An experiment was conducted in Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Rampur, Chitwanduring 2003 to find out the effect of harvesting method and calcium chloride treatment on postharvestphysiology of tomato. Tomato (Hybrid Gootya) fruits with stalk and without stalk wereharvested at breaker stage and dipped in distilled water and different concentrations of calciumchloride viz. 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75% and 1% for fifteen minutes. Fruit were then air-dried andstored at ambient condition (24 ± 3°C and 70 ± 5 % RH). Among the tested treatments the leastcumulative physiological weight loss (12.14%) was exhibited by 1% calcium chloride. The shelflife of tomato fruits was significantly affected by harvesting method and calcium treatment.Tomato fruit harvested with stalk had higher shelf-life (15 days) as compared to those harvestedwithout stalk (12.93 days) irrespective to calcium chloride application. The maximum shelf lifewas noticed in 1% calcium chloride treated fruits (16.50 days) followed by 0.75% calciumchloride treated fruits (16.17 days).Key words: Calcium chloride; physiological weight loss; shell life; tomatoDOI: 10.3126/narj.v7i0.1864Nepal Agriculture Research Journal Vol.7 2006 pp.37-41

The present investigation was carried out in the plain areas of Chitwan to determine the promising plant growth regulators (PGR) promoting growth and yield of chilli cultivars Jwala and Suryamukhi during wintersummer season of 2003/2004. Suryamukhi ranked superior to Jwala for most of the yield attributing characters, whereas Jwala was better in vegetative characters than Suryamukhi. Among PGRs, 2,4-D at 2 ppm was better for fruit set, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, number of seeds per fruit, seed weight per fruits, 1000 seed weight and fruit yield where as NAA at 40 ppm gave the highest leaf area index (LAI). PGRs were ineffective in promoting flowering and fruiting during winter season. GA 3 at 10 ppm exhibited maximum amount of ascorbic acid content. The treatments, 2 ppm 2,4-D, 5 ppm triacontanol, 40 ppm NAA and 10 ppm GA 3 produced 28.75%, 25.70%, 13.61% and 2.30% higher fruit yield over control, respectively. The highest net profit and B:C ratio were recorded in case of 2 ppm 2,4-D. The use of GA 3 as foliar spray was not economical.

A field experiment was conducted at National Citrus Research Program (NCRP), Paripatle, Dhankuta to standardize the time and method of grafting and to assess the success and growth of mandarin saplings. Scions taken from 'Khoku Local' mandarin were grafted onto one-year-old trifoliate orange seedling rootstocks by shoot tip and veneer methods in eight different dates starting from 29 th October, 2009 to 12 th February, 2010 at 15 days interval. The grafts were planted inside closed tunnel of jute and plastic sheet at 10×10 cm spacing in 50×60 cm 2 experimental plots in two factorial split-plot design with three replications per treatment, containing 30 grafts per plot. The grafting methods were allotted on main-plots and the dates on sub-plots randomly. The success and growth of sapling was significantly affected by the dates while the methods had no effect. Study results showed that the highest success (96.11 %) was found on 13 th January, followed by 28 th January (91.11%) and the least (51.67%) on 29 th October grafting. The mortality of sprouted grafts was the lowest (0.17%) in 29 th December grafting, while it was observed higher in earlier and late season grafting. Observation on growth taken at 180 days after grafting in successful grafts showed that 29 th October had the highest number of primary branches (2.2); 14 th November had the highest number of leaves (48.47) and secondary branches (2.505); 29 th December gave the maximum sapling height (32.86 cm); 13 th January produced the lowest number of leaves (21.93) per sapling and 28 th January produced the lowest number of primary (1.533) and secondary branches (1.172) per sapling. From the study it was revealed that in Dhankuta, the most appropriate time of grafting was 2 nd to 4 th week of January.

Three pole-type French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes (Four season, Trishuli & Makwanpur) were sown in different three dates, i.e., August 16, 31 and September 15 during autumn seasons of 2010 and 2011 at the Agriculture Research Station, Malepatan, Pokhara (848 msl) to assess the fresh pod yield and yield attributes of the genotypes in different dates of sowing. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications. The temperature ranged from 14° to 32°C during the growth period. The results showed significant variations in fresh pod yield and yield attributes. Flowering was earlier in Makwanpur genotype. About 50% plants flowered within 39 days in Makwanpur while it took more than 48 days for Trishuli. Tallest plants were produced by Makwanpur (271.7 cm) and shortest by Trishuli (256.2 cm). The pod length was highest (18.34 cm) in Four season and lowest in Makwanpur (15.07 cm). Pod width was highest in Trishuli (9.04 mm) and lowest in Makwanpur (7.10 mm). Highest fresh pod yield was produced by Four season (25.08 t/ha) followed by Makwanpur (23.11t/ha) and the lowest by Trishuli (19.97 t/ha). Sowing date also showed significant effect on yield and yield attributes. Earliest sowing (16 August) showed better results in early flowering (42.63 days), tallest plants (280.4 cm), longest pods (18.51 cm), widest pods (9.21 mm) and the highest fresh pod yield (31.13 t/ha) than 31 August and 15 September sown conditions. Fresh pod yield was highest in 16 August sown (31.13 t/ha) followed by 31 August (21.74 t/ha) and lowest in 15 September (15.29 t/ha). Four season sown on 16 August produced the highest fresh pod yield with an average of 35.35 t/ha. The result revealed that Four season is the best genotype and mid August is the appropriate sowing time for higher fresh pod yield of French bean in the mid hills of western Nepal. Nepal Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 13, No. 2 (2012) 15-20 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v13i2.7708

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of corm size and varieties on corm/cormels production and vase life of gladiolus ( Gladious grandiflorus L.) under Chitwan condition. A Field experiment was conducted in a farmer's field at Gunjanagar VDC, Chanauli, Chitawan during November 2008 to April 2009. The experiment consisted of 12 treatment combinations laid out in two factorial Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Four sizes of corms viz. 2-3 cm, 3-4 cm, 4-5 cm and 5-6 cm and three varieties viz. American Beauty, Interpret and Yellow Summer Sunshine formed 12 treatment combinations. Laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the effect of corm size and varieties on the vase life of harvested cut spikes of gladiolus at ambient temperature at the central laboratory of the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. Corm size and varieties significantly affected corm/cormels production and vase life of gladiolus. Large sized corms (5-6 cm) performed better with respect to number of daughter corms and cormels per plant. Similarly, large sized corms (5-6 cm) showed better performance with respect to postharvest behavior such as total number of florets opened/spike (11.40), days to first and 100% floret withering as compared to small sized (2-3 cm) corms. Significant variation among three varieties was observed in most of the characters. Numbers of daughter corms were found highest in Yellow Summer Sunshine while maximum numbers of cormels/plant were found in Interpret. Similarly, Interpret proved best having more number of florets opened per spike and more days needed to first and 100% floret withering.