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Not AvailableGynoecious line of bitter gourd was identified at ICAR-IIVR, Varanasi (U.P.) throught screening of germplasm (259 lines) during summer. Absolute Gynoecious line GY-63 is the first truly tropical gynoecious line in bitter gourd. Its plants are very vigorous and bear light green leaves of medium to big size. The flowering starts from 7th node within 45 to 48 days and fruits attain edible maturity in 64 days after seeding and ready in 8-10 days of fruit set. Fruits are green in colour. Fruits attain a length up to 15 cm and a diameter of 3.55 cm. Average individual fruit weight is 75-100 g. An average of 30 fruits per plant can be harvested. It possesses good keeping quality, less seed and more flesh. This gynoecious line yield better under bower systemNot Availabl

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Not AvailableDuring the summer season (February sown) of 2000, three gynoecious plants, viz., Gy23 Gy63 and Gy263B were obtained in three germplasm populations. In the July 2000, planting, segregation in the F1 generation for gynoecious and monoecious plants was observed due to the existence fheterozygous gene(s) for gynoecism in the utilizedmale plants. It was concluded that the gynoecism trait in identified plants was heritable and under thecontrol of certain major recessive gene(s) (2). In a F1 cross, developed using Gy63 (gynoecious plant obtained in VRBT-63 population) and VRBT-63(monoecious plant), one monoecious plant (with87.7% pistillate flowers) was obtained and selfed. the proportion of pistillate flowers in F2 and F3 generations revealed that like five F2 plants, plants of all the five F3 populations hadvery high proportion (> 90%) of pistillate flowers,which ranged from 91.0% in line 333/2 to 99.3% in line 323/4. All F3 populations were also characterized by the recovery of at least one absolute gynoecious plant (100% pistillate flowers). During the same season, PIBG-1 an improved variety and Pusa Hybrid-1 a promising hybrid had 11.3% and13.4% pistillate flowers, respectively. Further, unlike most of the bitter gourd populations, all plants of these five populations were characterized by the emergence of pistillate flowers at lower nodes. The maximum of 70% pistillate flowers has been reported in a bitter gourd line, which was utilized to develop hybrids (1). Hence five F3 populations developed during this study are not only promising for yielding increased number of fruits, but also for their utilization in the hybrid seed production after further advancement of 2-3 generations through selection of gynoecious plants and sib-pollinating with plants having a very high proportion of pistillate flowerNot Availabl

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Not AvailablePointed gourd line IIVRPG-105 is an obligate parthenocarpic long duration fruiting genetic stock with seedless fruits. It was selected through screening of a total of 220 diverse genotypes/local landraces for parthenocarpy at ICAR-IIVR, Varanasi (U.P.). in each line fully mature female buds (mature but not open) were covered by butter paper envelops and tightened with thin wire to prevent cross pollination through insects, for identification of lines setting parthenocarpic fruits. Fruit setting was critically observed and the lines setting fruits despite bagging were isolated. Fully mature fruits of edible stage were bisectedand fruits of selected lines were found free from seeds not only at edible stage but also at mature stage. Morphologically, this line has medium sized (10-15 cm.) orbicular and unlobed leaves with rough surface and light green colour. Plants attain a height of more than 3.0 meters. Fruiting starts at 7th node and continues to full plant growth stage. Fruits are medium in size, light green, striped, elliptical in shape and pointed. The flesh of the fruit is light whitish. Length of fruit ranges between 4.81-5.21 cm. Shelf-life of fruits is up to 10 days. Six day more than the other seeded varieties. Close planting is recommended on bower system for growth and better management.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableDeveloping suitable crop rotations and crop establishment practices is an important mechanism that can enhance factor productivity and sustainability of an agro-ecosystem. However, the impact of Conservation Agriculture (CA) on alternate crop rotation of the most-dominant but tillage- and input-intensive rice (Oryza sativa L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum (L.) emend Fiori & Paol) rotation of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India is not elaborately studied. Hence, we evaluated the effect of CA on crop and water productivity, profitability, and soil carbon status in rice-mustard (Brassica juncea L.) rotation in the North-western IGP of India for five consecutive years. Eight treatments comprising of tillage, crop residue, brown manuring (BM) using Sesbania bispinosa, and summer mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] (SMB) were adopted in rice - mustard cropping system. The conventional transplanted puddled rice (TPR) - conventional till mustard (CTM) (∼TPR-CTM) rotation resulted in significantly higher rice grain yield than zero till direct-seeded rice (ZTDSR) – ZT mustard (ZTM) system with or without crop residue in all five years. However, in this regard, the CA-based ZT rice – mustard - SMB with residue [ZTDSR-ZTM-ZTSMB ( + R)] was comparable with it during first three years, but was inferior to it in 4th and 5th years. The ZTDSR-ZTM-ZTSMB ( + R) had overall 10.9 % lower five-year mean rice yield than that in the TPR-CTM system. This CA-based system gave significantly higher mustard grain yield in all the years (except first year), and the five-year mean mustard yield was 30.3 % higher than in the TPR-CTM. Another CA-based double cropping system having ZTDSR + BM – ZTM ( + R) was comparable with TPR-CTM in all the years and resulted in 27.6 % higher five-year mean mustard yield than the TPR–CTM practice. The ZTDSR-ZTM-ZTSMB ( + R) practice gave 44 % (including SMB) and 8.1 % (excluding SMB) higher system productivity and significantly higher sustainable yield index of the rice-mustard system compared with the TPR-CTM practice. The ZTDSR-ZTM-ZTSMB ( + R) practice encountered significantly lower weed density in mustard in all five years than TPR-CTM system. The cost-benefit analysis revealed that this CA practice fetched higher net returns by INR 53,000 and 21,400 ha−1 from the rice-mustard system with and without SMB, respectively over the TPR-CTM system. Again, this ZTDSR -ZTM- ZTSMB ( + R) system led to an increase in irrigation water productivity by 27.8 % in rice and 35.1 % in mustard, and the total water (irrigation + rainfall) productivity by 35.7 % in mustard crop compared with the TPR-CTM system (P ≤ 0.05). This CA-based rice-mustard system resulted in significantly higher very labile (∼50.6 %) and labile (∼47.7 %) carbon concentration at 0–5 cm depth of soil compared to the conventional TPR-CTM system. The CA system being productive, profitable, and resource-efficient can be recommended for North-western IGP of India and in similar agro-ecologies of the tropics and sub-tropics. It can be adopted with suitable site-specific refinement in South-Asian countries, where decline in crop productivity and soil health is a consistent pervasive problem due to continuous cereal-cereal rotation.Not Availabl