and selection criteria. Farmers’ set; number of kernels per spike, tillers per plant and plumpness as selection criteria at maturity stage of the crop. The results of the combined analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among genotypes for all traits tested at 1% probability level. The GXE interaction also showed highly significant differences for all characters at 1% probability level, except grain yield which was significant at 5% probability level. The highest mean grain yield was obtained from the genotype HB-1963 (3528 Kg ha-1) whereas the lowest from the variety Sabini (2057 Kg ha-1). Farmers’ evaluation of direct matrix ranking showed HB-1963 (score 40) and IBON-174/03 (score 32) were the most preferred genotypes and Traveller (score 16) the least one. Therefore, the genotypes HB-1963 and IBON-174/03 were chosen for their performance in the experimental field and also acceptable from farmers' participatory evaluation. Thus, based on the results of this study and previous information from the evaluation of the varieties, the selected varieties need to be popularized, multiplied and distributed to farmers.
