Farmers’ knowledge and adoption of improved mandarin orchard management practices in Syangja district, Nepal

Mandarin is one of the major fruit crops in the mid-hills of Nepal. Since improved farming practices appear to offer a significant chance to boost production and revenue, a study was conducted in Syangja, Nepal with the objective to assess farmers’ knowledge and adoption of improved mandarin orchard management practices and identify factors affecting their adoption. Primary data were collected by the use of pretested semi-structured questionnaire from randomly selected 97 respondents within the study area. Data were entered and analyzed using MS Excel, SPSS, and STATA, and the inferences were retrieved using the binary logistic regression model. Findings revealed that the respondents were familiar with most of the improved orchard management practices, however, there was variation in the scale of adoption of these practices. The majority (>90%) were found to practice pruning, FYM application, and weed control; however, there were relatively fewer adopters when it came to the use of Bordeaux paste (75.25%), chemical fertilizers (17.52%), mulching (57.74%), irrigation (44.33%), and soil testing and amendment (39.18%). The study showed that the adoption of Bordeaux paste and soil amendment differ significantly by gender (p=0.069 and p=0.041, respectively). Training has a positive impact on the use of Bordeaux paste (p=0.026), chemical fertilizers (p=0.075), and soil amendment practices (p=0.003). The usage of chemical fertilizers is more prevalent among people with formal education (p=0.075). Knowledge level also positively influences the adoption of mulching (p=0.014) and soil amendment practices (p=0.000). The number of trees is positively and significantly associated (p=0.008) with irrigation practice. It is recommended that expanding access to irrigation facilities and encouraging the use of the recommended amount of fertilizers, mulch, and Bordeaux paste must be prioritized in the study area

Growth status, curd yield and crop duration of late season cauliflower varieties

Cauliflower is an important winter season vegetable crop having year-round demand in Nepal. Due to longer crop duration in late winter season, there was a production of poor-quality curds and lower yield faced by the farmers in Terai region of Nepal. An experiment was conducted to identify the short duration late season varieties at Rampur, Chitwan Nepal during November 2016 to March, 2017. These varieties were Freedom, Titan, Ravella, Amazing, Artica, Bishop, Casper, Indam 9803 and NS 106 (introduced from USA, Europe and India), and Snow Mystique and Snowball 16 (introduced from Japan). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The highest plant height (71.9 cm) and canopy diameter (74.5 cm) at last harvest of cauliflower was mostly produced by Titan followed by NS 106, Snow Mystique, Bishop and Indam 9803. Similarly, significantly shorter period for final curd initiation of 65 days after transplanting was observed in Freedom and shorter period for final curd maturation of 77 days after transplanting was also recorded in Freedom than other varieties. Significantly, higher curd yield of 54.8 t/ha was produced by Bishop than other varieties. In conclusion, Bishop was the best hybrid variety while other suitable varieties were NS 106, Titan, Artica and Snow Mystique for better growth and higher curd yield in Chitwan condition. Similarly, Freedom was identified as short duration varieties which can minimize the negative effects in late winter season due to higher temperature