Sixty four powdery mildew disease tolerant genotypes of mungbean were grown under All India Coordinated Research Project on Mullarp, during kharif, 2004 and rabi, 2004-05 in randomized complete block design with three replication to compare their performance, existing variability among various yield related traits. Analysis of variance showed significant variation for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of primary branches plantG 1 , number of clusters plantG 1 , number of pods clusterG 1 , pod length, number of seeds podG 1 , number of pods plantG 1 , 100 seed weight, hard seed percent, protein content, phenol content and seed yield plantG 1 . High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percentage of mean was observed for seed yield plantG 1 , number of primary branches, number of clusters plantG 1 and plant height. Direct selection for the traits possessing additive genetic variance, which is fixable in nature, may lead to development of desirable mungbean plant.

Background: Applications of bioinoculants for improving crop productivity may be an eco-friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers. Rhizosphere or soil-inhabiting beneficial microbes can enhance plant growth and productivity through direct and indirect mechanisms, i.e., phosphate solubilization, nutrient acquisition, phytohormone production, etc. Objective: This study is based on the hypothesis that diseases resistant plants can act as a source of potential microbes that can have good plant growth-promoting traits and bio-control potential. Methods: In this study, we have isolated the rhizobacterial strains (AKAD 2-1, AKAD 2-10, AKAD 3-5, AKAD 3-9) from the rhizosphere of a disease-resistant variety of soybean (JS-20-34) (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). These bacterial strains were further screened for various plant growth-promoting traits (phosphate solubilization, indole acetic acid (IAA), ammonia, biofilm, HCN, Exopolysaccharide (EPS), and enzyme production activity (catalase, cellulase, and chitinase)). Results: Among four, only bacterial strain AKAD 3-5 has shown plant-growth-promoting and biocontrol (98%) activity against Fusarium oxysporum. Morphological, biochemical, and molecular characterization (16S rRNA) revealed that this rhizobacterial isolate AKAD 3-5 closely resembles Micrococcus luteus (Gene bank accession: MH304279). Conclusion: Here, we conclude that this strain can be utilized to promote soybean growth under varied soil stress conditions.

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The three-line hybrid system involving cytoplasmic male sterile A-line, maintainer B-line and restorer R-line is a common approach for hybrid development in rice. The hybrids developed through this technique has been successful in increasing the rice production under favourable irrigated condition but hybrids under water-limited rainfed condition has not been much evaluated. Hybrids developed for non-irrigated rainfed lowland environment can help in sustaining the rice production under decreasing water and land resources. The emphasis therefore should be given for developing improved hybrids specifically suited for unfovourable water limited rainfed conditions. Keeping this in view, F 1 crosses were generated using line x tester mating design to evaluate rice hybrids under rainfed stress. Assessment of heterosis in 64 F 1 cross combination under water-limited rainfed condition revealed scope of exploiting hybrid vigour and developing heterotic hybrids for non-irrigated rainfed lowland environment. Significant standard heterosis over commercial hybrid checks (KRH 2 and PA 6444) observed in many cross combinations for various traits viz., filled grain per panicle, spikelet fertility percent, grain yield per plant, biomass per plant and harvest index highlight the importance of these traits in selecting parents based on above traits and developing hybrids with drought tolerance and high yield for water limited rainfed lowland ecology