DEMAND FOR AGRITOURISM IN SRI LANKA

This study has examined the factors affecting for the demand for agritourism in Sri Lanka. Demographic factors, awareness and desire on agritourism of the visitors and purposes of visiting agritourism operations have also been examined. The study was based on a survey of 128 local visitors in one of the agritourism operations in the country. Stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Agritourism visitors are middle aged educated employees having higher monthly income. Further most of them are married and have children. The awareness level on agritourism in Sri Lankan visitors is at a lower level. Agritourism visitors have mentioned four main purposes of visiting agritourism operations such as resting, enjoyment and recreation, education. Results of the regression analysis shows that only three variables (household income, urban residency, and availability of vehicle facility) have positive effects and two variables (the distance to the agritourism destination and individual travel cost) have negative effects for the demand for agritourism in Sri Lanka

Opportunities and Challenges in Cultivating Underutilized Field Crops in Moneragala District of Sri Lanka

Cultivation and use of underutilized crops is gradually popularizing in many countries since they create several benefits for the man and the environment. Same as in many other countries, a large number of useful underutilized crop species are available in Sri Lanka as well. Although traditional people had used them in a great deal in many different aspects of their life, the present generation has moved away from using them due to lack of knowledge and interest. In this context, finding of the real potential of cultivating and using them in the country is timely important. Thus the aim of this research is to study the opportunities and challenges of cultivation of underutilized field crops in Sri Lanka. This research is based on the findings of the field survey using 120 farm families in Thanamalwila divisional secretariat division of the Moneragala district during January-October 2012. Results revealed that there are several opportunities such as availability of traditional knowledge, land resource, labor for cultivation etc. However, several constraints like unavailability of seeds and planting materials, lack of market infrastructure, lack of knowledge on processing and value addition, competition from modern crops, negative attitude of consumers are also affecting the cultivation and use of these crops

Epidemiology, presentation and outcome of patients with melioidosis in a tertiary care center

No abstract availabl

Epidemiology, presentation and outcome of patients with melioidosis in a tertiary care center

No abstract availabl

Genetic parameters of drought tolerance for agromorphological traits in eggplant, wild relatives, and interspecific hybrids

[EN] Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have barely been used in eggplant (Solanum melongena) breeding. However, introgression breeding may help in coping with the challenges posed by climate change. During the rainy and dry seasons, we evaluated nine accessions of eggplant, nine accessions of seven related species (of which six are CWRs and one is a cultivated relative), and 12 interspecific hybrids. Drought tolerance scores, calculated as ratios of growing rates and ratios of mean values during the rainy and dry seasons, were obtained for vegetative growth and yield-related traits. Considering the vegetative growth and yield-related traits evaluated, the F-1 hybrid progenies of eggplant with S. insanum MEL1 x INS2 and MEL4 x INS3, S. anguivi MEL6 x ANG1, and S. dasyphyllum MEL6 x DAS1, plus the S. sysimbriifolium accession SIS1, displayed drought tolerance. Small to large gaps were observed between phenotypic and genotypic CVs of drought tolerance scores, reflecting variable influence of environmental factors on drought tolerance of the traits evaluated. In addition, the narrow-sense heritability was generally moderate, indicating that genes with dominance and/or epistasis effects may be involved in the expression of drought tolerance. High genotypic correlations for drought tolerance scores between pairs of traits such as branching index and leaf length, leaf petiole diameter and plant height, number of stamens per flower, and fruit pedicel length suggest that drought tolerance of these traits is controlled by genes that are in linkage disequilibrium and/or have pleiotropic effects. The results are relevant for the development of drought-tolerant cultivars of eggplant.Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Grant/Award Number: PAID06-18; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Grant/Award Number: RTI-2018-094592-B-I00; Generalitat Valenciana, Grant/Award Number: APOSTD/2018/014; Global Crop Diversity Trust, Grant/Award Number: GS20001 This work was undertaken as part of the initiative ¿Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives,¿ which is supported by the Government of Norway. The project is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust with the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and implemented in partnership with national and international gene banks and plant breeding institutes around the world. For further information, see the project website: http://www.cwrdiversity.org/. Funding was also received from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Agencia Estatal de Investigación and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Grant RTI-2018-094592-B-I00 from MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and from Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Innovación y Transferencia de la Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Ayuda a Primeros Proyectos de Investigación; PAID-06-18), Mariola Plazas is grateful to Generalitat Valenciana and Fondo Social Europeo for a postdoctoral contract (APOSTD/2018/014).Kouassi, AB.; Kouassi, KBA.; Sylla, Z.; Plazas Ávila, MDLO.; Fonseka, RM.; Kouassi, A.; Fonseka, H.... (2021). Genetic parameters of drought tolerance for agromorphological traits in eggplant, wild relatives, and interspecific hybrids. Crop Science. 61(1):55-68. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20250556861