Assessing Climate Change Impact on Future Reference Evapotranspiration Pattern of West Bengal, India

Considering the importance of reference evapotranspiration (RET) in agriculture, hydrology and meteorology, the research problem was taken to assess the RET during winter season under projected climatic situation of West Bengal, India. The Penman-Monteith method was used in the study as it is the most accurate method of estimating RET. However, validation of the output of the equation was done with the help of observed data set. The data analysis was carried out using NCAR Command Language (NCL). The result clearly shows that the reference ET of the study area will be increased in the tune of 13% to 32% in the year 2050 compared to present RET level. Analysis of actual rainfall data shows a decreasing trend of winter rainfall in the study region. The projected rainfall data also follows the same pattern. Thus, the combination of low rainfall and higher ET value will demand more irrigation requirement for winter crops in West Bengal. The temporal changes of RET on decadal basis and spatial variation of RET for each decade have been observed and discussed in the paper.

Molecular characterization of sweet potato(Ipomoea batatas[L.]Lam)germplasms for desirable traits by using simple sequence repeats markers

Every breeding program that aims to create new and improved cultivars with desired traits mostly relies on information related to genetic diversity.Therefore,molecular characterization of germplasms is important to obtain target cultivars with desirable traits.Sweet potato[Ipomoea batatas(L.)Lam]is widely considered the world’s most important crop,with great diversity in morphological and phenotypic traits.The genetic diversity of 20 sweet potato germplasms originating from Bangladesh,CIP,Philippines,Taiwan,and Malaysia were compared,which was accomplished by genetic diversity analysis by exploring 20 microsatellite DNA markers for germplasm characterization and utilization.This information was effective in differentiating or clustering the sweet potato genotypes.A total of 64 alleles were generated using the 20 primers throughout the 20 germplasm samples,with locus IBS97 having the highest number of alleles(5),whereas locus IbU33 had the fewest alleles(2).The alleles varied in size from 105(IbU31)to 213 base pairs(IBS34).The Polymorphism Information Content(PIC)values for the loci IbL46 and IBS97 varied from 0.445 to 0.730.IBS97 has the highest number of effective alleles(3.704),compared to an average of 2.520.The average Shannon’s diversity index(H)was 1.003,ranging from 0.673 in IbU3 to 1.432 in IBS97.The value of gene flow(Nm)varied between 0.000 and 0.005,with an average of 0.003,whereas genetic differentiation(FST-values)ranged between 0.901 and 1.000.The sweet potato germplasm included in this study had a broad genetic base.SP1 vs.SP9 and SP12 vs.SP18 germplasm pairings had the greatest genetic distance(GD=0.965),while SP1 vs.SP2 germplasm couples had the least genetic diversity(GD=0.093).Twenty genotypes were classified into two groups in the UPGMA dendrogram,with 16 genotypes classified as group“A”and the remaining four genotypes,SP10,SP18,SP19,and SP20,classified as group“B.”According to cluster analysis,the anticipated heterozygosity(gene diversity)of Nei(1973)was 0.591 on average.In summary,SSR markers successfully evaluated the genetic relationships among the sweet potato accessions used and generated a high level of polymorphism.The results of the present study will be useful for the management of germplasm,improvement of the current breeding strategies,and the release of new cultivars as varieties.