Experiments were conducted both under in vitro and in situ conditions to determine the biodegradation potential of button mushroom spent substrate (SMS) and its dominating microbes (fungi and bacteria) for carbendazim and mancozeb, the commonly used agricultural fungicides. During 6 days of incubation at 30 ± 2°C under broth culture conditions, highest degradation of carbendazim (17.45%) was recorded with B-1 bacterial isolate, while highest degradation of mancozeb (18.05%) was recorded with Trichoderma sp. In fungicide premixed sterilized SMS, highest degradation of carbendazim (100.00-66.50 lg g -1 ) was recorded with mixed

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Cotton is one of the most important commercial fibre crops of India. Imbalance and inadequate nutrition is one of the major constraints for low productivity of cotton. Superimposition of KNO3 (1%) over recommended dose of fertilizers through foliar applications at flowering and boll development stage is recommended in Haryana state to overcome K deficiency at later stages of crop growth and farmers are not practicing this technology due to lack of knowledge. Therefore, to highlight the impact of three foliar sprays of KNO3 (1%) at 15 days interval starting from flower initiation stage, forty one Front Line Demonstrations were conducted at farmer's field on 16.4 ha of land area of 20 villages of Bhiwani district (Haryana) during kharif seasons of 2010 to 2012. The improved technology recorded a mean cotton seed yield of 24.67 q/ha which was 10.8% higher than that obtained with farmers practice/ check, i.e. no spray of KNO3 (22.27 q/ha). It fetched higher mean net monetary returns of Rupees 55053/ha with benefit: cost ratio of 2.03 in comparison to check (mean net monetary returns of Rupees 47079/ha and benefit: cost ratio of 1.91).