<div>Background: Sesame Webworm, Antigastra catalaunalis (Dupunchel) is a principal harmful insect of sesame crop. It infests the all shoot parts and stages of sesame plant growth and responsible for approximately seventy percent seed yield loss, therefore, the present study conducted to investigate the seasonal incidence and evaluate two sets of cultural control practices against the damages of the pest larvae. 
 
Methods: Field experiment was carried out in the Grda Rasha Research Station-College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences-Erbil-Kurdistan region-Iraq, apart from seasonal incidence, first Set was for assessing the effect of three Sowing Dates viz. 16-May, 15-June, 15-July-2020. The second set was for evaluating the efficiency of three different crop plants viz. corn, cowpea and sunflower plants, intercropped with sesame crop to minimize the capsule infestation damage and seed losses caused by A. catalaunalis (Dup.). The experiments were performed using the RCBD design.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The results revealed that the larvae appearance started 2 weeks after sowing and reached its peak 2.31, 2.50 and 2.83 larvae/plant 13 weeks after sowing for all three dates of sowing, the results also showed that the percent capsule infestation and Seed weight loss/25 capsules were 22.27%, 33.85% and 34.16%/25 capsule of sesame plant, for sowing dates mid-May and mid-June and Mid-July respectively. The findings of the intercropping experiment revealed that the least percentages of capsule infestation and losses in seed weight/25 capsules were on sesame plants intercropped with cowpea 18.00% and 21.00% and followed by sesame intercropped with Sunflower and Sesame plants intercropped with corn plants which were 19.40%, 25.60% and 20.20%, 27.60% respectively.</div>

Seasonal Incidence of Sesame Webworm, Antigastra catalaunalis (Dup.) and Evaluation of&nbsp;Selected Cultural Control Practices, on Sesame Crop in Erbil City

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) from dicotyledonous Caryophyllaceae family is one of the important floricultural crop is cultivated all-year-around in temperate areas.&nbsp;In addition, the lengthy vase life of carnations may have great implications for wholesale and retail markets. It is genetically a quantitative long day plant and sensitive to temperature, which is a major factor that influences the growth and flowering, color, grade and the quality of cut flowers. Commonly grown Chaubad and Marquerite carnation are propagated by seed and other different types can be propagated through different ways of propagations like terminal cutting and tissue culture. The soil should be ploughed thoroughly up to 80-100 cm. deep and organic manure is to be mixed with soil properly. Soil sterilization should be done prior to planting. Rooted cuttings of standard carnations are planted on raised beds with a spacing of 20&times;20 cm and spacing of 30&times;30 cm is ideal for spray carnations. However, the lateral shoot development is best at a density of 50 plants/m&sup2;. Apart from major nutrients like N, P and K, Ca, Mg, B and Fe also play a crucial role in carnation nutrition. Spray of 0.1% urea and potassium nitrate (KNO3) and 1 ppm Boron at 10 days interval till flowering produces good quality flowers. The plastic nets having a mesh of 7.5-10cm supported by stakes of metal fixed at the corner of beds is an ideal method. During pinching, the tip of the stem is removed to encourage the growth of the standard or Sim Carnations. Only 4-6 well grown lateral shoots will be allowed to grow. Splitting carnation flower calyces; is one of major limiting factor that affect both pre and post-harvest quality of carnation flowers. The problem of calyx splitting can be controlled by regulating temperature. Higher nitrate to ammoniacal nitrogen ratio during low light periods are recommended to reduce splitting. The optimum stage of standard carnation for distant market is paint brush stage when petals have started to elongate outside the calyx. The spray varieties are harvested with 2 open flowers on each stem. The flowers after harvesting and grading should be pulsed with 10% sucrose+1mm silver thiosulfate (STS) for 8-10hr before transportation to increase storability and vase-life of cut carnations.

Cultivation and Cultural Practices Followed in Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) for Better Production: A Review

A survey on jute farmers&rsquo; knowledge, perceptions and practices (KPP) in pest management strategy was conducted during jute cultivation season of 2015 in the upper Gangetic plains of Uttar Dinajpur District, West Bengal, India. Detection and control of insect pests was largely based on damage symptoms of host plant. Damage caused by jute semilooper (Anomis sabulifera) was often mistakenly attributed to other leaf feeding caterpillars. Nearly all of the farmers applied insecticides (99%) without target specific use with an average 1.5 per season which may increase up to two to three spray per week. Pyrethroids were mostly accepted insecticide (67%), followed by organophosphates (33%) without knowing its toxic effect on environment. Farmers&rsquo; estimated yield loss due to insect pests was significantly correlated to estimated pest control cost. Due to pesticide sellers&rsquo; recommendations, farmer&rsquo;s insecticidal &lsquo;spray load&rsquo; significantly increased in every year, whereas the adopted number of insecticidal increased with advice following the guidance of extension staff and advertisement. Expenditure for pesticides was in concurrent with that of fertilizers. Only 10% of participating farmers knew about natural enemies, all of which were predators. Investigation is needed to evaluate whether significant savings can be obtained given a more judicious use of pesticides.

Farmers&rsquo; knowledge, perceptions and practices in jute insect pest management and cultural strategy in the upper Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India 
&nbsp;

<div>Background: This paper has attempted an economic analysis of tissue-culture pointed gourd and non-tissue culture pointed gourd. As we know that vegetables are rich and comparatively cheaper source of vitamins. Consumption of these items provides taste, palatability and fiber for digestion. Their consumption in plenty provides fair amount of protein and also play a key role in neutralizing the acids produced during digestion of fatty foods. While pointed gourd contains 2 per cent protein, 0.3 per cent fat, 2.2 per cent carbohydrate, 153 IU vitamin A and 29 mg vitamin C per 100g edible portion (www.agrifarming.in). 
 
Methods: This study was conducted in the year 2017-18. The study has been conducted in the Anand and Kheda districts of Middle Gujarat using personal interview method. And 4 talukas were selected. Total 80 respondents were selected, out of them 40 were cultivating non-tissue culture and 40 were cultivating tissue culture variety of pointed gourd. Cost and return analysis had been done by using cost concepts. The Garrett ranking technique was used to study the adoption behaviour of farmers.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The study revealed that tissue-culture pointed gourd is more beneficial as compared to non-tissue culture pointed gourd. The cost of cultivation (Cost C2) of pointed gourd per hectare for tissue culture and non-tissue culture was ₹ 306655 and ₹ 237216, respectively. The average yield of tissue culture and non-tissue culture pointed gourd was 483 q and 248.49 q, while gross income was ₹ 597595 and ₹&nbsp;324741 respectively. Per hectare net returns in tissue culture pointed gourd for Cost C2 was ₹ 290940 whereas for non-tissue culture pointed gourd the per hectare net return over Cost C2 was ₹ 87525. The overall per hectare farm business income, family labour income and farm investment income for tissue culture farmer were found to be significantly higher compared to their counterpart non-tissue culture farmers. The overall input-output ratio on Cost C2 was 1.95 for tissue culture and 1.37 for non-tissue culture. &lsquo;Higher yield&rsquo; was the main reason for adoption of tissue culture technology followed by &lsquo;high quality fruit&rsquo; and &lsquo;higher income per hectare&rsquo;. On the whole, the analysis has revealed that the tissue culture technology in pointed gourd cultivation can go a long way in enhancing the farmers income which is the need of the hour.&nbsp;</div>

An Economic Analysis of Technology Change in Tissue Culture and Non-tissue Culture Pointed Gourd in Anand and Kheda Districts of Middle Gujarat

<div>Background: The practice of rice-cum-fish is extensively practice by Apatani tribe living in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. The current study aimed to access the inputs impact on output, a resource-use-efficiency model on traditional paddy-cum-fish culture has been fitted. 
 
Methods: The present research investigation was carried out during the agricultural year 2014-15 with a total of 70 numbers of paddy-cum-fish respondents were selected by following a multi-stage simple random quota sampling technique. 
 
Result: Study reveals that the majority of the farmer&rsquo;s were dependent upon agriculture and traditional paddy-cum-fish culture, the total cost of cultivation of traditional paddy-cum-fish culture was ₹ 28,782.70 per ha with average yield of 2.76 q per ha. The constraints faced by the traditional paddy-cum-fish farmers during production and marketing viz: poor marketing channel, price fluctuation and exploitation of farmers by intermediaries thereby farmer receives less profit etc.</div>

​Priortization Strategies for the Resources of Traditional Paddy-cum-fish Culture in Lower Subansiri District

<div style="text-align: justify;">Crayfish, commonly known as freshwater lobster, have been scientifically distributed in three genuses, which are as follows: - Cumberfish, Oronectes and Phalisaberus. Crayfish breeding and rearing techniques in China and some Adapted and practiced in South-East Asian countries. The proper ratio of broodstock female and male is 3: 1. Adult males are comparatively larger than females. The mating season of crayfish is usually from May to September. Larvae are stored in cultured ponds. Crayfish are cultivated in paddy fields with carp fish or eel fish in lotus and polyculture. The size of crayfish transported to the market is 20&ndash;60h in a period of 3 to 7 months, and is sold alive in most markets. Productivity varies from 750h to 3,000h per ha depending on the type of farming. It is possible that the farmer can earn up to 7000 to 14,000 rupees per day.</div>

Crayfish: A Culture Species for Freshwater Bodies

<div>The present study was purposively conducted in native tract of Gangatiri cattle in Uttar Pradesh. The information were collected from 108 respondents, who were rearing Gangatiri cattle for their livelihood. It was observed that most (53.70%) of the respondents practicing 6-10 hrs grazing of their Gangatiri herd. All the farmers were providing natural service to cows in estrus, maximum number of them (54.63%) between 12 to 16 hrs after detection of estrus and 53.70 per cent of them with bulls available in village surroundings. Maximum number of respondents (35.20%) initially used indigenous knowledge for disease treatment and after that consulted with veterinary doctor/ stockman. Major diseases prevelant in the area include FMD, HS, BQ and mastitis. Gangatiri cows were found to be more resistance to the diseases and heat tolerant as compared to crossbred cattle. Majority (81.48%) of respondents kept their cattle on kachcha floor in good sanitary conditions. About 70.37% respondents made cattle shed as a part of their houses. Majority (59.25 %) of the cattle owners were using knuckling method of milking, which may be a cause of mastitis in animals. It can be concluded that there is need of awareness programmes on scientific cattle rearing practices and interventions like supply of semen of bulls of high genetic merit under AI programme or bulls of good genetic merit for natural breeding, adequate grazing land and inputs for health management practices are needed to make the Gangatiri cattle rearing more beneficial.</div>

<div>Management Practices for Rearing of Gangatiri Cattle in Native Tract</div>

<div>In vitro culture of plant cells/tissues is now routine using a range of explant types from many of the important vegetable and fruit crops. Successful technologies include isolation, culture of tissues, cells, protoplasts, organs, embryos, ovules, anthers and microspores and regeneration from them of complete plantlets. The development of plant tissue culture technology represents one of the most exciting advances in plant sciences. For example, the prospect of being able to introduce, develop, produce, transfer and conserve the existing gene pool of plant sciences by using tissue culture methods opens up new opportunities for researches and entrepreneurs. The term plant tissue culture should denote in vitro cultivation of plant cells or tissues in an unorganized mass, i.e., callus culture. Plant tissue culture techniques, in combination with recombinant DNA technology, are the essential requirements for the development of transgenic plants. However, culture techniques like anther/pollen/ovule culture, meristem culture can themselves be utilized for crop improvement or may serve as an aid to conventional breeding. In recent, isolated microspore culture has developed as a breeding tool and an experimental system for various genetic manipulations. The inherent potentiality of a plant cell to give rise to a whole plant, a capacity which is often retained even after a cell has undergone final differentiation in the plant body, is described as &lsquo;cellular totipotency&rsquo;. On the other hand, production of virus-free plants via meristem culture can reduce losses caused by phyto-pathogens. Embryo culture has many potential uses ranging from overcoming seed dormancy to facilitation of inter-specific hybridization. Protoplast fusion technique can be used for the transfer of cytoplasmic male sterility from one species to another in a short period of time. In cabbage, male sterile cybrids are being utilized by seed companies to produce hybrid seeds on commercial scale and at competitive rates. Plant tissue culture and cell culture are providing useful methods for germplasm storage either by low temperature storage of organized tissue, or cryopreservation of cell or embryo culture.</div>

<div>Plant Tissue Culture- A New Tool for Vegetable Improvement (Indian scenario): A Review</div>

Background: Agricultural development programs in India are crucial for promoting modern animal husbandry practices, enhancing livestock productivity, increasing rural incomes and ensuring food security. However, barriers such as lack of awareness, limited access to quality inputs, feed and veterinary services financial constraints, cultural beliefsand infrastructure deficiencies hinder the adoption for many smallholder farmers of these practices. So in this context, an attempt to assess the effectiveness of the farmer FIRST programme (FFP). 
&nbsp; 
Methods: Present study was conducted in the deliberately chosen districts of Karnal and Hisar, in the state of Haryana during 2018-2019. A total of 240 farmers, using random sampling, 120 farmers from each district were chosen, 60 farmers from each of the adopted and non-adopted villages, who were the beneficiary and non-beneficiary of FFP and the same was implemented by NDRI, Karnal and CCSHAU, Hisar. 
 
Result: The effect of the programme was assessed, which revealed that in the adopted village, maximum adoption was recorded with respective artificial insemination (A.I.) practices (2.97), followed by feeding concentrate mixture to animals based on milk production (2.76), providing adequate open space to the animal (2.84), treatment for infertility, repeat breeding, anestrus cases by the veterinarian (2.91), clean milking practices (3.0). The study revealed significant differences in farmers&rsquo; adoption of advised animal husbandry practices, including breeding, reproduction, feeding, health careand overall animal practices, between adopted and non-adopted villages. The study recommends that the government expand the program&rsquo;s scope to enhance livestock farming and improve the socio-economic conditions of the farmer&rsquo;s community.

Effect of Farmer FIRST Program on the Adoption of Animal Husbandry Practices in Haryana

A field experiment was conducted during the three consecutive seasons from 2006-08 on clay loam soil of Sugarcane Research Station, Buralikson, Assam to study the effect of different herbicides along with other cultural practices of weed management of sugarcane. The experimental field &nbsp;was laid out in randomized block design with three replication with the following &nbsp;ten treatments viz. T1: control, T2: 3 hoeings (1st , 4th and 7th week), T3: Atrazine@ 2kg a.i/ha + 2,4-D @ 1kg a.i/ha at 45 days after ratoon initiation, T4: atrazine @ 2 kg a.i/ha + &nbsp;1 hoeing at 45 days after ratoon initiation, &nbsp;T5: metribuzine @1 kg a.i/ha + 2,4-D @1 kg a.i/ha at 45 days after ratoon initiation, T6: metribuzine @1 kg a.i/ha + 1 hoeing at 45 days after ratoon initiation , &nbsp;T7: glycel-41@ 0.4 kg a.i/ha at 3rd week stage, T8: glycel-41@ 0.4 kg a.i/ha at 3rd week + 1 hoeing at 60 days after ratoon initiation, T9: trash mulching in alternate rows + hoeing during 1st and 6th week, T10: trash mulching in all rows. Result revealed that all the weed management practices had a significant effect on growth and yield of sugarcane over control. Out of all treatments, pre-emergence spraying of metribuzine @1 kg a.i/ha followed by spraying of 2, 4-D @1 kg a.i/ha at 45 days after ratoon initiation recorded lesser number of weeds and weed dry weight with higher weed control efficiency (80.38%). The same treatment also recorded the higher cane yield (79.6 t/ha) which is followed by pre-emergence spraying of metribuzine @ 1 kg a.i/ha with 1 hoeing at 45 days after ratoon initiation.

Seasonal Incidence of Sesame Webworm, Antigastra catalaunalis (Dup.) and Evaluation of Selected Cultural Control Practices, on Sesame Crop in Erbil City

Cultivation and Cultural Practices Followed in Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) for Better Production: A Review

Farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and practices in jute insect pest management and cultural strategy in the upper Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India

An Economic Analysis of Technology Change in Tissue Culture and Non-tissue Culture Pointed Gourd in Anand and Kheda Districts of Middle Gujarat

Priortization Strategies for the Resources of Traditional Paddy-cum-fish Culture in Lower Subansiri District

Crayfish: A Culture Species for Freshwater Bodies

Management Practices for Rearing of Gangatiri Cattle in Native Tract

Plant Tissue Culture- A New Tool for Vegetable Improvement (Indian scenario): A Review

Effect of Farmer FIRST Program on the Adoption of Animal Husbandry Practices in Haryana

Effect of weed management practices on Sugarcane ratoon