Khesari (Lathyrus sativus L.), an ancient legume for future gain: An expedition collection from parts of West Bengal state of Eastern India

395-403Grasspea is one of the staple foods of the local people living in the eastern parts of India. An expedition was undertaken during March, 2020 to collect germplasm of grasspea in the lower-Gangetic riverine belt and coastal areas of West Bengal of eastern India lying between latitude 21.43-24.44°N and longitude 87.23-88.90°E. From the results of a structured questionnaire administered to grasspea farmers in 57 villages located in 96 local government areas, it appeared that grasspea is the primary winter pulse cultivated in this region. Large variability of germplasm exist, ranging from small to bold seed, early to late maturing types, moderate to the high biomass type of grasspea. Most of these landraces have been adopted over the years from neighbouring communities, but in a few instances, the varietal replacement was noted, which came either through the involvement of government departments or local seed dealers. The highest proportion of the accessions (52.38%) was collected from the Purba Medinipur district, and the lowest (19.05%) was from Paschim Medinipur. On-spot evaluation of morphological traits, variations was detected in the descriptor characteristics across the locations. A total of 21 accessions was collected and assessed on-spot for different characters, viz., the seed's size, shape, seed colour, taste and texture revealed significant variation. The implications of this survey results for grasspea improvement in India are discussed in the present study

Varietal Performance of Anthurium (Anthurium andreanum) on Growth and Flowering in the Subtropical Zone of West Bengal

An investigation was conducted to evaluate genotypes of Anthurium by maintaining in the pot at Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal during three consecutive years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. The experiment was laid out in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with fourteen anthurium cultivars and replicated thrice. Significant differences were found between all the parameters studied. From the pooled data of three years, it was observed that Tropical Red, Agnihotri and Marina recorded better suckering ability. The highest plant was recorded in Tropical (42.4 cm) closely followed by KalingPong Pink (41.2 cm) and Nitta (39.8 cm). A maximum number of flowers plant-1 year-1 was noticed in Tropical (8.3) and lowest in Alexis (2.1). Ozaki Red recorded the largest flower (9.5 x 7.6 sq. cm), which was followed by Tropical (9.02 x 8.6 sq. cm), Tinora (8.9 x 7.3 sq. cm), and Alexis (8.9 x 8.6 sq. cm). The longest flower spike length was observed in Agnihotri (38.2 cm) followed by Tropical. Spike extended maximum vase life in Pistache (10.1 days) closely followed by Tropical (9.9 days). Overall, among the fourteen cultivars, Tropical was the best cultivar regarding both yield and quality flower production for commercial cultivation in the sub-tropical conditions of West Bengal

Khesari (Lathyrus sativus L.), an ancient legume for future gain: An expedition collection from parts of West Bengal state of Eastern India

Grasspea plays a considerable role in food and nutritional security of the local people. Notably, in the eastern parts of India, there is a long history of cultivation and uses of this crop. An expedition was undertaken to collect germplasm of grasspea in lower-Gangetic riverine belt and coastal areas of West Bengal of eastern India lying between latitude 21.43-24.44°N and longitude 87.23-88.90°E. From results of a structured questionnaire administered to grasspea farmers in 57 villages located in 96 local government areas, it appeared that grasspea is the primary winter pulse cultivated in this region. A large variability of germplasm exist, ranging from small to bold seed, green to yellow colour seed types, moderate to the high biomass type of grasspea. Most of these landraces have been adopted over the years from neighbouring communities, but in a few instances, the varietal replacement was noted which came either through the involvement of government department or local seed dealers. The highest proportion of the accessions (52.38%) were collected from Purba Medinipur district, and the lowest (19.05%) from Paschim Medinipur. On-spot evaluation of morphological traits variations was detected in the descriptor characteristics across the locations. A total of 21 accessions was collected and assessed on-spot for characters, viz., size, shape, skin colour, taste and texture of the epidermis, revealed significant variation. The implications of this survey results for grasspea improvement in India are discussed in the present study