Contents of 36(1)

The Journal of Research ANGRAUThe Journal of Research ANGRAUThe Journal of Research ANGRAUThe Journal of Research ANGRAUThe Journal of Research ANGRAU(Published quarterly in March, June, September and December)

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Dr. Azeezuddin MehmoodDr. Azeezuddin MehmoodDr. Azeezuddin MehmoodDr. Azeezuddin MehmoodDr. Azeezuddin MehmoodAssociate ProfessorDepartment of EnglishCollege of Agriculture - RajendranagarHyderabad

Dr. A. Sharada DeviDr. A. Sharada DeviDr. A. Sharada DeviDr. A. Sharada DeviDr. A. Sharada DeviProfessor & University HeadDept. of Apparel & Textiles,College of Home ScienceHyderabad - 30

Evaluation of Design Characteristics to Install Subsurface Drainage 1System at Kalipatnam Pilot Area of Godavari Western DeltaP. SREEDEVI, R. GANESH BABU, and CH.SREENIVASDevelopment of Leaching Curves for Soils of Drainage Pilot area, 6Kalipatnam, West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh : Field StudyCH. SREENIVAS, M. RATNAM, CH. KONDA REDDY and P. SREEDEVIBio-efficacy of certain Insecticides against Thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis 11Hood) and Mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks) Infesting Chillies(Capsicum annuum L.)P. B. MAHALINGAPPA, K. DHARMA REDDY, K. NARASIMHA REDDY and G.V. SUBBARATNAMCharacter Association and Path Analysis in Twenty One F3 Progenies 16of Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek)*M. SHANTI PRIYA and K.H.P.REDDYCombining Ability Studies for Grain Quality Traits in Tropical japonica/indica 21Hybrids of Rice (Oryza sativa.L)*

D.SHIVANI, B.C. VIRAKTAMATH and S. SUDHEER KUMARGenetic Analysis of Number of Sympodia in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)* 24S. LAXMANEffect of Pinching at Different Days After Planting on Flowering behaviour 30in Three Cultivars of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus Linn)*K. UMA MAHESWARA RAO, R. CHANDRA SEKHAR,J. DILIP BABU and M. RAJ KUMARFertility Status of Soils in Vizianagaram District 36P. JAMUNA, Y. NOOKA RAJU and K. RAMALINGA SWAMY

PART – IIRESEARCH NOTES

Learning and Teaching Styles of Students and Faculty of Home Science 42in Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University*V. SELVIYA and CH. VENU GOPAL REDDY

CONTENTSPART I : PLANT SCIENCES

Page No.

Profile of Faculty of Home Science in Acharya N.G. 46Ranga Agricultural University*V. SELVIYA and CH. VENU GOPAL REDDYRole of Morpho-physiological and Biochemical Characters of Sorghum 49Genotypes on the incidence of Aphid (Melanphis sacchari, (Zehntner)(Homoptera:Aphididae)IBRAHIM FITIWY, T V K SINGH and J SATYANARAYANAEffect of Chemicals and Plant Growth Substances on Breaking of 54Seed Dormancy in Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina (Linn.) Benth. Ex Kurz)*P. PONKUMAR, M. PADMA, M. RAJ KUMAR and T.Y. MADULETYAbstracts

5

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 1 - 5, 2008

The introduction of irrigation in India has resulted in rise in water table and consequentdegradation of soils through waterlogging and salinity. In Andhra Pradesh, water logged andsalt affected soils are estimated to be 0.344 and 0.81 M ha respectively. The soils of Godavariwestern delta nearer to Sea are experiencing a problem of salinity and waterlogging due tothe intrusion of water. The technology of subsurface drainage is most appropriate undersaline and waterlogged conditions to leach out the excess and harmful salts from crop rootzone and provide a better environment for the plants to grow.

To address the problem of salinity and water logging, the tail end of the Godavari WesternDelta nearer to Bay of Bengal was selected as pilot area to conduct operational research fordrainage investigations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study area Kalipatnam village of West Godavari District is located at 160 231Nlatitude and 810321 E longitude with an altitude of 0.3 MSL at a distance of 15 km from Bayof Bengal. The pilot area is spread over 18 ha and almost flat with a gentle slope. It is boundby irrigation canal in the North and West and drain in the East. Adjacent to pilot area, thereis salt stream called Upputeru through which the excess rainwater, drain water, industrialwaste and agricultural waste from upstream merges into the Sea. Hence, there is a problemof Sea water intrusion into pilot area from the Sea through Upputeru during high tide period.

The mean annual, summer and winter temperatures are 26.90, 30.1 and 23.8 0Crespectively and the mean annual rainfall is 853 mm. The soils of the pilot area are salinesodic with EC 4.03 to 16 dS m -1. The pH is 6.86 and ESP is 15 to 60 %. The main crop at

EVALUATION OF DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS TO INSTALLSUBSURFACE DRAINAGE SYSTEM AT KALIPATNAM PILOT AREA

OF GODAVARI WESTERN DELTA

P. SREEDEVI, R. GANESH BABU, and CH.SREENIVASA.P. Water Management Project, Network Centre, Undi.

Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural UniversityRajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACT

The soils of Kalipatnam pilot area of Godavari Western Delta of Andhra Pradesh are highly saline innature. These soils can be reclaimed by installation of subsurface drainage system, as the water table is highthroughout the year. The installation of subsurface drainage mainly depends on design characteristics likedesign discharge, drain spacing, drain depth, diameter of laterals and collector. Hence, the present study wascarried out at Kalipatnam pilot area (18 ha) of Godavari Western delta under operational pilot project toevaluate these parameters. Based on this study a parallel single grid type composite pumped subsurfacedrainage system was designed with lateral spacing of 50 m. The drainage coefficient for leaching requirementwas estimated to be 1 mm day -1

6

the pilot area is paddy followed by paddy with a fallow period of two months. The pilot areareceives irrigation water from Kalipatnam main channel of Godavari Western Delta with anaverage EC of 0.4 dS m -1. Flooding method of irrigation is adopted and water is allowed toflow from field to field. The water from the fields is drained to Upputeru through a separatedrain called Magaleru drain. The ground water quality is poor with EC 4.8 to 43 dS m -1..Thewater table of pilot area is at the surface during crop period and decline up to 0.9 m duringsummer. Hence waterlogging conditions exist in the pilot area.

For the design of subsurface drainage system, it is essential to estimate draindischarge i.e the amount of leaching water required to reduce the soil salinity to a desiredlevel. Hence drain discharge is calculated based on salt water balance equation.

The leaching requirement of the soils of pilot area was calculated using the formula(Ritzema, 1994)

Where,

L.R. = Leaching requirement, mm

E = Evapotranspiration, mm

P = Effective Precipitation, mm

f = Leaching efficiency coefficient

Eci = mean salinity of irrigation water, dS m -1

Ece = desired salinity of soil saturation water, dS m -1

Assuming the flow of groundwater to the drains under steady state, Hooghout’s equationwas used to design the lateral drain spacing (Ritzema, 1994).

Where,

R = Recharge rate per unit surface area , m day-1

q= Drain discharge rate per unit surface area , m day-1

k= Hydraulic conductivity , m day-1

Ecif(2Ece-Eci)

L.R = (E-P)

SREEDEVI et. al.

8kdeh + 4kh2

L2R = q =

7

h= Water table height above drains at midpoint between drain, m

de= Equivalent depth of drains corresponding to L,D and diameter of the pipe drain

D= Height of the water level in drains above the impervious layer ,m

L= Drain spacing, m

The goal of drainage system layout and design is to provide adequate and uniform drainageof a field. A detailed survey of the pilot area was carried out on 1: 10,000 scale with a gridsize of 50x50 m and land elevations were taken. Contour map was prepared for the pilot areawith a contour interval of 0.01 m.

The required diameter of field drains was calculated using manning formula

Q= Cx38xS0.5xd2.67

Where

Q=discharge capacity in m3s-1

S= Field drain slope in mm-1

d=Field drain pipe diameter in m

C= Safety Coefficient due to sedimentation.

The required diameter of collector was calculated using the formula

Q= Cx22xS0.5xd2.67

Where

C= Safety coefficient due to sedimentation

S= Collector slope, mm-1

d= collector diameter in m

Q= Discharge capacity in m3s-1

Based on topography of pilot area, groundwater situations, hydraulic conductivityand infiltration characteristics of the soil etc, suitable layout of the subsurface drainagesystem was designed. As the pilot area is facing problem of Seawater intrusion from Upputeru,a permanent staff gauge was installed at Upputeru to record tidal fluctuations during the yearto evaluate whether a pumped drainage system can be installed or gravity drainage can bepossible.

EVALUATION OF DRAINAGE SYSTEM AT GODAVARI WESTERN DELTA

8

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Drain discharge

The leaching requirement of water was 141 mm per annum for the existing annualevaporation of 1382 mm, annual effective rainfall of 853 mm and the average salinity ofirrigation water from canals as 0.4 dS m-1. Assuming that the leaching takes place in 150days during two crop periods, the drainage discharge per day was calculated as 1 mmday-1.Hence a design discharge of 1 mmday-1 has to be planned for installation of subsurfacedrainage system.

Lateral spacing

The water table height above the drains at midway of the drains was taken as 0.35 m.Taking Hydraulic conductivity, equivalent depth and drainage coefficient as 0.33 m day-1, 2.60m and 1 mm day -1 respectively, lateral spacing was calculated as 50.8 m. The nearest valueof 50 m was adopted for design.

Topography and System Lay out

The topography of the pilot area is even and flat with 0.01% slope towards SouthEast corner (Fig. 1). The pilot area is flat and due to tidal influence of Upputeru, gravity flowis not an option. Therefore pumped outlet was designed. Based on topography of the pilotarea and pre drainage investigations, parallel grid drainage system of composite type withpumped outlet was designed. The layout is designed with a collector in the middle of the pilotarea and total of 14 laterals on either side (Fig. 2). At the end of Collector, a sump isproposed to collect the drain water from which water is pumped into Upputeru.

Design of Laterals and Collector pipe

Size of lateral and collector pipe required to carry the design flow rate are based ona design discharge and slope. As the available slope in the area is very limited, design slopeof 0.0003 mm-1 was taken for collector and slope of 0.001 mm-1 for lateral drains. Takingdischarge rate as 1 mm day -1, C =0.6 and drainable area as 1.25 ha, the diameter of the fielddrain was calculated to be 80 mm. Based on drain flow for every field drain, the total drainablearea to the collector was determined as 18 ha and the diameter of collector pipe was calculatedas 160mm.

Tidal fluctuations in Upputeru stream

The pilot area is prone to tidal influence of Upputeru stream merging into the Bay ofBengal at a distance of 15 km from pilot area. Hence a staff gauge was installed. It wasobserved that tidal range varied from 0 to 0.9 m above MSL. Water levels in the Upputeru(salt steram) were measured four times daily (Fig.3). It was observed that the lowest water

SREEDEVI et. al.

9

level in Upputeru was above the minimum land elevation through out the year except duringrabi season. Hence gravity drainage is impossible and pumped drainage system isrecommended for the pilot area. The water electrical conductivity of Upputeru stream nearby pilot area was very high (44.2 dS/m) during the summer and low (0.36 dS/m) during themonsoon season.

Drain depth

As the elevation of the pilot area is low compared to the tidal range i.e betweenmean and high tide, the drain depth should be as shallow as possible to avoid increase in theseepage of saline water from the Upputeru. Hence a drain depth of 0.8 m was proposed forinstallation of subsurface drainage system.

Based on the study, the design characteristics were evaluated with drain dischargeof 1 mm day -1 and lateral spacing of 50 m with drain depth at 0.8 m. The diameter of lateraland collector was estimated as 80 mm and 160 mm. A composite subsurface drainagesystem with pumped outlet was proposed to install at Kalipatnam pilot area to reduce salinityand there by to increase crop yields.

REFERENCESRITZEMA H P 1994. Drainage principles and applications. ILRI Publication No. 16 (Second

Edition). ILRI, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp : 263-283 and 457-460.

EVALUATION OF DRAINAGE SYSTEM AT GODAVARI WESTERN DELTA

10

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 6 - 10, 2008

The principle of desalinization is downward washing of salts at least from the uppersoil layers by means of flooding and irrigation. The saline percolated water must be removedby means of a sub-surface drainage system under conditions of high water table and insufficientnatural drainage. The tolerance of rice to salinity is 12 dS m-1 and yet 50% reduction in grainyield was recorded at 7.2 dS m-1 by Ayres and Westcot (1976). The amount of irrigationwater required to drain the salts depends on the initial salt content of the soil, desired level ofsoil salinity after leaching, soil depth to which reclamation is desired and soil characteristics.A useful thumb rule is, a unit depth of water will remove 80 per cent of the salts from a unitsoil depth. Prediction models though used to estimate the water requirement for one timeleaching are useful to a limited extent only. However, for more reliable estimates, it is desirableto conduct salt leaching tests on a limited area and prepare leaching curves before installationof drainage system. Leaching curves relate the ratio of actual salt content to initial saltcontent in the soil (ECo/ECi) to the depth of leaching water per unit depth of soil. Hence, anattempt was made to estimate the leaching requirement by different methods and to developleaching curves for soils of Kalipatnam drainage pilot area.


Kalipatnam operational pilot area is located in the Mogaltur mandal of West GodavariDistrict of Andhra Pradesh at 160 15’ Northern latitude and 800 55 ‘Eastern longitude coveringan area of 18 ha. Two locations were selected for the estimation of leaching requirement

E-mail: [email protected]

DEVELOPMENT OF LEACHING CURVES FOR SOILS OF DRAINAGEPILOT AREA, KALIPATNAM, WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT OF

ANDHRA PRADESH : FIELD STUDY

CH. SREENIVAS, M. RATNAM, CH. KONDA REDDY and P. SREEDEVIA.P.Water Management Project, Net work Centre, Undi-534 199

Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural UniversityRajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACT

Leaching curves were developed and water requirement for leaching of saline soils of Kalipatnamdrainage pilot area were estimated under field conditions. The addition of 30 cm water at two different salinitylevels of soil ECe of 14.1 and 32.6 dS m-1 leached 36 and 51 % of salts respectively. Dieleman’s and Reeve’sleaching curves were prepared and compared. This study also provided a useful tool in the form of a leachingcurve to know the desalinization pattern of these soils. Continuous ponding and pumping of drained water withlower discharge of 1 mm day-1 is recommended for soil reclamation programme and design of subsurfacedrainage system.

11

under field condition. In first location, the soil had an initial ECe of 14.1 dS m-1 and in secondlocation it had ECe of 32.6 dS m-1.

The leaching study procedure involved the following. A main plot of 5 x 2 m wastaken to carry out the experiment (Figure 2) in summer, 2005. Sub plots of size 30 x 30 cmwere taken. Sub plots were demarcated with nylon rope. In the main plot, 5 cm of water wasapplied uniformly. After leaching of water duplicate soil samples from 0 to 15 cm werecollected from each sub plot from two replications. After that another 5 cm of water wasapplied to the entire main plot and after leaching of water, soil sample from 10 cm demarcatedsub plot was collected. The procedure was continued up to 30 cm depth to add graded

Table 1 Physico - chemical characteristics of soils of Kalipatnam pilot area

S.No Parameter Range1. pH 6.1 - 8.332. ECe (dSm - 1) 5.9 - 44.83. Mg/Ca 0.14 - 4.04. SAR 17.2 - 89.25. ESP (SAR) 19.0 - 56.6

Table 2 Saturated soil extract salinity (dS m-1) for incremental application of irrigationwater

Depth of water ECe dS m-1

applied (cm) Location1 Location20 14.1 32.65 11.6 26.610 10.7 23.915 10.0 22.620 9.35 20.425 9.25 19.630 9.1 16.0

levels of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 cm water to the main plot. Bund of 15 cm was formedaround the main plot to curtail seepage losses.

Soil samples were processed and analysed for EC (dS m-1) in soil saturated extract(Richards,1968). Leaching curves were developed by plotting the amount of salts retained

DEVELOPMENT OF LEACHING CURVES FOR SOILS

12

2 m

30 cm 25 cm

20 cm 15 cm

5 cm 10 cm

5 m

to the amount of water applied (Fig. 3) as studied by Dieleman (1963), which takes intoconsideration the amount of water applied and not the depth of soil. Plots were also developed(Fig. 4) for the relationship between the fraction of salts retained and the depth of water perunit depth of soil (Dw/Ds) as given by Reeve (1957). This method considers both the amountof water applied and depth of soil to be leached.


Soil saturated extract salinity levels for each incremental addition of 5 cm depth ofwater in the top 15 cm soil depth are presented in table 2. Increase in the depth of waterdecreased the salinity progressively.

The electrical conductivity of the soil reduced by 36% of the initial 14.1 dS m-1 bythe addition of 30 cm depth of water at location I. It reduced by 51% of the initial ECe of 32.6at location II. This low fraction of salts leached can be attributed to higher water table (Fig.1). During the summer fallow period, capillary rise of saline ground water or sea water intrusionthrough salt stream (Upputeru) is a common phenomenon. Hence, proper leaching with copiouswater for flushing of salts from the soil is recommended in the leaching programme.

Both leaching curves developed by two methods as outlined by Dieleman (1963)and Reeve (1957) indicate similar leaching pattern of the soil. Dieleman’s leaching curve

(Fig. 3) relatively gives a better picture of leaching pattern under field condition and dependsmainly on evaporation, drainage conditions and salinity of irrigation water. This graph doesnot give information about the depth of soil under study, which is an important parameter fordevelopment of leaching schedule. Reeve’s leaching curve (Fig. 4) is based on the empiricalhyperbolic relationship as follows :

Dlw/DS = (ECi/5ECf)+ 0.15

SREENIVAS et al.

13

in which Dlw is the depth of leaching water (cm, or m), DS is the depth of soil (cm, m), ECiis the soil salinity (ECe, dS m-1 or salt %) before leaching and ECf is the soil salinity (ECe,dS m-1 or salt %) after leaching.

In the present study, both leaching curves gave similar pattern of desalinization.Hence both leaching curves are equally useful to know the desalinization pattern of thesesoils. In these situations, development of leaching curves to apply the irrigation water toreduce the soil salinity and pumping of sub surface drain water through sub surface drainagesystem to maintain water table at lower depth are recommended. For sub surface drainagesystem installation of lower design discharge of 1 mm day-1 was recommended. Empiricalequations are not much useful for these conditions for explaining the plateau after 50% saltreduction in both locations.

The quantity of salts removed per unit quantity of water leached can be increasedappreciably by leaching the soil at low moisture conditions i.e. under unsaturated conditions.The use of leaching curves will enable us to arrange the steps for accurate planning inrelation to water requirement as well as the time needed for completion of reclamationprocedure. Leaching curve is only valid for the soil and salt conditions under which therelationship was established. Hence, it is necessary to determine the leaching curvesapplicable to the specific conditions of each reclamation project.

DEVELOPMENT OF LEACHING CURVES FOR SOILS

Figure 1 Depth to water level (cm) in pilot area

14

REFERENCESAYRES R S and D W WESTCOT 1976. Water Quality for Agriculture. Irrigation and DrainagePaper No.29 Food and Agricultural organization of the United Nations, Rome.

DIELEMAN P J 1963. Reclamation of salt affected soils in Iraq. I.L.R.I., No.11, Wageningen,The Netherlands.

RICHARDS L A 1968. Agricultural Hand book. United States Department of Agriculture 60,Indian Reprint, Oxford and IBH Publishing co., New Delhi.

REEVE R C 1957. The relation of salinity to irrigation and drainage requirement. 3rd Cong.on Irrigation and Drainage. Tra.5 :175-187.

SREENIVAS et al.

Figure 2 Relationship between the percent of salts retained and depth of water applied

Figure 3 Relationship between percent of salts retained and depth of water applied for unit depthof soil (Dw/Ds)

15

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 11 - 15, 2008

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the leading spice and commercial crop. Indiacontributes about one-fourth of world’s production of chillies. Andhra Pradesh alone accountsfor 45 to 50 per cent production of chillies and meet 1/3 demand of the country need. The useof chilli world wide as a major spice is on account of its pungency, pleasant flavour and alsoto offer colour to various food items. It is a rich source of vitamin A, C and E. Oleoresin isused in pain balm, vapours, lineaments etc., (Pruthi, 1979).

Thrips and mites cause severe damage and reduce the yield of chillies to the extentof 34 per cent (Ahmed et al., 1987). But, Patel and Gupta (1998) reported 60 to 74 per centloss in yield of green chillies due to thrips infestation. Hence there is a need to selecteffective and economic insecticide for successful chemical control programme. Keepingthis in view this study was contemplated to test the bio efficacy of insecticides againstthrips and mite infesting chillies.


The present investigations were under taken to study the field bio efficacy of sixinsecticides against thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) and yellow mite (Polyphagotarsonemuslatus Banks) infesting Chillies, during kharif 2004-05 at the Students Farm, College ofAgriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. The experiment was laid out in a randomized blockdesign with seven treatments (including control) and three replications. The variety Bhaskarwas planted on 04.08.2004 with a spacing of 60X45 cm in plot size of 25 m². Fertilizer dosesand other package of practices were followed as per recommendations.

Mail ID: [email protected]

BIO-EFFICACY OF CERTAIN INSECTICIDES AGAINST THRIPS(Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) and MITE (Polyphagotarsonemus latus

Banks) INFESTING CHILLIES (Capsicum annuum L.)P. B. MAHALINGAPPA, K. DHARMA REDDY, K. NARASIMHA REDDY and

G.V. SUBBARATNAMDepartment of Entomology,

Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-30

ABSTRACTBio-efficacy of certain insecticides were studied against chilli thrips and mite at Students Farm,

College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. The results indicated that fipronil 0.01 and triazophos 0.08per cent were most effective against thrips in chillies, which were followed by profenofos 0.10, ethion 0.10 andcypermethrin 0.0012 per cent. Chlorpyriphos 0.0012 per cent was least effective against thrips. Profenofos0.10 per cent was most effective against mite. The next best treatments were triazophos 0.08 and ethion 0.1per cent. Cypermethrin 0.0012 was least effective against mite.

16

The test insecticides were diluted to the required strength (Table 1) with the additionof water and applied as foliar sprays with a hand compression sprayer. Care was taken toprevent drift of chemical on to adjacent plots. The first spray was given at 45 days aftertransplanting and thereafter repeated at fifteen days interval and total of four sprays weregiven.

The population of thrips and mite were recorded from top, middle and bottom leaf ofthe five randomly selected plants per plot and mean number per plant was calculated. Pre-treatment counts were taken one day prior to spraying and post treatment counts were takenat one, three, five and ten days after each spraying. The per cent reduction of pest populationin different treatments over control was calculated by modified Abbott’s formula (Flemingand Retnakaran, 1985). The overall effect of the treatment by combining four observationswas assessed by analyzing the data through ANOVA.


Bio efficacy of insecticides on thrips

The data in Table 1 indicated that the spray of fipronil 0.01% or triazophos 0.08%was most effective in reducing the population of thrips in chillies. The per cent reduction ofthrips was maximum due to these insecticides consistently at 1, 3, 5 and 10 days afterspraying. The overall efficacy showed that the thrips population was reduced by 71.06% dueto fipronil and 67.38% due to triazophos. This effect was significantly superior compared tothe other insecticides. The bio efficacy of fipronyl in reducing the thrips on chillies was alsoreported by Imura and Nishi Kawa (2004) and Joubert et al.(2004) and that of triazophos byPanichakra and Patel (2001) and Rajasri et al. (1991). The spray of chlorpyriphos 0.05% wasineffective. It reduced the thrips population by an average of only 14.48%.

Bioefficacy of insecticides on mite

Profenofos 0.10% was the best insecticide against the population build up of miteon chillies (Table 2). Maximum reduction of mite population to the extent of 84.76, 76.89,69.20 and 48.38% was recorded at 1, 3, 5 and 10 days after spraying. The overall efficacywas 69.80%. Chakroborthi (2004) and also reported that this insecticide is highly effectiveagainst the mite. The per cent reduction of mite population on chillies was also on par byspraying the crop with triazophos 0.08%. The overall bio-efficacy was 64.22%. The potentialof triazophos to check the population build up of mite was also ascertained in earlierinvestigations of Rangel et al. (1990), Rajasri et al. (1991) Venkatesh et al. (1998) andScarpellins (1999). Ethion 0.10% was the next best option. It reduced the population ofinsect by a mean of 62.36%. This was on par with the bio efficacy of triazophos 0.08%.

MAHALINGAPPA et. al

17

Mallapur et al. (2001) and Misra (2003) also observed that Ethion had a high bio efficacyagainst mite on chillies.

The observations in this investigation indicated that the spray of triazophos 0.08%could be considered to reduce the population of the two prominent pests-thrips and mite thanthe selection of fipronel 0.01% only for thrips and profenofos 0.10% for mite on chillies.

Table 1 Bio-efficacy of insecticides against thrips on chillies

Treatment Concentration Reduction in thrips population (%)*(%)

1 DAS 3 DAS 5 DAS 10 DAS Overallefficacy

Fipronil 0.01 78.15 76.75 70.54 58.79 71.06(62.47) (61.24) (57.25) (50.08) (57.45)

Profenofos 0.10 67.51 56.76 50.56 34.77 52.40(55.34) (48.92) (45.32) (36.11) (46.38)

Triazophos 0.08 87.79 69.85 60.79 51.10 67.38(70.88) (56.85) (51.28) (45.63) (55.26)

Chlorpyriphos 0.05 31.70 17.65 5.43 3.14 14.48(34.18) (24.68) (13.46) (10.21) (22.36)

Ethion 0.10 47.65 44.92 42.06 26.63 40.32(43.64) (42.06) (40.41) (31.03) (39.39)

Cypermethrin 0.0012 52.14 35.11 20.60 10.10 29.49(46.24) (36.33) (26.95) (18.42) (32.85)

SE + ….. 4.49 3.39 3.19 1.84 2.55CD (5%) ….. 9.80 7.40 6.96 4.02 5.57

* Per cent reduction over controlDAS= Days after sprayingFigures in parentheses are Arc sin values

BIO-EFFICACY OF CERTAIN INSECTICIDES AGAINST THRIPS

18

REFERENCESAHMED, K, MOHAMMED, M G and MURTHY, N S R 1987. Yield losses due to various

pests in hot pepper. Capsicum Newsletter: 83-84.

Chakraborti S 2004. Sustainable management of apical leaf curling in chilli. Journal ofApplied Zoological Researchers 15 (1): 34-36.

FLEMING, R and RETNAKARAN, A 1985. Evaluating single treatment data using Abbott’sFormula with reference to insecticides. Journal of Economic Entomology 78 (5):1179-1186.

IMURA, T and NISHIKAWA, M 2004. Control of white swelling spot of tomato by theflower application of hormone added insecticide. Annual Report of the Kansai PlantProtection Society 46: 1-6.

Table 2 Bio-efficacy of insecticides against mite on chillies

Treatment Concentration Reduction in thrips population (%)*(%)

1 DAS 3 DAS 5 DAS 10 DAS Overallefficacy

Fipronil 0.01 64.41 53.19 42.75 31.33 47.92(53.44) (46.85) (40.79) (33.85) (43.56)

Profenofos 0.10 84.76 76.89 69.20 48.38 69.80(67.34) (61.47) (56.42) (44.05) (56.70)

Triazophos 0.08 77.47 70.90 65.88 51.17 64.22(61.89) (57.44) (54.28) (45.67) (53.28)

Chlorpyriphos 0.05 62.75 57.17 48.17 36.17 51.06(52.46) (49.14) (43.94) (36.94) (45.85)

Ethion 0.10 72.50 63.58 57.36 47.48 62.36(58.43) (52.93) (49.24) (43.55) (52.16)

Cypermethrin 0.0012 36.88 31.01 21.56 10.88 25.08(37.37) (33.83) (27.62) (19.14) (30.05)

SE + ….. 3.62 3.41 2.87 3.45 2.00CD (5%) ….. 7.89 7.43 6.26 7.53 4.36

* Per cent reduction over controlDAS= Days after sprayingFigures in parentheses are Arc sin values

MAHALINGAPPA et. al

19

JOUBERT, P H, GROVE, T, BEER, M S and STEYN, W P 2004. Evaluation of kaolin (SurroundReg. WP) in an IPM programs on mangoes in South Africa. Acta Horticultura 645:493-499.

MALLAPUR, C P, KUBSAD, V S and HULIHALLI, U K 2001. Effect of ethion on chilli mitesand thrips causing chilli leaf curl virus. Karnataka Journal of Agriculture Science14 (3): 668-670.

MISRA, H P 2003. Efficacy of newer insecticides in chilli leaf curl management. IndianJournal of Agriculture Sciences 73 (6): 358-360.

PANICHAKRA, B K and PATEL, J R 2001. Leaf curl chilli protected against thrips S.dorsalis with synthetic insecticides. Indian Journal of Entomology 63 (1): 104-107.

PATEL, V N and GUPTA, H C L 1998. Estimation of losses and management of thripsinfesting chillies. In National Seminar on Entomology in 21st century. Biodiversty,sustainability, environmental safety and human health held at Udaipur, pp.99.

PRUTHI, J S 1979. Spices and condiments. National Book trust of India, New Delhi (2ndEdu.), pp: 40-47.

RAJASRI, M, REDDY, G P V, KRISHNA MURTHY, M M and DEVAPRASAD, V 1991. Bio-efficacy of certain newer insecticides including neem products against chilli pestcomplex. Indian cocoa, Arecanut and Spices Journal 15 (2): 42-44.

RANGEL, R C, HAMAMURA, R, REGITANO, E B, ARASHIRO, F Y, RANGEL, M C, CLAIRI,A I and MARICONI, F A M 1990. The cotton white mite P. latus (Bank, 1904)(Acari: Tarsonemidae) and assay of chemical control. Anai-da-Escola, Superior deAgricultura, Luiz de Queiroz 47 (2): 261-272.

SCARPELLINI, J R 1999. Evaluation of acaricides against the white P.latus (Banks, 1904)and influence of production of beans Phaseolus vulgaris L. Arquivos do institutoBiologica Sao Paulo 66 (1): 43-46.

VENKATESH, H M, MANIYAPPA, V, RAVI, K S, KRISHNAPRASAD, P R, REDDY, P P,KUMAR, N K K and VERGHESE, A 1998. Management of chilli leaf curl complex.Advance in IPM for horticultural crops- Proceedings of the first National Symposiumon Pest Management in horticultural Crops: Environment implication and thrusts,Bangalore, India, 15-17 October 1997: 111-117.

BIO-EFFICACY OF CERTAIN INSECTICIDES AGAINST THRIPS

20

CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AND PATH ANALYSIS IN TWENTYONE F3 PROGENIES OF MUNGBEAN (Vigna Radiata (L.) Wilczek)

M. SHANTI PRIYA and K.H.P.REDDYDepartment of Genetics and Plant Breeding

Sri Venkateswara Veterinary Agricultural College,Tirupati 517502, A.P.

ABSTRACTThe investigation was undertaken with an objective to study character association and path analysis

in 21 F3 progenies of greengram during rabi 1996 at S.V. Agricultural College Farm, Tirupati. Characterassociations revealed the strong positive correlation of seed yield with pods per plant, clusters per plant, podsper cluster and plant height and among themselves. However, path coefficient analysis showed that thecharacters pods per plant, pods per cluster and seeds per pod had high positive direct effects on grain yieldin F3 progenies. Moreover, the indirect effects of most of the characters through pods per plant, pods percluster and seeds per pod were high and positive.

Yield is a complex character and it is influenced by several genetic factors interactingwith environment. A clear understanding of the association of plant characters with yield isnecessary for successful crop improvement programme. Correlation coefficients reveal themagnitude and the direction of association of yield components among themselves and withyield. Path coefficient analysis helps in partitioning of the correlation coefficient into directand indirect effects of yield components on yield. Moreover, correlation in conjunction withpath analysis gives a clear idea of nature of association and their relative contribution toyield. This information is of prime importance in formulating selection criteria.


The experimental material consisted of 21 F3 progenies of mung bean derived fromdiallel analysis without reciprocals. The experiment was laid out in a randomised block designwith three replications at S.V. Agricultural College Farm, Tirupati in rabi, 1996. Each plotconsisted of 3 rows of 5m length. A uniform spacing of 30 cm between the rows and 15 cmwithin the row was adopted. Thirty plants were tagged randomly in each replication for eachentry for recording the observations on 11 characters. The plant means obtained for eachcharacter were used for statistical analysis. Phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficientswere calculated using the method given by Johnson et al. (1955). Path analysis was carriedout as suggested by Wright (1934) and as illustrated by Dewey and Lu (1959).

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 16 - 20, 2008

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Generally, the genotypic correlations were higher than the corresponding phenotypiccorrelations (Table 1) indicating that strong inherent associations were somewhat masked atphenotypic level due to environmental effects. Khorgade et al. (1990) also reported similarresults. Pods per plant, clusters per plant, pods per cluster, seeds per pod, plant height, podlength, days to 50 per cent flowering and days to maturity had highly significant positiveassociation with yield. Prasannarajesh (1995) reported significant positive association ofpods per cluster and pod length with yield while Patil and Deshmukh (1988) observed significantpositive association of days to 50 per cent flowering with grain yield.

The character 100-seed weight was negatively correlated with seed yield. This is inagreement with the results of Vijayabharathi (1993). Positive association of 100-seed weightwith pod length revealed that the varieties having bold seeds tend to possess long pods.However, 100-seed weight had negative association with all other component characterssuggesting the antagonistic association of 100-seed weight with these traits. This is inconsonance with the reports of Reddisekhar (1992). It would be difficult to exercisesimultaneous selection for these characters which showed negative association amongthemselves. The characters 100- seed weight and protein content showed non-significantnegative association with yield indicating that these are not the important yield contributingtraits.

The characters, pods per plant, clusters per plant, pods per cluster, and plantheight showed strong and positive correlation with seed yield and also among themselves.Therefore, these are considered to be the most important characters on which selectionpressure can be exercised to improve the yield potential of greengram.

Though correlation coefficients are important in determining the yield components,the extent of contribution of a particular trait to a dependable variable like yield may hardly bejudged from them. In such cases, path coefficient analysis helps in partitioning the associationinto direct and indirect effects.

Path analysis (Table 2) revealed that the characters viz., seeds per pod and l00-seed weight had high positive direct effects on grain yield in F3 progenies at phenotypic andgenotypic levels whereas pods per plant showed high negative direct effect at genotypiclevel. Moreover, most of the characters exhibited their positive indirect contributions to yieldvia pods per plant, pods per cluster and seeds per pod. Days to 50 per cent flowering, plantheight, clusters per plant and pods per cluster exhibited low positive direct effects atphenotypic and genotypic levels.

CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AND PATH ANALYSIS

22

SHANTI PRIYA and REDDY

23

CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AND PATH ANALYSIS

24

Further, days to maturity and protein content showed negative direct effects atgenotypic and phenotypic levels, while pods per plant and pod length exhibited negativedirect effect, only at genotypic level. Inspite of negative direct effect of days to maturity onyield, it had highly significant positive correlation with grain yield. This might be due to highpositive indirect effects of days to maturity via seeds per pod and pods per plant. Thoughpods per plant recorded high negative direct effect on yield at genotypic level, the positiveindirect effects via pods per cluster, cluster per plant and days to 50% flowering nullified thenegative effect and finally contributed to significant positive correlation with yield. Thecharacter clusters per plant exhibited low direct effect but its association was highlysignificant and positive with grain yield due to its indirect effects via pods per plant at phenotypiclevel. Khorgade et al. (1990) reported positive indirect effect of days to maturity and clustersper plant via pods per plant on grain yield.

The characters pods per plant, pods per cluster and seeds per pod had high positivedirect effect and significant positive correlation with grain yield. Most of the other componentcharacters also exhibited positive indirect influence on grain yield via these characters.Therefore, selection for these characters will be fruitful in increasing the yield potential ingreengram.

REFERENCESDEWEY, D R and Lu, K H 1959. Correlation and path coefficient analysis in components of crested wheat

grass seed production. Agronomy Journal. 51:515-518.

JOHNSON, H W, ROBINSON, H F and COMSTOCK, R E 1955. Estimates of genetic and environmentalvariability in soybean. Agronomy Journal 47 : 314-318.

KHORGADE, P W, NAFADE, A H, NARKEDE, M N and RAUT, S K 1990. Some selection criteria in greengram.Journal of Maharashtra Agricultural Universities 15 : 179-181

PATIL H, S and DESHMUKH, R B 1988. Correlation and Path coefficient analysis in mungbean. Journal ofMaharashtra Agricultural Universities 13 : 183-185.

PRASANNARAJESH, A 1995. Studies on genetic divergence in greengram [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]. M.ScThesis submitted to Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad.

REDDISEKHAR, M. 1992. Heterosis and Combining ability studies in greengram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek).M.Sc Thesis submitted to Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Univesity, Hyderabad.

VIJAYABHARATHI, G 1993. Genetic analysis of certain quantitative characters in a 8 x 8 diallel set ofgreengram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) in F2 generation. M.Sc.Thesis submitted to Andhra PradeshAgricultural University, Hyderabad.

WRIGHT, S 1934. The method of path coefficients. Annals of Mathematics and Statistics 5 : 161-215.

SHANTI PRIYA and REDDY

25

COMBINING ABILITY STUDIES FOR GRAIN QUALITY TRAITS INTROPICAL JAPONICA/INDICA HYBRIDS OF RICE

(Oryza Sativa.L)

D.SHIVANI, B.C. VIRAKTAMATH and S. SUDHEER KUMARDepartment of Genetics and Plant Breeding

College of Agriculture, Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACT

Three wide compatible tropical japonicas were crossed with six indica restorers to give 18 inter sub-specific hybrids. For head rice recovery, Norin PL9 x IR 29723 registered highest sca effect indicating thecorresponding line and tester to be better parents for obtaining hybrids with good head rice recovery. Forkernel dimensions like kernel length, L/B ratio and KLAC, the cross Norin PL9 x IR 10198 showed highestpositive sca effect involving parents with high x high combining ability indicating them to be good generalcombiners to get hybrids with longer kernels. The tropical japonica/ indica cross combination involving NorinPL9 with IR 29723, IR 215567 and IR 13419, IR 65598-112 with KMR 3, NDR 3026 and IR 10198 and IR 64446-7-3-2 with KMR 3, NDR 3026 and IR 10198 showed positive significant sca effects indicating their utility to gethybrids with soft gel consistency. However, parents with average combining ability for physico-chemical traitsare desirable which would yield hybrids with average sca effects for better consumer acceptability.

Rice, the second most important cereal crop after wheat accounts for 43 % of thetotal national food grain production and 55% of cereal production thus holding the key tosustained food supply in the country. The development of semi-dwarf, high tillering, photoperiodinsensitive, nitrogen responsive and high yielding rice varieties led to increased productionwith average annual growth rate of 2.3 per cent during the past three decades. However, theyields of rice varieties have reached to a plateau and in this aspect, hybrid rice technologyproved to be one of the most feasible and readily adaptable approaches to break the yieldbarrier. Commercial exploitation of heterosis in rice helped China to increase yield by 20 to30 per cent beyond the level of semi dwarf varieties (Lin and Yuan, 1980).

The inter sub-specific hybrids have shown to possess still higher level of heterosisand can out yield the existing inter varietal hybrids by 20-30 per cent (Yuan, 1992). Effortsare being made to develop inter sub-specific hybrids especially the tropical japonica/indicacrosses by overcoming the problem of semi-sterility through the utilization of wide compatiblegenes. These inter sub-specific hybrids are also to be studied from the quality point of viewbecause it is the consumer preference that ultimately decides the acceptability and utility ofthese hybrids. This requires the identification of parents and crosses with desirable gca andsca effects, respectively for their utilization in inter sub-specific hybridization programme foryield and quality improvement.

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 21 - 23, 2008

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Three wide compatible tropical japonicas were crossed with six indica restorersduring October 2000 to develop inter-sub-specific hybrids. The F1s were grown duringDecember-April, 2001 and the produce was used for quality analysis for hulling percentage,milling percentage, head rice recovery, kernel length, kernel breadth, L/B ratio, kernel lengthafter cooking, elongation ratio, water uptake, volume expansion ratio, alkali spreading value,gel consistency and amylose content during July-September, 2001 and data was used forworking out combining ability following Line x Tester design given by Kempthorne (1957).


The character wise estimates of gca effects of parents and sca effects of crossesare presented on Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The results indicated that IR 65598-112among lines and KMR 3 among testers to be good general combiners for hulling percentagewith positive gca effects of 1.28 and 3.14, respectively. The cross Norin PL 9 x IR 29723registered highest sca effect of 10.00 for head rice recovery. This is an important millingtrait. Hence, these indicating the corresponding line and tester are the better parents toobtain hybrids with good head rice recovery. The highest magnitude of significant negativesca effect was recorded by IR 64446-7-3-2 x IR 29723 which involved parents with low x lowcombining ability. Hence, that these parents are not good combiners for head rice recovery.

The cross Norin PL9 x IR 10198 showed the highest positive sca effect (0.61) forkernel length involving parents with high x high combining ability effects. For L/B ratio andkernel length after cooking also, the same cross showed highest positive significant scaeffects of 0.40 and 0.77, respectively indicating these parents to be good general combinersto get hybrids with longer kernels. The predominance of non-additive component for most ofthe quality characters of economic importance offers considerable scope for exploitation ofhybrid vigour through heterosis or hybridization and selection. The results are in accordancewith those reported by Kaw and Cruz (1990), Pooni et al. (1993) Singh and Singh (1993) andXu et al. (1997). However, for grain quality traits like kernel length, kernel breadth, L/B ratioand kernel length after cooking, the choice of parents for developing specific hybrids dependson regional preference. For northern parts of the country where long kernels are preferred,the parents having good gca and heterotic crosses showing high sca effect for kernel length,L/B ratio and kernel length after cooking are preferred. In other parts of the country wheremedium slender and short slender grain types are preferred, the parents with average gcaare desirable.

SHIVANI et al.

27

For cooking quality traits like water uptake, the gca status of only Norin PL 9 wassignificantly positive while among testers, KMR 3 and IR 10198 showed significant negativegca effects. However, for volume expansion ratio, the gca and sca estimates were notsignificant. For these cooking traits, the consumers prefer the hybrids with intermediatevalues and therefore parents with average or moderate combining ability with average scaeffects are to be crossed to obtain desirable hybrids.

For physico-chemical traits like gelatinization temperature, eight tropical japonica/indica crosses showed positive significant sca estimates. The tropical japonica/indica crosscombinations involving Norin PL9 with IR 29723, IR 21567 and IR 13419; IR 65598-112 withKMR 3, NDR 3026 and IR 10198 and IR 64446-7-3-2 with KMR 3, NDR 3026 and IR 10198registered significant positive sca effects indicating their utility to get hybrids with higher gelconsistency values i.e, soft gel consistency. Among the lines Norin PL 9 and IR 65598-112and among the testers IR 21567, NDR 3026 and IR 10198 recorded significant positive gcaeffects for amylose content. However, those parents showing average gca effects with averagesca effects for the hybrids are desirable for obtaining intermediate amylose content. Thecrosses involving IR 65598-112 with IR 29723 and KMR 3 recorded average effects of scafor this trait. As intermediate values for physico-chemical traits like gelatinization temperature,gel consistency and amylose content are preferred, the selection of parents with averagecombining ability for these traits is desirable as it would yield crosses with average scaeffects.

REFERENCES

KAW, R M and CRUZ D N M 1990. Genetic analysis of amylose content, gelatinizationtemperature and gel consistency in rice. Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 44 :103-111.

KEMPTHORNE, O 1957. An introduction to Genetic Statistics. John Wiley and Sons, IncNew York, pp : 458-471.

LIN, S C and YUAN, L P 1980. Hybrid rice breeding in China. Innovative approaches to ricebreeding. International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines. pp: 35-51.

POONI, H S, KUMAR, I and KHUSH, G S 1993. Genetic control of amylose content inselected crosses of indica rice. Heredity 70 : 269-280.

SINGH, R P and SINGH, C B 1993. Genetic analysis in rainfed rice. Journal of DrylandAgricultural Research and Development 8 : 40-46.

XU C W, ZHANG A, HONG AY and ZHU, Q S 1997. Genetic analysis of quality traits in intersubspecies crosses of rice. Chinese Rice Research Newsletter 5:3-4.

YUAN, L P 1992. Increasing yield potential in rice by exploitation of heterosis. Proceedingsof the 1992 International Rice Conference, International Rice Research Institute,Philippines pp: 21-25.

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GENETIC ANALYSIS OF NUMBER OF SYMPODIA IN COTTON(Gossypium Hirsutum L.)

S. LAXMANAgricultural Research Station, Mudhol

Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACT

Number of sympodia per plant is an important yield component in cotton. Six parents were crossedin a triallel mating design to obtain 60 three-way cross hybrids. Triallel analysis was done for number ofsympodia per plant. Preponderance of epistatic component i.e. dominance x dominance was observed.However, dominance and dominance x dominance exhibited opposite sign with each other. Parent ordereffects in three-way crosses were clearly elucidated.

Cotton is one of the major fibre crops for textile industry. Number of sympodia perplant is one of the important yield component characters in cotton. Information on geneaction governing the inheritance of such quantitative traits is essential for planning andexecution of breeding programme successfully. Number of biometrical approaches havebeen used for estimating different types of gene actions in crop plants. In most of the matingdesigns used, it was assumed that non-allelic interactions were absent, where as the fact isoften contrary to this assumption. In the presence of non-allelic interactions, the estimatesof additive and dominance components are biased leading to the inappropriate use of breedingprocedure. The triallel analysis is potent enough to get information on epistatic componentsof variance in addition to additive and dominance variances. Triallel analysis also givesinformation on order of parents in three-way cross combinations for obtaining superiortransgressive segregants (Ponnuswamy et al., 1974 and Singh and Narayanan, 2000). Athree-way cross symbolized by (AB) C has been defined as a cross between line C and theunrelated F1 hybrid (AB), lines A and B being called grand parental lines and line C as fullparental or immediate parental line (Rawlings and Cockerham, 1962). But studies on three-way cross hybrids are scarce in cotton literature (Basu and Paroda, 1995). In the presentstudy, an attempt has been made to obtain information on gene action controlling an importantyield component trait, namely number of sympodia per plant in cotton by using triallelanalysis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The material comprised of 60 three-way cross hybrids derived from crossing sixdiverse varieties of upland cotton viz., (1) Narasimha, (2) Renuka, (3) DHY 286, (4) MCU 5,

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 24 - 29, 2008

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(5) LRA 5166 and (6) ADB 39 in a triallel mating design (Singh and Narayanan, 2000).In triplet combinations parents are denoted by their respective serial numbers. During kharif1998, the six parents were mated in half diallel fashion and 15 single cross hybrids weresynthesized. During rabi 1998, these 15 single crosses were mated with six parents in triallelmodel and 60 three-way cross hybrids were obtained. They were evaluated under rainfedconditions during kharif 1999 in a randomized block design with 3 replications at AgriculturalResearch Station, Mudhol of Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh.Plot size was 2.7 m x 7.2 m containing three rows each with eight hills. Spacing adopted was90 cm between rows and 90 cm within the row. Fifteen competitive plants were randomlytaken from each plot for recording number of sympodia per plant in cotton. The mean datawere subjected to triallel analysis (Singh and Chaudhary, 1985).


The analysis of variance is presented in Table 1. The analysis shows that generalline effects of both first and second kind, two line specific effects of first and second kind aswell as three line specific effects were significant, thus suggesting the major role of all threetypes of epistatic components viz., additive x additive, additive x dominance, dominance xdominance, besides additive and dominance gene action in expression number of sympodiaper plant.

Table 1 Analysis of variance for number of sympodia per plant in cotton (mean squares)

Source df Mean squaresReplications 2 0.02

General line effect of the first kind (hi) 5 68.03**

General line effect of the second kind (gi) 5 130.83**

Two line specific effects of the first kind (dij) 9 62.03**

Two line specific effects of the second kind (Sij) 19 62.47**

Three line specific effect (Tijk) 21 23.09**

Crosses 59 57.17**

Error 118 0.08

GENETIC ANALYSIS OF NUMBER OF SYMPODIA IN COTTON

30

General line effects

General line effects of both first and second kind were positively significant i.e.,1.898 and 1.043 respectively for LRA 5166. While in Narasimha and Renuka second kindeffect was significant with gi value of 1.411 and 1.663 respectively. However, first kindeffect was positively significant (1.732) for DHY 286 (Table 2). The parents DHY 286 andLRA 5166 were significantly superior to rest of the parents in their average performance asgrand parents while parents Narasimha, Renuka and LRA 5166 were significantly superior toother parents in their performance as immediate parents. The parent LRA 5166 was goodboth as parent and grand parent while DHY 286 as grand parent only and Narasimha andRenuka as immediate parents only in three-way crosses. LRA 5166 performed better asgrand parent than as parent. When DHY 286 and LRA 5166 were compared for grand parentalperformance, LRA 5166 was better than DHY 286. Among the three parents, Renuka wascomparatively superior to both Narasimha and LRA 5166 as parent in three-way crosses.

Two line specific effects

Two line specific effect of first kind was positively significant in seven combinationsamong which the maximum effect was in Renuka x LRA 5166 (2.657) thus substantiating thebetter grand parental performance of LRA 5166. The other combinations had highly significanttwo line specific effects viz., Narasimha x ADB 39, MCU 5 x ADB 39, Narasimha x DHY286, Renuka x MCU 5 and DHY 286 x LRA 5166 suggesting their superiority as grandparents in three-way crosses (Table 2).

Reciprocal effects of two line specific effects of second kind (Sij and Sji) for thecrosses Narasimha x ADB 39, Renuka x MCU 5, Renuka x ADB 39, DHY 286 x LRA 5166,MCU 5 x ADB 39, and LRA 5166 x ADB 39 had invariably reciprocal differences and wereassociated with order effects in the three-way hybrids.

Three-line specific effects

The estimates of three line specific effects (Tijk) were found to be highly positiveand significant in 13 combinations. In the best performing triplet of 2 x 3 x 5 (Renuka x DHY286 x LRA 5166), all the three parents were good combiners, two line specific effect of thefirst kind was highly significant in cross Renuka x DHY 286 because of Renuka and DHY286 as grand parents, LRA-5166 as immediate parent, the specific effects of crosses Renukax DHY 286 and DHY 286 x LRA 5166 and the interaction of parents in that particular order.Hence one can conclude the superiority of the triplets is due to (i) either or all the threeparents showing better general line effects (ii) either cross showing better two line specificeffect and / or (iii) the interaction among the three lines used in making the triplet (Joshi andSharma, 1984).

LAXMAN

31


32

LAXMAN

33

Parent order

The order effect was clearly elucidated in the three-way cross 2 x 3 x 5 (Renuka xDHY 286 x LRA 5166) which exhibited the highest three line specific effect, whereas theother forms of this triplet i.e. 2 x 5 x 3 (Renuka x LRA 5166 x DHY 286) and 3 x 5 x 2 (DHY286 x LRA 5166 x Renuka) had negative three line specific effects. (Table 3).

Components of genetic variance

Components of genetic variance indicated that dominance x dominance component(53.55) was the highest followed by additive x additive (16.78) and additive x dominance(13.04) components. The additive (-7.15) and dominance (-2.34) components were negative.Thus predominance of epistatic components of genetic variance for number of sympodiahas to be kept in mind while formulating breeding procedures for improvement of this character.Ramalingam (1996) reported preponderance of additive x dominance component followed bydominance x dominance component for this character in cotton which is in partial agreementwith the present results.

Thus, triallel analysis had clearly elucidated its advantages over diallel analysis bygiving additional information on magnitude of all types of epistatic components and also onorder of parents to be crossed in three way crosses for obtaining superior transgressivesegregants.

REFERENCESBASU A K and PARODA R S 1995. Hybrid cotton in India – A success story. Asia Pacific

Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), Bangkok, pp : 38.

JOSHI A K and SHARMA G S 1984. Genetics of flag leaf area in wheat triallel analysis.Indian J. Genet. 44 (3) : 399-405.

PONNUSWAMY K N, DAS M N and HANDOO M I 1974 Combining ability analysis for triallelcross in maize (Zea mays L.) Theoretical and Applied Genetics 45 : 170-175.

RAMALINGAM A 1996. Genetics of seed cotton yield and its components in upland cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.) diallel and triallel analysis. Unpublished Ph.D. (Genetics andPlant Breeding) Thesis submitted to - Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, AgriculturalCollege and Research Institute, Madurai.

RAWLINGS J O and COCKERHAM C C 1962. Triallel analysis. Crop Science, 2 : 228-231.

SINGH P and NARAYANAN S S 2000. Biometrical techniques in plant breeding. Revisededition. Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana, pp : 114.

SINGH R K and CHAUDHARY B D 1985. Biometrical methods in quantitative genetics analysis.Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi, pp: 167-185.


34

EFFECT OF PINCHING AT DIFFERENT DAYS AFTER PLANTING ONFLOWERING BEHAVIOUR IN THREE CULTIVARS OF CARNATION

(Dianthus Caryophyllus Linn)

K. UMA MAHESWARA RAO, R. CHANDRA SEKHAR,J. DILIP BABU and M. RAJ KUMAR

Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture,Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACT

The present study was under taken in a commercial floriculture farm under captive cultivation withthree cultivars of carnation during July 2005 to January 2006. The experiment was laid out in randomizedblock design. Pinched plants recorded significantly minimum time from first flower bud appearance to flowerharvesting. Pinching at 20 days after planting was most promising. The duration for first flower bud appearancewas reduced by 10.6, 12.0 and 15.6 days in Domingo, Angelica and Golden boy respectively compared tounpinched plants. The time for 50 % flower bud appearance was also reduced by 39.0, 44.2 and 57.0 days bythe pinching treatment at 20 days after planting compared to control. The color break stage was reduced by36.1, 64.0 and 58.3 days when pinched at 20 days after planting compared to unpinched cultivars. Longestflowers were noticed with pinching at 20 days after planting in cv. Domingo. Diameter of the flower wasmaximum in Cv. Domingo with pinching at 25 days after planting compared to other intervals. The number offlowers were maximum with pinching at 20 days after planting compared to pinching at other intervals.

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus Linn., Fy: Caryophyllaceae) is extensively cultivated

for cut flowers in Columbia, Japan, Israel, Netherlands etc. Staby et al. (1978) reported that

about 34% of the total flower consumers, in their survey had a liking for carnation compared

to only 20 percent of the people who favoured roses. The maximum cultivation of carnation

on an area of 2500 ha is in Columbia (Bhattacharjee, 2006). In India, carnations are grown in

Nasik, Pune, Srinagar Valley, Jammu, Solan, Kufri, Nauni, Palampur, and surrounding areas

of Hyderabad (Mukherjee, 1996).

Carnation exhibits apical dominance which influences the development of axillary

shoots and flower production (Cline, 1997). Generally, carnation produces one main shoot

which terminates into a flower bud. After the cessation of terminal growth, lateral shoots

develop. They also bear flower buds. Pinching of apical portion of the shoot result in early

production of large number of axillary shoots resulting in more number of flowers. To get

maximum number of quality flowers, time of pinching is very important which will also regulate

the time of harvest. Research works in this aspect on commercial cultivars of carnation is

meagre and hence, the present study was designed.

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 30 - 35, 2008

35


The experiment was conducted on three cultivars of carnation i.e., Domingo, Angelica

and Goldenboy during July, 2005 to January, 2006 in a commercial floriculture farm,

Ibrahimpatnam, Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh.

In this experiment, terminal pair of leaves in selected plants of carnation were

pinched at 15, 20 and 25 days after planting. Plants were not pinched in control. After

pinching, systemic fungicide - Benomyl @ 2g/l was sprayed to prevent fungal infection.

The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with four replications. The size of

the bed was 70 cm width, 45 cm height and 28 m length.

Observations were recorded on the time taken for first flower bud appearance, 50%

flower bud appearance, colour break stage, harvesting, length and diameter of the flower

stalk and number of flower stalks harvested per plant.


The results showed that the time of pinching the terminal pair of leaves had a

significant influence on the flowering behavior of 3 cultivars of carnation. Pinching at 20 days

after planting was most promising. The first flower bud appearance was recorded in 94.6,

110.1 and 141.5 days in the cultivars Domingo, Angelica and Golden boy respectively (Table

1). The duration for this character was reduced to 59.5, 67.1 and 87.6 days by pinching the

terminal pair of leaves at 20 days after planting. This practice, thereby shortened the time

needed for the appearance of first flower bud by 10.6, 12.0 and 15.6 days in Domingo,

Angelica and Golden boy respectively. It may be due to early physiological maturity of

shoots after pinching. These results are in conformity with Arora and Khanna (1986) in

marigold cv. African Gaint double orange. Ubukata (1999) reported that the shoots of early

raised carnation took lesser time to become physiologically mature which in turn borne the

flowers. Consequently, the time for 50 % flower bud appearance was also reduced to 67.1,

73.6 and 98.5 days by the pinching treatment at 20 days after planting compared to 106.1,

117.4 and 155.3 days by the corresponding cultivars without pinching.

The color break stage was reduced to 79.5, 81.4 and 116.4 days when pinched at 20

days after planting compared to 115.6, 145.4 and 172.7 days in the unpinched cultivars.

These results are in confirmity with Srivastava et al. (2002) in marigold cv. Pusa Narangi

Gainda. The time taken for harvesting was also considerably reduced. Domingo was harvested

in 88.4 days by pinching at 20 days after planting compared to 130.5 days in control. Angelica

was harvested in 104.3 days and Golden boy in 129.5 days by pinching the first terminal

leaves 20 days after planting. The flowers were ready for harvest by 162.2 and 179.9 days

EFFECT OF PINCHING ON CARNATION

36

UMA MAHESWARA RAO et. al.

37


38

when these cultivars were not pinched. The cultivar Domingo, is vigorous growing in nature.

Hence, it resulted in early sprouting of buds which might have been encouraged to reach

flowering stage early over other cultivars studied. These results are in confirmity with Ferrato

et al. (1996) in chrysanthemum cv. Alba. Pinching the first pair of terminal leaves at other

intervals was also promising as considerable time was reduced for the appearance of first

flower bud, 50% flowering, colour break and harvesting stage compared to control. But these

treatments were significantly inferior to 20 days after planting.

The data in Table 2 indicated that different intervals of pinching the terminal pairs of

leaves had significant influence on flower size and yield of flowers in three cultivars of

carnation. Pinching at 20 days after planting was promising. Longest flowers were noticed by

pinching at 20 days after planting in cv. Domingo (93.3 cm), followed by Angelica (90.7 cm)

and Golden boy (85.9 cm). This might be due to the maximum utilization of photosynthates

with pinching at 20 days after planting. Similar observation were made by Singh and Baboo

(2003) in chrysanthemum. They reported that the maximum diameter of flower stalk was

observed with pinching at 20 days after planting than at 10 and 30 days after planting.

Diameter of the flower has increased to 0.55 cm in Cv. Domingo with pinching at 25 days

after planting compared to 0.54 cm in 20 days after planting and 0.49 cm in 15 days after

planting.

In Cv. Angelica and Golden boy, highest diameter of the flower was observed with

pinching at 20 days after planting (0.47 cm and 0.46 cm respectively). Unpinching resulted in

lowest diameter of the flower in all the cultivars. The size of the flowers i.e., length and

diameter of the flowers increased significantly with pinching of terminal pair of leaves at 20

and 25 days after planting in all the cultivars.

The yield of the flowers per plant increased significantly by pinching at 20 days after

planting (4.1) as against 25 days (3.5) and 15 days (3.3) in cv. Domingo. Pinching at 20 days

after planting could be the optimum time for sprouting of axillary buds which become the

flowers at later stages of growth. This increase in number of flowers per plant and yield of

flowers might be attributed to the development of large number of axillary shoots as a result

of cessation of terminal growth by pinching (Narayana Gowda and Jayanthi, 1991). These

results are in confirmity with Yassin and Pappiah (1990) and Singh and Baboo (2003) in

chrysanthemum.

The results indicated that in carnation, pinching at 20 days after planting induced

early flowering and maximum number of flowers per plant.

UMA MAHESWARA RAO et. al.

39

REFERENCES

ARORA J S and KHANNA K 1986 Effect of nitrogen and pinching on growth and productionof marigold cv. African Gaint double orange. Indian Journal of Horticulture 43 (1-2):291-294.

BHATTACHARJEE S K 2006 Advances in ornamental horticulture. Vol I. Pointer Publishers,Jaipur.

CLINE M 1997 Concepts and terminology of apical dominance. American Journal of Botany84 (8) : 1064 – 1069.

FERRATO J, ROTONDO R and BENEDETTO A D 1996 Effect of plant density and pinchingon production of chrysanthemums for cut flowers (Dendranthema grandiflora).Horticultura Argentina 15 (38) : 71-74.

MUKHERJEE D 1996 Greenhouse cultivation of carnation. Floriculture Today 1: 46-48

NARAYANA GOWDA J V and JAYANTHI R 1991 Effect of cycocel and maleic hydrazide ongrowth and flowering of African marigold (Tagetes erecta). Progressive Horticulture23 (1-4): 114-118.

SINGH M K and BABOO R 2003 Response of nitrogen, potassium and pinching levels ongrowth and flowering in chrysanthemum cv. Jayanthi. Journal of OrnamentalHorticulture New Series 6 (4): 390-393.

SRIVASTAVA S K, SINGH H K and SRIVASTAVA A K 2002 Effect of spacing and pinchingon growth and flowering of ‘Pusa Narangi Gainda’ marigold (Tagetes erecta). IndianJournal of Agricultural Sciences 72(10): 611-612.

STABY G L, ROBERTSON J L, KIPLINGER D C and CONOVER C A 1978 Chain of life,Ohio Florists Associations, Ohio State University, Columbus

UBUKATA M 1999 Evaluation of one half pinch method of spray carnation cultivation inHokkaido. Bulletin of Hokkaido Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Stations77 : 39-43.

YASSIN G Md and PAPPIAH C M 1990 Effect of pinching and manuring on growth and

flowering of chrysanthemum cv. MDU-1. South Indian Horticulture 38 (4) : 232-233.


40

The process of assessing the level of nutrients in the soil in a form that is available

to crops is known as ‘Soil testing’. It is a pre-requisite to know the nutrient content in the soil

and apply required amount of nutrients to correct imbalances and optimize crop nutrition.

Balanced fertilization does not mean a certain proportion of N, P and K or other

nutrients to be added in the form of fertilizers, but it takes into account the availability of

nutrients already present in the soil, crop requirement and other factors. It should take into

account the crop removal of nutrients, the economics of fertilizer use, farmers’ investment

ability, agro-techniques, soil moisture regime, soil salinity, alkalinity, physical environment,

microbiological condition of soil and cropping sequences etc. (Subba Rao and Sanjay

Srivastava, 2001).

Soil testing is not static, but a dynamic concept. It does not mean that every time a

crop is grown, all the nutrients should be applied in a particular proportion, rather fertilizer

application should be tailored to the crop needs, keeping in view the capacity of soils (Won

vexkule and Mutert, 1992). It was further elaborated by Tandon and Kinno (1993) that balanced

fertilizer use or rather balanced crop nutrition ensures an optimum supply of all essential

nutrients. It promotes synergetic interactions and keeps antagonistic interactions out of crop

production system. It discourages lopsided applications of any nutrient or over fertilization.

In view of the importance of soil tsting, the samples collected from farmers fields

during ‘Rythu Chaitanya yatra’ in pre-kharif season of May 2005 in Vizianagaram district

were analysed for giving agro-advisories based upon the soil testing results.

FERTILITY STATUS OF SOILS IN VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT

P. JAMUNA, Y. NOOKA RAJU and K. RAMALINGA SWAMYRegional Agricultural Research Station,

Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,Anakapalle - 531 001

ABSTRACT

Representative soil samples were collected from different farmers’ fields in nine mandals ofVizianagaram district and assessed for their nutrient status. Majority of soils in the district are red sandy loamsand few are of clay loams. Mostly ground nut and mesta are cultivated under dry land and paddy under wetland situation. The soils ranged from acidic to neutral in reaction and normal in conductivity. Soil availablenitrogen (N) was found to be low in majority of the samples in all the mandals. The district on an average had61.1% of the soil samples in the low category. Soil available phosphorus (P

2O

5) varied wide from very low of

2.5kg/ha to as high as 178.2kg/ha, indicating non or over adoption of P fertilizers. Soil available potassiumcontent (K

2O) was high in majority of samples in all the mandals except in Garividi mandal which on an average

had 82.7% of the soil samples in the high category.

J.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 36 - 41, 2008

41


A total of 504 soil samples were collected from farmers’ fields in nine mandals viz.,

Denkada, Vizianagaram, Gajapathinagaram, Garividi, Badangi, Nellimarla, Cheepurupalli,

Meraka Modidam, and Mentada of Vizinagaram district.

The soil samples were analysed for pH, EC, available N, P2O

5 and K

2O (Jackson,

1967). Based on soil test values, Fertility Index (F.I.) was calculated (Gilbert et al., 1965) for

each nutrient to indicate overall fertility status of the respective nutrient in different mandals

in the district.

Fertility Index (F.I.) = (1 x L) + (2 x M) + (3 x H)

Total No. of samples

Where, L = No. of samples under Low category

M = No. of samples under Medium category

H = No. of samples under High category

Based on Fertility Index (F.I.), the nutrient status of each mandal in the district was

categorized into low, medium and high when the F.I. values are <1.50, 1.50-2.50 and >2.50,

respectively.


Majority of soils collected from the nine mandals in the district are red sandy loams

and few are clay loams. The crops mostly grown are ground nut and mesta under dry land

situation and paddy in the wet land. The soils mostly ranged from acidic to neutral in reaction

and only few samples showed alkaline soil pH (>8.5) found at different mandals. The soil, in

general, showed normal conductivity (EC <1.00 dSm-1) (Table 1). However, the conductivity

(EC) was found to be more than 1.00 dSm-1 in the samples of Badangi, Mentada, Meraka

Modidam, Cheepurupalli, Garividi, Nellimarla and Gajapathinagaram mandals, which may be

critical for germination of some of the salt sensitive crops like black gram, sunflower, sesame

etc.

The soil available nitrogen (N) in >60% of the samples were low in the district (Table

2). The fertility Index (F.I.) had recorded low in many mandals indicating low available N

status. The average F.I. value in the district is low (1.43). Hence, good response is obtained

to the application of the nutrient (Annual Reports of North-Coastal zone of A.P.). However,

caution should be taken to avoid indiscriminate use of N fertilizers which other-wise will

encourage excessive vegetative growth in ground nut and expose to more pests and disease

FERTILITY STATUS OF SOILS IN VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT

42

JAMUNA et al.

43

Fertility Status of Soils in Vizianagaram

44

incidence and cause lodging in crops like paddy which often observed in soils of North-

Coastal zone (Diagnostic survey reports of North-Coastal zone of A.P.). It is suggested that

the recommended dose of N fertilizer for the respective crops may be applied when the soil

test value is medium. The recommended N fertilizer dose may be reduced by 25% if the soil

testing is recorded as high. Similarly, if the soil test value is recorded low, the recommended

dose of fertilizer of that particular crop may be increased by 25%.

Soil available P2O

5 varied from very low of 2.5kg ha-1 to as high as 178.2kg ha-1 and

the fertility status as indicated through fertility index (F.I.) showed medium available P2O

5

status. The average F.I. value for available P2O

5 in the district is medium (2.02). The soil

was graded low with <22.5 kg ha-1 P2O

5 in 34.7% of the samples. The medium status with

available P2O

5 in the range of 22.5 to 50.0 kg ha-1 was in 28.8% of the samples. Rest of the

36.5% samples were rich with >50 kg ha-1 of available P2O

5. These results indicate the

cautious recommendation of phosphorus based on soli test values instead of following general

agronomic recommendations suggested for different crops. The non or over adoption of P

fertilizer, ignoring the native nutrient status in soil, lead to imbalance of nutrients in low P2O

5

status soils or induces other nutrient deficiencies like zinc in high P2O

5 status soils.

The following empirical formula given by Krishna Moorthy et al. (1963) may be followed

for scheduling P fertilizers to crops.

For Red soils :

Amount of P2O

5 to be added through fertilizer =

(Made up level of soil available P2O

5 – Initial soil test value of available P

2O

5) x 100

(100- 2 x Clay %)

For Black soils :

Amount of P2O

5 to be added through fertilizer =

(Made up level of soil available P2O

5 – Initial soil test value of available P

2O

5) x 100

(100- Clay %)

The available K2O content was high in >80% samples in the district, which showed

1.0%, 16.3% and 82.7% samples under low (<150 kg K2O ha-1), medium (150-250 kg K

2O ha-

1) and high (>250 kg K2O ha-1) category, respectively. The fertility status as indicated through

fertility index (F.I.) showed high available K2O status in all the mandals except in Garividi

mandal. The average F.I. value in the district for available K2O is high (2.82). However,

potash application is recommended to different crops in spite of having high available K2O

JAMUNA et al.

45

content in soils in the district. This is due to high K fixation capacity (70 %) of the soils.

Luxurious consumption of K by different crops, balanced nutrition of K with other major

nutrients of N and P and helping in mitigation of drought as rainfed is situation is mostly

prevailed in the district (Status report of N.C. zone).

REFERENCES

GILBERT R Muhr, N P DATTA H, SANKARA SUBRAMANI V K LELY and R Y L DONAHUE

1965 Soil test summaries, soil fertility map and their use. In : Soil testing in India. 2nd

Edition, published in United States Agency for International Development Mission to

India. New Delhi.

LACKSON M L 1967 Soil chemical analysis. PP 111-204 Asia publishing house, Bombay.

KRISHNA MOORTHY C H, NAIR K and JAYARAMAN N S 1963 J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci.

11 : 159-164.

SUBBA RAO A and SANJAY SRIVASTAVA 2001 Proceedings of National seminar on soil

testing for balanced and integrated use of fertilizers and manures. PP 2-10.

TANDON H L S and KINNO I J 1993 Balanced fertilizer use – its practical importance and

guidelines for agriculture. In the Asia Region FADINP, UN, New york.

WON VEXKULA and MUTERT 1992 Proc. Regional FADINAP seminar on fertilization and

environment, Chiang mai, Thailand.

Fertility Status of Soils in Vizianagaram

46

The learning and teaching have strong implication on each other. The narrower the

gap between teachers intention and learners interpretation, the greater the chances of achieving

desired learning out comes. Further, the studies have indicated that bridging the gap between

teachers and learners perceptions will maximize the class room experience (Waman, Girase

and Desai, 2000). Effective matching between teaching and learning styles can only be

achieved when teachers are aware of their students needs, capacities, potentials and learning

style preferences. Keeping this in view, a study was conducted to analyze the learning and

teaching styles of the students and faculty of Home science in ANG Ranga Agricultural

University.

Ex-post facto research design was adopted. The state of Andhra Pradesh, ANGRAU

and Home Science faculty were selected purposively. A total of 106 respondents i.e. 56 UG

Students , 18 PG students and 32 Faculty were selected as the sample of investigation.

Interview schedule was prepared to measure the learning style. It consists of four learning

styles i.e. active and reflective, sensing and initiative, visual and verbal and sequential and

global. The schedule consisted of 44 questions. A set of eleven questions represent each

style. For each question two options were computed i.e., a and b. The learner chose one

from the available options.

The learning style of the respondents was decided based on the maximum number

of selected options from the concerned set. In case of teaching style, instrument contains

25 items. A set of five items represent each style. The items were rated on a five point

continuum of agreement starting from strongly agree and ending with strongly disagree. The

teachers were placed in the appropriate style based on the average scores obtained in the

respective sets of statements. The maximum and minimum possible scores were 25 and

05. A maximum score of 25 and a minimum score of 06 was obtained in the study. The

respondents were divided into low, moderate and high categories. Frequnecies and

percentages were calculated and tabulated.

It was evident from table 1 that 75.00 per cent of the UG students were sequential

learners and 72.22 were visual learners. The percentage of sensing learners was 67.85 and

LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND FACULTYOF HOME SCIENCE IN ANG RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

V. SELVIYA AND CH. VENU GOPAL REDDYDepartment of Agricultural Extension

Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

Research NoteJ.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 42-45, 2008

47

62.50 per cent were active learners. Similarly, cent per cent of the PG students were visual

learners followed by sequential learners (94.44%), sensing learners (61.12%) and active

learners (72.23%). On the whole 79.73 per cent of the students were visual and sequential

learners while 66.21 per cent were sensing learners and 64.86 per cent were active learners

It is apparent from the table 2 that 40.62 per cent of the teachers had adopted expert

style while 25.00 per cent had formal authority style. A low proportion of 15.63 per cent

adopted the facilitator style and 12.50 per cent adopted the personal model style. Only 6.25

per cent of the teachers adopted the delegator style to teach the UG students. In case of PG

teaching, 43.75 per cent of the teachers had adopted expert style of teaching and 21.87 per

cent had formal authority style. The facilitator style was followed by 15.63 per cent of the

teachers and personal model style by 12.50 per cent while delegator style by 6.25 per cent.

It is revealed that majority of the students were visual learners followed by sequential

learners, sensing learners and active learners. Different cultures will facilitate development

of different learning styles. Right from the childhood, the students are given an opportunity to

learn things through strong visuals and feeling related stimuli. The teaching pattern is also

responsible for development of a typical learning preference. As the learners are stabilized in

this type of learning, the instruction should be designed to match this learning mode.

Sl. No. Learning styles U G students P G students Total students(n=56) (n=18) (N=74)

F % F % F %

1 Visual learners 41 73.22 18 100.00 59 79.73

2 Verbal learners 15 26.78 00 00.00 15 20.27

3 Sequential learners 42 75.00 17 94.44 59 79.73

4 Global learners 14 25.00 01 05.56 15 20.27

5 Sensing learners 38 67.85 11 61.12 49 66.21

6 Intuitive learners 18 32.15 07 38.88 25 33.79

7 Active learners 35 62.50 13 72.23 48 64.86

8 Reflective learners 21 37.50 05 27.77 26 35.14

Table 1 Distribution of home science students according to their learning styles

LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLES OF STUDENTS

48

S. No. Teaching Style UG classes PG classes

F % F %

1. Expert style 13 40.62 14 43.75

2. Formal authority style 08 25.00 07 21.87

3. Facilitator style 05 15.63 05 15.63

4. Personal model style 04 12.50 04 12.50

5. Delegator style 02 6.25 02 6.25

Total 32 100.00 32 100.00

Table 2 Teaching styles adopted by the home science teachers

An examination of results in table 3 indicated that 78.13 per cent of the teachers had

adopted high expert style of teaching and 21.87 per cent the moderate expert style in dealing

UG classes. Similarly, 75.00 per cent of the teachers had followed high expert style of teaching

and 25.00 per cent had moderate expert style in dealing PG classes.

Nearly sixty per cent (59.37%) teachers had followed moderate formal authority style

and 37.50 had high and low (03.13%) formal authority style in dealing UG classes. Similarly,

59.37 per cent of the teachers had adopted moderate formal authority style and 37.50 had

high and low (03.13%) formal authority style in dealing PG classes.

Equal per cent (50.00%) of the teachers had adopted high and moderate of personal

model style in dealing PG classes. Similarly, 53.13 per cent of the teachers had high personal

model style and 46.87 per cent had moderate personal model style in dealing UG classes.

Around fifty four per cent (53.13%) of the teachers had adopted moderate facilitator

style and high (43.74%) and low (03.13%) facilitator style in dealing UG classes. Similarly,

53.13 per cent of the teachers had followed moderate facilitator style followed by high (43.74%)

and low (03.13%) facilitator styles in dealing PG classes.

Three fourth (75.00%) of the teachers had adopted moderate delegator style followed

by high (15.62%) and low (09.38%) delegator styles in dealing UG classes. Similarly, 78.13

per cent of the teachers had followed moderate delegator style followed by high (15.62 %) and

low (06.25%) delegator styles in dealing PG classes.

It is inferred that forty three per cent of the teachers had expert style followed by

formal authority style, facilitator style, personal model style and delegator style. The probable

reason for this might be that the expert style might have the mastery of the subject, high

qualification, experience, large class size, course content and heavy work load and the facilitator

SELVIYA and REDDY

49

S. No. Teaching Style UG classes PG classes

F % F %

1. Expert style

High (19 - 25) 25 78.13 24 75.00

Moderate (12 - 18) 07 21.87 08 25.00

Low (5 - 11) 00 00.00 00 00.00

2. Formal authority style

High (19 - 25) 12 37.50 12 37.50

Moderate (12 - 18) 19 59.37 19 59.37

Low (5 - 11) 01 03.13 01 03.13

3. Personal model style

High (19 - 25) 16 50.00 17 53.13

Moderate (12 - 18) 16 50.00 15 46.87

Low (5 - 11) 00 00.00 00 00.00

4. Facilitator style

High (19 - 25) 14 43.74 14 43.74

Moderate (12 - 18) 17 53.13 17 53.13

Low (5 - 11) 01 03.13 01 03.13

5. Delegator style

High (19 - 25) 05 15.62 05 15.62

Moderate (12 - 18) 24 75.00 25 78.13

Low (5 - 11) 03 09.38 02 06.25

Table 3 Distribution of home science teachers according to their teaching style

style might be due to their exposure to trainings and seminars and differences in their social

settings, back ground, parental occupation and average workload.

REFERENCES

WAMAN G K, GIRASE K A and DESAI B R 2000. Aspiration and Employment of agriculturalgraduates. Maharastra Journal of Extension Education 19 : 141-144.

LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLES OF STUDENTS

50

The teachers are expert in their field of specialization. When they go to classroom

and begin to teach the students, it is necessary for them to know not only what material they

are going to present but also how to deal with students. Teachers may be specialists in their

fields, but they may not be experts in delivery system. The instructional delivery itself is a

highly developed field of specialization. It is a field, which has to be seriously looked into for

building competence among teachers and yielding positive results in learning quality.

Unfortunately, for many years, many things were taken for granted. They assumed that students

were passive beings in the class room and they are expected to listen patiently, carefully and

reverentially to what ever is being taught.

Home Science is concerned with subjects most intimately connected with daily

activities of the home maker such as food, clothing, shelter, finance, health, child care, home

decoration, family relationship, community service, fine arts including culture and religion. It

depicts the importance of home science education in making future home makers who are

going to build the society, with the changing needs in relation with advances in modern

technology (Bharathi, 1994). But the products from the home science colleges were unable to

cope up with the changes in modern technologies. Teachers of home science play an important

role in imparting latest knowledge and skills to the students. Keeping this in view, a study was

conducted to analyze the selected profile of the faculty of home science.

Ex-post facto research design was followed. The Home Science faculty in ANGR

Agricultural University was selected purposively. The data pertaining to the different variables

were collected from 32 faculty members with the help of interview schedule which was prepared

after a thorough review of the available literature, in consultation with experts in the field and

advisory committee. The characteristics of faculty such as cadre, working experience, work

load, level of training, scientific communication, job satisfaction, attitude towards profession,

attitude towards students were studied. In case of cadre, the respondents were categorized

into three groups viz; Professor, Associate and Assistant Professors. With reference to working

experience, work load, level of training, scientific communication and job satisfaction the

respondents were categorized into three groups viz; low, medium and high with score ranges.

Similarly, for attitude towards profession and students, the respondents were grouped into

favourable, neutral and unfavourable categories.

PROFILE OF FACULTY OF HOME SCIENCE IN ACHARYA N.G.RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

V. SELVIYA and CH. VENU GOPAL REDDYAcharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University,

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

Research NoteJ.Res. ANGRAU 36(1) 46 - 48, 2008

51

Sl. No. Cadre Frequency %

1. Professor 13 40.62

2. Associate Professor 13 40.62

3. Assistant Professor 06 18.76

Total 32 100.00

Table 1 Distribution of home science teachers according to their cadre

The distribution of the teachers showed that 40.62 per cent of the teachers were

Professors and Associate Professors where as 18.76 per cent of them were Assistant

Professors. (Table1).

The effective implementation of merit promotion and career advancement schemes

in the university resulted in more of Associate Professors and Professors.

S.No. Selected Low Medium High Total

F % F % F % F %

1 Working experience 4 12.50 12 37.50 16 50.00 32 100

2 work load 9 28.12 14 43.76 9 28.12 32 100

3 Level of training 20 62.50 7 21.87 5 15.63 32 100

4 Scientific communication 2 06.25 27 84.32 3 09.38 32 100

5 Job satisfaction 1 03.13 26 81.25 5 15.62 32 100

Table 2 Distribution of Home science teachers based on selected characteristics

It was apparent from Table 2 that 50.00 per cent of the teachers had high working

experience while 37.0 per cent of them had medium and 12.50 per cent had low working

experience.

Majority of the teachers were found to be middle and old aged, total experience

gained by them in teaching, research, extension and others put together could be high as they

were in service for several years.

The work load was medium for 43.76 per cent of the teachers. The work load was low

and high for 28.12 per cent of the teachers. It might be due to allotment of other duties like

assisting the administration in carrying out international, national seminars, conventions, village

adoption, writing reports, participation in other university activities and some clerical work.

Majority of 62.50 per cent the teachers had low level of training and 21.6 per cent had

medium while 15.63 per cent had high level of training. The ultimate cause for this could be

due to lack of sufficient staff and non filling up of the vacant posts, high cost involvement,

less opportunities and inconsistent policy of faculty improvement in the university.

PROFILE OF FACULTY OF HOME SCIENCE

52

Around eighty five per cent of the teachers acquired medium scientific communicationskill and only 9.38 per cent had high scientific communication and low scientific communication

(6.25%).

The demand for latest information is on higher side from the students and hence, theteachers need to access more learning resources to impart meaningful information / knowledge

to the students or else they will be branded as ineffective teachers. Strengthening of librarieswith more references and regular visits of technical experts to the colleges also helped theteachers to have better exposure to different sources.

Eighty one per cent of the teachers had medium job satisfaction. A 3.13 per cent hadlow job satisfaction and 15.62 per cent had medium satisfaction. The probable reason for thisis due to average organizational climate, praise and recognition for good work, cooperationfrom superiors, peers and subordinates.

S.No. Attitude Favorable Neutral Unfavorable TotalAttitude Attitude Attitude

F % F % F % F %

1. Attitude towards Profession 19 59.37 7 21.87 6 18.76 32 100

2. Attitude towards Students 19 59.37 5 15.63 8 25.00 32 100

Table 3 Distribution of home science teachers according to their attitude towards Pro-fession and Students

It was apparent from Table 3 that more than half of the teachers had favourableattitude (59.37%) followed by neutral (21.87%) and unfavourable attitude (18.76%) towardstheir profession This might be due to that the clerical assistance provided in their jobs as the

teachers are getting more opportunities for a prospective career, highly practical and serviceoriented, more challenging one for them. (Sharma and Singh 2001). About 60.0 per cent of theteachers had favourable attitude followed by unfavourable (25.00%) and neutral attitude(15.63%) towards students.

The maximum number of students are showing more interest in getting highest marks,punctual in attending to the classes, utilizing the library facilities and keeping good relationswith the teachers.

REFERENCES

BHARATHI P L V 1994. A study on the teaching effectiveness of teachers of APAU withspecial reference to Agriculture Faculty. M.Sc. Thesis submitted to Andhra PradeshAgricultural University, Hyderabad.

SHARMA and SINGH 2001. Job performance and job satisfaction of teachers and extensionpersonnel: A process study. British Journal of Educational Technology. Black wellPublishing 42 : 20.

SELVIYA and REDDY

53

As phloem feeders and major vectors of plant viruses, aphids are important pests of

agricultural crops worldwide. They are a perennial source of frustration to farmers and gardeners.

The pest status of these small insects is related to several features of their biology that

enable them to locate and exploit their host plants (Powell et. al., 2006). The sorghum aphid

(Melanaphis sacchari) (Zehntner) feeds on Poaceae, especially on Sorghum bicolor and is

widely distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of Africa, South America, Asia, Australia

and the Pacific Islands (Harten et al., 1994 and Commonwealth Institute of Entomology

(Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, 1981). The importance of Melanaphis sacchari as

a pest on sorghum results from its colonization when plants are two to three weeks old and

lowers yield by feeding on plant fluids. The sorghum aphid feeding at the basal leaves have a

strong influence on the mobility of mineral nutrients, amino compounds and carbohydrates in

the phloem. By feeding at these sites, Melanaphis sacchari alters the carbohydrate-partitioning

patterns of sorghum, suggesting that infestation might alter sink-source relationships within

the plant. Balikai et al (2001) reported that the losses due to Melanaphis sacchari on sorghum

varied between 12-26% and 10-13% with an overall loss of 16 and 15 % for grain and fodder

yield, respectively.The aphid further fouls the plant by secreting honeydew on leaves and

stems which serves as a substrate for sooty mold which hinders in photosynthetic activities

of the plant. An investigation was conducted to evaluate morpho-physiological characters of

sorghum involving biochemical analysis with direct or indirect effect on the incidence of aphid.

A field study was conducted during 2005/2006 rabi season at the College of Agriculture,

Rajendranagar 500 030 Hyderabad, India. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block

Design, with three replications. The plot size consisted of single rows of 4 m length with a

spacing of 60 cm between the rows and 10 cm between the plants for each genotype, in a

total area of 2197m2 . Different morphological characters of 60 sorghum genotypes viz., days

to 50% flowering, number of leaves per plant and plant height; N P K and chlorophyll content

ROLE OF MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICALCHARACTERS OF SORGHUM GENOTYPES ON THE INCIDENCE OF

APHID (Melanphis sacchari, (Zehntner) (Homoptera:Aphididae)

IBRAHIM FITIWY, T V K SINGH and J SATYANARAYANADepartment of Entomology

Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural UniversityRajendranagar, Hyderabad- 500 030

* E-mail: [email protected]


54

analysis were included in the screening for the direct or indirect effect towards yield reduction

by the sorghum aphid. The total number of days to 50% flowering of the genotypes were

recorded from sowing to the time when 50 % of the plants in the plot were at 50% anthesis

and the plant height was measured in cm from base of the plant to the tip of panicle at

maturity stage. The nitrogen content was estimated by Macro Kjeldhal method describ by the

AOAC (1970) using pelicans KELPLUS apparatus. Vanadomolybdo phosphoric yellow colour

method were used for estimating Phosphorus content in plant samples. The Potassium was

determined using the flame photometer (Muhr et al., 1963) The aphid population density was

recorded based on 1-9 ratings, from randomly selected five plant samples per plot. The scale

consists of 1 = no aphid; 9 = more than 500 aphids and heavy infestation (Balikai and Biradar,

2004).

The seed yield of sorghum genotypes recorded a significant and negative correlation

with the aphid score, plant damaging rate, chlorosis, days to 50 % flowering, chlorophyll and

nitrogen content (Table 1). This implies that these parameters are the predisposing variables

for the crop damage to produce low yield. Sorghum plants growing tall, producing more number

of leaves per plant and accumulating larger quantity of potassium were beneficial for the crop

to produce more seed yield since they established that these 3 variables had positive and

highly significant correlation coefficients. Mote and Shahane (1994) also referred that the

sorghum genotypes which grow tall in height and posses higher content of potassium had a

highly significant and negative correlation with aphid score with reduced susceptibility to the

sorghum aphid. The inter se correlations further established that these 3 variables had a

negative and highly significant correlation with aphid score, damaging rate, chlorosis and

days to 50% flowering.

Perusal of results indicated that the negative and highly significant cause of

improvement in seed yield by plant height of sorghum owes to its relatively low direct effect

(Table 2). However, the indirect influence of plant height with 50% days to flowering, chlorophyll

and nitrogen content together exerted positive influence of higher magnitude in improving the

seed yield. In line to this investigation, Mote and Jadhav (1993) and Mote and Shahane

(1994) reported that the development of aphid population and leaf sugary exudation was more

pronounced in sorghum genotypes having higher nitrogen, sugar, and chlorophyll content in

leaves.

The number of leaves per plant had a negative contribution (- 0.570) on the seed

yield. But this effect was counteracted and largely over compensated through the indirect

influence of improvement in days to 50% flowering, potassium and chlorophyll content in the

leaves and to a lesser extent through the plant height. The positive and highly significant

IBRAHIM FITIWY et. al.

55

ROLE OF MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL INCIDENCE OF APHID

56

IBRAHIM FITIWY et. al.

57

contribution of potassium on yield was largely through its direct and positive contribution of a

high magnitude (0.488) in addition to the indirect contribution via days to 50% flowering,

chlorophyll and nitrogen content. These results indicated that the selection of genotypes with

tall plant height, more number of leaves per plant and potassium content subdue the damaging

effect of aphids substantially and thereby reduce the yield losses.

REFERENCES

AOAC 1970. Official methods of analysis Edn. 11. Association of official AgriculturalChemists. Washington DC, USA P 174.

BALIKAI R A 2001. Bioecology and management of the sorghum aphid, Melanaphis sacchari:P h.D. Thesis, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Kamataka, India, 203 pp.

BALIKAI R A and BIRADAR B D 2004. Field evaluation of sorghum parental lines for resistanceto shootfly and aphid. Journal of Aphidology 17: 393-394.

CIE (Commonwealth Institute of Entomology) 1981. Sugarcane aphid (Melanaphis sacchari:Zehntner). Distribution Maps of Pests. Series A (Agriculture). Map No. 420, FarnhamRoyal, UK.

HARTEN A VAN L L HARCO F A and PRINSON J D 1994. A general guide to the aphids(Homoptera, Aphidoidea) of Yemen. German plant protection project, Sana’a. 73 pp

MOTE U N and JADHAV S S 1993 Seasonal occurrence of flea beetles, delphacids leafsugary exudation and aphids on rabi sorghum. Journal of Maharashtra AgnculturalUniversities. 18: 133-134.

MOTE U N and KADAM J R 1984. Incidence of (Aphis sacchari, Zent) in relation to sorghumplant characters Sorghum Newsletter, 27, 86.

MOTE U N and SHAHANE A K 1994. Biophysical and biochemical characters of sorghumvariety contributing resistance to delphacid, aphid, and leaf sugary exudation. IndianJournal Entomology 56 : 113-122.

MUHR G R, DATTA N P, SANKARA S N, DEVER F, LALEY V K, and DOMAHUE R R 1963.Soil testing in India, United States Agency for International Development Mission inIndia, New Delhi.

POWELL G, TOSH C R and HARDIE J 2006. Host plant selection by aphids: Behavioral,Evolutionary, and Applied Perspectives. Annual Review of Entomology 51:309-330.

SHARMA H C and NWANZE K F 1997. Mechanisms of resistance to insects in sorghum andtheir usefulness in Crop improvement. Information Bulletin no. 45. ICRISAT. 56pp.

ROLE OF MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL INCIDENCE OF APHID

58

Rauvolfia serpentina (2n = 22, Fam : Apocynaceae) is one of the important medicinal

plants. It is commonly referred as sarpagandha and is native of India. The usefulness of roots

of sarpagandha for the treatment of snake bite, insect stings, nervous disorders, interactable

skin disorders, etc has a history of 400 years in the country. The attention of western countries

was drawn after the isolation and identification of its most active alkaloid ‘reserpine’ which

has hypertensive properties. The other important alkaloids in sarpagandha roots are ajmalicine,

ajmalinine, rauvolfinine and yohimbine.

The seeds of sarpagandha have poor and slow germination due to stony endocarp

and abortive embryo. Hence, the present study was undertaken to study the effect of chemicals

and growth regulators on breaking the seed dormancy in sarpagandha. The experiment was

conducted on freshly collected sarpagandha seeds during July 2005 to October, 2005 in

Herbal Garden, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. There

were 12 treatments and three replication. Five hundred seeds were taken for each treatment

and soaked for 12 hours in the solutions of KNO3 @ 0.25% and 0.50%; GA

3 @ 50 ppm , 100

ppm and 150 ppm; NaCl @ 1% and 2%; scarification with concentrated sulphuric acid for 10

& 20 minutes, hot water (seeds were placed in boiling water and left as such for over night),

tap water and a control.

These seeds were sown in seed beds in randomized block design. The germination

count was recorded starting from the day of initiation till there was no fresh seed germination

continuously for two weeks. The seedlings were transplanted at the age of 45 days and

survival percentage was recorded one month after transplanting. The data were statistically

analyzed (Panse and Sukhatme, 1989) and presented in Table-1.

The results revealed that the best treatment was to soak the seeds for 12 hours in

G A3 100 ppm. Maximum germination of 42.66 % and survivability of 41.52 % seedlings were

recorded by this treatment. The germination commenced earliest in 17.00 days but took

63.00 days for completion.

EFFECT OF CHEMICALS AND PLANT GROWTH SUBSTANCES ONBREAKING OF SEED DORMANCY IN SARPAGANDHA (Rauvolfia

Serpentina (Linn.) Benth. Ex Kurz)

P. PONKUMAR, M. PADMA, M. RAJ KUMAR and T.Y. MADULETYDepartment of Horticulture, College of Agriculture,

Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural UniversityRajendranagar, Hyderabad-30


59

However, scarification of sarpagandha seed with concentrated sulphuric acid for 10

minutes also significantly improved the germination to 31 % compared to 9% in untreated

control. This treatment also hastened the germination process. Germination initiated early by

mean 17.33 days and completed by 59 days in contrast to 22.66 and 72.00 days in control.

The survival of seedlings so germinated was 30.06 % against 7.22 % in control.

The major obstacle in sarpagandha seeds for germination might be hormonal imbalance

and hard seed coat. Relatively low concentration of 50 or high of 100 ppm GA3 significantly

reduced the percentage of germination and survival of seedlings after transplanting. Since,

G A3 treated seeds performed well, it is sure that the increased ABA : GA ratio prevailed in

untreated sarpagandha seeds (Ho and Varmer, 1978). The earliness of GA3 treated seeds

might be due to early induction of protein a - amylase (which is the enzyme responsible for

Table 1 Effect of chemicals and growth regulators on seed germination and survivalof seedlings of sarpagandha

Treatments Number of Number of Germination Survivaldays for days for percentage percentage

initiation of completion of aftergermination germination transplanting

T1 - KNO

3 0.25% 18.66 58.00 22.33 (28.19) 18.38 (24.62)

T2 - KNO

3 0.50% 19.00 60.00 24.30 (29.54) 10.82 (18.32)

T3 - GA

3 50 ppm 17.33 64.00 26.00 (30.64) 24.52(28.48)

T4 - GA

3 100 ppm 17.00 63.00 42.66 (40.78) 41.52(40.12)

T5 - GA

3 150 ppm 18.33 58.00 27.00 (31.29) 24.88 (29.54)

T6 - NaCl 1% 21.33 60.00 20.00 (26.54) 19.46 (26.15)

T7 - NaCl 2% 21.33 62.00 21.33 (27.50) 20.26 (26.82)

T8 - Scarification with 17.33 59.00 31.00 (33.82) 30.06 (32.82)

H2S O

4 for 10 minutes

T9 - Scarification with 18.00 60.00 11.00 (19.35) 10.81 (19.02)

H2S O

4 for 20 minutes

T10 - Hot water treatment 21.66 71.00 15.66 (23.60) 13.80 (20.91)

T11- Presoaking in tap water 21.33 70.00 9.03 (17.52) 8.85 (17.21)

T12 - Absolute control 22.66 72.00 9.00 (17.44) 7.22 (16.33)

S E + 0.42 1.70 0.84 0.88

C D (5%) 0.88 3.52 1.74 1.78

Values in the parenthesis are arcsin transformed values

EFFECT OF CHEMICALS IN SARPAGANDHA

60

REFERENCES

BEWLEY J D and BLACK M 1994. Control of the Mobilization of stored reserves. Seedphysiology of development and germination, Plenum Press, New York 346-351.

BHUSE V H, LAD B L and GHULE S T 2001. Effect of various seed treatments for enhancementof seed germination and seedling vigour in senna (Cassia angustifolia). Research onCrops 2 (3) : 359-363.

HO D T and VARNER J E 1978. Response of barley aleurone layers of abscisic acid. PlantPhysiology 57 : 168-178.

MOORTHY K R, RAJENDRAN C and SIVASUBRAMANIAN S 2005 Seed treatment foralleviation of hard seeded ness in senna (Cassia angustifolia L.) Advances in PlantSciences 18 (1) : 429-430.

PANSE V G and SUKHATME P V 1989. Statistical methods for Agricultural workers. IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.

breakdown of complex starch into simple sugar and ATP for seed germination process) in

aleurone layer by forming m-RNA for protein (a - amylase) synthesis (Bewley and Black,

1994). Improved germination of acid scarified seeds revealed that seed coat has acted as a

barrier for germination. It was supported by Bhuse et al. (2001) and Moorthy et al. (2005).

It can be concluded that treating sarpagandha seeds with GA3 100 ppm and scarification

with concentrated sulphuric acid for 10 minutes were effective by recording early germination,

maximum germination and survival per cent.

PONKUMAR et. al.

61

Genetic Characterization and Evaluation of Diverse Cytoplasmic Male Sterile andRestorer Lines in Sunflower

Student : E. Pavani Major Advisor : Dr. M. Bharathi

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding

In sulflower (Helianthus annuus L.), the present investigation was carried out during Kharif, 2003 toSummr, 2004 at Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad. The four diverse CMS lines (CMS 234,DCMS 5, DCMS 41 and DCMS 42) were crossed with 25 inbred lines (100 crosses) in one set, to studyrestorer maintainer reaction and inheritance pattern of fertility restoration in fertile F

1s. In another set 14

common restorers were crossed with 4 diverse CMS lines (CMS 335, CMS 7-1, DCMS 41 and DCMS 42) tostudy Heterosis, combining ability, correlation and path analysis.

Nine inbreds were proved to be effective restorers for PET-1 while 15 inbreds behaved as maintainersand only one inbred showed partial restoration.

Fifty six F1s obtained from 4 lines and 14 testers were evaluated for along with their parents and

three standard checks. Significant heterotic effects were exhibited by majority of the hybrids.

The results of combining ability revealed the importance of non-additive gene action for seed yieldand yield contributing traits. The magnitude of average degree of dominance revealed over dominance wasthe cause of Heterosis for all the traits.

The traits stem diameter, head diameter, number of filled seed per head, oil yield/plant registeredhigh positive correlations with seed yield. The highest direct effect on seed yield were observed for the traitsoil yield per plant, oil content and 100-seed weight. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Studies on The Effect of Plant Density, Type of Cutting and Method ofPlanting on Growth and Yield of Medicinal Coleus

Student : Ch. Chandrasekhara Rao Major Advisor : S. Nagi Reddy

Department of Horticulture

The present experiment on “Studies on the effect of plant density, type of cutting and method ofplanting on growth and yield of medicinal coleus Coleus forskohlii (Willd) Briq]” was conducted during July2004 to January 2005 at Herbal garden, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. Thetreatments consisted of different plant densities, type of cutting and method of planting in two coleus lines. Theexperiment was laid in factorial randomized block design.

In the field experiment percentage of establishment was maximum in rooted cuttings of Chintapallilocal over unrooted cuttings of K-8 variety. And the tallest plants were observed with closer spacing of 60 x20 cm compared to wider spacings. Tallest plants were observed in rooted cuttings on ridge & furrow methodof planting over unrooted cuttings on flat bed method respectively.

Similarly, number of laterals per plant was highest in unrooted cuttings planted at wider spacing (60x 45 cm) in flat bed method of planting compared to rooted cuttings planted at closer spacings (60 x 20 and 60x 30 cm) on ridge & furrow method of planting respectively.

Abstracts of Theses Accepted for the Award of Post-Graduate andAbstracts of Theses Accepted for the Award of Post-Graduate andAbstracts of Theses Accepted for the Award of Post-Graduate andAbstracts of Theses Accepted for the Award of Post-Graduate andAbstracts of Theses Accepted for the Award of Post-Graduate andDoctorate Degrees in the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,Doctorate Degrees in the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,Doctorate Degrees in the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,Doctorate Degrees in the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,Doctorate Degrees in the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University,

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030

ABSTRACTS

62

Leaf area was maximum in Chintapalli local over K-8 variety till 60 DAP, but later K-8 varietyrecorded maximum leaf area.

Root to shoot ratio was maximum with rooted cuttings at a spacing of 60 x 30 cm on flat bed methodof planting. Similarly fresh weight of roots was highest at wider spacing. Dry root yield per acre was highestin rooted cuttings of K-8 variety planted in closer spacing on ridge & furrow method of planting. M.Sc(Ag) 2005.

Studies on the Effect of Post-harvest Application of Chemicals and GrowthRegulators in Extending Shelf Life of Mango

Student : N. Prasanna Lakshmi Major Advisor : Dr. D. Srihari


A set of three experiments on the effect of post harvest application of calcium compounds, growthregulators and combined effect of hot water dip + polyethylene bags on shelf-life and biochemical compositionof mango fruits stored at ambient temperature was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, ANGRAU,Rajendranagar. The shelf-life was increased in the fruits treated with calcium nitrate, benzyl adenine, GA

3 200

ppm and hot water dip at 50oC + polyethylene bags (100 or 200 gauge) due to delayed ripening when comparedto control at ambient temperature. The data on quality parameters like physiological loss in weight, totalsugars, titrable acidity, TSS also confirm the inhibitory effect on ripening with above treatments.

Post harvest dip treatment of mango fruits with Ca (NO3)2 1 per cent, both concentrations of BA (25

and 50 ppm), GA3 200 ppm and hot water dip at 50oC + 100 or 200 gauge polyethylene delayed the ripening

through retared activities of amylase, catalase and polyphenol oxidase which delay the startch breakdown,respiration, browning respectively.

Mango fruits treated with BA 50 ppm as post-harvest dip recorded the highest shelf-life (18.59 days)at ambient temperature. M.Sc (Ag.) 2005

Integrated Nutrient Management with Nitrogenous Fertilizer and CastorCake in Onion Cv. Nasik Red N-53

Student : D. Saritha Major Advisor : Dr. P. Veeranna Goud


A field experiment entitled “Integrated nutrient management with nitrogen fertilizer and castor cakein onion cv Nasik Red N-53” was conducted during kharif 2002-2003 at Student Farm, College of Agriculture,Rajendranagar. The treatment consisted of 4 levels of castor cake (0,4,6 and 8 t/ha) and 4 levels of nitrogen0, 50, 75 and 100 per cent recommended dose. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block designwith factorial concept replicated thrice.

The result revealed that the growth parameter viz., plant height, number of leaves plant-1, leaf areaplant-1, leaf and bulb dry matter increased with increase in castor cake levels of castor cake and nitrogen,castor cake at 8 t ha; 100 per cent recommended dose of nitrogen (150 kg N/ha). Among the different levelsof castor cake and nitrogen, castor cake at 8 t ha-1; 100 per cent recommended dose of nitrogen (150 kg/ha)recorded the highest plant height, more number of leaves plant-1, higher leaf area plant-1, higher leaf and bulbdry matter over rest of the treatments.

The organic carbon content in soil increased with the decrease in the level of castor cake from 4 to8 t ha-1 but increases with the increase in the level of nitrogen.

ABSTRACTS

63

The higher net returns were recorded with castor cake at 4 t ha-1 combined with 100 per centrecommended dose of nitrogen.

The results of this experiment revealed that the castor cake at 6 t ha-1 combined with 75 per centrecommended dose of nitrogen was found to be optimum for obtaining higher bulb yield and quality onions withhigher TSS and sulphur content. M.Sc(Ag.) 2005

Environmental Impact of Biogas Generation from Poultry Litter

Student : R. Anuradha Major Advisor : Dr. (Mrs).P. Prabhu Prasadini

Department of P.G. Programme on Environmental Science and Technology

Poultry dropping are available in India to the extent of 3.6 million tonnes per annum. Poultry droppingscontain high moisture, rich in organic matter and nitrogen. Poultry litter is associated with fly menace,offensive odour in and around the farm particularly during high humid conditions. Use of poultry droppings asmanure for crops, feed for poultry birds and fish may result in air, water and land pollution and also spreaddiseases because of the presence of microorganisms like Salmonella sps and E. coli. But, for its high organicmatter and nutrient content processing it for utilization is a better option than disposal.

One of the options of utilization is biogas generation by digesting the droppings anaerobically. AKVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission) model biogas plant of 6 m3 capacity with 50 hydraulicretention time was commissioned under the MNES R & D Project at Poultry Experimental Station of LivestockResearch Institute, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad.

Moisture content was highest in biogas slurry (90.5%) and lowest in the dried biogas slurry (6.2%)and in poultry droppings it ranged between 60.9 to 70.3% with in the time interval of 48 hours. In poultrydroppings and biogas slurry the pH was neutral and in the dried biogas slurry it was moderately alkaline.

The microbial assay indicated the presence of pathogens such as Salmonella sps and E. coil inpoultry droppings.

Air quality analysis was done for CO, CO2, NH

3, H

2S and CH

4 gases in the poultry shed and near the

biogas plant. Concentrations of CO2 and NH

3 gases were observed in higher levels in side the poultry shed

compared to the biogas plant.

Direct benefits of biogas generation from poultry manure include biogas production and biogasslurry as manure. Indirect benefits such as odour control, absence of fly/maggots menace, absence ofpathogens viz., Salmonella sps and E. coli, low methane and ammonia emissions , make the technique eco-friendly. M.Sc(Ag.) 2005

Effect of Sewage and Effluent Water on Paragrass in Musi River Bed-problemAnalysis Using G Tools

Student : B. Urmila Devi Major Advisor : Dr. T. Ramesh

Department of Bioresources Management

The present study titled “Effect of sewage and effluent water on paragrass in Musi river bed -problem analysis using GIS tools” was undertaken to assess the impact of disposed sewage on water, soiland uptake of pollutants and heavy metals by paragrass.

Soil, water and paragrass samples were collected from eleven locations from the Musi river bed andanalysed for physico-chemical and chemical characteristics viz., micronutrients and heavy metals.

ABSTRACTS

64

The sewage water was neutral to slightly alkaline with pH ranging from 6.11 to 7.62. Soils studiedwere slightly alkaline in reaction with pH ranging from 7.05 to 7.84. Electrical conductivity ranged from 1.36 to1.74 dS m-1 and 0.25 to 1.56 dS m-1 in sewage water and soils, respectively. Though the pH of the water waswithin the permissible range for irrigation purpose its EC values indicate that the water belonged to C

3 category

and could be used for irrigation with restrictions.

Nutrient status was assessed with respect to micro nutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn) and heavy metals(Pb, Ni, Cd, Cr). Zn content in sewage water was below the detectable limit at all the locations. Soil samplesanalysed for Zn showed concentrations above permissible limits in nine locations. Fe content of the sampleswas above the permissible limit and these values were spatially represented on map Mn content in sewagewater, soil and paragrass were 1.5, 21.61 and 203.49 mg 1-1. The values recorded were above the permissiblelimits.

Four heavy metals Pb, Ni, Cd and Cr were estimated in the collected samples. Pb contents ofsewage water, soils and paragrass were 0.27, 6.14 and 60.33 mg 1-1 respectively. Pb contents in sewagewater were above the recommended level (0.05 mg/1) for use of sewage water for irrigation. The lead contentwas high at the upstream locations i.e., from Sangham to Puranapul both in water and soil. However, it washigh in paragrass at all locations, indicating its potential extraction of Pb from polluted soils when soil Pb wasmore than 1.86 mg 1-1. Ni content recorded in sewage water was above the permissible limit at only twolocations. However, it was above the permissible limit in soil and paragrass at nine locations. Mean Cdcontent in sewage water (0.02 mg/1), soil (0.65 mg/1) and paragrass (3.93 mg/1) in all the locations studiedwere above the normal average values of 0.005, 0.1 and 3.2 mg1-1, respectively. Cadmium in water wasrelatively high at upstream location over others reflecting the same trend in associated soils.

In general, Karvan and Jiyaguda were found to be the most polluted locations studied.

The dissolved salt content of the Musi river water indicated that it can be used for irrigation withrestrictions. Nutrient concentration in most of the locations studied was above the permissible limit whichpredisposes the sewage water and soil for biomagnifications in the cultivated paragrass samples. Paragrasscan be used as a component of phytoremediation of soils polluted with lead and cadmium. The sewage waterfrom drains needs to be treated in sewage plants and then let out into the river for use. M.Sc (Ag.) 2005

Quality and Storage Stability of Rts Beverage from Bael and Citrus Fruit Blends

Student : Shilpa Nagpal Major Advisor : Dr. (Mrs) P. Rajyalakshmi

Department of Food Science and Technology

Many tropical fruits, which are rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, are under utilized and lackpopularity. For most of them there is no organized orcharding and little is known about their uses. These fruitscan play an important role in satisfying the demand for variety of products with attractive organoleptic qualitiesand high therapeautic value. A number of processed products can be developed from them, which will add tothe existing product range.

Beal (Aegle marmelos Correa) is one such fruit, which is highly accredited in our country since pre-historic times for its medicinal importance. However, it lacks popularity and is not consumed freely in the freshfrom due to the presence of mucilage and oil glands and also owing to its astringent taste. The pulp ifprocessed can be better utilized in the preparation of products of commercial importance. As there is agrowing demand for health drinks based on indigenous fruits, the pulp may be used for the preparation of RTSbeverages through blending with seasonal citrus fruit juices.

In the present study, bael fruits were collected from the trees available in ARI campus, Rajendranagar,Hyderabad during the peak season from March - June 2005 and their physical characteristics were examined.

The pulp was extracted by mixing the edible portion with an equal amount of water (w/v), blending ina mixie and straining through 20 mesh stainless steel sieve to obtain thick pulp free from seeds and fibre.

ABSTRACTS

65

The extracted pulp was blended with the juice of seasonal fruits like lime, mandarin orange, sweetorange and pineapple in varied proportions for formulation of RTS beverages. A total of 12 blends wereprepared and evaluated for sensory attributes viz. colour/appearance, consistency, taste, flavour and overallacceptability.

Based on their organolepetic quality and the acceptable level of incorporation of bael pulp, twoblends of bael : lime (40 : 60 and 50 : 50 proportions) and one each of bael : mandarin orange (30 : 70) and bael: sweet orange : pineapple (20 : 40 : 40) were selected for further study.

The physico-chemical parameters of all the beverages showed a significant change during storage.Organopletic evaluation of the blends showed that bael : sweet orange : pineapple was adjudged as the bestblend due to its high scores for taste, flavour and overall acceptability followed by bael : lime blends of 40 : 60and 50 : 50 proportions and bael : mandarin orange blend.

No significant change was observed in the colour and consistency of the beverages on storagewhereas the taste, flavour and overall acceptability showed a gradual decrease by the end of storage.However, all the samples scored as acceptable even after storage for two months.

The microbial analysis of the samples revealed a low microbial count in all the samples indicating thatthey were safe for consumption.

The study reveals that bael fruit, valued for its medicinal and health benefits can be suitably processedfor making acceptable RTS fruit juice blends with various seasonal fruits.

Agricultural Weather Forecasting, Impact and Analysis in Andhra Pradesh

Student : K. Ravi Shankar Major Advisor : Dr. Pochaiah Maraty

Department of Extension Education

The present study was undertaken with the main objectives of understanding the profile ofrespondents, analyse and document the traditional means of weather forecasting, sources of information onweather forecasting, impact of weather forecasting in terms of decision making and extent of adoption andproblems and suggestions experienced by the respondents in adopting the weather forecasting.

An ex-post facto research was followed to conduct the study in Ananthapur, Rangareddy andVisakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. A total of 180 farmers (respondents) were drawn using randomnumbers technique. Sixteen independent variables i.e., age, education, farming experience, extension contact,mass media exposure, farm size, market orientation, Knowledge of weather, innovativeness, scientific orientation,economic motivation, attitude towards forecast information, achievement orientation, value orientation, level ofaspiration and risk orientation and two dependent variables i.e., decision making behaviour and extent ofadoption of agricultural weather forecasting were included in the study. Secondary data regarding rainfall,occurrence of drought was considered in the study. Statistical procedures like frequency and percentages,mean standard deviation, correlation and multiple linear regression were employed to analyze and interpretthe data.

Majority of the respondents were old, with no education, having 21-30 years farming experience,with medium extension contact, mass media exposure, small holdings, high market orientation, mediumknowledge of weather, innovativeness, high scientific orientation, medium economic motivation, neutral attitudetowards weather forecast, medium achievement orientation, high value orientation, medium level of aspirationand high risk orientation.

About 66 bio and non-bio indicators for rain forecasting were documented from the respondents andwere detailed with scientific explanation. The common bio indicators for rain prediction in the selected districtswere movement of dragon flies, jumping cattle, poultry inserting feathers in the soil, flocking of sheep and goatsand singing by black cuckoo bird.

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Majority of the respondents possessed medium decision making behaviour and extent of adoptionof agricultural weather forecasting.

There was no significant difference among all the four panchangs in predicting rain for Ananthapurdistrict. Rainfall prediction by panchang P

4 was found to be reliable for Rangareddy and Visakhapatnam

districts. Drought prediction by panchang P1 was accurate nine out of ten years for Ananthapur district. P

4

was accurate all ten years for Rangareddy district and six years for Visakhapatnam district respectively.

Correlation analysis revealed that weather knowledge, innovativeness, scientific orientation, attitude,value orientation and risk orientation had positive and significant relationship with both decision makingbehaviour and extent of adoption.

Majority of the respondents considered ‘absence of location specific weather forecasts’ as themajor problem in adopting weather forecasting followed by ‘poor reliability of weather forecasts’, ‘failure ofmajority of weather forecasts’, and ‘no proper extension service in weather forecasting’.

‘Require location specific weather forecasts by improving infrastructure like installing rain gauges atvillage level’, ‘improve credibility / trustworthiness of weather forecasts with proper accountability’, ‘improveaccuracy of weather forecasts by updating frequently’ and ‘improve extension service ice in weather forecastinglike frequent visits by extension personnel along with use of different teaching materials and methods’ were themajor suggestions given by the respondents in adopting weather forecasting.

Assessment and Value Addition to Maize Husk Fibre

Student : P. Usha Joythi Major Advisor : Dr. (Mrs.) A. Sarada Devi

Department of Textiles & Clothing

Maize (Zea Mays Linn.) belongs to the family Graminae and sub family Panicoideae, tribe Maydeae.The “husk” portion of the maize fruit which contains fibre is thrown as agricultural waste after the harvest.

The structure was investigated using Scanning Electron Microscope. Fibre length was measured inthe form of linear density using Mettler Balance. Instron tensile tester was used for determining the strengthof single fibres. A simple torsional pendulum was used to measure the modulus.

The fabric sample were tested for the fabric parameters like fabric count which was measured byPick glass: fabric thickness by Shirley thickness gauge; fabric weight by Quadrant balance. Tensile strengthwas measured using STATIMAT - 4 tensile tester and tear strength was tested using Martindale abrasiontester. The stiffness of the fabric was determined using Shirley’s cantilever tester and the crease recoveryangle was determined using Crease recovery tester. The drapability of the fabric was determined usingDrapemeter.

The fibres showed longitudinal striations, which were the ultimate fibrils. Each fibril was multi cellularand showed amorphous and oriented molecular arrangement. The length of the fibre was shorter whencompared to other monor vegetable fibres. Initial modulus was lower when compared to cotton, but hadgreater extensibility.

The blended yarn Y2 was more even when compared to yarn Y

1. The number of thin places, thick

places and neps were more in yarn Y1 when compared to Y

2.

The blended fabric F1 was thick and heavier than the fabric F2. Tensile load taken up by both thefabrics was similar. But the tenacity of Fabric F1 was less than fabric F2 due to the heaviness of the fabric.

It was concluded that maize husk fibre with medium tenacity, good extensibility, required flexibilityetc. is suitable for textile purpose.

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The data on thickness, weight, abrasion resistance, drape coefficient and crease recovery etc. ofthe blended fabrics ensure that maize husk fibre is much suitable for textiles. Good crease recovery andbetter drape were observed in these fabrics, which contribute more for better hand of the fabrics.

Molecular Polymorphism in Parents of Interspecific Hybrids BetweenOryza Sativa and Oryza Nivara

Student : G. Deva Prasad Major Advisor : Dr. N. Sarala

Department of Agricultural Biotechnology

As part of a study to map yield enhancing QTLs from O.nivara and introgress them into varieties,hybrids were obtained using Swarna (O.sativa) as female and two O. nivara accessions as male parents.IRGC 81832 (SL - 11) from Bihar and IRGC 81842 (SL - 12) from Uttar Pradesh were selected based on theirmolecular diversity and vigour.

10 RAPD primers were screened and 3 showed polymorphism. 10 ISSR, primers were screenedand two showed polymorphism. 44 of the 48 F1 plants were identified as true hybrids using molecular markerswhich were specific to the male parent (O. nivara). These were 4 and 3 bands amplified by ISSR primers UBC811 and UBC 834, respectively and one band each amplified by the three RAPD primers OPA 7, OPA 10 andOPB2. These can be used as diagnostic markers for hybrid confirmation. The polymorphic markers betweenO. sativa and O. nivara will be useful in studies on QTL mapping and assessing gene flow wild rice to cultivatedand vice versa.

Large Sclae Production of Cry 1aa Plants in Sorghum

Student : Kavitha, A. Major Advisor : Dr. G. Anuradha


Sorghum is an important dryland crop used as food, feed and fodder. The increasing shift in thedemand for sorghum from staple food to industrially preferred commodity in poultry, bakery and brewingindustries requires large scale production according to the needs of different sectors. Therefore, it is importantto develop and deploy novel technologies such as genetic transformation to increase the grain quality andresistance to pests that are difficult to breed by conventional means. Two principal methods viz., Agrobacteriuminfection and particle bombardment were used for genetic transformation. In vitro response of sorghum waslow, monocalcitrant and was highly genotype dependent. AgNO

3 and CuSO

4 were effective in controlling the

bacterial growth. Gus expression was studied in cotransformation experiments using two individual genesviz., pDM805 and pCAMBIA 3300 cry 1Aa. Gus results revealed that they were independeltly transformedwithout influencing each other. A non tissue culture approach was done to produce transformants at largescale. Though transient gus expression was present in the immature embryos, mature seeds were notselected in basta screening. Putative transformants were evaluated through basta spray tests and PCRanalysis using bar and Cry 1B primers. Results of basta swab test were in agreement with PCR results.

Isolation and Characterization of Microsatellites in Mango (Mangifera Indica L.)

Student : Mohd. Azeemuddin Major Advisor : Dr. J. Nagaraju


This study represents the first Indian effort in isolation of microsatellites from Mango (Mangiferaindica L.) Microsatellites were isolated by the selective hybridization method in which DNA fragments containingrepeat motifs specific to repeat probe used in hybridization were captured.

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Genomic DNA was isolated from flushing tender leaves and digested with Sau3A restriction enzyme.Digested DNA was dephosphorylated, size selected from 300-1000 bp to which Sau3A ds linkers were ligated.The linker ligated genomic digest was hybridized against biotinylated repeat oligo and eluted microsatelliteenriched DNA fragments were enriched by PCR using sau3A primer. Enriched fragments were cloned in pCR2.1 TA cloning vector and transformed into INV∝F competent cells. Totally 120 white colonies were screenedand the clones having insert size above 300 bp were selected and sequenced. Of the 75 clones sequenced,25 were found to be positive for microsatellites.

Of the 25 microsatellites 16 were dinucleotide repeats, 6 were trinucleotide repeats, only one tetranucleotide repeat and 2 imperfect was captured. To the captured microsatellites primers were designed andstandardized. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Combined Effect of Dietary Aflatoxin and Ochratoxin on Serum Biochemical Profilein Broilers and Their Amelioration Using Adsorbents

Student : Jayasri A. Major advisor : Dr. G.V. Narasa Reddy

Department of Veterinary Science

Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A were produced from A. parasiticus and A. ochraceus respectively andquantified using TLC method. Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A were mixed with the broiler diet to attain a concentrationof 1 ppm and 2 ppm, respectively. Activated charcoal at 0.4 per cent level and / or lyophilized yeast culture at0.2 per cent level were selected for testing their efficacy in ameliorating the combined toxicosis in broilerchicks.

Four diets for broilers were prepared – 1) toxin free basal diet (control), 2) basal diet + aflatoxin (1ppm) + ochratoxin A (2 ppm), 3) basal diet + aflatoxin (1 ppm) + ochratoxin A (2 ppm) + activated charcoal(0.4%) and 4) basal diet + aflatoxin (1 ppm) + ochratoxin A (2 ppm) + activated charcoal (0.4%) + lyophilizedyeast culture (0.2%). Each of these diets were fed to 4 groups of broiler chicks with 4 replicates of eight birdseach in a completely randomized design for 6 weeks to study their effect on growth, biochemical profile andvital organs.

The birds fed with diet 2 recorded significantly (P < 0.01) lower weight gains and feed consumptionas well as low levels of serum proteins, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, BUN, calcium and phosphorous.Significantly (P < 0.01) higher F.C.R, serum bilirubin, uric acid, creatinine, AST, ALT, ALP and GGT wereobserved on diet 2 compared to control diet.

Degenerative changes in liver and kidney, germinal center depletion in spleen, cystic space inbursa of Fabricius and disruption of cardiac muscle fibers in heart were observed on histopathology in birdsfed with diet 2 supporting the biochemical study.

The birds on diet 3 containing aflatoxin, ochratosin A and activated charcoal recorded significant (P< 0.01) improvement in biochemical parameters as compared to diet 2 but significantly (P < 0.01) muchdifferent from diets 4 and 1.

The birds fed on diet 4 containing aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, activated charcoal and yeast culture haveshown significant (P < 0.01) improvement in the body weights, feed consumption, serum proteins, glucose,cholesterol, triglycerides, bilirubin, BUN, calcium and phosphorous and reduced levels of uric acid, creatinine,AST, ALT, ALP and GGT as compared to diets 2 and 3 but significantly (P < 0.01) different from control diet.Mild dilatation of sinusoidal spaces in liver, very mild degenerative changes in tubular epithelium, lymphoidfollicles with regeneration in bursa of Fabricius and no lesions of pathological significance in spleen and heartwere observed in birds fed with diet 4 reflecting the biochemical study.

The results of this study revealed that inclusion of activated charcoal at 0.4 per cent has partialprotective effect against combined toxicity in broilers whereas activated charcoal at 0.4 per cent and yeast

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culture at 0.2 per cent in combination has complementary effect in ameliorating the combined toxicity inbroilers. Though, the combination of activated charcoal and yeast culture is more effective in ameliorating thecombined toxicity as compared to activated charcoal alone, they also could not completely ameliorate thecombined toxicity in broilers.

A Study on the Antioxidant Actions of Fish Oil & Vit.e + Selenium in Broilers

Student : Susmita Rout Major advisor : Dr. A. Gopala Reddy

Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology

The antioxidant potentials of fish oil and vitamin E + selenium was assessed for prophylactic andtherapeautic management of free radical induced damage in an experimental model of oxidative stressinduced by an ionophorous coccidiostat, maduramicin, at a toxic level of 8 ppm in feed.

Antioxidant enzyme levels and biochemical parameters were significantly altered, and thehistopathological studies revealed separation of muscle fibre bundles in the myocardium and areas of necrosisin the liver in the maduramicin toxic control. These parameters were normal in the controls (groups 1,3 and4), and other groups that were given fish oil and vit E + Se either prophylactically or therapeutically (groups5,6,7, and 8).

Thus, it is concluded that fish oil and vit E + Se were effective as antiosicants in preventing andcountering oxidative stress by facilitating restoration of antioxidant defence mechanism. Hence, theirsupplementation would reduce the incidence of economic losses due to stress. Beneficial effect of fish oil maybe attributed to the presence of omega-3 fatty acids. (M.Sc) 2005

Effect of Processed Paddy Straw Based Complete Diets on Performance andNutrient Utilization in Growing Lambs

Student : Panch Ratan Singh Nagi Major Advisor : Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy

Department of Animal Nutrition

Paddy straw ground with different sieves (8 mm, 12 mm and 16 mm) was incorporated in completediet (35%) as a sole roughage source and was compared with conventional feeding (Concentrate mixture andchopped jowar straw fed separately). These three complete diets and conventional diet were randomlyallotted to 32 growing lambs (3-4 month of age, 12.37 + 0.11 kg) with eight lambs in each group in a growth trial(180 days) to assess the growth performance, efficiency of nutrient utilization, rumen fermentation pattern,carcass characteristics and cost economics.

The digestibility of OM, CP, CF and EE were significantly (P < 0.01) higher on complete dietscompared to conventional diet. The digestibility of DM, NFE was similar among all the diets. No significant (P> 0.05) difference was observed in DM, CF, NFE and EE digestibility among the complete diets whereas CPdigestibility was highest (79.75%) when fed complete diet 8PS compared to 12PS (75.09%) and 16PS (75.54%).The Ca and P retention was similar on all the diets, whereas nitrogen retention was significantly (P < 0.01)higher on complete diets than conventional diet. The daily intake of DM, CP, DCP and TDN were significantly(P<0.01) higher on complete diets than conventional diet.

The dressing percentage of lambs fed complete diet 8 PS either on live weight basis or on emptybody weight basis was highest with higher ratio of non-edible to edible meat. The yields of wholesale cuts weresimilar among all the groups. In spite of higher processing cost of complete diets than conventional diet, thecost of feeding per kg live weight gain was lower on complete diets which ranged from Rs. 56.27 (complete diet8 PS) to 63.71 (16 PS) compared to 67.41(conventional diet) due to better nutrient utilization. Paddy straw

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ground with 8mm sieve was optimum for obtaining higher growth rate and nutrient utilization in growing lambs.(3) The complete diet was economical and resulted in higher performance compared to conventional systemof feeding. (M.Sc) 2005

Development of Suitable Technology to Enhance Keeping Quality of Complete Feed

Student : S. Gobinath Major Advisor : Dr. D. Narsimha Reddy

Department of Animal Nutrition

The present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of storage period, storage material,preservatives and processing methods on keeping quality of roughage based complete diets using thenutrient content, aflatoxin level, microbial and insect load as the criteria.

Among the proximate constitutuents, the OM, EE and NFE (%) content were decreased significantly(P<0.05) from 87.62, 3.45 and 50.04 to 87.59, 3.41 and 50.01 at the end of 1 month, 87.51, 3.33 and 49.84 atthe end of 2 months, respectively. After 2 months DM content also decreased significantly (P<0.05) along withIM, EE and NFE content. The aflatoxin B

1 (ppb), bacterial and fungal count (log CFU/g feed) of complete

feeds stored for 5 months were significantly (P<0.05) increased from 13.19, 4.97 and 4.07 to 17.85, 5.10 and4.16 at the end of 1 month, 26.17, 5.57 and 4.40 at the end of 2 months, 43.70, 6.23 and 5.22 at the end of 3months, 75.07, 7.36 and 6.52 at the end of 4 months and 75.07, 8.83 and 7.53 at the end of 5 months,respectively, irrespective of storage structures, preservative and processing methods.

The DM, CP, EE, CF, NDF (%) content and insect count (No/100 g feed) of complete feeds storedwith no preservative, calcium preservative, calcium propionate and neem oil were 87.79, 87.79 and 88.07;14.20, 14.21 and 14.01; 2.78, 2.79 and 4.08; 20.77, 20.77 and 20.68: 33.46, 33.46 and 33.39 and 8.26, 8.11and 3.66, respectively.

The DM (88.14%), OM (87.40%), EE (3.24%) and NFE (49.55%) content were significantly (P<0.05)higher in pelleted feed than the mash form of complete feed (87.65, 87.24, 3.19 and 48.95 per cent, respectively),irrespective of storage period, structure and preservative used.

Hence, keeping in view the nutrient losses, change in CP content, aflatoxin level, microbial andinsect load, it was concluded from the present study that complete feeds can be stored up to 2 months forfeeding of livestock. It is advantageous to store SFH based complete diet in pelleted form than in mash formthat to in HDPE woven bags than in gunny bags. Between preservatives calcium propionate is effective incontrolling microbial load and aflatoxin production whereas neem oil is effective in controlling insects and to alesser extent microbial load and aflatoxin production.(MV.Sc) 2005

Molecular Analysis of Transgenic Groundnut for Drought Tolerance Genes

Student : S. Neelima Major Advisor : Dr. K. Manorama


Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important legume cash crop whose crop productivity andyield stability are affected by abiotic stresses such as drought. Drought is a complex phenomenon. Researchin transgenic crops may offer new means to improve agricultural particularly in dry areas, as genes specificallyinvolved in response to drought have been identified.

Transgenic groundnut plants (rd29A: DREBIA) tolerant to drought, were initially evaluated for theexpression of npt II and DREB 1 A genes through PCR and RT-PCR. The plants positive for npt II gene weresubject to water stress conditions using a typical dry-down procedure (Ritchie 1980; Sinclair and Ludlow,1986; Ray and Sinclair, 1997) in P2 level containment greenhouse. Differential display studies were carried

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out using 20 RT-PCR positive plants for DREB 1A gene. Twenty drought stress-responsive partial cDNAswere initially identified by comparing expression profiles between water stressed transgenic and non-transgenicplants by means of differential display. Among these 9 were newly expressed (induced), 5 were up-regulatedand 6 were down-regulated.

Interestingly, the sequence analysis of 8 differentially expressed clones identified that the ESTfunction of 4 cDNA clones was similar to that of stress related genes. Two were similar to that of cold stress,one to that of water stress and one to abiotic stress. The function of the remaining four clones was not known.This indicates that many of the abiotic stress responsive pathways may be interlinked. For the clonesidentified to be differentially expressed in response to drought, their stress-regulated expression and functionneeds to be confirmed and investigated further. The transcripts identified in this study also have greatpotential as molecular markers. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Molecular Analysis of Transgenic Groundnut for Drought Tolerance Genes

Student : Shobha Rani. V Major Advisor : Dr. K. Manorama


Transgenic sorghum plants resistant to stem borer, were evaluated for the expression of bar andCry IB genes through Basta spray tests, PCR and southern analysis. Objective of the current study is todevise Basta spray tests in young plants i.e., before 21d and prior to insect bioassays and, correlate them withPCR, Southern blots and insect bio-assays using transgenic progeny plants carrying CryIB gene. Thus0.006% w/v GA was used to evaluate the transgenic (T

1) progeny at 15d, 25d and 0.01% w/v GA was used

at 35d. Like wise an increased concentration of GA i.e., 0.04% at 45d and 60d was used for screeningtransgenic plants. Trangenic plant progeny in genotype CS3541 of event 23-1, were used for evaluation withBasta spray at five plant growth stages, PCR and insect bioassays under natural infestation. A strongcorrelation between PCR and dead hearts was observed. Since sorghum is one of the most difficult plantspecies to manipulate through tissue culture and transformation, In planta method of transformation thatexcludes all tissue culture works proves to be a promising technology for producing more transgenic plantsin future.

M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Genetic Transformation of Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor L.moench) forAbiotic Stress Tolerance Using Glyoxalase I Gene

Student : A. Sowjanya Seema Major Advisor : Dr. M. Maheshwari


Sorghum is the major grain crop in semi arid tropics. Until recently the genetic improvement ofsorghum for abiotic stresses has been carried out through traditional plant breeding methods. Non-availabilityof efficient transformation techniques is one of the limitations for the application of biotechnology for geneticimprovement of this crop. Present investigation was aimed at developing transgenic sorghum with glyoxalaseI gene through microprojectile mediated gene transfer.

Sorghum shoot apices isolated from 3 days old seedlings were used as explant to induce calli on MSmedium containing 2,4-D and kinetin. Thirteen days old calli were bombarded with gly I gene construct. Theputative Transgenics were selected and maintained till rooting on hygromycin selection pressure. PCRverification of putative transgenics was done using nptII, hpt and gly I primers. The amplification productsobtained were 1050 bp, 350 and 558 bp respectively, confirming the presence of nptII, hpt and gly I genes.

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Studies on Genetics and Molecular Markers for Fertility Restorer Gene/S forWa-cytoplasm of Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

Student : Sheeba. N.K. Major Advisor : Dr. S. Sivaramakrishnan


Information on the genetics of fertility restoration in a cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system ishelpful in the selection of restorer lines used in hybrid breeding programs. In the present investigationgenetics of fertility restoration for Wild Abortive (WA) type CMS in rice (Oryza sativa L.) was studied utilizingtwo CMS lines (IR58025 and IR62829A), their respective maintainers (B lines) and two restorer lines (KMR3and IR10198R). Two F

2 populations and five back cross populations were analyzed for their spikelet fertility

percentage to calculate the genetic segregation ratio.

Two unreported SSR markers RM311 and RM474 were also analyzed. Two mapping populations,one F

2 population from the cross IR58025/KMR3 consisting of 347 individual plants and one back cross

population from the cross IR62829A//F1(IR62829A/IR10198R) with 130 individual plants were used in this

study.

Of the eight RAPD markers analyzed, none gave polymorphism between the parents and theirextreme bulks in both the populations studied. One of the primers OPK05 did not show any amplification.

The selection accuracy of RM6100 was checked using 21 restorer lines and 18 maintainer lines.Except two R lines, IR66 and C-20 R, all the other R lines showed distinct polymorphism between R and Blines. It showed a selection accuracy of 94.87%. The results indicated that the microsatellite marker RM6100would facilitate marker-aided selection (MAS) for restorer lines in the CMS-WA system, which will be veryhelpful in identifying the restorer lines from large number of genotypes most expeditiously with good accuracy.This will enhance the efficiency of hybrid rice breeding program.

QTL mapping of Rf trait revealed that the highest phenotypic variance is located between markersRM311 to RM6100. The position of QTL is located near to RM6100. The results also explained that RM6100-RM228 is the region containing

Advancing of Ssr Based Marker Assisted Backcrossing of Stay Green Qtls intoElite Sorghum Lines, 35 And Irat 204

Student : Sripathi Venkateshwararao Major Advisor : Dr. S. Sivaramakrishnan


Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (2n=20) is the most important drought tolerant cereal crop and is thecrop of choice in semi arid tropics. After soil nutrient deficiencies, drought stress is the major constraintlimiting the sorghum production. Drought that effects during post flowering stage is often referred as terminaldrought. The trait associated with terminal drought tolerance is stay green, which is complex and difficult toscore with normal breeding approachs. Using MAS in breeding programs it is possible to introgress droughttolerant QTLs (stgl, stg2, stg3, stg4, stgA, and stgB) from the donor parent (B35) into the genetic backgroundsof elite parents like S35, ICSV 111, and IRAT 204. The homozygous QTL introgression lines in the backgroundof S35 and ICSV 111 were generated as a part of the present investigation by using MAB. The sequencing ofsorghum will definitely help the plant breeders and molecular biologists in tracking out the unknown agronomicallyimportant genes or QTLs. (M.Sc) 2005

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Development of Trap Markers for Tb1 Gene and Brown Midrib Genes in Pearl Millet

Student : V. Rajaram Major Advisor : Dr. S. Sivaramakrishnan


Gene-specific markers linked to major genes controlling a trait will have a major impact in understandingand improvement of the respective traits in an efficient manner. Target region amplification polymorphism(TARP), an efficient PCR-based marker system, offers a great potential to develop markers targeting candidategene sequences. Using this marker technique, TRAP markers have been developed for the teosinte branched1 (tb1) gene (thought to be involved in stress responsive apical dominance in teosinte and pearl millet), andbrown midrib 1 (bm1) and brown midrib 3 (bm3) genes (thought to be involved in lignin biosynthesis and strawdigestibility in maize, sorghum, and in pearl millet) in pearl millet. All 20 TRAP markers were mapped using‘Mapmaker’ software in a framework linkage map population (ICMB 841-P3 x 863B-P2), which was previouslyused to map the targeted drought tolerance and stover yield and quality QTLs. Two out of 10 developed TRAPmarkers for the tb1 target mapped to a major drought tolerance QTL on linkage group 2, similarly, 2 out of 10developed for the two brown midrib gene targets mapped to a consistent stover quality QTL on linkage group3, finally resulting in high (20% in this case) efficiency in producing triat specific markers associated withcandidate genes.

The TRAP protocol successfully generated trait-specific markers. TRAP markers offer a potentiallyinexpensive means for preliminary evaluation of candidate genes during development of near-perfect selectablemarkers for species markers for species with limited sequence information. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005), November

Gene Tagging of Fertility Restorer Gene for ARG Cytoplasm of Sunflower(Helianthus annuus L.) using RAPDs, ISSRs and Sunflower Specific SRRs

Student : Butta Indumathi Major Advisor : Dr. B. Srilakshmi


Cytoplasmic male sterility is the most viable system for hybrid seed production in sunflower. Tilldate, a single source of cytoplasm PET-1 has been used for hybrid seed production in sunflower, whichincreases genetic vulnerability to pathogens. To overcome this, there is a need for development of newctoplasmic sources and characterization of the restorers for use in hybrid breeding programs.

For the genetic study of fertility restoration, F2 and BC

1F1 populations of ARG x DSI 176 were used.

By phenotypic fertility analysis, typical segregation patterns of 3:1 and 1:1 for fertile: sterile were obtained inF2 and BC

1F1 populations respectively. Thus it was confirmed that a single dominant gene was responsible for

fertility restoration.

The yellow and white pollen bulks were constituted to identify molecular markers linked to colour ofthe pollen. Among three marker systems used to screen bulks, one RAPD marker OPU_1200 was found tobe linked to yellow pollen gene, which was converted to sequence specific SCAR marker, which also confirmedat individual plant level as well. Analysis by using 120 SSR markers, resulted in identification of 2 markersORS468 and ORS331 linked to yellow pollen gene. Interestingly these two markers were located on the samelinkage group (LG) 7. By interval mapping one more marker ORS 966 was found to be linked to yellow colour.

Thus, the SF-19 marker linked to fertility restorer gene can be used for the development of newrestorer lines through MAS. The SCAR marker developed and three SSRs identified linked to colour of thepollen can be used to map some important traits linked to colour of the pollen. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

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Molecular Characterization of Bacillus Thuringiensis Isolates

Student : J. Amarendra Major Advisor : Dr. S. Sokka Reddy


Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram-positive, spore producing, soil bacterium. Various strains ofBacillus thuringiensis (Berliner, 1911) produce different insecticidal crystal proteins which are encoded by crygenes.

The present investigation was undertaken with the aim of characterizing 120 local B. thuringiensisisolates with respect to the subspecies to which they might belong and also to identify the cry genes presentin these 120 isolates, which were collected and maintained at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad,along with 23 standrad isolates belonging to 11 subspecies of B. thuringiensis obtained form the BacillusGenetic Stock Centre, Ohio, USA and 3 commercial formulations of B. thuringiensis, were used for molecularcharacterization in the present study.

Finally, cry gene profiling of all the 120 isolates was done by both universal and gene specificprimers for cry genes. When universal primers were used, it was found that majority of the isolates carriedcry1 and cry2 genes, indicating their effictiveness against lepidopteran pests. Further analysis with genespecific primers indicated preponderance of cry1A, cry1B and cry11 genes and also of cry2Aa and cry2Ab.Results with few selected isolates (which were selected based on the bioassay results) indicated the presenceof cry1Aa and cry1Ab genes. All these clearly indicated the specificity of these isolates for lepidopteran insectpests. The selection of local isolates will be useful in the generation of a transgenic plant with a local cry genethat offers resistance to the serious local pests. Hence PCR based techniques can effectively be used forcharacterization of B. thuringiensis strain collections. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Marker Assisted Selection for Pyramiding Bacterial Blight Disease Resistance Genesand Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) By Using Ssrs

Student : Mohan Kumar Varma.C Major Advisor : Dr. S. Sivaramkrishnan


Rice (Oryza sativa. L) is the most important food crop in the world and feeds more than half of theglobal population. The productivity of rice is being affected by a number of bacterial, fungal and viral diseases.Among them bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, is one of the oldest and mostserious diseases of rice. As the pathogen is difficult to manage, the development of host-plant resistance isconsidered the most effective and economical means to control BB.

Present investigation was a) Marker assisted selection for bacterial blight resistance genes in twosegregating backcross populations of rice. b) Phenotypic evaluation of O. sativa X O. glaerrima derivativesfor resistance to bacterial blight disease. c) Assessing genetic diversity among O. sativa X O. glaberrimaderivatives and varieties of Oryza sativa L. using molecular markers. After screening all the plants of twopopulations for four genes with the help of molecular markers linked to the genes, five plants from onepopulation and two plants from one population were found to have these genes. These plants will be selectedand tested under field conditions to bacterial blight disease reaction. When these plants show better performancetowards disease resistance to BB in the field will be selected as parents for further backcross generations inMAS breeding program. In the phenotypic evaluation of O. sativa X O. glaberrima derivatives for resistanceto bacterial blight disease all of them showed susceptibility towards BB disease reaction. Further geneticdiversity among O. sativa X O. glaerrima derivatives and varieties of Oryza sativa L. using molecular markerswere assessed. The 23 selected SSR primers amplified 86 alleles across the 27 genotypes with varyingdegree of polymorphism. Considerable genetic similarity between the genotypes as evident from the dicecoefficient value of 0.35-1.00, is also reflected in the clustering pattern of O. sativa X O. glaberrima derivatives

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and O. sativa varieties. In UPGMA clustering analysis all the O. sativa X O. glaberrima derivatives from onecluster and O. sativa varieties formed another cluster. Moroberekan, which is a land race and widelycultivated upland rice of Africa fall close to the O. sativa X O. glaberrima diverivatives indicating that it is havingsome of the wild traits of O. glaberrima. Azucena, which is a tropical Japonica variety, formed a separatecluster. Among the O. sativa varieties all the IRRI varieties formed one group and Co39 and Mahsuri (MRF)formed another group indicating they were closely related to each other. M.Sc. (2005)

Development of Gene Constructs for Studying Expression Pattern ofTA29 Promoter and coxIV Presequence

Student : Kalyani Kallam Major Advisor : Dr. G. Anuradha


The present work was carried out with the basic idea of developing gene constructs for studyingexpression pattern and tissue specificity of tapetum specific promoter TA29 from tobacco and mitochondrialtargeting efficiency of yeast cytochrome C oxidase subunit (COSIV) in safflower with the use of reporter gusAgene (β-glucuronidase) from E.coli. At Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad, constructs for inducingmale sterility in safflower by tapetum specific expression of ORFH522 in mitochondria using coxIV presequencehave been developed.

With the above strategy, the present work progressed in four phases, which included molecular aswell as tissue culture studies. In the first phase, development of appropriate gene constructs was taken up.Three constructs were developed in the generic vector background pCAMBIA1391Z, which had gus andpolyA.

The second phase indluded mobilization of all the three constructs along with pCAMBIA1391Z ascontrol into Agrobacterium strain for subsequent transfer into safflower. The constructs in Agrobacteriumwere further confirmed through PCR and restriction analysis.

The third phase of this work involved transformation of safflower with the confirmed Agrobacteriumclones (containing the recombinant binary vectors) and development of the transgenics. The final phase ofthis work involved molecular confirmation of the developed transgenic plants using PCR based techniques.

The future line of work with these transgenics involves studies on mitochondrial targeting efficiencyof coxIV and tapetal tissue specificity of TA29 promoter in safflower, using gus gene expression as the markerby using appropriate techniques. Results with these studies will give a precise view of the effectiveness ofcoxIV and TA29 promoter, which will further strengthen the utility of orfH522 based constructs for induction ofmale sterility in safflower. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Enviromental Study on The Effect of Dust from the Mining Activities of VisakaCement Industry on Agricultural Crops and Soils

Student : Mohammed Ajaz Ali Khan Major Advisor : Dr. (Mrs.) P. Prabhu Prasadini

Department of Bioresources Management

The study entitled “Enviromental study on the effect of dust from the mining activities of VisakaCement Industry on agricultural crops and soils” was carried out on agricultural crops and soils in kharifseason of 2004 in the surroundings of Visaka Cement Industry, located at Malkapur (village), Tandur mandal,Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh.

Soils in both zones i.e. within and beyond 1 km distance from the mining activity were clay loam intexture without any appreciable difference in sant, silt and clay proportions.

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Soil nutrient status was estimated throughout the crops growth period. The mean available Ncontent of soils both close to and away from the mining activity was in medium category. However, a highlysignificant reduction of available N content in soil close to the mining activity was noticed. The available P

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content of soils was low.

Effect of dust from the mining activities of the cement industry on agricultural crops was assessedthrough plant height, number of nodes, chlorophyll content, temperature, diffusive resistance and transpirationrate of leaves, and content of N,P,K, Ca and Mg in the plants.

Physiological response of crops showed variation. In fields close to the mining activity, the chlorophyllcontent in terms of SPAD units increased (37.6 – 50.6 to 32.1 – 52.8) in redgram and (40.1 – 43.5 to 37.2 –44.1) blackgram. SPAD values were significant at vegetative stage of redgram.

Nutrient content of plants in terms of N,P,K, Ca and Mg was assessed to know the influence ofmining activity dust on crops. Low N content was recorded in crops grown in 1 km zone of the mining activity.The content decreased by 3.8 to 6.8% in redgram and 3.7 to 6.5% in blackgram. Unlike a decrease in N,content of P and K increased but not significantly. Other nutrients Ca & Mg showed an increase. Ca contentranged from 1.66 to 1.90% & 1.54 to 1.86% in redgram & blackgram and Mg content ranged from 0.38 to 0.54%& 0.50 to 0.53% in redgram & blackgram, respectively.

Grain yields of 17.25 and 17.75 q ha-1 were recorded in redgram and 18.5 and 19.2 q ha-1 inblackgram within and away from the mining activity zone. The differences were not significant. M.Sc. (Ag.)(2005).

Bio-ecology of Sugarcane Woolly Aphid Ceratovacuna LanigeraZehntner (Hemiptera : Aphididae)

Student : N. Cheralu Major Advisor : Prof.T.V.K. Singh

Department of Entomology

Sugercane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is commercially grown in Andhra Pradesh for production ofsugar and jaggery. Sugarcane woolly aphid Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner (Hemiptera : Aphididae) is a newemerging pest on this crop, and has been reported to occur in serious proportions from Western and SouthernIndia.

The life cycle studies were undertaken at Students Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar,Hyderabad.

A newly emerged nymph was yellowish/greenish yellow in colour. It was found to be very active andmoved fast on the surface of the leaf, when exposed to sunlight. White woolly filaments were observed on thedorsal side of the third and fourth instar nymphs.

The features of salient anatomical parameters such as general structure, head, abdomen,arrangement of antennae, rhinaria wax glands, wax gland plates, spiracles, subanal plate, cauda frontal hornswing venation of forewing and hind wing were drawn using camera lucida. Different characters of theapterous, alate adults and four instars were studied through electron microscopy at Ruska Labs, College ofAgriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

The sugarcane woolly aphid followed negative binomial pattern or aggregated nature as the dispersionparameter ‘k’ calculated for all the weeks was less than8. Within the strata (intra plant distribution), the SWAwas aggregated more on the middle strata compared to upper and lower strata in Adsali and ratoon crop.Indices of dispersion like Lloyd’s indices of mean crowding, cole index also confirmed the negative binomialdistribution of SWA. The results indicated that maximum temperature and RH-II had a significant negativerelationship, while, minimum temperature, RH-1 and rainfall had a non-significant positive relationship. M.Sc.(Ag.) (2005)

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Effect of Molybdenum and Boron Application on their Uptake and Yield ofCauliflower Grown on Alfisols of Southern Teleangana Zone

Student : T. Kamalakar Major Advisor : Dr. G. Bhupal Raj

Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry

A field experiment on the “Effect of molybdenum and boron application on their uptake and yield ofcauliflower grown on Alfisols of Southern Telangana Zone” was initiated at Students Farm, College of Agriculture,Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during the year 2004-2005 to find out the optimum requirement of boron andmolybdenum for cauliflower crop. The experimental soil was sandy loam, deficient in molybdenum (O.11 mg/kg) and boron (0.38 mg/kg) having pH 6.4. The thirteen treatments consisted of three molybdenum levels(0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 kg Mo/ha), two boron levels (1.0 and 2.0 kg B/ha), six combination treatments (threemolybdenum and two boron levels), control (no molybdenum and boron but P supplied through SSP) and inanother treatment no molybdenum and boron but P applied through DAP.

Molybdenum application to the soil up to 0.50 kg ha-1 significantly increased the mean number ofleaves per plant, curd diameter, dry matter yield of plant (leaves + steam), curd and whole plant, curd weightper plant, curd yields, molybdenum content and up take by plant and this treatment is on par with 0.75 kg Moha-1 application.

Boron application to the soil up to 2.0 kg B ha-1 also significantly increased the number of leaves perplant, curd diameter, dry matter yield of plant, (leaves + stem), curd and whole plant. The curd yield and boronuptake by whole plant due to application of 2.0 kg B ha-1 and 120.50 g ha-1 respectively.

The curd yield and the molybdenum and boron uptake by whole plant with combined application of0.5 kg Mo and 2.0 kg B ha-1 were 19.0 t ha-1 3.55 g ha-1 and 121.19 g ha-1, respectively and this treatment washighly significant and best among all the combination treatments.

Sulphur application at 30 kg ha-1 supplied to soil through the application of recommended dose ofphosphorus by SSP also resulted in significant increase in curd diameter, curd weight per plant and curd yieldwhen compared to no sulphur treatment (Recommended dose of P was applied through DAP). Curd diameter,curd weight per plant and curd yield recorded due to 30 kg S ha-1 application were 14.10 cm, 482 g and 12.58t ha-1 respectively when compared to sulphur control (12.80 cm, 465 g and 11.40 t/ha) respectively.

The available molybdenum and boron contents recorded in post harvest soils were comparativelymore with their increased dose of application when compared to control. Available sulphur content recordedin post harvest soil with respect of S supplied treatment (P through SSP) was also more than sulphur controlplot (P through DAP). Over all, the differences in available molybdenum, boron and sulphur contents in postharvest soil samples in different treatments were not significant.

The combined application of 0.50 kg Mo ha-1 + 2.0 kg B ha-1 is suggested to get the higher curd weightper plant and curd yield in cauliflower grown in Alfisols of Southern Telangana zone of Andhra Pradesh.Application of phophorus through SSP is suggested to get the good curd yields as recommended SSP alsosupplies 30 kg S ha-1 to the crop. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Biology and Bioefficacy of Selected Insecticides Against Safflower Aphid,Uroleucon Compositae Theobald on Safflower

Student : M. Shirisha Major Advisor : Prof.T. Raman Goud

Department of Entomology

The field experiments were carried out for safflower aphid, Uroleucon compositae Theobald atCollege Farm, College Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during rabi season of 2004-

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2005 to study the instar composition and the efficacy of different selected insecticides, while, laboratorystudies on the biology of safflower aphid was conducted in Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture,Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

The biology and morphometric studies indicated that the safflower aphid U. compositae was multipliedparthenogenetically and there were four nymphal instars. The total nymphal period was completed in 9.68 +0.69 days. Pre-reproductive, reproductive and post – reproductive periods were 1.34 + 0.41, 7.97 + 0.90 and0.55 + 0.50 days, respectively. The average fecundity was 31.68 + 12.79 nymphs. Total life cycle wascompleted in 15.00 to 25.50 days.

The highest per cent infestation on branches (85.81 + 13.60%) was recorded in fifth standard week(February first week). Initially the aphids were found on the lower plant parts and as the plant reachedmaturity, the infestation was abundant on upper parts like inflorescence and capsules. In the colony, first andsecond instars were more in number compared to other instars. Alate aphids were more in early and maturestages of the plant.

Among different insecticides, dimethoate (0.05%) was more effective than the other treatmentsagainst safflower aphid. The neem oil 1% proved to be best among the plant products. Dimethoate (0.05%)recorded highest yield and ICBR than other treatments. Border spraying of NSKE (5%) and dimethoate(0.05%) were least effective in reducing the aphid population. M.Sc. (2005)

Compatibility of Certain Biocontrol Agents with Commonly Used Agrochemicals

Student : M. Ashok Major Advisor : Dr. D. Raja Ram Reddy

Department of Plant Pathology

A detailed study on compatibility of both native and commercial formulations of biocontrol agentssuch as Trichoderma viride, T. harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens with commonly used agrochemicalswhich included certain fungicides (copper oxychloride, mancozeb, carbendazim and hexaconazole),insecticides (thiomethoxam, imidacloprid, chlorphyriphos and carbosulfan), fertilizers (calcium ammoniumnitrate, ciammonium phosphate, single superphosphate and muriate of potash) and herbicides (pendimethalinand fluchloralin) was carried out during the present investigation with three soil-borne plant pathogens viz.,Phythium aphanidermatum, Macrophomina phaseolina and Sclerotium rolfsii.

Out of two systemic and two non-systemic fungicides tested in vitro for compatibility with bioagents,copper oxychloride (COC) and mancozeb at 100 ppm were found to be compatible with commercial and nativeisolates of T. viride and T. harzianum. While, carbendazim and hexaconazole were highly incompatible withall bioagents at all the concentrations tested. Whereas, the bacterial antagonistic isolates of P. fluorescenswere compatible with all the fungicides tested at 100 ppm concentration and incompatible at higher concentrationsof the fungicides.

Pendimethalin and fluchloralin were inhibitory to the growth of all the fungal antagonists tested.However, these herbicides were highly inhibitory at higher concentrations than at lower concentrations.Whereas, the commercial isolate of P. fluorescens (Sun Agro Monus Pf) showed tolerance to the test herbicidesat 100 and 500 ppm concentrations. Of the two berbicides, fluchloralin was found superior in inhibiting thegrowth of the antagonistic isolates.

All the compatible combinations of agrochemicals (fungicides, insecticides fertilizers and herbicides)with potential fungal antagonistic isolates reduced the radial growth of the test pathogens at lower concentrationsto at higher concentrations. Of the eight fungal antagonistic isolates tested, native isolate of T. harzianum(DOR 2 Th) found superior than isolates in inhibiting the growth of P. aphaidermatum in COC and mancozebamended medium at 100 ppm concentration.

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The combined effect of two bacterial biocontrol isolates (sun Agro Monus Pf and Vermigreen Pf) withvarious agrochemicals like fungicides, insecticides, fertilizers and herbicides was studied at 100, 500, 1000and 2000 ppm concentrations against P. aphanidermatum, M. phaseolina and S. rolfssi.

Among all the treatments, a combination of seed treatment with T. harzianum (Sun Agro Derma Th)and soil drenching with COC (100 ppm) was found to be best in reducing seedling mortality caused by M.phaseolina. This treatment not only reduced the disease, but also increased the growth parameters of theseedlings of tomato, brinjal and bhendi. M.Sc. (Ag.) (2005)

Nutritional Status of Elderly Living in Urban and Rural Areasof Bidar District (Karnataka)

Student : Mahananda Devi Major Advisor : Dr. (Mrs) V. Vimala

Department of Food and Nutrition

Aged or the elderly people need utmost care to lead a normal life. The inevitable degenerativechanges that occur during the aging process result in their functional decline. A through understanding of thenutritional status and psychological problems of these post mature adult group of population is necessary tohelp them to lead their life normally. The current study is addressing these problems and was taken up toassess the nutritional status of elderly in urbal and rural areas of Bidar District (Karnataka).

The approach involves selection of elderly citizens above sixty years and diet survey. Sociodemographic data, health and morbidity pattern were collected by oral questionnaire method. Food intake wasassessed by a 24 hour recall method and heamoglobin levels in the blood by cynameth hemaoglobin method.The UCLA (University of California Loneliness Scale for Adults) was used to measure the loneliness, physicaland psychological problems. All these parameters were assessed by administering an interview schedule tothe total sample of 120 elderly.

The consumption of food intake pattern showed significant differences among rural and urbanelderly. Ti also varied among gender. The urban elderly showed a better nutritional status than rural,irrespective of living with family or living alone. The urban women showed better nutritional status than theircounterparts.

The health problems faced by the elderly include physical problems, disease and psychologicalproblems. Majority of the elderly faced physical problems regardless of their gender and living habits.Irrespective of sex, psychological problems such as loneliness and depression was higher in elderly livingalone in rural areas than their counterparts. This had lead the elderly to adopt certain habits like smoking,drinking, chewing pan, playing cards etc.

The present study identifies the reasons for most of these problems faced by elderly as poor socio-economic conditions, isolation, unsatisfactory family relations, spouse loss, depression and decreased mobility.These problems that are prevailing among the elderly people need to be taken care of for their healthy andpeaceful life. M.Sc.(H.Sc) 2004

Isolation of Yeast Strains and Screening for Amylosytic, Pectinolytic Activities andProduction of Alcohol from Different Fruits and Vegetable Wasters

Student : P. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy Major Advisor : Dr. R. Subhash Reddy

Department of Post Graduate and Research Centre

The present investigation was carried out with the objective of isolating pectionolytic and or amylolyticyeast cultures and fermentative production of alcohol from over ripened mango and tomato pulp. Seven

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samples were obtained from different places and isolates were purified which were identified as yeast culturesbased on morphological, cultural and biochemical characters. Some of the isolates AM-113, AM-115 and AM-117 has slight pectinolytic activity and none of the isolates had amyloltic activity. All the isolates had alcoholproducing ability but highest alcohol production (80.00 g /L) was noticed with S. cerevisiae MTCC 172 andlowest was with isolate AM-111 (54.00 g /L).

Mango and tomato pulp was subjected to treatments with pectinase and amylase to increase theflowability of the pulp and also to increase the availability of sugers etc for utilization by yeast culture forconversion to alcohol. The addition of pectinase to mango and tomato pulp did not show increase in alcoholcontent. Treatment of mango pulp with amylase had considerable increase in alcohol production where astreatment of tomato pulp with amylase did not show improvement. Treating the mango pulp both enzymes didnot show increase in alcohol whereas in tomato considerable increase was observed. The alcohol productionwas very low when substract alone is used in both mango and tomato pulp. To observe whether simpleaddition of sugar also would help in increasing alcohol production compared to enzyme treatments, sugar wassupplemented to pulp before initiating fermentation. The alcohol content nearly doubled when sugar is addedto the substrate in both mango and tomato pulp compared to substrate alone, but alcohol content was lower inboth cases when compared to enzymes treated pulp.

Based on the present study it is established that over ripened mangoes and tomatoes can be usedeffectively for fermentative production of alcohol using pre-treatment with enzymes. M.Sc. (2005)

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