A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2017 at ZARS, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru to study the influence of different levels of Farm Yard Manure (FYM) and Jeevamrutha on growth and yield of Sunflower in red sandy loam soil. There were nine treatment combinations laid out in factorial randomized complete block design, which were replicated thrice. The experimental results revealed that, the application of FYM at 150 per cent nitrogen equivalent and jeevamrutha at 1500 L ha-1significantly influenced growth parameters like plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, leaf area index and total dry matter production. The interaction effect of FYM and jeevamrutha was significant in enhancing the seed yield of sunflower due to improvement in yield attributes like head diameter, number of seeds per head, hundred seed weight and seed yield per plant.

Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is reported causing damage to areca palm plantations (Areca catechu L.—Arecaceae) in Karnataka (India). In particular, X. crassiusculus has been observed attacking and successfully reproducing on areca nuts; besides the new host plant record, the data provided here represent the first documented case of spermatophagy for this xyleborine beetle. All infestation symptoms of this polyphagous pest were documented and illustrated. The identity of the scolytid, besides morphologically, was confirmed by its DNA barcoding. Eggs, larvae and pupae were found within the galleries of infested kernels. All galleries of the infested kernels were characterized by the presence of whitish to greyish fungal growth. The fungus was identified as Ambrosiella roeperi, a known symbiont of Xylosandrus crassiusculus. Incidence of this symbiotic insect-fungus complex in the economic part of arecanut, i.e., the kernel, is of serious concern. In a climate change scenario, this beetle with fungal symbionts may pose a serious threat to arecanut production in India and elsewhere.

Aim: To identify cocoa associated endophytic fungi through morphological and molecular techniques. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Plant Pathology, TNAU, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from April 2018 to November 2019. Methodology: Endophytic fungal isolates were isolated from different parts of cocoa using Petrini method. Isolated endophytic fungal strains were grown in Malt extract broth and total genomic DNA was isolated and amplified using universal primers ITS1F and ITS4R. Amplified rDNA was visualized and documented. Results: Morphological and molecular characterization of six endophytic fungi revealed that they are from four different taxa viz., Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae PAK-7, Arthrinium rasikravindrae P11, Arthrinium rasikravindrae P12, Diaporthe sp. Vef-3, Lasiodiplodia theobromae TN-R-3,  Colletotrichum sp. TN-9-2 belonging to four different families viz., Botryosphaeriaceae, Apiosporaceae, Diaporthaceae and Glomorellaceae under Phylum Ascomycota. Conclusion:  The present study indicates the distribution and diversity of fungal endophytes in different plant parts of the cocoa tree in south India.

A field experiment comprising recommended package of practices (RPP), RPP + soil (2.5 and 5.0 kg ha -1 at 10 DAS), foliar (0.5 and 1.25 % at 45 DAS) application of solubor and combination of both soil and foliar application was conducted during kharif 2017 at the MARS, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka to study the boron nutrition effect on growth, nodulation, yield attributes and yield of soybean in boron deficient Vertisol. A Randomized Complete Block Design was used for the experiment with three replications. The results revealed that RPP along with soil (@ 2.5 kg ha -1 ) + foliar (@ 0.5 %) application of solubor improved the growth and yield parameters significantly. However, soil application of solubor @ 5 kg ha -1 recorded the highest number of effective nodules per plant (18.64).Seed yield (2806 kg ha -1 ) response of soybean (16.97 % more yield than RPP) recorded with RPP + soil (2.5 kg ha -1 ) and foliar (0.5 %) application of solubor was significant except that recorded with soil (5 kg ha -1 ), soil (5 kg ha -1 ) + foliar (0.5 %) and only foliar (0.5 %) application of solubor. However, slightly higher benefit cost ratio (2.97) was observed with foliar application of solubor (@ 0.5%).