Search

Performance of monoculture and mixed cropping of non-traditional legumes with oats cereal was evaluated at National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan under rainfed conditions of Pothowar. Three nontraditional winter legumes i.e. common vetch (Vicia sativa L.), medics (Medicago polymorpha L.) and senji (Melilotus indica L.) were sown during first week of November, 2007 at recommended seed rates in pure stands and ratio of 50:50 of each in mixed cropping with oats (Avena sativa L.). The experiment was laid out in RCBD with three replications and plot size was 6 x 3 m2. Nitrogen fertilizer @ 80 kg and phosphorus @ 57 kg per hectare were incorporated in soil at the time of seedbed preparation. The results revealed that oats - vetch mixture produced 16 and 18 percent higher green fodder yield compared with oats - medics and oats - senji mixtures, respectively. In pure stands maximum green fodder yield was obtained from oats crop which was 51, 66 and 80 percent higher than vetch, medics and senji legumes, respectively. This increase in green fodder yield of oats cereal is the result of more efficient utilization of natural resources by Poaceae family plants than the Fabaceae family producing more tillers, number of leaves and plant height. The analysis of soil after final harvest showed more organic matter in vetch plots followed by oats - vetch mixture and lowest in pure oats crop. This showed opposite response of plants belonging to Poaceae and Fabaceae families indicating the need of mixed cropping of these plants to harvest the higher biomass and maintain soil fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, water shortage, and costlier inputs are main issues in sugarcane productivity across sugarcane growing areas of the country. Sugarcane is a valuable cash crop and rewarding sector of agriculture. Varietal development process depends upon selection of successive clonal generations; among these preliminary yield trial (Nursery-III) is fourth selection stage. Thirty four (34) clones were tested in three sets using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replication during 2017-18 at research farm of Sugarcane Research Institute, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The clones were evaluated using five basic biometric parameters keeping in view the farmer's and miller's demand. The genetic variability and performance of all clones was checked by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Among all 34 clones, 16 clones were promoted into next selection stage while taking HSF-240 and SPF-245 as check varieties. The clones S2015-SL-10, S2015-SL-89, S2015-SL-101 and S2015-SL-624 produced sugar yield more than 13 tons per hectare. These clones may give future hope for current varietal development program subject to showing good performance in next selection stages because further selection stages will decide the fate of suchclones. The promising clones among these may be selected as candidate variety for approval after evaluating their performance in farmer's field trials and under national trials in different sugarcane growing areas of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variation in chemical composition of peels and quality of peel essential oils of Kinnow (Citrus reticulata), Fewtrell's Early (Citrus reticulata), Malta (Citrus sinensis), Mousami (Citrus sinensis), Grapefruit (Citrus paradise) and Eureka lemon (Citrus limon) were studied at Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Sargodha Pakistan during 2015-16. The results revealed that the highest fat contents (1.68%), protein (6.24%) and fibre (6.11%) were found in grapefruit peel, ash (4.39%) in Kinnow peel, moisture (75.39%) in Eureka lemon peel and nitrogen free extract (11.68%) in Mousami peel. After extracting the oils from each peel through cold expressing method, yield was estimated. The highest yield (1.21%) was estimated in Malta peel, followed by peels of Eureka lemon (1.12%), Mosuami (0.98%), Grapefruit (0.73%), Kinnow (0.32%) and Fewtrell,s Early (0.22%) with regards to chemical composition of peel oils the data displayed the highest aldehyde contents (42.733%) in Kinnow peel oil followed by grapefruit (40.473%), Fewtrell,s Early (30.020%), Mousami (26.760%) and Eureka lemon (11.803%). Similarly, acid number of Kinnow, Fewtrell,s Early, Malta, Mousami, Grapefruit and eureka lemon oils was estimated at 2.213, 1.337, 1.253, 1.323, 1.863 and 1.390, respectively. Malta peel oil showed the lowest ester number (11.747), and the highest (27.120). in grape fruit peel oil. The results conclude that the highest yield was estimated in Malta peel oil, aldehyde contents and acid number in Kinnow peel oil and ester number in Grapefruit peel oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]