Impact of foliar application of potassium and its spray schedule on yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) cv. Jaffa

A field study was undertaken to extrapolate the impact of foliar application of potash and its spray schedule on yield and physical and chemical parameters of sweet orange cv. Jaffa at experimental orchard, Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. The results revealed that foliar application of KNO? at both the doses (2 and 4%) was found significantly or marginally better than K?SO? (1.5 and 3.0%) and control (water spray) in increasing the juice content. Peel content, peel thickness and rag content was found to be influenced significantly due to different treatments on K and its spray schedule. Minimum rag content (38.11%) was recorded with foliar application of KNO? at the rate of 4% and maximum with control. Ascorbic acid and acidity were found maximum with two foliar applications of KNO? at the rate of 4% in the last week of April and August. Foliar application of KNO? at the rate of 4% was found most effective in increasing yield of sweet orange over control and other K treatments. Spray of K in the last week of April, May and August was found superior in increasing yield closely followed by two sprays in the last week of April and August. The findings signify the importance of K spray in enhancing yield and quality of sweet orange under semi-arid north western conditions of India

Effect of pinching and spacing on growth, flowering and yield of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) under semi-arid conditions of Haryana

The present study was conducted at experimental orchard of Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (Haryana), India with a view to optimize pinching time and spacing in African marigold for achieving better growth, flowering and yield. Design of the experiment was factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications. Experiment comprises of two levels of pinching (no pinching & pinching at 28 DAT i.e. Days After Transplanting) and three levels of spacing (40 x 40 cm, 40 x 30 cm & 30 x 30 cm) in all possible combinations. Maximum number of branches/plant (12.11), plant spread (63.59 cm), fresh weight of plant (358.79 g), number of buds/plant, duration of flowering (53.95 days), number of flowers/plant (54.54), stalk length and flower yield/plant (403.68 g) and flower yield/hectare (33.33 t) were significantly recorded in plants pinched at 28 DAT at 5% level of significance, whereas, maximum plant height (73.52 cm), flower diameter (6.38 cm), fresh weight of flower (8.93 g) was obtained in un-pinched plants. In case of spacing, maximum plant spread (64.01 cm), primary branches/plant (11.42), fresh weight of plant (370.20 g), number of buds/plant, number of flowers/plant (51.43), duration of flowering (53.98 days), flower diameter (6.42 cm), fresh weight of flower (9.03 g), flower yield/plant (460.42 g) was recorded at 40 x 40 cm, whereas, maximum plant height (71.76 cm), stalk length, flower yield/hectare (36.34 t) was observed with 30 x 30 cm. Results revealed that plants pinched at 28 DAT with widest spacing (40 x 40 cm) were found best for better growth, flowering and yield of African marigold

Effect of foliar application of potassium and its spray schedule on yield and yield parameters of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) cv. Jaffa

An investigation to evaluate the effect of foliar application of potassium and its spray schedule on yield and yield parameters in sweet orange cv. Jaffa was undertaken at experimental orchard, Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the year 2014-15. The results revealed that the foliar application of potassium nitrate at the rate of 2 and 4 % and potassium sulphate at 1.5 and 3.0 % significantly improved average fruit weight, fruit diameter, percentage of medium and large fruits, and fruit yield of sweet orange cv. Jaffa over control (water spray). The trend was vice-versa on the percentage of small fruits. The number of fruits per plant could not differ significantly due to various treatments. Among K sources and doses, foliar application of KNO3 at 4 % exhibited superiority over other treatments with respect to yield and yield parameters followed by KNO3 at lower dose (2 %) or K2SO4 at higher dose (3 %). Among various spray schedules, application of three sprays of K in the last week of April, May and August were found superior or at par in improving yield and yield parameters with 2 sprays in the last week of April and August. The fruit yield was recorded the highest (76.90 kg/plant) with a combination of the foliar application of KNO3 at 4 % and 2 sprays in the last week of April and August which was non-significant with KNO3 with an additional spray in the last week of May. The findings signify the importance of K spray in improving yield and yield parameters of sweet orange under semi-arid climatic conditions of north western India

Periodic Peritoneal Dialysis in End Stage Renal Disease: Is it Still Relevant? A Single Center Study from India

Background: High cost of maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (PD) in India has made renal replacement therapy out of reach of many patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Repeated puncture PD although inferior to HD biochemically, is easily and freely available across Rajasthan, India, and is simple to perform, and does not require sophisticated machines, thus making it an attractive option for dialysis for ESRD. Aim: To analyze the outcomes of periodic PD in patients with ESRD requiring dialysis support. Subjects and Methods: A prospective study analyzing the data of patients who underwent PD between August 2010 and January 2013 in Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur, India was conducted. Patients were divided into three groups based on the time period between first and second session of PD. Detailed demographic and clinical data during the study period were collected along with PD related complications. The main outcome studied was technique survival 1 year post initiation of PD. Results: 234 patients received an initial session of PD, of which 174 had a good response and were included in the study. 19 patients received the second PD within 7 days of first (Group 1), 45 patients within 8–14 days (Group 2) and 110 patients within 15–21 days (Group 3). The overall 1 year technique survival was 68.4% (91/133), with a rate of 50% (5/10), 56.8% (21/37), and 75.6% (65/86) for Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3, respectively. The time duration between first and second PD proved to be reliable indicator of the subsequent response, with a technique survival rate significantly lower in Group 1 patients compared to Groups 2 and 3 (P = 0.04). Median dialysis free days were 11, 16 and 21 days in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3, respectively. Peritonitis rate observed was 2.1% (49/2261) during the study period. Conclusion: Periodic PD is a simple, safe and cheap procedure, which can be considered as used as a palliative measure in terminal uremia in underprivileged areas.Keywords: Peritoneal dialysis, End stage renal disease, Renal replacement therap

Chickpea Diseases: Distribution, Importance, and Control Strategies

Chickpea, the third most important grain Icgtcrne crop in the world, is traditionally grown as a spring-sown crop in WANA, and as a postrainy season crop in East Africa on cor~scrveds oil moisture. In South Asia, it is grown as a wintcr-season crop. Dccrcasing trcnds in chickpea production and yield in WANA and SKI' art. considered to a large cxtent to be due to disease incidencc

A preliminary study of incidence of Aphis craccivora in chickpea at Hissar, India

The incidence of Aphis craccivora, which transmits chickpea stunt disease to chickpea [Cicer arietinum], was studied in a nursery consisting of 4 rows of a mixture of 10 legumes sown around and between every 6 chickpea rows in a 0.5-ha field at Hissar, Haryana, India, in December 1982-January 1983, using sticky traps. Three distinct peaks in catches were observed on 24 December, 28 January and 4 March. Three peaks were also observed in the incidence of the aphid on chickpea, occurring 1-2 weeks later than the peaks in trap catche

An Annotated Bibliography of Pigeonpea Diseases 1906 - 81

This bibliography has been published to provide annotated information about selected publications concerning pigeonpea diseases in retrospective support of the abstracts published since 1982 in the International Pigeonpea Newsletter (also published by ICRISAT). This compilation is not comprehensive, but it lists the more important documents of which the authors have become aware during their work at ICRISAT Center and elsewhere. For fuller information readers should consult information available from the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux (e.g., via the internationally accessible Dialog data base) or from FAO (via the AGRIS data base). Language abbreviations used in the citations are as follows: De = German Es = Spanish Fr = French It = Italian Pt = Portuguese The authors gratefully acknowledge assistance given in the compilation of this bibliography by R. Narsing Rao, S. Prasannalakshmi, S. Varma, J.B. Wills, and N. Raghavan

Role Of An Eriophyid Mite Aceria Cajani (Acari: Eriophyidae) In Transmission And Spread Of Sterility Mosaic Of Pigeonpea

Sterility mosaic (SM) is one of the most important diseases of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) in India causing an annual loss of 205,000 tonnes of grain, especially in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh (Kannaiyan el ai, 1984). The disease is presumed to be caused by a virus, although the causal agent is yet to be determined (Capoor, 1952). Selh (1962) and Nene (1972) reported that the eriophyid mite, Acer/a cajant ChannaBasavanna could transmit SM. However, in spite of the lack of evidence of the viral nature of this pathogen and its association with the diseased plants, mite toxaemia could be the possible cause of SM (Slykhuis, 1980). There is also no information on the nature and extent of spread of the disease under field conditions and the relationship between the mite vector and SM pathogen. In this paper, results of the studies on the possibility of a mite-transmitted pathogen being the cause of SM, relationship between the mile vector and SM pathogen, and spread of the disease and the mite vector under field conditions are reported