Research Notes : India : Effect of mulching on seedling emergence and yield of soybean

Abstract : Experiment carried out with different materials for two years revealed the beneficial effects of mulching on seedling emergence as well as yield. The average increase in seedling emergence over control (no mulching) was 97.3, 53.1, 35.7, and 28.6% in plots mulched with paddy straw, wheat straw, paddy husk, and wheat husk, respectively. Mulching with paddy straw and wheat straw resulted in 55.5% and 44.1% increase in grain yield, respectively, over no mulching. The reasons for the beneficial effects of mulch in seedling emergence and increase in grain yield is discussed

Research Notes : India : Response of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) to foliar application of some growth regulators and in combination with urea and potash

Introduction: The concept of foliar nutrition and its relationship with yield is not new. Nutrients, especially the micronutrients when applied as foliar spray, exert pronounced influence on plant growth and yield. Such micronutrients are in use for improving the growth and yield of crops

Research Notes : India : Effect of varieties and plant population on grain yield and two yield attribut es of soybean

A field experiment was conducted during rainy seasons of 1980 and 1981 to study the effect of varieties and plant population on yield of soybean at the Agronomy Farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. The seeds were sown on 30 June during both the years. The soil of the experimental plots was sandy loam with pH 5.3

Research Notes : India : Effect of varieties and date of sowing on the growth and yield of soybean

The recognition of highly valued soybean in India is well understood by its cultivation of 6 lakhs hectares during 1980-81 (Bhatnagar, 1980-81). Though Assam is famous as a rice growing area, the typical uplands are not properly utilized for rice because of partial to nonavailability of irrigation water. These areas are either partly used for raising rice seedlings or put to summer vegetables

Research Notes : India : Effects of sowing date and decapitation on green soybeans

Green soybean as fresh vegetable is gaining popularity in many of the soybean-producing countries of the world. Soybean as vegetable can be grown easily during rainy season because final product is harvested as immature green seed (Shanmugasundaram et al., 1982). Decapitating at 4-5 trifoliolate leaves has been found to increase the yield by 14 to 22% (Tin, 1982)

Research Notes : India : Effect of varieties and population densities on the growth and yield of soybean

The varieties of a crop with their differential genetical makeup exhibit wide variation in regard to both growth habits and ultimate yield. The main-tenance of optimum plant population will not only provide ample scope for proper growth of a variety but will largely shape the ultimate yield, because the yield of a crop in general is a function of yield per plant and plant popu-lation per unit area. Experimental evidence is available to show that optimum plant populations per unit area for different soybean varieties are not the same (Singh et al., 1974; Narayana, 1976; Reddy and Singh, 1976; Deshmukh et al., 1977)

Ethanol-Induced Defects on Zebrafish Retinal Development: Rescue by Nutritional Supplements

poster abstractFetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), a result of prenatal alcohol exposure, produces a wide range of developmental defects including severe ocular defects that include microphthalmia, optic nerve hypoplasia, scotopic vision loss and coloboma. The zebrafish FASD model recapitulates many defects seen in human patients. Ethanol exposure (100 and 150 mM) during early development (midblatula transition through somitogenesis, 2-24 hours post fertilization, hpf) produced severe ocular defects including microphthalmia, optic nerve hypoplasia and photoreceptor differentiation defect. Examining specific terminal differentiation markers showed ethanol-induced defects in differentiation of most retinal cell types. Ethanol exposure altered gene expression of critical transcription factors. Increased cell death accounted for the small eye phenotype, and the retina responds with increased proliferation in the outer nuclear layer, inner nuclear layer, and ciliary marginal zone (CMZ). Ethanol treated retinas showed an expanded CMZ and cell cycle exit defects of the photoreceptor cells. In order to examine progenitor cell populations and differentiation defects in the ethanol treated retinal cells, specific markers for retinal stem, precursor and progenitor cell populations were examined. While control retinas showed terminally differentiated photoreceptors at 72 hpf, ethanol treated retinas expressed immature and nascent photoreceptor markers in cell populations undergoing proliferation. Nutrient co-supplement with retinoic acid (RA) or folic acid (FA) with ethanol during 2-24 hpf rescued photoreceptor differentiation and optic nerve defects. Competitive inhibition of RA synthesis by ethanol was hypothesized by Duester (1991), and rescue of ethanol-induced retinal defects suggest an effect on RA levels in the developing retina. Treatment with RA inhibitors produced retinal defects similar to ethanol-treated embryos. Interestingly, RA supplementation (24-48 hpf and 48-72 hpf) following ethanol treatment (2-24 hpf) restored photoreceptor differentiation suggesting RA provides a critical signal for precursor cell differentiation. In contrast, post-treatment with FA, did not restore retinal cell differentiation. FA functions as a critical component of one-carbon metabolism and can influence histone- and DNA-methyl transferase activities. Molecular mechanisms underlying disruption of cell cycle exit and FA rescue of ethanol-induced defects are being actively studied

Research Notes : India : Performance of winter soybean under varying levels of irrigation

Possibility of growing soybean during winter season has been revealed by several workers (Sarmah, 1979; Mandloi and Tiwari, 1971). But the success of a winter crop depends mainly on available soil moisture. The average rainfall for the last ten years at the station during winter months (November to March) was 104.28 rrun, which is not enough to sustain a good crop of soybea

Research Notes : India : Effect of dates of planting on five soybean varieties

Assam is one of the seven states comprising the North Eastern region of India. The plains of the Brahmaputra Valley lie between 24° to 28° N Latitude, 90° to 96° East Longitude and its elevation (above M.S.L.) ranges from 35 m (Dhubri) to 106 m (Dibrugarh). Soybean was introduced in Assam in 1975 through the Soy~ean Research Project sponsored by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, New Delhi