A field experiment was carried out at the Horticultural farm of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur, during September 2006 to April 2007 to investigate growth and yield of sweet pepper as influenced by spacing. There were three levels of spacing viz. 50×50 cm, 50×40 cm, 50×30 cm. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were recorded on various parameters and subjected to statistical analysis. The plant spacing had significant variation in almost all the growth and yield components except pericarp thickness. Number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, stem girth, number of fruits per plant, days to first harvest, fruit length, individual fruit weight, yield per plant were found to be significantly increased with the increasing of plant spacing but plant height at different stages, number of fruits per plot, days to 50% flowering, fruit breadth, yield per plot and yield per hectare were found to be significantly increased with the decreasing plant spacing. Considering the yield of fruits per hectare, cost of production and net return, 50×30cm spacing appeared to be recommendable for the cultivation of sweet pepper.

The presence of sufficient genetic variability, the knowledge of nature of association among different characters and relative contribution of different characters to yield is a prerequisite to any breeding programme. The aim of the present study was to estimate genetic parameters of thirteen yield and yield attributing traits in 40 landraces of rice with a view to select better yield attributes in rice. The higher value of phenotypic co-efficient of variation (PCV) compared to the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the studied traits indicated that there was an influence of the environment. Number of unfilled grains per panicle exhibited high estimates of PCV and GCV followed by number of filled grains per panicle, number of grains per panicle, flag leaf area. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed in flag leaf area, pollen fertility, number of grains per panicle and number of filled grains per panicle which reflected that the direct selection of these characters based on phenotypic expression by simple selection method for yield improvement would be more reliable Grain yield per plant showed significant and positive association with days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, flag leaf area, number of total tillers per hill, number of effective tillers per hill, pollen fertility, number of grains per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle indicating selection of these characters for yield improvement may be rewarding. Both at phenotypic and genotypic level, days to 50% flowering, flag leaf area, number of effective tillers per hill, pollen fertility, panicle length, number of grains per panicle and 100 seed weight had direct positive effect on yield per plant indicating their importance during selection in yield improvement program. Moreover, the information generated from this study, can be exploited in future rice breeding program. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 17(1): 26–32, March 2019

A study on heat tolerance in sweet pepper was conducted at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC), Taiwan from December 1999 to May 2000. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of 29/23°C and 24/18°C stress on 12 sweet pepper genotypes on growth, development, reproductive behaviour and yield potentialities and to verify the results of the phytotron study. Performance of 12 sweet pepper genotypes was evaluated under two different temperature regimes of 24/18° C and 29/23° C in the phytotron. Plant height was found higher at 29/23° C compared to 24/18° C. High temperature reduced percent fruit set as well as size of fruits. Individual fruit weight was higher (7.44-125.00 g) when grown at 24/18°C and lower (5.35-103.80 g) at 29/23°C. Out of 12 genotypes, SP00l, SP002, SP004, and SP012 performed poor in respect of per plant yield at higher temperature compared to the lower temperature. So, these four genotypes were considered to be heat sensitive than the others. Leaf proline content of the sensitive genotypes decreased under the high temperature conditions and the heat tolerant lines produced higher amount of proline indicating the role of proline in expressing the heat tolerant capability of sweet pepper genotypes concerned. Keywords: High temperature stress; performance; sweet pepper. DOI: 10.3329/bjar.v35i3.6459Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 35(3) : 525-534

A checklist of the native fishes of the Dhanu River and adjacent waters at Mithamain Upazila under the Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh is prepared with details on their availability, conservation status, habitat preferences, population trends, and threats. Data were collected monthly by field survey, focus group discussions, and personal interviews by using a semi-structured questionnaire and a pictorial check list of fish species. A total of 91 indigenous fish species of 59 genera belonging to 29 families under 11 orders were documented where 17.6%, 27.5%, 31.9%, and 23.1% species were abundantly available, commonly available, moderately available, and rarely available, respectively. Among those, 24 fish species (26.4%) were under the threatened category (3 critically endangered, 11 endangered, and 10 vulnerable) according to the IUCN Bangladesh. Notably, the globally threatened Cirrhinus cirrhosus, Channa orientalis, and Wallago attu were available in the study area. Fish population trends of 24.2% and 59.3% of the entire fish species were found in decreasing trends at the global and national level, respectively. The leading threats to the fish diversity were indiscriminate overfishing followed by fishing by dewatering of wetlands, the katha fishing method, the use of deprecated fishing gears, etc. Minimizing anthropogenic impacts, enacting fishing laws, installing and managing fish sanctuaries, and raising public awareness can be effective for the conservation of existing fisheries resources.

Tiger Hill, a notified reserve forest is the highest point around Darjeeling town in Eastern Himalayan Hotspot. Soil nutrition of this forest area depends on nutrient recycling where phosphate solubilising microorganisms (PSM) has crucial role to play as it solubilises insoluble phosphorus salt to soluble forms. But, with rise in use of toxic chemicals these microbes are at threat. This research initiative explores isolation of PSM from Tiger hill forest soil to detect pesticide, antibiotic, antifungal and heavy metal tolerance. Soil sample from tiger hill has moisture (18.55%), pH (3.87), organic carbon (1.187%), total Nitrogen (1.02%) and Phosphorus in P2O5 form (10ppm). Isolation and screening of PSM were conducted on Pikovskaya’s agar medium. In vitro tolerance assay was performed to detect degree of tolerance in isolated PSM-consortium (PSMC). Pesticides like Fipronil, Thiomethoxame, Emamectin benzoate, Deltamethrin, Flubendiamide, Spiromesifen, Fenazaquin and Phorate exhibited complete to high degree of tolerance. PSMC was fully tolerant to antibiotic like Augmentin, Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol, Ofloxacin, Co-Trimoxazole, Cefotaxime; antifungal Itraconazole and Fluconazole. Mild tolerance towards heavy metal salts like As2O3, SnCl2, CdCl2, CuCl2, CdSO4 and CuSO4 were detected. Synergestic effect of cells present in the isolated PSMC may also be an added advantageous property to tolerate pesticides, antibiotic, antifungal and heavy metal salts.

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Twenty eight local rice landraces were assessed for eleven morphological traits for the improvement of salt tolerance ability of rice genotypes. Genotypic variance (σ 2 g), phenotypic variance (σ 2 p), phenotypic co-variance (PCV), genotypic co-variance (GCV), heritability, genetic advance, genetic advance as a percentage of mean, correlation coefficient and path coefficient were estimated. For all the traits, PCV was higher than the GCV indicating that they were controlled by non-additive gene action and selection for the improvement of these traits would be promising. Among the traits, survival rate of plant exhibited high estimates of PCV (460.72) and GCV (324.73) indicated wide range of variability for these traits where lowest phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) where low PCV and GCV were observed for root dry weight (0.17 & 0.12) followed by shoot dry weight (0.31 & 0.16) and total number of roots (0.61 & 0.34) indicating lack of inherent variability and limited scope for improvement through selection for these traits among the genotypes. Highest heritability had observed in all traits except chlorophyll content and root length and maximum value of heritability was noticed for shoot length (75.96%). High heritability along with high genetic advance was noticed for survival rate of plant (31.14%) followed by live leaves percentage (11.98) and the lowest genetic advance was found in root dry weight (0.58) and shoot dry weight (0.58). Correlation study revealed that significant negative correlations at both phenotypic and genotypic level exist between standard evaluation score (SES) and survival rate (%), root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, root dry weight and shoot dry weight at the seedling stage further confirmed the importance of these parameters as useful selection criteria for screening for salt tolerance rice genotypes. Path analysis revealed that the root length (0.487), root dry weight (0.394) and shoot dry weight (0.047) had direct positive effect on standard evaluation score at genotypic level where live leaves (%) per plant (0.168), total number of roots (0.006), chlorophyll content (0.243) and shoot fresh weight (0.102) had direct positive effect on standard evaluation score at phenotypic level. From the correlation and path analysis it can be concluded that root length, root dry weight and shoot dry weight would be more promising for the improvement of salt tolerance in rice genotypes.

An experiment was carried out at the Olericulture field of Horticulture Research Centre of BARJ, Joydebpur, Gazipur during September 2006 to April 2007 to investigate yield and yield attributes of sweet pepper as influenced by plant spacing and sowing time. There were altogether 21 treatments comprising seven sowing dates viz. 1 September, 15 September, 1 October, 15 October, 30 October, 15 November, 30 November and three spacings viz. 50 × 50 cm, 50x40 cm, and 50 × 30 cm. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (factorial) with three replications. The results of the experiment showed that majority of the yield and yield components significantly varied with variation of spacing and sowing time. Only number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant resulted significantly higher which reflected higher yield for 1 October sowing. The number of branches per plant, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, individual fruit weight, yield per plant were found significantly increased with the increasing plant spacings but other parameters were found to be significantly increased with the decreasing plant spacing. The combined effect of sowing date and plant spacing also had significant effect on different growth and yield parameters and yield. The highest yield (19.36 t/ha) of fruit was recorded from the earlier sowing (1 October) with the closest spacing (50 × 30 cm). But reasonable yield could be obtained up to 30 October with same spacing.