International Journal of Horticulture and Floriculture

International Journal of Horticulture and Floriculture Vol. 1 (1), pp. 001-005, October, 2013. International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Studies on genetic diversity in Snake Gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.)

N. Deepa Devi^* and S. Mariappan

Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai- 625104, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 15 October, 2013

Abstract

Genetic diversity among 50 genotypes was worked out using Mahalanobis D² statistic. Based on D analysis, the genotypes were grouped into four different clusters, where the cluster I possessed higher number (32) of genotypes followed by the cluster II (2), III (15) and IV (1). Clustering pattern revealed that geographical diversity was not associated with genetic diversity that is, genotypes collected from same location were grouped into different clusters. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between the clusters III and cluster IV and that of minimum in between the Clusters I and Cluster II. In case of intra-cluster distance, the maximum distance was observed in the cluster III and that of minimum was observed in the cluster IV. Among the nine traits studied, maximum contribution was made by average fruit weight (31.84%) followed by days to first male flower appearance (25.96%), yield per hectare (23.59%) and fruit length (17.31%). Considering cluster mean, the genotypes of cluster I and cluster III could be selected for yield and yield attributing characters. The wider genetic diversity was observed in cluster II, III and IV which indicate the potentiality of this diverse genotype collection for providing basic material for future breeding programmes.

Key words: Snake gourd, Trichosanthes anguina L., genetic diversity, cluster, D² analysis.

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International Journal of Horticulture and Floriculture Vol. 1 (3), pp. 023-032, December, 2013. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effect of different levels of N and P on ratoon banana (Musa spp. AAA)

K. S. Navaneethakrishnan¹, M. I. S. Gill¹ and S. Ramesh Kumar²*

¹Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab, India.

²Department of Horticulture, Vanavarayar Institute of Agriculture, Manakkadavu, Pollachi-642 103, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 3 September, 2013

Abstract

In India, banana is the important and highly remunerative fruit crop grown in tropical and subtropical region. It represents the second most important fruit crop after mango in India. Banana is grown throughout Asian countries but it is commercially cultivated on a large scale in the Indo-china region. A field experiment was carried out in the College Orchard, College of Agriculture, Punjab Agricultural University, during 2009. The objective of the study was to determine the proper rate of N and P fertilizers that would maximize the potential yield of commercially-grown banana Grand naine. Different levels of chemical fertilizers were applied, viz., N (150, 200, 250 and 300 g/tree), P (60 and 90 g/tree) in addition to non-fertilized control (no N and P applied) treatment. The results indicated that vegetative growth parameters (that is, pseudostem height, pseudostem girth, number of leaves, leaf area index) of fertilized plants neither were significantly different nor produced better vegetative growth when compared to non-fertilized control plants. The fertilizer treatment T5 consisting of N (200 g N in 5 split doses and 60 g P₂O ₅) numerically influenced the yield and fruit characteristics like bunch weight, number of hands per bunch, hand weight and number of fingers per hand of ‘Grand naine’ banana as compared to other treatments. Hence, this fertilizer dose of N and P was recommended for cultivation of ‘Grand naine’ banana in northern region (Punjab) of India.

Key words: Fruit yield, bunch weight, banana, nitrogen and phosphorus.

International Journal of Horticulture and Floriculture Vol. 1 (3), pp. 021-022, December, 2013. © International Scholars Journals

Short Communication

Impact of bio-inoculants on seed germination and plant growth of guava (Psidium guajava)

D. V. Pathak*, Surender Singh and R. S. Saini

Chaudhary Charan Singh Harayana Agricultura University (CCSHAU) Regional Research Station, Bawal (Haryana), India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 21 October, 2013

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the impact of bio-inoculants on seed germination and plant growth of guava at CCSHAU Regional Research Station, Bawal, during the period 2007 to 2008. The bio-inoculants tested were Azotobacter chroococcum, phosphate solubulising bacteria (PSB), plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) and mycorrhiza. Their impact on seed germination, plant height and other plant growth parameters was studied in presence of farmyard manure (FYM) as well as vermicompost. During the 2007 period, maximum percent seed germination (34.2) was observed in the treatment having FYM + PGPR or FYM + A. chroococcum at 40 days (DAS); followed by PGPR (29.2) and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) (25.8) treatments. While during the 2008 period, highest seed germination (51.1%) was observed in the treatment having FYM + PGPR or FYM + A. chroococcum at 40 DAS; followed by the treatments having FYM + PGPR + PSB + A. chroococcum or vermicompost + PSB + A. chroococcum (48.9%). Number of leaves per plant observed at 150 DAS were maximum in the treatment having FYM + VAM (18.8). Plant height at 150 DAS was maximum in FYM treatment having all the three bio-inoculants (31.5 cm). However, these values were quite comparable to each other in FYM as well as in vermicompost filled plastic bags.

Key words: Bio-inoculants, seed germination, guava (Psidium guajava), phosphate solubulising bacteria (PSB), plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR), vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM), Azotobacter chroococcum.