This study aims to compare the effects of different laser wavelengths, exposure times, and low-power-intensity laser irradiation on maize seeds. Seeds were exposed to He–Ne (632.8 nm) red laser, Nd:YAG second-harmonic-generation (532 nm) green laser, and diode (410 nm) blue laser. Four different exposure times (45, 65, 85, and 105 s) with different intensity (2 and 4 mW/cm2), for each laser were tested. Phenology and yield components (plant height, leaf area, number of rows per ear, seed yield, harvest index, yield efficiency, and grain weight) were determined. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Plant height was found comparatively high in blue laser light—211 cm at 85 s. Blue and green laser lights showed significant increases in the number of rows per ear to 39.1 at 85 s and 45 at 65 s, respectively, compared to the control of 36 rows/ear. The order of seed yield was blue (7003.4 kg/ha) > green (6667.8 kg/ha) > red (6568.01 t/ha) based on different exposure times of 85 s, 85 s, and 105 s, respectively, compared to the control of 6.9 kg/ha. The findings indicate the possibility of using blue laser light to manipulate the growth and yield of maize.
Evaluating the service quality of higher educational institutions in Bangladesh has become crucial to ensure continuous improvement and strategy development for tertiary education sector. The present study has aimed to investigate the influence of higher education service quality dimensions on student satisfaction and student loyalty. Moreover, the study also tests the mediating impact of university reputation and external prestige between university service quality and satisfaction and loyalty. The research work has shown the performance of selected public universities in higher education service quality dimensions. Data has been collected through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 390 graduate and undergraduate students of two public universities of Bangladesh. The study reflects that the performance on service quality dimensions of selected public universities is not satisfactory. The results of the study have shown that Teaching, Support services, Library and lab facilities and internationalization have significant influence on student satisfaction except Administrative service and Hostel facilities. Teaching, Administrative services, Library and lab facilities and Internationalization have significant influence on student Loyalty. The mediating analysis has shown that student satisfaction partially mediates between service quality and student loyalty. The results of the study have also indicated that university reputation and external prestige partially mediate between service quality and student satisfaction and loyalty. The previous studies which measure service quality of Bangladeshi higher educational institutions have applied SERVQUAL model which is not absolutely suitable for an educational institution. However, this study has applied higher education service quality model which has been uniquely developed to measure service quality of higher educational institutions.
Low soil fertility status, nutritional imbalance and inappropriate agronomic practices are the major problems limiting the current production and yield of groundnut, therefore a study was conducted during 2015/2016 at the green house of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia, to evaluate the effect of Rhizobium inoculation, in combination with P and N fertilization on the growth and yield of groundnut. The experiment included plots with and without Rhizobium-inoculated treatments, two rates of P fertilizer (0, 82 kg ha -1 ) and two rates of N fertilizer (0, 27 kg ha -1 ). The treatments were laid out in a split-split plot design with two main plots (plots with and without rhizobium), two sub plots (for two Nitrogen levels) and two sub sub-plots (for two phosphorus levels), and the experiment replicated thrice. The results showed that the treatment of R + N1P1 increased significantly effect on soil pH by 5.89 units, the R + N1P1 significantly effect on Organic Matter, Soil organic C, soil total N, soil CEC, and available P by (4.87%, 2.13%, 0.34%, 7.0 meq/100g, and 94.36 µg/g, respectively). Based on the results of the present study, it was concluded that the soil properties can be increased with the use of P and N fertilizers along with rhizobium inoculants.
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