Varietal evaluation of promising maize genotypes in mid hills of Nepal

The varietal evaluation of hybrid maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes with desired performance is one of the main objectives of maize breeding program. Fourteen hybrid maize genotypes were evaluated for 17 quantitative and nine qualitative traits in randomized complete block design with three replications at Sundarbazar, Lamjung, Nepal during May to September, 2019. The major objective was to identify superior genotypes based on genotypic and phenotypic variability, heritability, genetic advance, and correlation between grain yield and yield associated traits. We observed significant differences for 17 quantitative traits among the tested genotypes. Large variation was observed for grain yield among genotypes. Genotype RL-24-0/ RL-111 had the lowest yield (5.53 mt/ha) and Pioneer had the highest yield (11.98 mt/ha) whereas check variety Rampur Hybrid-10 yielded of 8.23 mt/ha. Grain yield showed highly significant positive correlations with stem girth (r= 0.67) and number of ears (r=0.6), but significant negative correlation with anthesis-silking interval (r= -0.55). The dendrogram grouped 14 genotypes into four clusters. Cluster I incorporated the highest number (five) of genotypes, which also had highest cluster mean (average yield of ~10 mt/ha) for grain yield. Traits namely test weight, ear aspect, anthesis-silking interval, number of ears, and tassel branching had high genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variations, and heritability along with high genetic advances, indicating that these traits can be considered for maize breeding program

VARIABILITY AND HERITABILITY ESTIMATE OF 30 RICE LANDRACES OF LAMJUNG AND TANAHUN DISTRICTS, NEPAL

The variability in the rice landraces is the source of variation and offers substantial opportunity for the development of new varieties through the selection. Exploring diversity and variability of landraces is utmost for rice improvement. The objective of the study was to assess diversity indices, magnitude of genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance for the yield, and yield contributing traits. An experiment was carried out in alpha-lattice with 30 landraces, two replications in the Agronomy farm of IAAS, Lamjung Campus, during June-November, 2018. Shannon and Simpson's indices were calculated for 18 qualitative traits. The value of the Shannon and Simpson index ranged 0.15-1.41 and 0.07- 0.75, respectively. Landraces showed significant variations (

Micro Health Project

Community health diagnosis is a comprehensive assessment of health status of the community in relation to its social, physical and biological environment. The purpose of community health diagnosis is to define existing problems, determine available resources and set priorities for planning, implementing and evaluating health action, by and for the community. The community health diagnosis program began on 4th September 2015 and continued till 13th September 2015 in ward no 1 and 5 Rupakot VDC, Kaski, Nepal. The program was organized in following phases: data collection, data analysis, first community presentation, prioritization of need and planning of micro health project (MHP), implementation and evaluation of MHP, and final community presentation. On the basis of the observed and the felt needs of the community, we found the real needs and prioritized them as follows. For community: Proper water purification, information about common diseases, KAP on diseases, knowledge on TB and DOTS. For school-going children: Education on environmental sanitation, education on personal hygiene - teeth brushing and hand washing, adolescent health education. We launched micro health project (MHP) on these topics, conducting school-based as well as community-based programs.  Journal of Gandaki Medical College Vol. 10, No. 1, 2017, Page: 59-6

Multivariate Analysis of Phenotypic Diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Landraces from Lamjung and Tanahun Districts, Nepal

The magnitude and nature of genetic divergence play a vital role in the selection of the desirable landraces for its utilization in the breeding program. A study was carried out with 30 rice landraces at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Lamjung Campus, during June–November 2018 to determine relation among individuals, estimate the relative contribution of various traits of rice using principal component analysis, and identify the potential parents for hybridization using Mahalanobis distance (D2). The principal component analysis revealed that five among the thirteen principal components were significant (eigenvalue >1) and contributed to 29.96%, 20.26%, 13.56%, 11.68%, and 9.22% of the total variance, respectively. PC1 included the traits that were related mostly to the yield, yield attributing, and grain characteristics. Landraces from Anadi group, Jetho Budo, Jarneli, and Rato Masino performed well in PC1 while landraces such as Mansara, Pakhe Sali, and Aanga performed well in PC2. The landraces were grouped into six clusters where 12 landraces were grouped into cluster I. Cluster analysis showed maximum and minimum intracluster distance in cluster VI (D2 = 35.77) and cluster I (D2 = 18.59), respectively. The maximum intercluster distance was obtained between clusters V and VI (D2 = 40.18) followed by clusters III and VI (D2 = 36.17) and clusters IV and VI (D2 = 35.74). Cluster III showed the highest mean value for grain width, flag leaf breadth, yield, and minimum mean value for plant height while mean values of total grain per panicle, filled grain percentage, and thousand-grain weight were maximum in cluster IV. Mean values of effective tiller and kernel width were found maximum in clusters V and VI, respectively. Landraces from clusters V and VI or clusters III and VI or clusters IV and VI can be used in the hybridization program to develop the superior hybrids by exploiting heterosis in segregating generation