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Background: Seed preservation in the context of changing climatic conditions and retaining quality is a big challenge, especially for marginal farmers who does not have appropriate seed storage facilities. Moisture and temperature variations (both seasonal and diurnal) during storage result in moulds, bacteria, insects, mites and rodents attacks. Tropical regions with higher ambient temperatures and relative humidity variations need to address the storage issue. Methods: This research work discusses the process of design, fabrication and testing of a low-cost seed storage unit (SSU) for community-based seed banks. The SSU of 200 L storage capacity was cooled using a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) to provide the temperature range of 15°C to 18°C and relative humidity <70% inside the SSU. The SSU was field-tested at fourteen different agro-climatic locations for seeds of paddy (Oryza sativa), gram (Cicer arietinum), onion (Allium cepa), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) and maize (Zea mays) during the period 18 months between 2017 to 2019. These seeds were tested for germination count (GC) and moisture content (MC). Result: Results obtained indicated that the SSU developed can retain essential seed quality parameters i.e. more than 80% germination count (GC), except for groundnut seeds over a period of 18 months as against loss of seed viability in 8 months’ time in traditional storage at ambient temperature. Based on the field performance testing, we recommend the use of such devices for farmers’ and farmers’ producer companies for a decentralised seed storage capacity of 100 to 200 kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is the most important and diverse grain legume crop grown in tropics and subtropics. Assessment of local and regional plant genotypes is important for identifying diversity among germplasm and for crop improvement. The objective of present study was to characterize cowpea accessions collected from various households of western Maharashtra, India by using morphological traits. Methods: The field experiments were conducted on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) at BAIF-CRS Urulikanchan, during Kharif 2018 and summer 2019. The experiments were arranged in row design with minimum 10 individuals of each accessions spaced at 60 x 30 cm. Recommended package of practices were adopted throughout experimentation. Result: Traits such as semi-prostrate habit (41.9 percent), determinate growth (77.4 percent), straight pod (51.6 percent), smooth seed (71.0 percent), elliptic shape (67.7 percent) and yellowish-white seed colour (37.6 percent) were dominant in studied accessions. Time for first flowering ranged from 28 to 65 days; pod length ranged between 9.60 cm to 27.48 cm; seeds per pod observed between 7.20 to 16.40; 100-seed weight ranged between 12.00 to 36.00 g. Analysis of variance showed that all the characters were highly significant among the accessions. Results revealed that studied accessions are valuable germplasm for future breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorghum landraces collected from Dhadgaon and Akkalkua block of Nandurbar district were studied to assess the diversity among these landraces. An experiment was conducted at village level in-situ conservation center during kharif season of 2016 and 2017. Morphological characterization of 13 landraces of sorghum was undertaken for 25 characters as per DUS guidelines. Traits such as anthocyanin coloured coleoptiles (53.85%), white coloured leaf midrib (38.46%), yellow colouration on stigma (84.62%), grayed orange coloured dry anther (53.85%), yellow white colour of glumes (30.77%), semi-compact density of panicle (53.85%) symmetrical type ear (69.2%) grayed orange coloured seeds (53.85%) were dominant in studied landraces. The results of present study showed that panicle branch length was most diverse trait (22.93%), followed by 1000 grain wt. (17.23%) and stem diameter (19.71%) whereas leaf width showed the lowest variation (6.16%) among studied lines. Analysis of variance showed that all the characters were highly significant among the landraces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Madhuca indica commonly known as Mahua belongs to family Sapotaceae. Mahua is believed to be back bone for livelihood and cultural prospective of tribal community. The variation within the species with respect to various parameters related to flowering and seeding recognized by tribal communities were included in the study for identification of candidate trees. A study was undertaken in three agro climatic zones of Maharashtra. Through people's participation, 58 Mahua candidate trees were selected and scientifically validated. The study revealed that highly significant differences were observed in flower dropping days (29.71±0.10), fresh flower yield (342.43± 24.30), flower dry matter (94.93±0.20), seed oil (39.69±2.14), dry matter in seeds (94.80±0.21) at Dhadagaon over Ettapalli and Jawhar clusters. The maximum mean value with respect to flower sugar (22.94±0.7), Zn (4.42± 0.2) was significant at Ettapalli cluster over Jawhar and Dhadagaon. The maximum mean value of crude protein (5.33±0.2 %) at Jawhar cluster and ‘Fe' content in flower (81.48± 13.0) at Ettapalli was recorded. From one of selected candidate tree, the maximum potential of seed oil (50.47 %) at Dadagaon and sugar content (32 %) at Eattapalli cluster was recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on forage pearl millet which good risk cover crop for sustained forage production and mentions study to standardize appropriate cutting management practices and optimum dose of nitrogen for green fodder. Topics discussed include dose of nitrogen for better forage yield and quality, how recommended dose of nitrogen recorded higher green fodder and increased forage productivity of crops.