A field experiment was conducted during 2012-2013 at farmer's field of Jorhat district to investigate the effect of different organic nutrients on growth, yield and economics of turmeric cultivation. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four treatments and five replications. Application of different combinations of organic manure, vermicompost and neemcake influenced the growth and yield of turmeric variety Megha Turmeric-1. The results revealed that the combined applications of FYM + vermicompost + neemcake i.e. T 4 increased plant height, number of fingers, girth of rhizome, weight of rhizome and rhizome yield. While minimum of these were observed in the absolute control i.e. T 1. Highest rhizome yield (20.48 t ha-1) with maximum benefit-cost ratio (3.6) was obtained in the treatment combination T 4 and the lowest yield (12.50 t ha-1) was obtained in the treatment T 1 with minimum benefit-cost ratio (3.1).

The creation of the forest villages in the northeast Indian state of Assam, like the rest of India, was a part of the colonial forest management policy. These villages were established within the limits of the reserved forests for assured supply of labour for the colonial forest department. Later on, many recognized forest villages came up with landless peasants migrating to the forest areas in search of land and livelihood. However, their growing population and demand for land coupled with the highhandedness of the forest department gave rise to intense conflict between the two. This conflict has assumed a much more complex character in the recent times giving rise to serious contestations and challenges with regard to people’s rights and conservation approach of the state.

Background: Curcuma caesia Roxb. (Zingiberaceae) is a rare, critically endangered medicinal plant of Northeast India. The rhizome of the plant is famous for its significant medicinal properties. Methods: Various concentrations of plant growth regulators in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium were tried in the study using rhizome bud as explant for development of an efficient cost effective protocol for in vitro mass multiplication and microrhizome induction of Curcuma caesia. Result: Shoot multiplication and plant generation was achieved from freshly sprouted shoots of Curcuma caesia on Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with different phytohormones. The best response for shoot multiplication (23.80±0.51shoots/explant) was obtained within 8 weeks in MS medium supplemented with BAP (1.0 mgl-1) and 2,4-D (0.25 mgl-1). Microrhizomes were induced at the base of the in vitro derived shoots upon transferred to medium containing various combinations and concentrations of sucrose and BAP and grown under varying photoperiod. Half strength of MS basal medium containing BAP (1.0 mg/l) and 9% sucrose was found to be optimum for induction of large sized microrhizome within 45 days of incubation under 16 hrs of photoperiod.

: A field experiment was conducted at farmer's field during Rabi season of 2011-12 in Jorhat district to study the effect of different combinations of organic sources of nutrients viz., vermicompost, FYM, rock phosphate along with bio-fertilizer on different growth parameters, yield and profitability of French bean cultivar Arka Anoop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four treatments and five replications. In this investigation, the results revealed that application of vermicompost + FYM + Rhizobium + rock phosphate (T 2 ) significantly increased the germination percentage (87%), growth parameters and yield of the crop viz., plant height (37.50 cm after 60 days of sowing), number of branches plant -1 (6.48 after 60 days of sowing), green pod length (12.16 cm), green pod number plant -1 (20), green pod weight (300.05 g plant -1 ), dry weight of plant (18.74 g), number of seeds pod -1 (6.08) than the remaining three treatments. There was no significant difference in days to 50 per cent flowering among different treatments. However, nodulation was maximum in the treatment T 4 (41.88) and minimum in T 1 (38.20) . Nodules plant -1 in the treatment combinations T 2 and T 3 were at par. Highest yield (14 t ha -1 ) with maximum benefit : cost ratio (3.35:1) was obtained in the treatment combination T 2 and the lowest (7.00 t ha -1 ) was obtained in the treatment T 1 with minimum benefit : cost ratio (2.50:1). Though the yield was higher in the treatment T 3 than T 4 , yet the benefit : cost ratio was more in the treatment T 4 . It may be due to high cost of vermicompost than FYM.KEY WORDS : Vermicompost, FYM, Rhizobium, Growth, Yield, French bean HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Sarma, I., Phukon, M., Borgohain, R., Goswami, J. and Neog, M. (2014). Response of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to organic manure, vermicompost and bio-fertilizers on growth parameters and yield. Asian J. Hort., 9(2) : 386-389.

A field study was conducted at farmers field of Jorhat, Assam during 2010-11 to evaluate the efficacy of three commercial biopesticides, two based on insect pathogenic fungi viz., Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae and one botanical-Neem oil in comparison with chemical-cypermethrin against the tomato fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera). The study revealed the reduction in fruit damage was upto 92.20 per cent in cypermethrin treated plot followed by 91.12 per cent, 88.74 per cent and 87.01 per cent in the plots treated with Neem oil, B. Bassiana and M. Anisopliae, respectively due to H. armigera larvae over control. The study showed that neem oil was nearly as effective as cypermethrin in reducing fruit damage leading to increased yield. The highest increase in yield over control was noticed in cypermethrin treated plots (62.85%) followed by neem oil treated plots (41.83%).The entomopathogenic fungi-Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae could be effectively used as pest management option in production of organic tomato to reduce the pest population below economic threshold level and increased yield. Key words : Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana, Neem oil, Helicoverpa armigeraHow to cite this paper : Phukon, M., Sarma, I., Borgohain, R., Sarma, B. and Goswami, J. (2014). Efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana and Neem oil against tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera under field condition. Asian J. Bio. Sci., 9 (2) : 151-155.

A field experiment was conducted at farmer's field under on farm trial during 2011-12, in Jorhat district of Assam, to study the impact of post shooting application of urea and sulphate of potash on the improvement of bunch weight of banana cultivar Borjahaji. The denavelled distal stalk end of the bunch was fed with urea, sulphate of potash blended with fresh cowdung soon after the fruit set. The results showed that when the bunch was fed with urea (7.5g), sulphate of potash (7.5g) blended with 500 g fresh cowdung (T 4) all the yield attributing characters viz., length of fingers, weight of fingers of first hand, weight of fingers of last hand, girth of fingers, weight of first hand, weight of last hand and bunch weight were maximum as compared to denavelling and application of cowdung only (T 2) and application of urea and cowdung at denavelled distal stalk end (T 3). The minimum of all these characters and bunch weight were obtained in control(T 1) where male bud was retained till harvest. The results revealed that the nutrients moved from the blend into the bunch and significantly enhanced the weight of fruits and bunch. When the bunch was fed with urea 7.5 g, sulphate of potash 7.5 g blended with cowdung 500 g (T 4) the response was 34.77 per cent, 11 per cent and 5.9 per cent increase in weight of bunch over the treatments T 1 , T 2 and T 3 , respectively.

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