Comparative Study of Various Organic Fertilizers Effect on Growth and Yield of Two Economically Important Crops, Potato and Pea

In the present experiment, the effect of various house hold wastes i.e. T1 (egg shell powder), T2 (wood ash), T3 (banana peel), T4 (used tea waste), T5 (egg shell tea) and T6 (control) used as organic fertilizers on growth and yield of two important vegetables i.e. potato and pea was investigated. Among all the treatments, the minimum average number of days to germination was observed in T3 in both potato and pea. The overall growth and development of potato and pea plants increased and the average plant height after 30, 60 and 90 days was greater in plants of treatment T1 (egg shell powder). In case of potato, the highest mean plant height (14.75 cm) was observed in treatment T1, followed by T3 and T4 (10.62 cm and 9.87 cm) respectively after 90 days of the emergence. T1 treatment increases the no. of leaves, no. of nodes, no. of branches and leaf area. Regarding tuber yield, the tubers were classified as large (>30 grams), medium (15 - 30 grams) and small (0.4 - 15 grams). T1 treatment produced greater average number of large size tubers (2.25) per plant, followed by T3 (1.25);however, the medium and small tubers followed comparable trends with differences among treatments. The average tuber yield (per potato plant) in treatment T1 was higher (113.78 g). In case of pea, T4 treatment (used tea waste) showed the highest mean plant height (82.25 cm). The treatment T1 (eggshell powder), T3 (banana peel) and T4 (used tea waste) showed positive effect on average pod yield (64.82 g, 66.67 g and 114.35 g) respectively. Number of grains per pod and pod size has been found higher in case of treatment T4. It has been concluded that among the different organic treatments, eggshell powder, banana peel and used tea waste were found best as organic fertilizer source for the two vegetables i.e. potato and pea.

Interaction Effect of Auxin and Cytokinin on in Vitro Shoot Regeneration and Rooting of Endangered Medicinal Plant Valeriana jatamansi Jones through Tissue Culture

Micropropagation of Valeriana jatamansi Jones by using small segments of rhizome on full strength MS medium having various concentrations and combinations of auxin Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and cytokinin Benzylaminopurine (BAP) was conducted. The highest mean shoot length (3.71 cm) was achieved when media was fortified with BAP 2 mg/L in combination with NAA 1 mg/L. The highest mean leaf number i.e. 6.00 was observed when BAP was used alone at 2 mg/L. Average root length (0.77 cm) was recorded when BAP 1.5 mg/L along with NAA 0.5 mg/L was used. Maximum mean root numbers 2.57 were obtained when BAP and NAA were used at equal concentrations i.e. 1.5 mg/L. Observed data demonstrated that BAP up to 1 mg/L, 1.5 mg/L and 2 mg/L promotes shoot length, leaf number and leaf growth when used along with NAA at 0 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L and 1 mg/L. However lower quantities of both NAA (0 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L) and BAP (1 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L) produced significantly higher root length of Valeriana jatamansi Jones but the higher concentrations of plant growth hormones BAP (2 mg/L, 3 mg/L) and NAA (1 mg/L, 1.5 mg/L) were found unfavorable for increase in root length but the root number increases at higher concentration of NAA (1 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L).

Heterosis and Inbreeding Depression in F₂Populations of Upland Cotton (<i>Gossypium hirsutum</i>L.)

Hybrid cotton production through exploitation of heterosis is the only way for having vertical improvement and betterment in seed cotton yield which has been stagnated in the recent years. The current study was conducted to evaluate the performance of F2 population for studying mean performance, heterotic effects and inbreeding depression in upland cotton for polygenic traits. Parental genotypes and their F2s were sown at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar during 2010, manually. All the traits revealed highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) variations for both parents and their F2 hybrids. Mean performance for parents and their F2 hybrids is: (5.26 to 7.12 & 4.43 to 6.60) seeds locule-1, (21.10 to 28.03 & 20.40 to 28.50) seed boll-1, (32.20 to 34.80 & 32.22 to 35.05) lint% and (62.87 to 85.47 & 45.94 to 92.04) seed cotton yield plant-1, respectively. Heterotic effects found over mid parent and better parent were: 66.66% & 46.66% (seeds locule-1), 60% & 30% (seed boll-1), 43.33% & 30% (lint %) and 36.66% & 16.66% (seed cotton yield plant-1), respectively. For the parameters: seeds locule-1 (11 & 10), seeds boll-1 (2 & 1) and seed cotton yield plant-1 (3 & 1) showed positive highly significant heterosis for both mid and better parent, respectively while lint% did not reveal any positive significant heterosis. F2 populations i.e. CIM-499 × CIM-554 and CIM-554 × CIM-499 revealed highly significant heterotic effects over mid and better parent for all the traits except lint % while CIM-554 × CIM-707 showed highly significant heterotic effects for seeds locule-1 and seed cotton yield palnt-1. Positive economic heterotic effects were also exhibited by more than 50% of the F2 population i.e., 76.66% for seed locule-1, 50% for seeds boll-1, 3.33% for lint% and 20% for seed cotton yield plant-1, respectively. By comparing F2 mean values with F1s, only lint % showed (0.00% to 15.55%) maximum inbreeding depression while negligible amount of inbreeding depression was observed for the remaining traits. However, negative inbreeding depression was revealed by majority of the F2 population like 96.66% (seeds locule-1 & seeds boll-1), 60% (lint%) and 90% (seed cotton yield-1), respectively meant F2 population has shown more stability even after segregation and have exceeded the check cultivars and better parents in performance.

Comparison of Efficacy of Synthetic Pesticides with Botanical Extracts under Field Condition on Cabbage White Butterfly (<i>Pieris brassicae</i>)

Cabbage white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is one of the important insect pests of cabbage crop which causes remarkable quantitative or qualitative crop losses. The research was conducted at Hazara Agricultural research station, Abbottabad (Pakistan) to study the effect of different new chemical insecticides, botanical oil and neem seed oil (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) on the population density of P. brassicae. The study showed that neem oil had a significant effect on population of P. brassicae in comparison to control treatment. So, neem oil alone or in combination with insecticides can be used for control of P. brassicae in vegetable crops for a safer food supply.

Evaluation of Tomato Lines against Septoria Leaf Spot under Field Conditions and Its Effect on Fruit Yield

Field studies were conducted at Hazara Agriculture Research Station, Abbottabad to evaluate thirteen AVRDC lines along with one commercial check (Roma) for potential of fruit yield against septoria leaf spot during summer season 2014. The disease established itself by natural infection and disease severity was estimated with the help of 0 - 5 disease rating scale after 15 days interval from the onset of symptoms. The lines showed significant difference in % septoria leaf spot infection. The disease severity % increased up to 100% in line AVTO1314 whereas the lowest % severity was recorded in AVTO1173 which showed the highest yield (468.1 g) with average fruit weight 122.22 g while the significantly lowest mean yield/plant (35.05 g) was calculated in line AVTO1314 with fruit weight 47.92 g. It was concluded that the line AVTO1173 could be useful in genetic programs for incorporating resistant genes in local tomato germplasm against septoria leaf spot disease.