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The study was based on identification of the major determinants of adoption of hybrid maize technology in district Mardan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A sample of 255 respondents in the study area was randomly chosen using a multistage random sampling technique. The logit model was used to measure the probability of adoption of hybrid maize technology. The estimated results of the model revealed that younger farmers were comparatively more adoptive of the hybrid maize technology. Education level, number of adult males involved in agriculture and land holdings of the farmers affected the adoption of the hybrid maize technology positively. The owners as compared to tenants and farmers having main sources of income other than agriculture were having lower probability to adopt the hybrid maize varieties. This study recommends that the government should facilitate farmers with the subsidized prices of hybrid maize technology and provide them both the informal and formal education considering it as their basic necessity and right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influence of deblossoming and GA3 application on fruit drop and growth of winter guava was carried out in Horticulture Farm at The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan during 2016. RCB Design was used for this experiment with three replications i.e. factor A was Deblossoming Time (Control, May, June, July, August and September) and factor B was GA3 application (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm). Results demonstrated that minimum fruit drop (5.95%), fruit density (0.80gcm-3) with maximum number of new shoots (55.7), number of new flowers (225.3), fruit weight (197.5g), and fruit volume (245.5cm3) were recorded in plants deblossomed in September treated with 50 ppm of GA3. While maximum fruit density (1.13gcm-3) was recorded in the month of July fruits treated with 10 ppm of GA3. While maximum fruit drop (11.69%), titratable acidity (0.59%), with minimum number of new shoots (16.3), number of new flowers (65.3), fruit weight (53.3g), and fruit volume (48.1cm3) were recorded in plants which were not deblossomed and sprayed with distilled water. It is concluded from the current study that Deblossoming time and GA3 application might be significantly reduced the fruit drop and enhanced the growth of guava tree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed at investigating the technical efficiency of sugarcane production in district Dera Ismail Khan (D. I. Khan) using stochastic production function. The study used primary data collected from 100 respondents of sugarcane growers during harvesting year 2012. The tractor hours, seed rate, labor days, irrigation numbers, chemical fertilizer, farm yard manure (FYM) and herbicide were the variables for finding technical efficiency while age, experience and education of sugarcane growers were taken as the technical inefficiency factors. The results revealed that the elasticities of technical efficiency for tractor hours, seed rate, labor days, irrigation numbers, chemical fertilizer, FYM and herbicides were found 0.185, 0.102, 0.145, 0.093, 0.084, 0.073 and 0.05 respectively. All the variables of technical efficiency showed positive and significant effect on the production of sugarcane with the exception of seed in district D.I.Khan. The mean technical efficiency index was 0.77 while the minimum and maximum efficiency values were 0.57 and 0.91 respectively. The mean value suggesting that the farmer's output can be improved 23% through improved resource allocation. The factors affecting technical inefficiency showed negative relationship with inefficiency. The results further indicated that age, experience and education having positive relationship with production and play a vital role in the production of sugarcane. The study recommends that proper policies should be formulated to educate farmers through extension services that will reduce inefficiency in their operations, eventually it will lead them to get maximum returns from their scarce resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]