Variables Plant Height Research Articles

Characterization of Flowering Time in Genebank Accessions of Grain Amaranths and Their Wild Relatives Reveals Signatures of Domestication and Local Adaptation

Grain amaranths (Amaranthus spp.) are ancient crops from the Americas that are consumed as pseudo-cereals and vegetables. Two grain amaranths, A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus, originated in Central America, and A. caudatus in South America. Flowering time variation plays a central role in their uses as seed, vegetable and biomass crops. We characterized phenotypic variation for plant height, flowering time and seed setting among 253 genebank accessions including three grain and two wild ancestor species (A. hybridus and A. quitensis) in the temperate climatic and long-day conditions of Germany. Among grain amaranths, A. cruentus flowered early and 88% of the accessions set seed. A. hypochondriacus accessions were mildly or highly photoperiod-sensitive with a lower proportion of seed setting (31%). A. caudatus accessions were mildly photoperiod-sensitive and failed seed production. Photoperiod-insensitive accessions set seed regardless of their origin, and mildly photoperiod-sensitive accessions set seed if they originated from regions with higher temperatures. Overall, Central American accessions of both wild and domesticated amaranths showed large variation in flowering time and photoperiod sensitivity, whereas variation among South American wild and domesticated amaranths was limited to mild photoperiod sensitivity. This observation is consistent with a model of independent domestication in Central and South America, and suggests a potential Central American origin of A. hybridus followed by migration to and selection against high photoperiod sensitivity in South America. Our results provide useful information for the design of breeding programs for different uses, and provide insights into grain amaranth domestication by considering flowering time as an adaptive trait.

Comparing Methods to Extract Crop Height and Estimate Crop Coefficient from UAV Imagery Using Structure from Motion

Although it is common to consider crop height in agricultural management, variation in plant height within the field is seldom addressed because it is challenging to assess from discrete field measurements. However, creating spatial crop height models (CHMs) using structure from motion (SfM) applied to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery can easily be done. Therefore, looking into intra- and inter-season height variability has the potential to provide regular information for precision management. This study aimed to test different approaches to deriving crop height from CHM and subsequently estimate the crop coefficient (Kc). CHMs were created for three crops (tomato, potato, and cotton) during five growing seasons, in addition to manual height measurements. The Kc time-series were derived from eddy-covariance measurements in commercial fields and estimated from multispectral UAV imagery in small plots, based on known relationships between Kc and spectral vegetation indices. A comparison of four methods (Mean, Sample, Median, and Peak) was performed to derive single height values from CHMs. Linear regression was performed between crop height estimations from CHMs against manual height measurements and Kc. Height was best predicted using the Mean and the Sample methods for all three crops (R2 = 0.94, 0.84, 0.74 and RMSE = 0.056, 0.071, 0.051 for cotton, potato, and tomato, respectively), as was the prediction of Kc (R2 = 0.98, 0.84, 0.8 and RMSE = 0.026, 0.049, 0.023 for cotton, potato, and tomato, respectively). The Median and Peak methods had far less success in predicting both, and the Peak method was shown to be sensitive to the size of the area analyzed. This study shows that CHMs can help growers identify spatial heterogeneity in crop height and estimate the crop coefficient for precision irrigation applications.

An exploratory method to determine the plant characteristics affecting the final yield of Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A. Mey. under fertilizers application and plant densities

Employing of advanced statistical methods to quantify agricultural information has helped to carry out targeted planning to alleviate the problems of farmers, researchers and policy section. One of these exploratory methods, is multivariate statistical analysis that examines and models the relationship between variables. Considering the importance of Echium amoenum and its use growing trend in traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry, also the lack of information on the correlations between its yield and morpho physiological traits, the objective of this study was to determine the causality path in which the Echium amoenum characteristics affects the yield of Echium amoenum as regards of application of organic and chemical fertilizers under different plant densities. The employed method revealed that organic fertilizers increased flower yield compared with the control. The flower yield as a result of application of compost, vermicompost and cattle manure were increased by 25, 28, and 27% compared with the control, respectively. The results of multiple regression showed that variables of plant height, shoot dry weight, flower number per plant were the main factors affected the flower yield. The relative contribution of shoot dry weight was 16 and 25% more than plant height and flower number per plant, respectively. Causality analysis identified that shoot dry weight per plant had indirect effect on flower yield in different paths, as mainly was imposed through plant height considering the path coefficients. This study suggests that optimum production of Echium amoenum with application of ecological inputs along with effective agronomical managements of the causal paths of flower yield forming, including increase in shoot yield and plant height could be achieved through an ecological cropping system with reduced costs and no health concerning due to agrochemicals residual.

Screening of rice germplasm for blast resistance in Nigeria

Abstract. Gabriel MG, Alhasan U, Mary Y, Munsur Y, Olufunmilayo A. 2022. Screening of rice germplasm for blast resistance in Nigeria. Asian J Agric 6: 1-6. Rice blast (Magnaporthe oryzae T.T. Hebert) M.E. Barr) is an important destructive disease of rice that can lead to 80% yield loss. Germplasm responds differently to blast fungus. This study aimed to screen rice germplasm for blast resistance in Nigeria. The four genotypes, namely Institute for Research in Tropical Agriculture, France (IRAT) 109, JAMILA, Federal Agriculture Research Oryza (FARO) 52, and FARO 66 were evaluated in a completely randomized design with three replications in the screen house of the Department of Crop Protection, Institute for Agricultural Research Samaru, Nigeria. Data were collected on plant height, the number of plants infected with a blast, seedling vigour, tillering ability, blast disease score, and leaf blast estimated. Analysis of variance showed a high significant difference (P ? 0.01) for seedling vigour (0.03**) and disease index (17.24**) while significant (P ? 0.05) variation was observed for a number of the leaf (3.79*). In contrast, there was no significant (P > 0.05) variation for plant height and tillering ability. The highest PCV (Phenotypic Coefficient of Variance) and GCV (Genotypic Coefficient of Variance), also broad-sense heritability was observed in leaf blast. IRAT 109 (0.6) depicted a high resistance, JAMILA moderately susceptible (Blast score 4.0) while FARO 52 (7.3) and FARO 66 (6.1) were susceptible. A significant difference among genotypes implies sufficient variation among genotype screened, suggesting that progress can be made following selection.

Breeding improvement of fennel genotypes of different origins (Foeniculum vulgare L.) using morphological and yield parameters

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.) is a reputed spice plant and is used as an industrial medicinal plant due to its pharmaceutical and food applications, exhibiting a wide array of genetic variations depending on morphological and yield properties. Along with the current study, thirty-two different fennel genotypes and five local genotypes from Turkey were used to determine the morphological and yield properties in 2017 and 2018. A wide range of variation in plant height (39.22-129.60 cm), 1000 fruit yield (1.92-7.70 g), and fruit yield (0.12-8.68 g) was observed. As deduced from previous reports and from the current findings of the study, those relevant parameters could be considered for breeding purposes. To visualize or clarify the findings, a dendrogram was constructed to reveal the genetic variability regarding the morphological and yield properties of fennel genotypes. The dendrogram revealed that genotypes of different origins occurred in different groups, but local genotypes collected from Turkey occurred in the same group and subgroup. Additionally, correlation analysis was carried out to reveal the relationships between the relevant agronomic parameters. Of those correlation coefficients, a high correlation coefficient was noted between the number of fruits and fruit yield (r=0.849). Overall, the findings of the study revealed notable genetic variation related to fruit yield and other relevant agronomic traits for fennel genotypes, suggesting that this remarkable variation might be used for selecting superior genotypes in breeding programs. Of the genotypes analyzed, Ames30289 was the best genotype due to the highest fruit yield according to two successive years. Consequently, the findings can be considered useful information for fennel breeders, researchers and farmers in Turkey or other countries.

Sunflower agronomic traits in field irrigation conditions

Multi-year studies are crucial for the evaluation of sunflower hybrids and quantifying the environmental effect in the expression of genetic potential. In order to assess the adaptation of eight hybrids and test the impact of water availability on plant height (PH), head diameter (HD), 1000-grain weight (TWG), hectolitre mass (HM), seed yield (SY), oil content (OC) and oil yield (OY), a two-year study was conducted with irrigation as treatment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed the year influence on all tested agronomic traits. According to the three-way ANOVA, irrigation significantly affected all tested traits except HD, OC and OY. All agronomic traits had lower values in both rainfed and irrigated treatment in 2014, confirming the influence of the environment. The hybrid was a significant source of variation for all traits. ANOVA and PCA grouped hybrids 1, 7, and 8 in one group and 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in another. The first group had lower PH, HD, TGW and SY values and higher HM, OC and OY values, and the second group had reversed traits values. Furthermore, the PCA biplot indicates SY was positively correlated with PH, HD, TGW and OY and HM was positively correlated with OC. This facilitates the breeding process because it enables indirect breeding for economically important traits such as seed yield, oil content and oil yield. As treatments were significant sources of variation for PH, HM, TWG and SY, sunflower irrigating is considered justified and can be used as an additional agrotechnical measure to target the agronomic traits. Understanding the expression of traits under rainfed and irrigation conditions will greatly help design effective breeding programs by creating hybrids suitable for cultivation in semi-arid environments.

Morphological Characterization of Ten Genotipes of Large Chili (Capsicum Annuum L).

Chili (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the horticultural commodities that have high economic value which is used as vegetables or cooking spices, industrial raw materials, and has export opportunities. The development of superior chili varieties requires a large variety of germplasm that can be used as parents to be crossed with each other to obtain new superior traits. One of the efforts to determine the diversity of plants is to characterize the morphology and production. The purpose of this study was to obtain distinguishing characters among ten genotypes of large chilies, to determine the value of genetic parameter estimators for several genotypes of large chilies and to identify important characters that influence the yield of large chili genotypes. The study was a single factor field experiment in the form of 10 large chili genotypes arranged in a Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with 3 blocks as replication. Genotypes of large chili are: Arimbi, Baja, Beautiful, Dewa Rengku, Gada, Jayadi, Jenio, Simpatik, Panex, and Thunder. Observation variables included morphological characters (plant habit, leaf color, leaf position, leaf shape, flower position, anther color, pistil color, leaf edge, fruit color), growth variables (plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves), and yield variable (weight per fruit, fruit length, fruit weight per plant). The results showed that all morphological characters for all varieties were the same, namely having an upright habitus, pointed leaf shape, green leaf color, leaf position falling, flower position lowering, purple anther warrant and green pistil stalk warrant, and red fruit skin color.

Inbreeding Depression Test in Phenotypic Characters of Maize Plants from Selfing and Open Pollinated

The initial step in the assembly of hybrid maize is the formation of inbred lines. This research aims to see the differences in phenotypic characters and to determine the percentage of inbreeding depression between selfing and open-pollinated plant populations. Research activities have been carried out in the cornfield of Nagari Sitiung, Sitiung District, Dharmasraya Regency, West Sumatra. The materials used were F2 maize selected from a cross between BSM0729S3 and BAP27799 and maize S4 from BSM0729S3 (female parent). The research was conducted using a T-test, namely open-pollinated (T1) and selfing (T2). After the T-test was performed, the percentage of inbreeding depression was calculated for each observation variable. The results showed that the open-pollinated treatment was significantly different from the selfing treatment on the variables of plant height, ear height, anthesis time, silking time, harvesting age, ear weight per plant, length and diameter of the ear, kernel row number, and intensity of anthocyanin staining on hair, tassels, and roots. The magnitude of the decrease in vigor in the open-pollinated treatment was smaller than the selfing treatment on all observed variables except for the anthocyanin intensity variable in tassel and roots. Therefore, it is necessary to do further selfing on the S4 population to obtain uniform pure lines and mass selection on the F2 population to produce a uniform maize population.

Growth and yield of beet irrigated with saline water in different types of vegetable mulching

ABSTRACT Vegetal mulching can mitigate the harmful effects of salts present in irrigation water. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of irrigation water salinity and mulching on the growth and yield of beet crops. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at Redenção, Ceará State. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 2 × 4 factorial scheme, with five replicates, composed of two levels of electrical conductivity of irrigation water - ECw: tap water - 0.3 dS m-1 and saline solution - 5.8 dS m-1; and four types of mulching (rice hulls, carnauba bagana, crop residues, and a control treatment without soil cover). The use of vegetal mulching, mitigated the effects of irrigation with saline water on the variables plant height, leaf area, stem diameter, and tuberous root. The increase of the salt concentration in irrigation water negatively affected the number of leaves, length of the tuberous root, and yield. But, it increased the soluble solids in the beet crop.

Perbanyakan dan Aplikasi PGPR (Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobactheria) di Laboratorium Pengamatan Hama dan Penyakit Banyumas

PGPR (Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria) is a substance that helps plant growth with the help of rhizosphere microorganisms. PGPR propagation can be done with liquid media. This PGPR propagation needs to be done because this substance has many benefits for agricultural cultivation. The application of PGPR to the test plant, namely the pakcoy plant, proved that there was an effect of giving PGPR to the plant. Observations on the test plants were carried out by observing several observation variables such as plant height, root length, number of leaves, wet weight and dry weight. The results of these observations showed that the effect on the test plants was seen in the variables of root length, wet weight, and dry weight. Meanwhile, the variable plant height and number of leaves did not show a visible difference.

Growth promoters in banana seedlings submitted to saline irrigation

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of inoculation of a plant growth promoter bacteria on the growth of micropropagated banana seedlings cultivar Williams under irrigation with water at different saline levels. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse at Embrapa Agroindústria Tropical, Fortaleza, State of Ceará. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, in a 3 x 4 factorial scheme, corresponding to the three factors for growth promotion (negative control: water; Osmocote® slow-release fertilizer and a Bacillus spp. bacterium) subjected to four levels of irrigation water salinity (S1 = 0.5; S2 = 1.5; S3 = 3.0 and S4 = 4.5 dS m-1), and five blocks, totaling 60 experimental units. Sixty days after transplanting (DAT) and application of treatments, the following variables related to plant growth were measured: number of leaves (NL), pseudostem diameter (PD), plant height (PH), leaf area (LA), and root length (RL). The rise in saline levels in the irrigation water negatively influenced the variables number of leaves, pseudostem diameter, root length, and leaf area, showing a decreasing linear behavior. The variables number of leaves and leaf area of seedlings inoculated in association with Bacillus spp. did not differ from each other, regardless of the saline level. This indicated a likely increase in the response to the salinity tolerance of the seedlings. Treatment with Osmocote® fertilizer differed statistically for variables plant height, pseudostem diameter, and leaf area.

Pengaruh Pemberian Ekstrak Bawang Merah dan Kecambah dengan Pemberian Pupuk Cair Hayati terhadap Pertumbuhan Seedling Manggis (Garcinia mangostana L.)

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L) seeds from seed, or commonly called seedling, have relatively few lateral roots and are poor in root hairs so that their growth is slow (having a long juvenile period of up to 10-15 years). For this reason, it is necessary to make efforts so that mangosteen seedlings can have a good root system through the addition of natural growth regulators. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of red onion extract, a mixture of onion extract and mung bean sprouts combined with biological liquid fertilizer on the growth of mangosteen seedling. This research was carried out in the Horticulture FP greenhouse in March 2020–July 2020. This study was arranged in a factorial (3 x 2) in a Randomized Block Design (RAK) with three replications. The first factor was natural ZPT treatment: without extract, red onion extract 400 g/L, and mixed extract of onion 200 g/L and green bean sprouts 200 g/L. The second factor is the provision of biological fertilizers, namely without biological fertilizers and 15 ml/L). The results showed that the administration of mixed extracts of shallots and mung bean sprouts tended to have better growth which could be seen from the highest average value for the variable plant height 6.04 cm, stem diameter 2.93 mm, and the number of secondary roots. The mixed extract treatment of shallots and mung bean sprouts also increased the widest leaf area by a difference of 3.5 cm² compared to the control. Keywords : extract of shallot/ green bean sprout, growth regulator, mangosteen

Growth and production of sweet corn (Zea mays saccarata sturt L) with soil treatment and number of seeds per planting hole

Sweet corn production in Indonesia from is volatile and unstable. Unoptimal production of sweet corn in North Sumatra is caused by land conditions, plant populations, pest and disease and level of soil fertility. Effective and efficient soil tillage, crop spacing and number of seeds will affect the physical properties of the soil and plant productivity. This study aims to observe the best planting and tillage methods for maize. This study used a split plot design which is repeated three times with two factors, i.e. 3 levels of number of seeds per planting hole and 3 levels of soil tillage. The results showed that the treatment of tillage and the number of seeds per planting hole give significant effect on the variables of plant height, stem diameter, and total production. The interaction of these two factors showed an influence on the parameters of sweet corn plant height. The treatment of 2 seed per planting hole and 1 time of soil tillage show the best productivity compared to other treatments.

Performance of six new superior varieties of rice on tidal swamp-land in South Kalimantan Province

Rice is the staple food for millions of people of Indonesia which produced from many agroecology including tidal-swamp. The contribution of swampland to the national rice production is still lower than 2%. One of the indigenous knowledge of the tidal-swamp farmers is the massive use of local varieties which have low yield. Therefore, efforts to increase rice production in tidal-swampland of Barito Kuala Regency should consider the use of superior varieties. The purpose of this study was to find out performance of seven superior varieties in tidal-swamp land in two planting seasons. This research was conducted from March 2020 to March 2021 in Karang Buah Village of Belawang District of Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan Province. The research was arranged in two factors of Randomized Complete Block Design namely varieties and seasons. The first factor consisted of seven varieties: Inpari-42 (V1), Inpari-43 (V2), Inpari IR Nutri Zinc (V3), Inpara-8 (V4), Inpara-9 (V5), Inpara-10 (V6), and IR-42 (V7). The second factor, season consisted of season-1 which started from March to July 2020 and season-2 for planting period from November 2020 to March 2021. The result showed that swamp rice varieties had higher value for plant height variables than those of irrigated rice varieties with Inpari-8 as the highest one. However, all irrigated rice varieties performed better which had higher value for panicle number, filled rice grain, and yield with IR-42 as the highest one. All varieties except IR-42 showed higher values of filled grain numbers when cultivated in season-1 supported by good weather during the study.

PROVISION OF MICRORHIZA FUNGI AGAINST SALINE STRESS IN CHILI PLANTS

This experiment was a factorial randomized block design (RAK). The screen house used was the screen house of the experimental garden of the Faculty of Agricultural and Animal Sciences, Indonesian National Islamic University. The land was taken from the coast of Kuala Kab. Bireuen, Aceh. Soil was taken from the top soil layer with a depth of 0-25 cm. Mycorrhizae were placed in planting holes around the root area at a depth of 2-3 cm according to the treatment per plant before the seeds were planted in polybags. Then the planting hole that has been given mycorrhizae is covered again with soil. Mycorrhizal application was carried out once at the time of seed planting. Harvesting can be done by picking the fruit and its stalk. The analysis was carried out to determine the level of ability of mycorrhizal species to help plants in the absorption of P nutrients to maximize chili plant production, the effect of chili varieties had a significant effect on root infection at 45 DAP, a very significant effect on stem diameter at 15 DAP, wet root weight, number of fruit planted, dry weight. fruit, had a significant effect on plant height at 15 DAP, stem diameter at 30 DAP and fruit weight at planting, but had no significant effect on plant height at 30 and 45 DAP, stem diameter at 45 DAP, number of leaves at 15, 30 and 45 DAP, weight dry root, root wet weight, root dry weight, root length, number of productive branches 45 DAP. The results showed that the variety had a very significant effect on the growth of chili plants. The best variety was found in the Lado variety in the vegetative phase which could be seen from the variables of plant height 15 and 30 DAP, stem diameter at 15 and 30 DAP, number of leaves at 15, 30 and 45 DAP. While the generative phase of the best variety was found in the PM 999 variety which could be seen in the variables Number of fruit, fruit weight, dry weight, root wet weight and root length.

Genetic Diversity of Shanlan Upland Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Association Analysis of SSR Markers Linked to Agronomic Traits.

Shanlan upland rice, a kind of unique rice germplasm in Hainan Island, was used to evaluate genetic diversity and association between SSR markers and agronomic traits. A total of 239 alleles were detected in 57 Hainan upland rice varieties using 35 SSR markers, and the number of alleles per locus was 2-19. The observed heterozygosity was 0.0655-0.3115. The Shannon diversity index was 0.1352-0.4827. The genetic similarity coefficient was 0.6736-0.9707, and 46 varieties were clustered into one group, indicating that the genetic base of the Shanlan upland rice germplasm was narrow. A total of 25 SSR markers significantly related to plant height, effective panicle number per plant, panicle length, total grain number, filled grain number, seed rating rate, and 1000-grain weight were obtained (P < 0.01), with the percentage of the total variations explained ranging from 0.12% to 42.62%. RM208 explained 42.62% of the total variations in plant height of Shanlan upland rice. RM493 was significantly associated with 6 agronomic traits. We can speculate that RM208 may flank QTLs responsible for plant height and RM493 may flank QTLs playing a fundamental role in the intertwined regulatory network of agronomic traits of Shanlan upland rice.

Exploration, Collection and Characterization of Horsegram [Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verd.] Germplasm

Background: Horsegram [Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) verd.] is an underutilized arid food legume known to grow well in diverse environmental conditions like poor soils, low rainfall etc. Horsegram is a drought resistant crop used for fodder, feed, seed, green manuring and in ayurvedic medicine. It is grown as Rabi crop in Andhra Pradesh. Compared to other pulse crops, efforts in conservation horsegram germplasm is poor which is essential for the future breeding purpose. There will be a danger of loss of germplasm if they are not collected and conserved. The Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Araku region is a rich source of diversified germplasm of legumes, medicinal plants, millets and ancient crops. Among which, horsegram is one of the crop with wide diversified germplasm. Hence the present effort is done in collection and characterization of the germplasm for further use in the breeding process. Broadening the genetic base in horsegram through interspecific hybridization employing diverse germplasm will be useful in improving pest and disease resistance, grain quality, protein percentage and nutritional factors. Methods: Expedition was conducted during Rabi 2018 and 25 horse gram seed samples were collected from the local regions of tribal tracts of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh along with passport data using the GPS machine. The germplasm lines were evaluated and morphologically characterized during Rabi 2019 at Agricultural Research Station, Yellamanchili, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, for fifteen characters. Principal component analysis was carried out to identify the diverse germplasm lines and to know the contribution of the variables. Result: The investigation showed that all the horse germplasm lines are inherited to the farmers from their ancestors. Study revealed that, the seed yield per plant showed a range of 2.40 to 6.40 g and the days maturity recorded a range of 87 to 106 days. Principal component analysis showed that all the variables except 100 seed weight (g) showed positive loading. Among the variables plant height (cm), dry haulm weight (g) and seed yield per plant recorded maximum percentage of contribution. The genotypes HG-24, HG-7, HG-19, HG-15, HG-22 recorded highest positive scores. The genotypes HG-5, HG-10, HG-3, HG-16, HG-8, HG-4, HG-10, HG-24 and HG-7 has shown wide divergence which may be further adopted in the breeding programme for horsegram improvement.

Diversity Analysis in Horse Gram [Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc.] Mutants

Background: Horse gram is the potential rainfed legume in Indian farming. The major limitation in horse gram breeding is the narrow variability. Variability induction and its estimation would sustain food security. Methods: Variability was induced using gamma rays, electron beam and ethyl methanesulfonate and their combinations. The induced variation for the economic traits, their inheritance and genetic gain were ascertained. Result: The analysis of variance indicated the induction of significant variation for yield attributing traits. The population was grouped into 10 constellations by the virtue of induced variation. The groups I, II and V were the largest comprising of 38, 31 and 19 mutants respectively. The mutants exhibited significant intra and inter group variation. The mutagens induced the maximum variability for plant height (32.24%), 100 seed weight (25.42%) and number of pods per plant (19.18%). The mutants possessed high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation for all the characters except flowering traits and duration. The induced variability for the yield attributing traits possessed significant breeding value as the heritability (86.66%-99.72%) and genetic advance as percent of mean (10.65-81.94) were high and the environmental influence was the minimum.

Ftir Analysis Reveals Chemical Response during Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)-Sugarcane Aphid, Melanaphis sacchari1, Interaction

Sorghum (Sorghum (L.) Moench) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world and produced for food, feed, and forage. However, several species of insect pests affect sorghum production, especially sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner), the most important recent pest. The objective of this research was to identify composition of functional groups of chemicals during sorghum-aphid interaction. Eight experimental lines and two commercial sorghum hybrids were evaluated at the vegetative and reproductive stages at 70 and 100 days after sowing. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with three replications divided into natural conditions (non-chemical treatment) or with chemical treatment for pest control. The agronomic variables of plant height, leaf area, stalk diameter, internode number, number of aphids per area, and total soluble solids were evaluated. LES267NCT in natural conditions was less infested by aphids and considered a resistant genotype, surpassing commercial hybrid P82G63. Conversely, LESSONU was very infested. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis revealed several functional groups such as OH in hydrogenated aromatic, aliphatic, and phenolic alcoholic compounds, tannins, and methylene groups in aromatic compounds, lipids, and lignin.

Calcium supplementation in nutrient solutions to mitigate salt stress in fertigated okra

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of calcium supplementation on saline water as a minimizing agent of saline stress in okra cultivars. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse in Mossoró-RN using a completely randomized experimental design in a 2x5 factorial scheme with four replications. Two okra cultivars (Santa Cruz 47 and Valença) were tested fertigated with five fertigation managements [F1= irrigation with non-saline water (0.5 dS m-1) and fertigation with a standard dose of calcium (4,733.8 mg plant-1); F2, F3, F4 and F5= irrigation with saline water (3.5 dS m-1) and fertigation with increasing doses of calcium (4,733.8; 7,100.7; 9,467.7 and 11,834.5 mg plant-1, respectively)]. Plants were collected at 120 days after emergence and evaluated for growth variables (plant height, leaf number, stem diameter, leaf dry mass, stem, fruit and total) and yield (fruit number, average length of fruits, average diameter and yield). Cultivar Santa Cruz 47 presented the highest vegetative development but cultivar Valença was earlier and presented the largest number of harvests (19), allowing more harvested fruits (27 fruits per plant) and the highest yield (659 g plant-1). The cultivars were not affected by the saline level and showed little response to extra calcium fertilization.