Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology

Polerovirus (Family-Luteoviridae) are one of the most destructive viruses causing detrimental diseases in vegetable crops in tropical regions of the world including India. Four species viz. potato leaf roll virus (PLRV), potato virus Y(PVY), potato virus X(PVX) and potato virus S(PVS) are known to cause different diseases in potato crops. Of the various viral diseases inflicting potato crops, potato leaf roll disease is the most destructive and widely distributed. They cause huge agro-economical losses (90%) worldwide and thus are the subjects of immense concern. PLRV is a phloem-limited spherical virus transmitted by several aphid species in a persistent manner. A study was performed in order to detect the infection of potato leaf roll virus from different regions of Bihar. These infected samples were diagnosed first using DAS-ELISA for the PLRV infection and later, coat protein was amplified and sequenced from PLRV positive sample. Phylogenetic tree deduced based on the nucleotide sequence of the coat protein gene gene showed a distinct divergence of PLRV isolates in two major clades. The molecular weight of the predicted protein sequence of 203 amino acids was found 22617.06 daltons while theoretical pI was 5.22. The extinction coefficient of predicted coat protein was 0.836. An attempt was taken in order to illustrate the 3D model of the coat protein which was further verified using Ramachandran plot. The model structure obtained using Swiss-Model had 92.9% residues in the most favourable region of the Ramachandran plot (Fig. 3c) and showed Z-score for bond angles, chi-1/chi-2 correlation and Ramachandran Z-score were 1.457, 1.773 and -2.633 respectively which exhibited  considerably good model quality.

Aims: The study aims to highlight the simple optimisation, inexpensive and rapid procedure for DNA isolation from tough leaves (Palmyra palm) without compromising the yield and purity of DNA.

Study Design: Leaf of palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer) was used to conduct the experiment followed by laboratory analysis, DNA extraction and PCR amplification.

Results and Discussion: The results showed that different buffers examined for the extraction of DNA provided significantly different levels of yield and purity. DNA isolated by lysis buffers C showed satisfactory amplifications in PCR. The fingerprint we obtained by using the DNA extracted by these buffers provided higher resolution than those using buffers.

Conclusion: This study suggests that grinding of Palmyra palm leaves with sterile sand or cover slips and inclusion of SDS, Tween 20, and NaCl (1.4 M) in the lysis buffer without the costly use of liquid nitrogen, PVP and β mercaptoethanol, provides a DNA yield of sufficient purity, suitable for PCR amplification and subsequent use.

The rate of pineapple propagation through conventional technique is quite low and time taken and that by seed is apparently hard to germinate. Non-availability of quality planting material is one of the major constraints for expansion of its cultivation area in Bihar. Keeping this in view an experiment was conducted for in vitro establishment for large scale disease free planting materials production. The most commonly encountered problem during in vitro pineapple germplasm establishment is the rate of contamination, which is very high in case of pineapple. Suckers of pineapple cultivar Kew were used as explants for the study. In this experiment the efficiency of three sterilizing agents (Clorox, HgCl₂ and NaOCl) at different concentrations and duration was evaluated in terms of number of aseptic cultures. Results revealed that when no sterilant was used all the cultures were contaminated. The contamination of explants significantly decreased with increase in concentration of different sterilants and their time of exposure. The highest survival of explants (58.31±1.71%) were observed when explants were treated with Clorox 40% for 20 minutes which also resulted in 17.89±0.25% and 25.03±2.63%  mortality and per cent contamination respectively. As the duration of Clorox 40% was increased, percent contamination decreased but simultaneously increased the mortality rate at 25 mins of duration. The percent survival also increased when explants were treated with different concentrations of HgCl₂ and NaOCl at different time durations. However, NaOCl treatments were less effective as compared to other two sterilants.

The present investigation was carried out using thirty eight genotypes (eight parents, twenty eight F₁'s and two checks) using Griffing's half diallel mating design. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications during kharif 2017 at the research farm of Bihar Agriculture College, Sabour. Observations were recorded for six pre-harvest characters viz days to 50% anthesis, days to 50% silking, anthesis silking interval, days to 75% brown husk, plant height, ear height and seven post-harvest characters viz cob length, cob diameter, number of kernel rows per cob, number of kernels per row, 1000 seed weight, shelling percentage and grain yield at 15% moisture. The mean sum of square of treatments was found to be significant for days to 75% brown husk and shelling per cent and highly significant for all other characters. The mean sum of square for GCA was found to be significant for cob length, no. of kernel row per cob, no. of kernels per row and highly significant for remaining all the characters except days to 75% brown husk and shelling%. The mean sum of square for SCA was significant for days to 75% brown husk and highly significant for all the remaining characters. On the basis of GCA effect for grain yield at 15% moisture, the parents BML-7, VQL-1 and SML-1 were found to be good general combiners. The ratio of GCA variance to SCA variance was found to be less than 1 for all the traits which indicated the preponderance of non-additive gene action. On the basis of SCA effects better performing crosses for grain yield at 15% moisture were DTPYC-9 × LM-13, CLQRCY-44 × VQL-1, CML-161 × SML-1 and CML-161× BML-7.

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season at Trihut college of Agriculture Dholi, Muzaffarpur to evaluate the response of sources (Elemental sulphur and gypsum) and different doses (15, 30 and 45 kg S ha^-1) of sulphur growth yield and quality of onion. Bulb yield, nutrient content in onion and nutrient uptake were significantly improved by the application of sulphur by gypsum over elenmental sulphur. Amongst sulphur doses, the application of sulphur at 40 kg/ha showed significant superiority over others, however it was at par to sulphur at 30 kg/ha.

Objective: Pre treatments such as T2 (citric acid 1% + 0.5% haldi +1% salt) and T3 (citric acid 1% + KMS 0.5%) were the most effective to reduce browning and resulted high quality banana flakes. The flakes were evaluated for moisture content, non enzymatic browning and sensory (color, texture and flavour) quality attributes after treatment and during storage.

Study Design: Completely Randomized Block Design (CRD)

Place and Duration of Study: Department of food Science and Postharvest Technology, BAU, Sabour (Bihar) India during March 2013 to August 2015.

Methodology: In this curriculum, banana flakes prepared from different cooking and Table banana cultivars (G-9, Kothiya, Alpan and Batisha,) were subjected to different pre-treatments with citric acid, potassium meta bisulphite, salt and turmeric powder. The flakes were evaluated for moisture content, non enzymatic browning and sensory (color, texture and flavour) quality attributes during storage.

Results and Conclusions: Pre treatments prior to drying decreased the incidence of browning of finished products as compared to control. Pre treatments such as T₃ (citric acid 1% + KMS 0.5%) and T₂ (citric acid 1% + 0.5% haldi +1% salt) were the most effective to reduce browning and resulted high quality banana flakes. OD at 445 was recorded minimum in all cultivars (Kothiya-0.61, Digha-0.68, Batisha-0.69 and G-9-0.72 against T₃. Hence treatment T₃ maintained whiter colour than other treaments. From the results, it is suggested that quality banana flakes could be prepared from all the cultivars using theses pre-treatments.

The experiment was conducted using 140 lentil genotypes at (farm name?) Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur in 2017-18. The genetic divergences were estimated using D² analysis where a number of clusters were formed considering all genotypes of indigenous and exogenous types. Genetic variation of genotypes in considerable traits was significant for selection of desired type that can be utilised in future breeding programme. The study on correlation, genotypic variability, and path analysis of seed yield and yield components were essential for determining the relevance of considerable traits in enhancement of seed yield. The total genotypes were grouped into 5 clusters viz. Cluster I was found to be the largest comprising 121 genotypes, followed by cluster III of 12 genotypes. Cluster II, IV had three genotypes each and V was monogenic. Seeds per plant, days to maturity and pods per plant contributed extreme divergence among the genotypes which can be integrated in enhancement of productivity of lentil. On the basis of cluster mean, intra and inter cluster distance and per se cluster III, IV and V may be used for their desired characters in breeding strategy. The genotypes BRL-1, BRL-2, BRL-3 LKH-1, LKH-2, LKH-3, FLIP 2010-73L-2, FLIP 2010-86L and X2011S-111-2 may be considered in breeding to gain high heterotic effect and also to improve the desirable transgressive segregants.

Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] also known as a black-eyed pea or Southern pea, belongs to Fabaceae family is rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and phosphorus. It is mainly grown for grain, pulse cum vegetable and fodder purposes. Twenty-seven genotypes of cowpea were sown in RBD with three replications and observations regarding eighteen characters were recorded at the vegetable farm, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur during zaid-2017. Analysis of variance shows that there was a significant difference among genotypes recorded among all the eighteen quantitative characters indicates the diverse genetic nature of base population. The coefficient of phenotypic variation was slightly greater than those of genotypic variation for almost all the character shows that the existing variation is mainly governed by the genotypic factor and there is little influence of environment in the expression of the character. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for characters like pod yield per plant, plant height, pod yield (q/ha), number of pods per plant and number of nodes on the main stem shown that the direct selection will be more effective. Genetic divergence using D² analysis was also carried out for all the twenty-seven genotypes and were grouped into six clusters. Cluster I was largest including of eleven genotypes whereas cluster VI was smallest consisting only one genotype. Inter-cluster D² values ranged from 606.11 to 1837.92. The high value of D² distance help breeder in  selection of the parental line for initiating any hybridization programme.

Onion is one of the most important vegetable in India. However, yields are generally low due to weeds problem which reduce onion yields. In order to evaluate various  herbicides for weed control in onion, an experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Institute, Patna under Bihar Agricultural  University, Sabour, Bhagalpur during two consecutive rabi Season 2016-17 and 2017-2018.The experiment comprised 3 herbicides and were applied alone , their combinations ,hand weeded plot and a weedy check was also included. Thus the eight different treatments were: weed free throughout the all crop period, two hand weeding at 20 and 40 days after transplanting, glyphosate at the rate 1kg  active ingredient /ha 15 days before transplanting, pendimethalin at the rate 1 kg active ingredient/ha as pre emergence i.e., 3 days after transplanting, oxyfluorfen  at the rate  250 g  active ingredient /ha as post emergence i.e. 30 days after transplanting, pendimethalin followed by oxyfluorfen, glyphosate followed by pedimethalin followed by oxyfluorfen and the control.

 Statistical analysis of the data showed that the hand weeded treatment had the lowest  total dry weight of weeds (10.3g) and total fresh weight of weeds (29.4g) followed by combined application of glyphosate, pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen treated plot (12.7g) and (24.5g) as compared to the weedy check (45.8g) and (159.0g) respectively. Similarly, the maximum size of onion bulbs (62.5g), yield (281q/ha) was recorded in the hand weeded plots followed by the combined application of glyphosate, pendimethalin and oxyflurfen treated plot (61.9g and 268q/ha) as compared to weedy check (13.3g and 49q/ha). The highest cost benefit ratio was obtained in the treatment (where combinations of the 3 herbicides were applied i.e., (T₇) due to low labour consumption as compared to weed free treatment (T₁).

A field experiment was conducted at Aurangabad district of Bihar during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with five replications and six treatments. The major weeds in experimental field were Chenopodium album, Phalaris minor, Anagalis arvensis and Convolvulus arvensis were recorded with some other minor weed species. Lowest weed density (4.90 m^-2 & 6.20 m^-2) at 30DAS was recorded where pendimethalin  was applied @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as PE followed by Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS, which was statistically at par with Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS in 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively. Similarly weed density and dry weight at 30DAS and harvest during 2014-15 and 2015-16 were recorded significantly lower with pendimethalin  was applied @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as PE followed by Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS, which was statistically at par with Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS. Significantly decreased the weed density (38.77% & 60.37%) at 30DAS with pendimethalin applied @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as PE followed by Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS, which was statistically at par with Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS during 2014-15 and 2015-16 and similar finding was also recorded at harvest stage in both the year. Grain yield was recorded with pendimethalin was applied @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as PE followed by Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS 17.61 q/ha and 14.61 q/ha, respectively during 2014-15 and 2015-16 being at par with Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha during both the year among other treatments. The highest net returns of Rs. 61925 & Rs 67140  and B:C 4.57 & 4.27 were recorded by pendimethalin was applied @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as PE followed by Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS being on par with Imazethapyr @40 g a.i./ha during both the year.

Zinc plays a greater role during reproductive phase especially during fertilization. A field experiment was conducted in district seed farm AB block, Kalyani, Nadia, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (B.C.K.V) during 2016-17 and 2017-18 in Randomized Block Design (RBD) and replicated thrice to check the response of lentil against different concentration of ZnSO₄· 7H₂O. Zinc foliar application applied at preflowering and podding stage. It has been observed that all the zinc applications have better results than the control. Among different treatments 0.04% and 0.08% zinc shown better result. Among humans, Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a well documented global health problem, affecting nearly half of the world population. Zn content of the seed increased maximum in 0.08% Zn treatment but seed yield is maximum in 0.04% Zn treatment. Therefore, it is concluded that foliar application of zinc improves lentil productivity and lentil production.

Present investigation was carried out with 240 mutant lines developed from different combination of gamma rays and ethyl methyl sulfonate on three rice varieties i.e FR13A, FR13B and Labella along with three untreated checks (FR13A, FR13B and Labella). These were evaluated for their survival percentage under submerged condition and yield potential along with 9 other morpho-physiological traits using Type 2 modified augmented design during Kharif season of 2017 in the agroclimatic region of north bihar, India. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the mutant lines for all morpho-physiological characters under study. Higher magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), heritability (broad sense) and genetic advance as percentage of mean were observed for number of tillers per plant, number of fertile tillers per plant, relative shoot elongation and survival percentage, indicating that these traits could be used as selection indices for yield improvement and submergence tolerance. Association study revealed that number of tillers per plant and survival percentage had significant positive high to moderate direct association with grain yield per plant under submergence condition. Thus, these traits may be used as selection criteria in further crop improvement programmes for submergence tolerance.

Present investigation was framed with four sowing date (25^th July, 10^th August, 26^th August and 10^th September) and four plant spacing (50 × 40 cm, 50 × 50 cm, 60 × 50 cm and 60 × 60 cm) having 16 treatment combinations. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomize Block Design and replicates thrice. The result of the present investigation indicates that the main effect of date of sowing and plant spacing as well as their interaction effect were found significant. The significantly highest plant height (63.93 cm), leaf area (97.00 cm²), polar diameter (10.3 cm) and equatorial diameter (21.20 cm) were recorded on 10^th August and seedlings were transplanted  at spacing of 60 × 60 cm. Significantly number of branches/plant, number of siliqua/plant, Number of seed/siliqua, seed yield/plant, seed yield (q/ha) and 1000 seed weight were obtained when sowing was done on 10^th August and transplanted at spacing of 60 × 60 cm. Therefore, it may be concluded that combined effect of sowing date (10^th August) and plant spacing (60 × 60 cm) was the most effective treatment combination for growth and seed yield in early cauliflower.

Improving farmer’s income through technological intervention is the urgent need in rural areas for making self-dependence and economic sufficiency. In this direction, a number of scientist farmers interaction meets were organized in KVK, Aurangabad. Farmers farm women, rural youth and girls enthusiastically participated in these programs like on campus farming off-campus training, kisan chaupal, kissan gosthi etc. raised several questions related to some their fruit and vegetables production against blue bull for income generation. Wide awareness and community participation is the need of the hour for the rational utilization and better conservation strategies of medicinal & aromatic plants. Medicinal cultivation is the emerging sector in agriculture diversification that would augment the income of small holders and generate employment opportunities in rural areas. It was felt that low marketing surplus of small landholders requires formation of co-operative groups for a contract for men with Patanjali/other agencies to help them to generate more income. Use of medicinal & aromatic plants may be available in our surroundings but due to lack of awareness, we never take care to collect, conserve and evaluate such precious materials. In addition, a holistic approach is required to manage the rich heritage of medicinal and aromatic plant with available in Bihar. The potential of medicinal & aromatic cultivation has been realized lately. There are many options available for farmers of all income and land holding groups to take up are or the other activity in medicinal and aromatic cultivation.

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), a subtropical fruit crop has high commercial value and consumer acceptance owing to its rich juicy aril and attractive bright red pericarp. Anthocyanin, the major pigment present in litchi pericarp reaches its maximum content in fully ripen fruit contributing to its bright red colour. Anthocyanin content in plants depends on the rate of biosynthesis, stability in the vacuoles and the rate at which it is degraded. The biosynthesis of anthocyanin occurs via an intricate phenyl propanoid pathway controlled by plethora of structural and regulatory genes. Several genes encoding enzymes responsible for anthocyanin synthesis have been isolated and characterised in different plants. Litchi fruit being highly perishable, exhibit relatively shorter postharvest shelf-life of 2–3 days at ambient conditions which in part can be attributed to the enzymatic and non-enzymatic degradation of anthocyanin. In contrast to the comprehensive understanding of molecular basis of anthocyanin synthesis, the studies on its catabolism or degradation are meagre. Polyphenols oxidases and peroxidases are the major enzymes responsible for anthocyanin degradation leading to the problem of pericarp browning. Laccase, an anthocyanin degradation enzyme expresses about thousand fold higher than the polyphenols oxidase in the pericarp with epicatechin as favourable substrate. A detailed study of the anthocyanin degradation pathway in litchi may be helpful in managing the problem of pericarp browning to preserve its bright red colour as well as to enhance the shelf life and marketability of this valuable fruit crop.