Soil analysis gis-based fertility assessment and mapping of agricultural research station, Pakhribas, Dhankuta, Nepal

Soil fertility evaluation has been considered as a most effective tool for sustainable planning of a particular region. This study was conducted to determine the soil fertility status of the Agricultural Research Station, Pakhribas, Dhankuta, Nepal. The total 60 soil samples were collected randomly at a depth of 0-20 cm by using the soil sampling auger. For identification of soil sampling points A GPS device was used. The collected samples were analyzed for their texture, pH, OM, N, P2O5, K2O, Ca, Mg, S, B, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn status following standard methods in the laboratory of Soil Science Division, Khumaltar. The Arc-GIS 10.1 software was used for soil fertility maps preparation. The observed data revealed that soil was dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) in colour, and single grained, granular and sub-angular blocky in structure. The sand, silt and clay content were 56.61±0.97%, 27.62±0.56% and 15.77±0.58%, respectively and categorized as loam, sandy loam and sandy clay loam in texture. The soil was very acidic in pH (4.66±0.07) and very low in available sulphur (0.53±0.11mg/kg), available boron (0.24±0.07mg/kg). The organic matter (1.34±0.07%), total nitrogen (0.09±0.003mg/kg), available calcium (605.70±31.40mg/kg), available magnesium (55.96±4.67mg/kg) and available zinc (0.54±0.22mg/kg) were low in status. Similarly, available potassium (115.98±9.19 mg/kg) and available copper (1.13±0.09 mg/kg) were medium in status. Furthermore, available manganese (36.31±2.82mg/kg) was high, whereas available phosphorus (105.07±9.89 mg/kg) and available iron (55.80±8.89 mg/kg) were very high in status. The soil fertility management practice should be adopted based on the determined status in the field for the sustainable production of crops. The future research strategy should be built based on the soil fertility status of the research farm

Trichoderma and Its Prospects in Agriculture of Nepal: An Overview

In the world, the traditional agricultural practices are getting affected by various problems such as disease, pest, drought, decreased soil fertility due to use of hazardous chemical pesticides, pollution and global warming. As a result, there is a need for some eco-friendly bio-control agents that help in resolving the previous mentioned problems. The various types of biological control agents such as bacteria and fungi are involved in bio-control activity. Among them, fungal genus Trichoderma plays a major role in controlling the plant diseases. Species of Trichoderma are diverse fungal microbial community known and explored worldwide for their versatilities as biocontrol and growth promoting agents. These fungi reproduce asexually by production of conidia and chlamydospores and in wild habitats by ascospores. Trichoderma species are efficient mycoparasites and prolific producers of secondary metabolites, some of which have clinical importance. However, the ecological or biological significance of this metabolite diversity is sorely lagging behind the chemical significance. Several Trichoderma spp. positively affect plants by stimulating plant growth, and protecting plants from fungal and bacterial pathogens. They are used in biological plant protection as bio-fungicides as well as in bioremediation. A large number of research groups are working on various aspects of Trichoderma viz., diversity, ecology and their applications. The capacity of Trichoderma fungi to produce lytic enzymes is used in animal feed, and wine making and brewery industries. Trichoderma spp. are the most successful bio-control agents as more than 60% of the registered bio-fungicides used in today’s agriculture belongs to Trichoderma -based formulation. The increase in incidence and severity of diseases and emergence of new diseases causes the significant yield losses of different crops in Nepal. But the research and studies on plant diseases are limited.&#x0D; Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 7(3): 309-316&#x0D;  </jats:p

Production Economics and Determinants of Carrot (Daucus carota L.) production in Chitwan, Nepal

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is an important agricultural commodity in the world. A study was conducted for comparative analysis of demographic, economics assessment, and determinants of carrot production between ward no. 11 and ward no. 15 of the Bharatpur metropolitan of Chitwan district. Altogether 80 carrot growers, 40 from ward no. 11 and 40 from ward no. 15 of Bharatpur metropolitan were randomly selected. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary information from randomly selected farmers. Carrot growers were interviewed using face to face method in November 2019. Moreover, Two Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) and two Key Informant Interviews (KII) were performed. All the data were entered in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Statistics 20) and Microsoft Excel (Ms-2013) and analysis was done by using Microsoft Excel, SPSS, and Stata. In the majority of respondents, Poultry manure cost (37.16%) occupied the major portion of the cost of production followed by seed cost (30.18%). The average gross margin per kattha for carrot production found NRs. 4726.62 and the Benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was 1.50. The probability of cultivation of carrot on large scale was found to be 31.12% higher for the male gender of household head and 27% higher for the schooling of the household head. Farmers use the Nepa Drim, F1 variety which incurred higher cost in the seed. Splitting (26.25%) was identified as the most critical problem followed by cracking (21.15%) in the cultivation of carrot. It is recommended that the farmers involved in carrot farming in the study sites should be provided with Subsidy on seed, proper solution of physiological disorder problems and proper technical knowledge for optimizing the use of resources would help to increase the profit of carrot production in the Chitwan district of Nepal.&#x0D; Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 7, Issue-4: 234-241</jats:p

Soil analysis gis-based fertility assessment and mapping of agricultural research station, Pakhribas, Dhankuta, Nepal

&lt;p&gt;Soil fertility evaluation has been considered as a most effective tool for sustainable planning of a particular region. This study was conducted to determine the soil fertility status of the Agricultural Research Station, Pakhribas, Dhankuta, Nepal. The total 60 soil samples were collected randomly at a depth of 0-20 cm by using the soil sampling auger. For identification of soil sampling points A GPS device was used. The collected samples were analyzed for their texture, pH, OM, N, P&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;5&lt;/sub&gt;, K&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O, Ca, Mg, S, B, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn status following standard methods in the laboratory of Soil Science Division, Khumaltar. The Arc-GIS 10.1 software was used for soil fertility maps preparation. The observed data revealed that soil was dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) in colour, and single grained, granular and sub-angular blocky in structure. The sand, silt and clay content were 56.61±0.97%, 27.62±0.56% and 15.77±0.58%, respectively and categorized as loam, sandy loam and sandy clay loam in texture. The soil was very acidic in pH (4.66±0.07) and very low in available sulphur (0.53±0.11mg/kg), available boron (0.24±0.07mg/kg). The organic matter (1.34±0.07%), total nitrogen (0.09±0.003mg/kg), available calcium (605.70±31.40mg/kg), available magnesium (55.96±4.67mg/kg) and available zinc (0.54±0.22mg/kg) were low in status. Similarly, available potassium (115.98±9.19 mg/kg) and available copper (1.13±0.09 mg/kg) were medium in status. Furthermore, available manganese (36.31±2.82mg/kg) was high, whereas available phosphorus (105.07±9.89 mg/kg) and available iron (55.80±8.89 mg/kg) were very high in status. The soil fertility management practice should be adopted based on the determined status in the field for the sustainable production of crops. The future research strategy should be built based on the soil fertility status of the research farm.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p

QTL Mining and Validation of Grain Nutritional Quality Characters in Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L.) Using Two Introgression Line Populations

Nutritional grain quality is mainly influenced by the protein fraction content and grain protein content. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mining for five traits, about 245 and 284 BC3F3 individual families of two introgression line (IL) populations were derived from Kongyu 131/Cypress (population-I) and Kongyu 131/Vary Tarva Osla (population-II), respectively. A genetic linkage map was developed using 127 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in population-I and 119 SSR markers in population-II. In total, 20 and 5 QTLs were detected in population-I and population-II, respectively. About twenty QTLs were mapped in population-I: five QTLs for albumin, seven QTLs for globulin, six QTLs for prolamin, one QTL for glutelin, and one QTL for grain protein content. In total, five QTLs were mapped in population-II: one QTL for albumin and four QTLs for grain protein content. Out of 25 QTLs, 19 QTLs exhibit co-localization with the previously reported QTLs. QTL-like qGPC7.3 was delineated for total protein content. This QTL was derived from population-I and was successfully validated in NILs (near-isogenic lines). The grain protein phenotype showed a significant variation between two NILs. This investigation serves as groundwork for additional cloning of nutritional quality-related genes in rice grains

Molybdenum-Induced Effects on Nitrogen Metabolism Enzymes and Elemental Profile of Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Under Different Nitrogen Sources

Different nitrogen (N) sources have been reported to significantly affect the activities and expressions of N metabolism enzymes and mineral elements concentrations in crop plants. However, molybdenum-induced effects in winter wheat cultivars have still not been investigated under different N sources. Here, a hydroponic study was carried out to investigate these effects on two winter wheat cultivars (&lsquo;97003&rsquo; and &lsquo;97014&rsquo;) as Mo-efficient and Mo-inefficient, respectively, under different N sources (NO3&minus;, NH4NO3, and NH4+). The results revealed that the activities of nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrite reductase (NiR) followed the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3&minus; &gt; NH4+ sources, while glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) followed the order of NH4+ &gt; NH4NO3 &gt; NO3&minus; in both the wheat cultivars. However, Mo-induced effects in the activities and expressions of N metabolism enzymes under different N sources followed the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3&minus; &gt; NH4+ sources, indicating that Mo has more complementary effects towards nitrate nutrition than the sole ammonium source in winter wheat. Interestingly, under &minus;Mo-deprived conditions, cultivar &lsquo;97003&rsquo; recorded more pronounced alterations in Mo-dependent parameters than &lsquo;97014&rsquo; cultivar. Moreover, Mo application increased the proteins, amino acids, ammonium, and nitrite contents while concomitantly decreasing the nitrate contents in the same order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3&minus; &gt; NH4+ sources that coincides with the Mo-induced N enzymes activities and expressions. The findings of the present study indicated that Mo plays a key role in regulating the N metabolism enzymes and assimilatory products under all the three N sources; however, the extent of complementation exists in the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3&minus; &gt; NH4+ sources in winter wheat. In addition, it was revealed that mineral elements profiles were mainly affected by different N sources, while Mo application generally had no significant effects on the mineral elements contents in the winter wheat leaves under different N sources

Molybdenum-Induced Effects on Nitrogen Metabolism Enzymes and Elemental Profile of Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Under Different Nitrogen Sources

Different nitrogen (N) sources have been reported to significantly affect the activities and expressions of N metabolism enzymes and mineral elements concentrations in crop plants. However, molybdenum-induced effects in winter wheat cultivars have still not been investigated under different N sources. Here, a hydroponic study was carried out to investigate these effects on two winter wheat cultivars (‘97003’ and ‘97014’) as Mo-efficient and Mo-inefficient, respectively, under different N sources (NO3−, NH4NO3, and NH4+). The results revealed that the activities of nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrite reductase (NiR) followed the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3− &gt; NH4+ sources, while glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) followed the order of NH4+ &gt; NH4NO3 &gt; NO3− in both the wheat cultivars. However, Mo-induced effects in the activities and expressions of N metabolism enzymes under different N sources followed the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3− &gt; NH4+ sources, indicating that Mo has more complementary effects towards nitrate nutrition than the sole ammonium source in winter wheat. Interestingly, under −Mo-deprived conditions, cultivar ‘97003’ recorded more pronounced alterations in Mo-dependent parameters than ‘97014’ cultivar. Moreover, Mo application increased the proteins, amino acids, ammonium, and nitrite contents while concomitantly decreasing the nitrate contents in the same order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3− &gt; NH4+ sources that coincides with the Mo-induced N enzymes activities and expressions. The findings of the present study indicated that Mo plays a key role in regulating the N metabolism enzymes and assimilatory products under all the three N sources; however, the extent of complementation exists in the order of NH4NO3 &gt; NO3− &gt; NH4+ sources in winter wheat. In addition, it was revealed that mineral elements profiles were mainly affected by different N sources, while Mo application generally had no significant effects on the mineral elements contents in the winter wheat leaves under different N sources.</jats:p