Pre-sowing seed treated with Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) helps to enhance the germination behavior of seed. So, a lab experiment was conducted to find out the effect of various Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) concentrations on the germination behavior of wheat. Wheat seeds of BARI Gom 27 and BARI Gom 28 were pre-soaked in 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% PEG solution and untreated seeds were served as control. Results revealed that seed priming enhanced germination percentage (GP), vigor index (VI) and germination index (GI) of wheat seed. The highest GP (95.55%), VI (201.00) and GI (43.73) were obtained from seeds of BARI Gom 27 pre-treated with 10% PEG solution compared to BARI Gom 28 (75.55%, 128.71 and 27.12 of GP, VI and GI, respectively) and then decreased gradually with increasing PEG concentration. Therefore, seed priming helps to enhance the germination behavior of wheat seed.

Crop-specific nutrient solution and suitable growing media mixtures are necessary in hydroponic system to improve the yield of vegetables. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to specify the required amount of nutrient solution and ecofriendly mixtures of growing substrates of a hydroponic bitter gourd. Treatments consisted two factors, viz., four different types of growing substrate (M1 = 60% rice husk + 30% coconut coir + 10% vermicompost, M2 = 60% coconut coir + 30% khoa + 10% vermicompost, M3 = 60% sawdust + 30% khoa + 10% vermicompost, and M4 = 60% ash + 30% khoa + 10% vermicompost) and three different composition of nutrient solutions [N1 = full strength Rahman and Inden (2012), N2 = full strength Hoagland and Arnon (1940), and N3 = ½ strength Rahman and Inden (2012)]. Photosynthetic responses and its related parameters, namely, stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration (E), and photosynthetic rate (PN) were significantly affected by nutrient solution composition and growing substrate mixtures. Results revealed that the leaf gas exchange parameters, yield contributing characters, and biochemical parameters showed that full strength of Rahman and Inden (2012) nutrient solution application was better in a growing mixture of 60% rice husk + 30% coconut coir + 10% vermicompost in soilless culture for obtaining high yield and high quality of bitter gourd.

Four different types of growing substrates, such as, M1 = 60% rice husk + 30% coconut coir + 10% vermicompost, M2 = 60% coconut coir + 30% brocken brick + 10% vermicompost, M3 = 60% sawdust + 30% brocken brick + 10% vermicompost, and M4 = 60% ash + 30% brocken brick + 10% vermicompost were used in this experiment. Growth and physiological parameters of lettuce were measured in this experiment. The maximum number of leaves per plant (21.44) and the highest fresh weight (92.49 g plant-1) were recorded from M1 while the lowest in M3. Therefore, the study revealed that the rice husked based growing substrates can be used for growing lettuce cv. 'Legacy' in aggregate soilless system in the tropics like Bangladesh.

The present experiment was aimed to evaluate the effect of maleic hydrazide (MH) with the concentration of (i) Control: 0 ppm (MH0); (ii) 150 ppm (MH150), (iii) 250 ppm (MH250) and (iv) 350 ppm (MH350) at the three stages of (i) Seed soaking (SS), (ii) Vegetative (VS) and (iii) Flowering (FS) on physiological growth, sex expression and nutrient composition of cucumber (cucumis sativus). Sex modification and fruit setting was enhanced by MH. Number of leaves, leaf area and fruit yield were also remarkably increased except plant height after MH application at different stages. MH increased the dry biomass of fruit resulted from higher chlorophyll content in leaves transferred photosynthates to the fruit. Chlorophyll content and mineral nutrient concentration in fruits did not affect significantly by MH. As the effect on sex modification and yield attributes, MH @ 150 ppm at vegetative stage would be a good choice.