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Microbial Inoculants as Effective Microorganisms (EM) were applied to find out their effects on germination and seedling growth of Albizia saman in the nursery. The seedlings were grown in a mixture of sandy soils and cow dung (3:1) kept in polybags. The EM solution at different concentrations (0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5% and 10%) was incorporated before and after a week of sowing seeds. Germination and physical growth parameters, including shoot and root length, vigor index, collar diameter, leaf number, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root and total biomass increment over the control were measured. The nodulation status influenced by EM was also observed along with the estimation of chemical parameters like chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid. Both germination and the measured physical growth parameters were found significantly (P<0.05) higher in seedlings treated with different concentrations of EM solution in comparison to the control. Maximum growth was found at 2% followed by 1% EM solution. Nodulation was higher at 0.1% concentration but it normally decreased with the increase of concentrations. Although there were a higher amount of pigments in leaves of the treated seedlings than of the control, the variations recorded with respect to chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid were not significantly higher in most of the treatments. Treated seedlings showed variable results along with the increment of EM applications and most of the parameters showed best results at the medium range of concentrations. The study indicates that the Microbial Inoculant (EM) technology might be useful to improve the growth of seedlings in the nursery. This also indicates that the associated beneficial organisms along with the polybag soils might be of value in improving the degraded soil or poor field soil for better nutrient and water uptake during the initial growth of transplanted seedlings.

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This study was performed in five villages of Sandwip Upazila, Chittagong district with a view to identify the tree resources, utilization pattern and economic return of major fruit and timber tree species. Information collected from a total of 60 households ranging from marginal, small, medium and large categories. Number of plant species increased with the increase of homestead area. A total of 33 plant species were recorded from the homegarden, of which 19 were fruit and 14 were timber tree species. Considerable number of vegetables was also planted under the shade of the homestead trees. The investment analysis showed that average benefit-cost ratios were greater than one, net present values were positive and internal rate of returns were more than 10%. Long term investment on horticulture and timber tree species is highly profitable if species like Artocarpus heterophyllus, Cocos nucifera, Tectona grandis and Swietenia macrophylla are planted.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to characterize the transcriptome of a balanced polymorphism, under the regulation of a single gene, for phosphate fertilizer responsiveness/arsenate tolerance in wild grass Holcus lanatus genotypes screened from the same habitat.De novo transcriptome sequencing, RNAseq (RNA sequencing) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) calling were conducted on RNA extracted from H. lanatus. Roche 454 sequencing data were assembled into c. 22 000 isotigs, and paired-end Illumina reads for phosphorus-starved (PÀ) and phosphorus-treated (P+) genovars of tolerant (T) and nontolerant (N) phenotypes were mapped to this reference transcriptome.Heatmaps of the gene expression data showed strong clustering of each P+/PÀ treated genovar, as well as clustering by N/T phenotype. Statistical analysis identified 87 isotigs to be significantly differentially expressed between N and T phenotypes and 258 between P+ and PÀ treated plants. SNPs and transcript expression that systematically differed between N and T phenotypes had regulatory function, namely proteases, kinases and ribonuclear RNAbinding protein and transposable elements.A single gene for arsenate tolerance led to distinct phenotype transcriptomes and SNP profiles, with large differences in upstream post-translational and post-transcriptional regulatory genes rather than in genes directly involved in P nutrition transport and metabolism per se.

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Nursery practice using microbial inoculants was performed to find out the efficacy of the inoculants on seed germination and seedling growth of sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.). Microbial inoculants or effective microorganisms (EM) are a mixture of many different beneficial microorganisms in a solution. The seedlings were grown in a mixture of sandy soil and cowdung (3:1) kept in polybags with pouring EM solution at different concentrations (0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5% and 10%) before and after a week of sowing the seeds. Seed germination rate and growth parameters of seedlings were measured, such as, shoot and root length, vigor index, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root and total biomass increment. The nodulation status influenced by EM was also observed along with the measurement of pigment contents in leaves. The highest germination rate (69%) was observed in 2% EM treatment, followed by 67% and 65% in 1% and 5% EM. The highest shoot length (33.2 cm) was in 2% EM, whereas highest root length (26.3 cm) was in 1% EM.Both fresh and dry weights from shoot and root, were maximum (4.16 g and 1.57 g; 2.12 g and 0.83 g respectively) in 2% EM and were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different from control. Vigor index was highest (4071) in 2% EM, which was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different from control.Total dry weight increment was highest in 2% EM treatment, followed by 1% and 5% concentrations of EM. Nodulation number was higher at very low (0.1%) concentration of EM solution but it normally decreased with the increase of EM concentrations. The contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid were highest (60.11, 17.05 and 42.48 mg⋅L -1 respectively) in 2% EM treatment and lowest (39.35, 13.55 and 27.29 mg⋅L -1 respectively) in control treatment. Therefore, low concentration of The online version is available at Responsible editor: Zhu Hong EM (up to 2%) can be used for getting maximum seed germination rate and seedling development of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.

Tropical forests of Bangladesh are facing rapid loss in floristic diversity and resultant changes of vegetation necessitates the assessment of plant composition and diversity. The present study was conducted to assess the composition of native tree species of Rampahar Forest Reserve of Rangamati hill district, Bangladesh. Rampahar is a remnant tropical semievergreen natural forest extending to an area of 648 ha. Simple random sampling method with 20 m × 20 m sized 20 and 5 m × 5 m sized 10 samples plots were used to study both tree species composition and seedling status of tree species. A total of 50 tree species under 28 families and 15 regenerating tree species under 13 families were recorded in the study area. Family Moraceae possessed the highest number of tree species (6 species) while families Anacardiaceae and Sterculiaceae possessed the highest number (2 species) for regenerating tree species. The survey indicated that Protium serratum (Wall. ex Colebr.) Engl. is the most dominant tree species with the highest relative density (RD), relative frequency (RF) and importance value index (IVI). Basal area of all the tree species was 13.13 m 2 /ha where Ficus religiosa was represented by the highest basal area (1.14 m 2 /ha). Protium serratum was also a dominant regenerating tree species with highest RD (15.24%), RF (16.30%) and IVI (50.09). The native trees species of this remnant forest need attention for immediate conservation programs to prevent further degradation of the forest.