Kwanu Local – A High Yielding Traditional Maize Cultivar of Jaunsar Tribal Region of Uttarakhand and a Promising Genetic Resource for Maize Improvement

Globally maize is the second most important crop in terms of acreage where as in India it ranks third after wheat and rice. Maize productivity has been breaking unprecedented barriers owing chiefly to wide scale cultivation of high yielding hybrids. Sustaining high yields of hybrids necessitates continued efforts for creation of novel gene assemblages and/or discovery of such naturally existing constellations. Traditional local cultivars are an important source of the latter. Kwanu Local is an example of such a traditional cultivar that contributes significantly towards sustaining food, fodder and fuel requirement of Jaunsari tribal community of Kwanu cluster in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. It is a tall, high yielding, medium duration, semi-dent yellow bold-grained cultivar and owes its characteristic present form to multiple infusions from diverse populations that have taken place over the long history of its cultivation in the region. Its cultivation over a vast contiguous expanse and the selection practices followed by the farming community ensure maintenance of high heterozygosity in the population, assuring sustained high yields. The cultivar possesses many desirable features that make it a potential genetic resource for a variety of traits of agronomic importance (cob length, cob girth, number of kernels/row and kernel size). Its use for increasing kernel size has been well demonstrated. Kernel size in the backcross progenies involving inbreds VQL 1 (255 g) and V 400 (215 g) as recipients and Kwanu Local (343 g) as donor exhibited kernel size range of 260-293 g (VQL 1 x Kwanu Local) and 228-245 g (V 400 x Kwanu Local), showing increase of 6-14 and 2-15%, respectively, in the two crosses. With its local adaptability and high yield coupled with other desirable traits, Kwanu Local holds potential as a promising genetic resource for maize improvement

Barnyard millet global core collection evaluation in the submontane Himalayan region of India using multivariate analysis

Barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.) is one of the most underresearched crops with respect to characterization of genetic resources and genetic enhancement. A total of 95 germplasm lines representing global collection were evaluated in two rainy seasons at Almora, Uttarakhand, India for qualitative and quantitative traits and the data were subjected to multivariate analysis. High variation was observed for days to maturity, five-ear grain weight, and yield components. The first three principal component axes explained 73% of the total multivariate variation. Three major groups were detected by projection of the accessions on the first two principal components. The separation of accessions was based mainly on trait morphology. Almost all Indian and origin-unknown accessions grouped together to form an Echinochloa frumentacea group. Japanese accessions grouped together except for a few outliers to form an Echinochloa esculenta group. The third group contained accessions from Russia, Japan, Cameroon, and Egypt. They formed a separate group on the scatterplot and represented accessions with lower values for all traits except basal tiller number. The interrelationships between the traits indicated that accessions with tall plants, long and broad leaves, longer inflorescences, and greater numbers of racemes should be given priority as donors or parents in varietal development initiatives. Cluster analysis identified two main clusters based on agro-morphological characters

Barnyard millet – a potential food and feed crop of future

The two species under genus Echinochloa, E. frumentacea (Indian barnyard millet) and E. esculenta (Japanese barnyard millet), are cultivated for food and fodder by hilly and tribal communities in Asia particularly in India, China and Japan. The crop has wide adaptability and occupies a special place in marginal rainfed areas because of its short life cycle. Although the area under the crop has come down drastically in last 50 years, the crop ability to survive under harsh conditions makes it a better choice during famine years. In the Indian Himalayan region, the crop was traditionally used as a substitute for rice. It has been identified as a suitable choice for climate-resilient agriculture. High nutrient content and antioxidant effects make it to be considered as a functional food crop. Recently, the demand of the crop has increased due to its highly nutritious grains. Thus, it has the potential to provide both food and nutritional security particularly in hills where nutritional deficiencies are in abundance. Despite enormous potential, the crop has not gained the popularity among masses and is still considered as poor man’s food. This work therefore is an attempt to compile the meagre information available on crop history, evolution, crop breeding and present status to make the crop competitive and revamp its cultivation

Complexes of Iron(II), Cobalt(II), Nickel(II) & Copper(II) with 1-(2-Pyridylazo)-2-naphthol & -2-Phenanthrol & 1-(2-Quinolylazo)-2-phenanthrol

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Not AvailableRelationship between grain yield and its component traits can improve the efficiency of breeding programs by determining appropriate selection criteria. An investigation was carried out on barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.) global germplasm collection to investigate the association among yield components and their direct and indirect effects on the grain yield of barnyard millet. The experiment was conducted in 2011 and 2012 in augmented and alpha lattice design, respectively. The results of correlation coefficients indicated that grain yield had high significant and positive association with flag leaf width and culm thickness during both years, whereas negative association of grain yield was observed with basal tillers and peduncle length. Simple path analysis indicated high direct effects of panicle exertion, flag leaf sheath length, flag leaf width and days to maturity in 2011; and flag leaf width and raceme number in 2012. However, these high direct estimates were biased due to multicolinearity. Therefore, ontogeny based sequential path analysis was used to establish the causal relationships determining grain yield in barnyard millet. Based on the results over the years, culm thickness and raceme number were found to be important traits for indirect selection. The other important traits suggested for inclusion in selection index were inflorescence length, plant height, flag leaf length, inflorescence width and number of basal tillers per plant.Not Availabl

New Sources of Variability for Restructuring Brassica rapa

Abstract Northern India, especially Himalayan tract presents rich diversity of Brassica rapa ecotypes (toria, yellow sarson and brown sarson) as well as leafy and condiment types of B. juncea. In this paper some features of unique germplasm lines collected/developed and their possible implications in restructuring of improved types as future varieties are presented. Development of two extra early maturing (<60 days) toria populations (PT-141, PT-145) out of local collections from Tehri district of Uttarakhand, and development of PYS 2008-5 with fully fertile sinks through inter-varietal crosses offers unique opportunities for genetic improvement of toria and yellow sarson, respectively