Rice Production Technology Adoption in Coastal Region of Bangladesh through Community Training

Rashid Md. Harunur, Rony Md. Khairul, Mahalder Debabrata and Goswami Palash Chandra

Page No: 1-7

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) production technology adoption requires effective farmers’ training for narrowing knowledge gap. This study assesses the impact of community training on the extent of adoption of improved rice production practices. Farmers were trained through community training approach and data on extent of adoption of improved rice production practices and reasons for not adopting technologies.

The training conducted for the community addressed knowledge gaps using integrated methods of discussion, audio-visual multimedia material, live samples, pictures with simple text as a flip chart highly effective to adopt rice production technologies by the trained farmers. More than 85 % trainees adopted all of the recommended rice production practices both in saline and non-saline ecosystems. The similar adoption indices of rice production technologies were recorded in saline and non-saline ecosystems that resulted in similar grain yield and there was no significant difference between those ecosystems indicating that community training was highly efficient for rice production technology adoption. The community training approach integrating different methods was found highly effective for rice production technology adoption which could be promoted by extension providers for wider scale dissemination of rice production technologies.

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Growth and performance of Indian agriculture: development initiatives and policies

Josily Samuel and Pushpanjali

Page No: 8-10

The country has made large strides in increasing food production and achieving food security, the sector remains constrained with excessive dependence on monsoon and weather conditions, continuing fragmentation of land and low productivity. In recent years, Government is also engaged in new thinking in agriculture development and also focussing on farmer’s welfare.

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An assessment of factors determining the productivity of coffee in western hills of Nepal

Khanal Arjun Prasad, Khanal Suman, Dutta Jay Prakash, Dhakal Shiva Chandra and Kattel Rishi Ram

Page No: 11-17

Coffee is one of the potential cash crops with very important contribution in income of farmers residing in mid hilly regions of Nepal. Despite Nepalese farmers accepting coffee as much more lucrative than cereals, still there is a huge gap between supply and demand of coffee in domestic and international market. In this scenario, this study was conducted in 2017 AD in Gulmi and Palpa districts of western hills of Nepal with the main objective to assess the factors determining productivity of coffee. One hundred and sixty coffee producers were selected randomly by three- stage sampling procedure. Multiple linear regression model was adopted to assess the factors determining the productivity of coffee in study area which showed that adoption of intercrops and shade crops with coffee, planting density, access to irrigation facilities, farmers experience on coffee cultivation, ownership to transport vehicles and participation on training programs related to coffee production and marketing had positive and significant relationship with productivity of coffee.

Therefore, findings of this study underscore need of strengthening training programs, proper maintenance of plants density, integration of experiences of farmers in coffee cultivation and proper arrangement of irrigation and transportation facilities for increasing productivity of coffee in western hills of Nepal.

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Effect of botanical plant extracts on radial mycelial growth of fusarium of tomato

Jannati Khatun Mst., Khalequzzaman K.M., Shamsun Naher Mst., Sinha Narayan Sankar and Farzana Ashrafi Neela

Page No: 18-30

The laboratory experiments were carried out during 2011-2017 to evaluate the plant extracts collected from different plant species to know the possible presence of fungi as toxicant properties against Fusarium oxysporum pathogen. Extracts of 28 number of botanical plants (plant parts/ whole plants) with water and ethanol which produced 43 number of botanical extract combinations were tested on radial mycelial growth on Fusarium oxysporum with 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25% concentrations at 3, 6, 9 and 12 days after inoculation (DAI).

All extracts of botanicals more or less inhibited the mycelial growth of Fusarium oxysporum with higher concentrations, but the highest mycelial growth was recorded in untreated control treatment. Among the botanicals, Arjuna bark (Arjun) with ethanol, Papaya with ethanol, Neem leaf with water, Neem leaf with ethanol, Neem bark with ethanol, Neem oil, Black cumin with water, Black cumin (Kalojira) Oil, Swallow Wort (Akanda) with water, Henna (Mehedi) with water, Henna (Mehedi) with ethanol, Ivy Gourd (Telakucha) with water, Alamonda leaf with water, Periwinkle (Nayant ara) with ethanol, Malabar Nut (Bashak) with ethanol, Drumstick (Shajina) with ethanol, Garlic with ethanol and Betel leaf with ethanol significantly inhibited the radial mycelial growth of Fusarium oxysporum with higher concentration at different DAI.

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Intelligent Software agents for E-farm Management (E-Farm System) in the Sub-Sahara Region

Godwill Vegah and Michael Ekonde Sone

Page No: 31-42

This study presents the design and implementation of an E-farm management system based on Intelligent Software agents. The software agents circumvent challenges generally faced by farmers in Sub-Saharan region such as poor cultivating practices and poor marketing systems. The system employs the Believe, Desire, Intention (BDI) agent model with speech recognition capabilities to harness farmer data in diversified languages. A key component in the implementation is voice recognition and translation of identified local dialect since most farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Cameroon are illiterate.

The system targets community centre users, farmer cooperatives agents; regional office operators, agricultural practitioners, literate and non-literate farmers. Presently in Cameroon, production chain is adversely affected due to poor road infrastructure. It is shown that by using the E-farm management system based on the BDI agent model, productivity is enhanced since it ensures real-time collation of farm produce data at regional offices.

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Socio-economic Factors influencing Adoption of Zero Tillage System by Agadi Household Farmers of Blue Nile State of Sudan

ELHassan Anwar M., Kabar Reem F. and Suliman Mahir S.

Page No: 43-49

This study presents empirical evidence to show how socio-economic factors affect adoption of a complete package of Zero Tillage (ZT) farming in Agadi Sector of Blue Nile State. Three hundred household heads were selected using stratified and systematic random sampling techniques. Structured interviews and group discussion were performed with extension staff, farmers' leaders and key informants. Furthermore, field observation was documented to augment data collected by other techniques. Secondary data were collected from references, reports and previous studies. Descriptive statistics, tabular analysis (frequency distribution) and cross tabulation were used to describe the different variables of the study and the extent of ZT adoption. On the other hand, Chi-square test was applied to determine the significance of the variables.

Additionally, Phi-test or Cramer’s V test was used to measure the strength of association. The finding of this study reveals that the level of adoption of a complete package of ZT system was very low (6.3%). The adoption of a complete package of ZT system was found to be significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced by farm size, annual income, land ownership, credit accessibility, education level, household heads age and availability of inputs subsidy. However, the farmers' gender, family size, off-farm income, labor availability and availability of profitable market were not significantly (at P ≤ 0.05) related to adoption of a complete package of zero tillage farming. The empirical result suggests that to promote adoption of a complete package of ZT policies that increase access to formal education, more security of land tenure, credits accessibility and inputs subsidy should be formulated.

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Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) helping in sustainable agriculture: current perspective

Mitra Debasis, Anđelković Snežana, Panneerselvam P., Manisha, Senapati Ansuman, Vasić Tanja, Ganeshamurthy A.N., Verma Devvret, Poonam, Radha T.K. and Jain Divya

Page No: 50-74

Overgrowing population and exploitation of land and natural resources have created a negative impact on agricultural productivity. In order to combat the current situation, it has become mandatory to look for microbial treatment methods. Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) have proved themselves of great importance when it comes to sustainable agriculture. PGPMs help in the plant growth promotion by different mechanisms. This review study shows different possible contributions of various PGPMs in the advancement of agricultural crop production.

Rhizobacteria, actinomycete, fungus, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and endophytes, they employ different mechanisms to restore plant growth and nutrition. PGPMs also help in protection from phytopathogens and also help in growth promotion. PGPMs and green fertilizer show promising results in the field and can be a solution to the upcoming problem of food shortage.

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Role of Cancer Stem cells in Canine Mammary Tumors

Gaonkar Pankaj, Halmare Noopur, Thorat Sneha and Kurkure Nitin

Page No: 75-80

Mammary tumors are routinely diagnosed in bitches with increasing prevalence year by year. Nature of canine mammary tumors (CMT) is mostly malignant. Increasing death rate owes to metastasis of the cancer. Histopathological examination till today stands as gold standard test for classification of CMT. Presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in CMT has opened a promising area for cancer research.

In this review we have briefly described about few common aspects of canine mammary tumor with major emphasis on cancer stem cell involvement. CSCs stand out to be potential target for anti-cancer therapy and also a significant prognostic indicator.

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