Lentil (Lens culinaris L.), a pulse crop, is grown in nutrient-poor soils in many developing countries, often with little or no fertilization. Knowledge on root traits of lentil and the assessment of their role in nutrient capture would help to sustain its production in these nutrient-poor soils. Root traits (root length, root hairs, root-induced acidification, and phosphatase enzymes) of 10 lentil genotypes (Barimasur-3, (2), L-107 × 87012, L-5 × 87272 and 8406-122) were investigated and then related to the plant uptake of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulphur (S), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), and cobalt (Co) in laboratory and pot experiments. There were significant (p < 0.05) differences in root length (RL) and root-hair density (number mm −1 root) among the genotypes. The genotypes did not differ to induce rhizosphere acidification and acid phosphatase activity (aptase). Uptake of most nutrients differed significantly (p < 0.05) among the genotypes, but root length (RL) was, in general, weakly correlated to the uptake of the most nutrients in the shoot dry matter (DM). The genotypes with prolific root-hair formation (Barimasur-4 and Barimasur-3) were particularly superior in uptake of those nutrients (K, P, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mo) whose availability in soils is usually low and whose transport 643 Downloaded by [University of Connecticut] at 15:23 07 October 2014 644 T. S. Gahoonia et al.to the roots is diffusion limited. The results of this investigation, though based on a small sample of lentil accessions/cultivars, suggest that genetic variation in lentil root traits and nutrient uptake can be pronounced. Screening of a large number of local and exotic cultivars or lines of lentil should be conducted by including more root traits (N 2 fixation, organic acids, mycorrhizae) to find nutrient-efficient germplasm to promote lentil production.

Background: The oxidative transformation of benzoin to benzil has been accomplished by the use of a wide variety of reagents or catalysts and different reaction procedures. The conventional oxidizing agents yielded mainly benzaldehyde or/and benzoic acid and only a trace amount of benzil. The limits of practical utilization of these reagents involves the use of stoichiometric amounts of corrosive acids or toxic metallic reagents, which in turn produce undesirable waste materials and required high reaction temperatures. In recent years, vanadium complexes have attracted much attention for their potential utility as catalysts for various types of reactions. Results: Active and selective catalytic systems of new unsymmetrical oxovanadium(IV) Schiff base complexes for the oxidation of benzoin is reported. The Schiff base ligands are derived between 2-aminoethanol and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (H 2 L 1 ) or 3-ethoxy salicylaldehyde (H 2 L 3 ); and 2-aminophenol and 3-ethoxysalicylaldehyde (H 2 L

Lentil is a protein-rich pulse, grown mainly in developing countries as a rain-fed crop in nutrient-poor soils. Hence, the importance of root traits for efficient capture of soil nutrients and water can be crucial to its economical yield. Little is known about the lentil root system and even less about its relationship to grain yield. We compared the root system of two Bangladeshi lentil varieties, Barimasur-3 (BM-3) and Barimasur-4 (BM-4), in a pot experiment and related it to their multi-location grain yield in the fields. BM-4 maintained faster root development both at an early growth stage (20 days after sowing) and at flowering (60 days) compared to BM-3. The roots of BM-4 penetrated the 25 cm depth of the soil profile after 19 ± 1 days and while those of BM-3 took 24 ± 2 days to reach the same depth. The roots of BM-4 were covered with denser (26 ± 3 mm )1 ) and longer (0.48 ± 0.11) root hairs than BM-3 (density 17 ± 2 mm )1 , length 0.32 ± 0.09 mm). The differential presence of root hairs increased the effective length of root system of BM-4 by 12 times and that of BM-3 by five times. The lentil varieties did not differ in their ability to induce pH change and acid phosphatase activity in rhizosphere. In the pot experiment, the uptake of macro-nutrients (K, P, Ca, and Mg) as well as micro-nutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B and Mo) by BM-4 was significantly higher, compared to BM-3. The varieties produced the same amount of shoot biomass. At five of six agro-ecological distinct field locations in Bangladesh, BM-4 gave significantly higher (10-20%) grain yield than BM-3. Linked with the higher grain yield, the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of BM-4 was 3.14 and that of BM-3 were 2.62, indicating that BM-4 provided better return per unit investment, compared to BM-3, supported by the better root morphology and higher nutrient uptake. This may be one of the reasons supporting the popularity and preferred adoption of BM-4 among the Bangladeshi farmers, who grow lentil mainly on nutrient-poor soils. The results indicate the benefits of selection and breeding for superior root traits for better agro-economics.

A field experiment was conducted during the autumn season (2019) at the Research Station of Field Crops Department / College of Agriculture, Tikrit University, to study the effect of spraying potassium on the growth characteristics, yield and its components of the three genotypes of corn (Zea Mays L.). The first factor contained two concentrations of foliar spraying with potassium (2500 and 5000 ppm) and the second factor was three genotypes of corn (DKC6589, DKC6120, and ZP). The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design (R.C.B.D), with three replications. The results showed that foliar spraying with potassium had a significant effect for both levels on the following characteristics: plant height (171.50 cm), leaf area (6157.56 cm2), the weight of 300 grains (104.99 g), and total grain yield (9.134 Mg ha-1) .The genotypes were also significantly affected by the following traits. The genotype (DKC 6120) gave the highest values: Plant height (173.60 cm), leaf area (5992.83 cm2), ear length (18.14 cm), number of days from planting until 50% of tasseling (56.72 days), number of days from planting until 50% of silking (60.54 days), number of rows per ear (15.64 row ear-1), number of seeds per row (27.75), the number of grains in the ear (418.97), the weight of 300 grains (101.50 g), and the total grain yield (9.535 Mg ha-1).

Corn grain yield is extremely responsive to the weather conditions during the growing season. Drought stress, as a result of high temperatures and limited naturally occurring precipitation, often limits grain yield in the Mid‐South. Drought stresses often occur during the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive growth stage, which is most impactful to yield because of the high water demand. Our hypothesis was that short‐season corn hybrids of <110 d (∼2700 growing degree units) could avoid heat and drought by flowering earlier when these heat and drought stresses are less likely. Our objective was to evaluate short‐season hybrids in Mid‐South environments along with standard full‐season hybrids for grain yield. The study was conducted in Brooksville and Starkville, MS, in 2015 and Starkville and Verona, MS, in 2016. Earlier maturing hybrids tasseled 3–7 d before standard full‐season hybrids, providing very little benefit from a drought avoidance perspective. Choosing full‐season hybrids increases yield potential in high‐yielding environments in Mississippi in which growing degree units are not limiting as in northern geographies. Short‐season hybrids did not aid in the avoidance of heat and drought and limited overall grain yield. Across all locations, there was a 0.8 bu ac−1 increase in corn grain yield for every day increase in relative maturity from 92 to 120 d.