EFFECT OF MONOCROTOPHOS ON ELECTROLYTIC LEAKAGE, PROLINE CONTENT AND NITROGEN METABOLISM OF FLOATING PTERIDOPHYTE AZOLLA MICROPHYLLA

The green revolution increased productivity in its initial phase, but excessive application of modern intensive agriculture, e.g., use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides poses a serious threat to the environment and sustainable agriculture. The effects of the green revolution have shifted concern from increasing productivity to sustainability and resource conservation. The goal of this work is to investigate the effect of insecticide monocrotophos on electrolytic leakage, proline content and nitrogen metabolism of small-leaf floating aquatic pteridophyte Azolla microphylla, which lives in symbiosis with a nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria, Anabaena azollae. Mean root number and root length decreased under monocrotophos as compared to control. At higher concentrations, roots were dillateted, brown and inactive. Electrolytic leakage and proline content increased with increase of monocrotophos concentrations. The nitrogenase activity assayed in the present investigation increased at lower concentrations and decreased at higher concentrations. Exposure of the Azolla to different concentrations of monocrotophos decreased the glutamine synthetase activity at all concentrations compared to control. However it was interesting to observe that nitrate reductase activity increased as the concentration of insecticide increases

Effect of Inter-cultivation and Physical Barriers on Growth, Yield and Disease occurrence in Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.)

The present investigation was performed to study the effect of inter-cultivation and physical barriers on growth, yield and disease occurrence in zucchini during January-March, 2022. The field trial was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications keeping the plot size 1.5 m x 1.5 m. During the experiment, observations for plant height, number of leaves, number of nodes, days  to flower initiation (staminate and pistillate), total number of staminate and pistillate flowers, number of fruits per plant, weight of fruits, yield per hectare etc were recorded. The results revealed that the treatment T4 Zucchini + Aluminium foil (On the ridge) recorded maximum plant height (38.33 cm at 30 DAS, 49.75 cm at 45 DAS, 62.75 cm at 60 DAS), number of nodes (21.08), number of leaves per plant (19.58), minimum number of days to flower initiation (39.00 in case of staminate flowers and 44.83 in case of pistillate flowers), maximum number of staminate flowers (8.58) and pistillate flowers (13.00), maximum number of fruits per plant(5.33), maximum weight of fruits per plant (0.749 kg), maximum weight of fruits per plot (1.99 kg) and yield per hectare (7.49 t/ha-1 )