4^th International Conference on Agriculture & Horticulture July 13-15, 2015 Beijing, China

Camille Aouinaït is from Switzerland.

Introduction
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the economicdriver in agricultural sector. They count for 99% of the total agricultural firms operating in Europe. Trade liberalization has proved to increase economic growth and alleviate poverty in poor and low-income countries. Therefore, the trend goes towards opening boundaries between countries. Nevertheless, pressures exist on SMEs to lower prices, broaden the diversity of products and increase environmental and governmental regulations.
Research scope
Bilateral agreements on agricultural products were signed between Switzerland and the European Union in the end of the 20th century. Hence, farmers have to adopt strategies to face trade liberalization. The mapping of innovation sources will help to understand the economic trends. Focus on specific points will be perform as the innovation adoption (e.g. involvement in a regional trademark, patent development) and the relevant alliances at national and international levels such as collaborations engaged with universities.
The impacts of the policy implementation will be explored through the lenses of structural changes such as employment and technology evolution.
Methods
Empirical data are used to perform a qualitative analysis (e.g. surveys tofarmers, retailers, professional associations of the supply chain, federal institute of agriculture).
Quantitative method is also used with econometrics forinvestigate the causal effects of concern.
Preliminary results
A set of Swiss agricultural firms is identified with a focus on fruit producers. Regional influence is highlighted thanks to nine trademarks spreadin several cantons. It will allow the comparison whether farmers are involved or not in marketing strategies.
Conclusion
The combination of quantitative and qualitative studies will shape the research to seek the determinant factors of farmers’ decisions towards specific strategies. The structural changes occurring after the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union will help to understand the effect of a policy change.
Besides, the focus on international collaborations between public and private entities (e.g. universities and firms), the trademark impacts and the patenting evolution are useful to map the knowledge clusters.

Mira Alyakova is pursuing her PhD at the age of 29 years from UNWE and is a Sustainable Transitions Research Network Member. During her Doctoral degree she was in many workshops as a trainer for training in Transition Management, all in Europe, some in Dutch Research Institute for Future Transitions-“fathers” of Transition Management. She is a mentor of a one-year project of European Voluntary Service. She was part of the Bulgarian team of a research project funded by 7th Framework of EU-FarmPath-Pathways towards sustainable transitions in agriculture in Europe. Teaching “Development in rural areas” and Bulgarian language for foreigners.

Our society faces a lot of unstable situations like climate change, pollution, demographic, health, educational and economic crisis, wars at once. In the beginning of 21st century, a group of scientists describes these actual themes like problems of one unsustainable society and construct a new model of thinking for these emergent problems–Transition Theory (2000). Now, transition theory is applied in many different fields across Europe and the World, Dutch governance applying transition management since 2001. The authors (Frank Geels, Jan Rotmants, Derk Loorbach, Niki Frantzeskaki) describe transition like fundamental change of the social system in culture, structure and practice and the co-evolution of this three elements. Researchers said that for one transition is needed 25-50 years (one generation). Pretty good examples of such transition is “from carriage to automobile”, “from telegraph to smartphones “,” from intensive to bio farming;” from conventional electricity to green electricity”. Transition theory has three main perspectives–Multi level perspectives, Multi phase concept and Multi pattern concept. Second part of transition theory is Transition Management. This article should give a brief description of what Transition Thinking is and which methodology better suits it. For applying Transition theory for a base of a research, better approach is participatory active research, semi structured interviews, in-depth analysis of the stakeholders, focus groups and developing a scenario. At the end author will provide some examples of transitions towards sustainability in rural areas; case studies from Bulgaria (3 to 5 or 5 to 7 examples).

Nabil Mohamed Toaima is from Al-Azhar University, Egypt

Amino acids, precursor type and concentration, and light conditions were examined for their effects on milk thistle (Silybum marianum L.) callus growth and silymarin biosynthesis. Proline level at 10 mg/l seems to be the most suitable treatment for callus fresh weight under light and dark incubations. Also, proline at 10 mg/l added to MS medium resulted in the highest value of callus dry weight under light conditions, followed by caffeic acid at 50 mg/l. Precursor feeding with 10 mg/l phenylalanine recorded the highest accumulation of silymarin under dark and light conditions compared to other precursors (tyrosine and caffeic acid). Generally, in most treatments, light incubation slightly inhibited silymarin biosynthesis but recorded a stimulation effect on callus growth.

Maryam Azhdari is from Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Backgrounds and Objectives:
Medicinal plants are valuable natural resources which nowadays known as the safe prematerials for drug industries in the advanced countries. Iran has one of the most important and diverse natural resources of medicinal plants in the world. Because of this, we selected two native medicinal plants (Bunium persicum and Cuminum cyminum) of Yazd province for this research to assess components and evaluate antioxidant properties of the seed essences.
Materials and Methods:
This study was Experimental-lab trial and all experiments were performed in triplicate. The seeds of 2 native plants were collected from natural habitats in the Yazd province and the essence was extracted by hydro-distillation and was fractionated by GC/MS method and the compounds were identified. The DPPH test was used for estimating antioxidant properties and the Follin-Ciocalteu method was used for estimating quantity of phenolic compounds.
Results:
The analysis shows the main components of Cuminum cyminum were propanal, 1-phenyl-1-butanol and benzene methanol. For Bunium persicum, the results revealed the –γTerpinene had the highest percentage of the essence. Also, the antioxidant test showed high antioxidant properties from the 2 native medicinal plants especially Cuminum cyminum. The IC50 of Bunium persicum and Cuminum cyminum were 2.85and 0.711 µg.mg-1 and the phenolic component percentage were 117.09and 162.62mg.g-1, respectively. The genetic resources of these 2 native medicinal plants of Yazd province were very noticeable for breeding or conservation programs.
Conclusion:
The results of evaluating antioxidant properties of these 2 native medicinal plants of Yazd province showed Cuminum cyminum has the higher antioxidant properties than Bunium persicum. The content of phenolic components is in Bunium persicum higher than Cuminum cyminum.

Shivanand Kumatagi is currently doing his master’s at Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapith, India

Every era has its challenges. And each challenge demands specific responses. In the 1960s, famine threatened South Asia. The Green Revolution was the right answer to the looming food crisis that the world faced half a century ago. Today about 842 million people remain Chronically hungry because they cannot afford to eat adequately,(UNESCO 2013) despite the fact that the world is no longer short of food. In a disconcerting paradox, more than 70 percent of the world’s food-insecure people live in rural areas in developing countries (FAO 2013). Many of them are low-paid farm labourers or subsistence producers who may have difficulty in meeting their families’ food needs. Hence, the quest is now to find farming systems that are truly sustainable and inclusive and that support increased access for the poor so that we can meet the world’s future food needs.
As we look towards 2050 to Meet food security in India and Globally, there is solution of” Single Window System” ( Reaching the Unreached).Single Window system is the Three tire structure where we made a step ahead to meet the needs small and marginal farmers. The first apex body is central agriculture government (DAC, DAHD & F, DARE), other central or state hold government agriculture organizations run under the apex body holds as a second tier and at last “single window” is third tier of the system. Introduction of Family Farming and Climate smart Agriculture are the two utmost important objective of this system. The system includes establishment of single windows in village area through private entreprenuer as a forward linkage to Government Agriculture organizations.
Development of system will provide employment to about a 10 lakh people/youths in India. The system will be the solution for increasing fragmentation, Natural resource degradation, Enhancing resource-use efficiency, Access to quality inputs, Small farm mechanization, Enhanced energy usage, Post-harvest management, Farmer to Agripreneur, Technology dissemination, linking farmers with markets.

Prasad Deshmukh is currently doing his master’s at Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapith, India

Plain tiger or African Monarch or Danaus chrysippus is a one of the well distributed species of Monarch butterfly in the Indian subcontinent after Africa, China, Chile, Sri Lanka & other Asian countries including Bangladesh. In college of Agriculture, Baramati, we carried out a study on this well distributed African monarch. Danaus chrysippus feeds on different species of Milkweed (Asclepias). Two most common species Calotropis giganta (purple flowers) & Calotropis procera (white flowers) are commonly found host for Danaus chrysippus. In this study, we collected larvae or caterpillar of plain tiger monarch at different stages & corresponding population of it on different species of its host plant. Different phases of life cycle i.e. caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult of Danaus chrysippus were observed in Natural & lab conditions. Also, we studied about the most preferred species of Milkweed for Danaus chrysippus. Mimicry by other insects & chemical (cardiac fluid) defense mechanisms are some of the distinctive study characteristic’s about monarch butterfly. Hence this study revealed that there are many threats to the population of Danaus chrysippus as in case of Danaus plexippus species of Monarch butterfly (An endangered Migratory species) found in Mexico & other American countries. Keeping in mind that, study of biodiversity of different species of living organisms on earth is important, we found some conservative practices that can be followed for Danaus chrysippus. Also, study of its host species is carried out for efficient conservation practices. Conservation of milkweed helps the plant life by serving as important host for “Monarch butterfly, Bees (major pollinators)”& insect carnivorous beetles which feeds on aphids. As a part of conclusion, conservation of biology & life cycle of one species is important to better place the biology of other species living on earth.

Jin-Woo Bae is in the master’s degree from Pusan National University and member of NICS (National Institute of Crop Science). He is working in crop production technology research division of NICS and studying laborsaving cultivation of soybean. He joined the company in 2012 and currently looking for his majors. He is interested in ripening and senescence physiology. He is pleased to participate in this conference and looking forward to meeting everyone.

Green Stem Syndrome (GSS) is the delayed senescence of leaves and stem in soybean (Glycine max. L). When you harvest the soybeans using the combine this phenomenon becomes a problem. When harvested GSS and normal plants at the same time, combines should be gummed up by green stem. If you delay the harvest until senescence of the stem, seed coat cracking and shattering rate should increase. In addition, increase of rainfall risk leads to deterioration of seed.
Delayed stem senescence is associated with Source / Sink ratio. There are some factors that induce stress, like environment, disease and pest. With rising stress levels, especially from beginning bloom (R1) to full podstage (R4), floral abscission and pod shedding are increased. As a result of pod reduction, Source / Sink ratio is increased and photosynthetic products remain in the stem, not seed. This study supposes pod shedding as pod removal and investigates occurrence of GSS in harvesting season. Seed of Daewonkong was sowing on June 10th. Treatment is change of pod removal ratio (0~50%) in beginning seedstage (R5). Since October 8th (R7, beginning maturity stage) was observed by four times, every ten days interval.
The higher rate of pod removal increased incidence of delayed stem senescence. Suitable harvesting time is October 28th, then 50% pod removal treatment plot has 81.3% incidence of GSS. Last investigated time is November.7th, then 50% pod removal has 52.0% incidence. Control, 0% pod removal, occurs only 9.4%.Further, the higher pod removal increased 100-seed weight, but there is no relationship between seed disease, like purple stain, brown spot, phomopsis and immature seeds.

Helena da Silva is from East Nusa Tenggara Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology, Indonesia

Important information required for the development of land conservation on the island of Timor is the technical and economic advantages of integration of food and feed crops. The study was conducted in South Central Timor (TTS) and North Central Timor (TTU) in the month of March to May 2010, aims to determine the additional amount of money value of feed crops planted as a hedge row in vegetative conservation than without conservation, and the value of money of corn plants grown in the hedge row cultivation land for five years. Data were collected through interviews and field observations. The results showed that: (a) Production of biomass feed is grown as a hedge row to increase over time utilization and production will be stable after the fourth year by 25 tons ha-1 year-1, (b) The relationship between biomass production and utilization of time to form a linear line with equation y = 6032.63 x - 592.6. (c) The relationship between biomass with time concession revenue line shape with the linear equation Y = 2,021,458.37 x - 2,444,254.57, (d) Hedge row has the potential to supply cattle feed about 2-3 per 6 months fattening or 4-6 fish per year, (e) Conservation minimize vegetative effective bandwidth to 10-20 % of food crops and reduce the productivity of food crops , but because the value of land increased productivity land Equivalent Ratio (LER) of 6.74 times more likely than not conserved, (f) Decrease in productivity of maize during the five -year maintenance form the exponential equation y = 4559.18 e - 0.34x for vegetative land conservation efforts and the linear equation Y = -634.4 x + 3,930 for land conservation is not done, (g) Total gross margin vegetative conservation concession for five years at Rp . 29,967,413 ha-1 and without conservation of Rp. 13,385,079 ha-1, (h) The relationship between the utilization of the revenue on land conservation efforts during the five -year concession increasing power of the regression line equation form (power) to the equation Y = 4E +06 e0.146x, while on land that is not diminishing the conservation equations form a linear regression line with the equation Y = - x + 1E +06 6E +06.

Ibrahim Tomo K is the faculty at Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria

This paper investigated the impact of cooperative societies on Cassava production in Offa Local government area of Kwara state. Data were collected from a sample of 300 farmers of both the cooperators and the non-cooperators between January 2005 and January 2006. Data were chosen by Simple Random Sampling Technique. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the objectives while Man Whitney U test, Probit and Discriminant analysis were used for the analysis of the hypotheses. The results revealed that, majority 77 percent of the farmers were male. While 22 percent were females. The results further revealed that, majority of the farmers 55 percent were married, 49 percent with 4 children and above with majority of the farmers 30.7 percent attaining secondary level of education. From the study 62.3 percent had access to credit, 34.3 percent sourced their credit from cooperative societies. Majority of the farmers 33.3 percent used their money for mixed farming. The Man Whitney U results revealed a significant relationship between marital status, level of education and years involved in cooperative societies (P≤ 0.05). The results indicated that, the most important constraints affecting cooperative societies are inadequate input supply, lack of money and lack of technical know-how among others. The discriminant analysis showed the weight of the variables affect the membership of cooperatives. Therefore, Agricultural Cooperatives can be seen as a channel through which modern and sustainable agricultural practice can be in enhanced.

Vladimir K Mukhomorov is the Head of Research Sector of Agrophysical Institute, Russia. He is also visiting professor, Department of Theoretical Physics of Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy.

We analyze the experimental data on the dynamics of water and mineral metabolism of tomato plants by using the methods of spectral analysis. Plants were cultivated under controlled conditions. We have used the various compositions of juvenile analogues of thin-layer soil. It is shown that the composition of the soil analogue significantly affects the dynamics of water-mineral metabolism of plants and plant productivity. It was found that the dynamics of the water and mineral metabolism of plants has a clear oscillatory structure. We have identified the most intense frequencies of this process. It was found that in order to maximize the productivity of plants it is necessary that the process of transpiration should contain simultaneously both high-frequency and low-frequency periodicities. This creates the most favorable environment for the development and functioning of the plant root system. It was shown that vibrations of water metabolism closely connected with the vibrations of the content of chemical elements in plants.

Zakaria Abdalla is working at National Research Centre, Egypt

Egypt is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, this due to the large and tightly packed population, and if climate change makes Egypt’s climate drier or warmer pressure on agriculture would intensify. Also, competition -among the limited water resources States for water could escalate (even without climate change) in addition to increased warming, droughts and evaporation, reduced flow in the Nile would further worsen Egypt’s problems, and the country could face an explosive situation.
Projected climate changes may have disastrous effects on agricultural production in the Arab world including Egypt. As a number of studies have shown, increased temperatures cause much higher water needs in summer crops. Water scarcity in the Egypt is projected to increase rather than decrease, and therefore agriculture and in turn the Arab region’s food security – is highly vulnerable to climate change, with the risk of 50% decrease in food production if current practices continue.
The impact of climate change on the Egyptian agriculture
Challenges for Egypt in the 21st century
* Climate Change (Sea level raise)
* Food Security (Land-, water-, and nutrients availability)
* Poverty (income of farmers in rural Egypt)
In all these dimensions agriculture plays a crucial role. It is threatened by climate change, responsible for food supply and employs about 30% of Egypt's labor force. Thus, a new paradigm, “sustainable agriculture”, is needed which addresses all these issues simultaneously! “Sustainable Agriculture” and Climate Change Adaptation Potential Adaptation through adapting cropping patterns
– Salt resistant crops (sea level rise in agri. areas) – jojoba, Quinoa
– Less water intensive crops
– Heat resistant crops
- Adaptation through adapting crop characteristics
Economic studies in China show that climate change will affect not only agricultural production, but also agricultural prices, trade and food self-sufficiency. The research presented here indicates that producer responses to these climate induced shocks will lessen the impacts of climate change on agricultural production compared to the effects predicted by many natural scientists. This study projects the impacts of climate change on China’s agricultural sector under the A2 scenario developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which assumes a heterogeneous world with continuous population growth and regionally-oriented economic growth.
The effect of climate change on rural incomes in China is complicated. The analysis shows that the average impact of higher temperatures on crop net revenue is negative, but this can be partially offset by income gains resulting from an expected increase in precipitation. Moreover, the effects of climate change on farmers will vary depending on the production methods used. Rain-fed farmers will be more vulnerable to temperature increases than irrigated farmers, and the impact of climate change on crop net revenue varies by season and by region.
China faces several challenges, however, as it seeks to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Fertilizers are a major component of nitrous oxide emissions, and recent studies indicate that overuse of fertilizer has become a significant contributor to water pollution. Application rates in China are well above world averages for many crops; fields are so saturated with fertilizer that nutrients are lost because crops cannot absorb any more. Changing fertilizer application practices will be no easy task. Many farmers also work outside of agriculture to supplement their income and opt for current methods because they are less time intensive.

M Ya Burlev, Doctor of Technical Sciences. He is the head of JSC "Siberia-Milk" and cooperates with All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of the Dairy Industry. He published about 100 scientific articles in various scientific and technical journals in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, USA, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, etc. He is the author about 20 patents, some of which are of universal importance;for example, the patent “Drying in a stream of low-temperature plasma". Also, he is the author of 2 books, textbook for technical colleges, 2 monographs.

Intensification of technological processes in agriculture based on the latest achievements of science and technology is one of the actual problems of all industries that use process of dehydration. Technical progress on the one hand offers prospective ways and techniques to solve this problem and on the other makes it more difficult for it as is accompanied by many negative phenomena. The most relevant is the issue of environmental security equipment and personnel as well as the control environment where using technology with the electric field.

Mostafa S Abd El-Salam is currently working at National Research Centre, Egypt

Two field experiments were conducted during summer seasons of 2013 and 2014 in a private farm Matai province, El Minia Governorate-Egypt. The objective of the experiments was to study the effect of maize intercropping with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) variety Keraim-1 on growth, light interception, yield and yield components as well as land use efficiency. Cowpea variety was intercropped with maize c.v. TH- 310 by alternation of 1, 2 and 2 ridges of maize with 3, 4 and 2 ridges of the legumes to form 1:3, 2:4 and 2:2 intercropping patterns. Additional plots of legumes and maize were grown at the solid recommended culture (solid I) and the comparative treatment where the same plant density adopted under intercropping (solid II). The data of light interception expressed as light energy flux density (J m-2s-2) showed reductions along the intercropped cowpeacanopies at the different heights of measuring compared with the solid recommended cultures (SI and SII). The greatest reduction inside cowpea canopies occurred at 2:2 intercropping pattern. On contrast, reversible magnitude in light energy flux density was reported for the intercropped maize plants which were less competitive for light under intercropping than that in the solid cultures. Cowpea showed reductions in DM, number and weight of pods per plant, 100-seeds weight and seed yield per plant compared with the solid cultures. However, beneficial effects due to intercropping were reported for maize; i.e., number of ears/plant, number of grains/row and 100-grains weight. The relative yield increases per plant for maize were (67.6, 64 and 74.4%) for the intercropping patterns 1:3, 2:4 and 2:2 over the comparative treatment (Solid II). The data of the land equivalent ratio (LER) showed yield advantages due to intercropping by 12-14%. The highest LER value for maize-cowpea was reported with 2:4 intercropping pattern. It could be concluded from this study that maize-cowpea intercropping increase land use efficiency by 12-14% compared with each crop grown alone and 2:4 intercropping pattern is better than the other combinations.

Mansur Muhammad A is currently working at Department of Forestry and Fisheries, Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria.

Abandoned or underutilized trees belong to these class of tree species that have been widely used for centuries or even millennia for their food, fibre, fodder, oil or medicinal properties etc but have been reduced in importance over time owing to fussy supply, demand or use constraints including poor shelf life, unrecognized nutritional value, poor consumer awareness and reputational problems (famine food or "poor people's food"). The study which aims at identifying underutilized economic tree species in Aliero environ involves field surveys for the compiling catalogue of tree species in the study area followed by focus group discussions with local farmers and administering of a structured questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used for data collection. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that out of seventeen (17) trees species sampled, only six percent (6%) are mostly utilized with forty one percent (41%) and fifty three percent (53%) falling into utilized and underutilized respectively. There is a wide range of underutilized tree species which can be cultivated and or improved and processed in the area. There is need for awareness campaign, improvement on the study on conservation, processing and marketing of underutilized economic trees species.

Aml Yousef is currently working at National Research Centre, Egypt

Field trials were conducted in Baghdad village about 10 km south of Ammrieah, Alex in textured calcareous soils in this area (30% CaCO3) to study the effect of organic manure application on apple productivity and chemical composition of leaves, fruits and soil properties under sandy calcareous soil conditions. The yields of randomly selected trees were assessed from the compost and FYM treated areas of the plantation. The results of the first season indicated that the number of fruit treated with compost was increased by 79% compared with FYM and although fruit weight was slightly smaller, the overall yield from compost was greater from the compost treated trees (69% increases). In the second season the number of fruit was 21% greater from the compost treated trees, although this was not statistically significant (P=0.093). However, mean fruit weight and yield Feddan were significantly improved by compost compared with FYM (22% and 38% respectively). This yield benefit from compost is similar to the previous year (40%) and yields were 26% greater overall for both treatments reflecting increasing production through tree growth and the residual effects of the manure treatments. Apple leaves which sampled from the compost and FYM treated trees and analysed for nutrients and trace elements showed significant concentrations of all elements and were greater in leaf from the FYM treated trees, On contrast, such concentrations were lower in the case of compost for P, K and Cu presumably due to the better growth of the composted trees effectively which diluted tissue concentrations. Leaf contents of N, P, Fe, Mn and Zn were within the normal ranges for optimum growth, although only just in the case of Mn and Zn. Copper was deficient in both treatments and K was deficient with compost but not FYM, the latter presumably due to the greater K content of FYM compared with compost. The results of the chemical analysis of fruit samples from compost and FYM treated trees showed that no significant differences were detected between the two treatments although the direction of the increases in concentration was not consistent. Soil samples showed that the major factor affecting soil properties was the very high pH (8.24) which will restrict the availability of trace elements. Soil salinity of 2.2 dS m-1 is also marginal for apple production.

Afsana Ansari graduated the Faculty of Agriculture at the Bangladesh Agricultural University in 2001 and masters in Environmental Science in 2006. She has been working as a scientist of Hybrid Rice Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, since 2006. She is finished her 2nd master’s in Genetics and Plant Breeding at BSMRAU, Bangladesh. She is now continuing her PhD in the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences since 2012. She is the author of 19 original papers in English and three booklets in Bengali. She has involved in development and released of BRRI released three hybrid varieties named as BRRI hybrid dhan2, BRRI hybrid dhan3 and BRRI hybrid dhan4.

Rice is the main source of livelihood in terms of providing food, income and employment in Bangladesh, with 79.4 percent of the total cultivatable land area under rice crop but the demand for rice is constantly rising. Shifting the yield frontier in rice, hybrid rice is one of the best options available to plant breeders. The development and use of hybrid rice in Bangladesh began in the early 1990s. During 1993, only public sector (BRRI) started research of hybrid rice and NGO’s and other private entrepreneurs just commercialized Chinese and Indian hybrid rice. Bangladesh government attempted to develop hybrid rice varieties and their seed production technologies and takes necessary measure for its use by the farmers suitable for Bangladesh. In addition, production of nucleus and breeder’s seed to meet the demand of hybrid rice seed in the country. Three line hybrid breeding techniques were used in the breeding work with the selection of desired traits. Among 118 hybrid varieties only eight varieties is originated from Bangladesh, others 94 from China and 15 from India. BRRI released first locally developed hybrid variety in 2001 named as BRRI Hybrid Dhan1 along with its CMS (IR58025A from IRRI) with its restorer (BR827R originated from BRRI). After that BRRI released three hybrid rice varieties with their parental lines named as BRRI Hybrid Dhan2 (BRRI10A/BRRI10R) in 2008, BRRI Hybrid Dhan3 (BRRI11A/BRRI15R) in 2009 for Boro season and BRRI Hybrid Dhan4 (IR58025A /BRRI10R) in 2010 for Aman season. Moreover, BRRI supplied a total of 665.0 kg of parental lines and F1 seeds to 4 seed companies including BADC, farmers and BRRI staffs in 2013-2014. The Government identified hybrid rice research as a priority area and established a national research and development network across the country involving public and private sector organizations as well as NGOs.

Umar Muhammad Buba is currently working at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Nigeria.

Fourteen Acha accessions consisting the two cultivated species of acha (Digitaria exilis kipps stapf and Digitaria iburua Stapf known respectively as white and black fonio were collected from Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro districts of Bauchi state in north eastern Nigeria. The objective of this study was to asses these genotypes for genetic diversity, agronomic performance under the Bauchi environment and estimate yield and yield components among them. Accessions were first examined in preliminary evaluation trials in the screen house of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria in 2007 while field studies were conducted at the Teaching and Research farm during the 2009 and 2010 cropping seasons. Accessions were laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times. Data was collected on yield and reproductive attributes and subjected to analysis of variance using the Genstat computer software version 16. It was observed that some accessions could not produce seeds under screen house condition, the analysis of variance for studies on the field in subsequent planting seasons revealed that acha accessions show highly significant differences (P≥0.00) in almost all the characters under study except for straw weight. Genotypic variances were higher than their corresponding error variances indicating that an environmental effect was less. High percent broad sense heritability values were recorded for important characters like seed yield, day to first flower and number of tiller per plant and high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variability are indicative of preponderance of additive gene action. The wide ranges in the data observed for most of the traits and the significant mean square obtained have shown the existence of genetic variability for the traits studied. This indicates that these traits can be improved through selection. We concluded that considerable progress in Acha breeding could be achieved by exploiting these traits.

Youssef El Kharrassi is a PhD Student, and he is 29 years old doing a thesis in cotuelle between the University of Burgundy Faculty of Gabriel Sciences Dijon France and Hassan 1st University Faculty of Science and Technology of Settat Morocco. He is also a Researcher at the National Institute of Agronomic Research Settat Morocco. He has published more than 3 papers in reputed journals.

The genus Opuntia is originated from the arid and semi-arid regions of Mexico and has more than 1,500 species worldwide. It plays important socio-economic and environmental roles and is used for human consumption, for its beneficial effects on health (anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-diabetes and anti-oxidant effects among others), as fodder and for the manufacture of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. In Morocco, the cactus has an area of 120 000 ha; however, the genetic diversity of its species has never been studied. In this work, we evaluated the genetic diversity of 124 Opuntia accessions using 10 morphological descriptors. The accessions belong to 7 species: O. ficus indica; O. megacantha; O. robusta; O. aequatorialis; O. dillenii; O. leucotricha and O. inermis; and were collected from 8 regions of Morocco. Our results showed a great similarity between accessions. Thus, a molecular study was carried out with ISSR and RAPD markers. Molecular markers have generated 72 bands, 70 were polymorphic. The dendrogram produced by the UPGMA method showed the presence of 7 groups, which was confirmed by principal component analysis. Our results revealed a high genetic similarity between O. ficus indica and O. megacantha and will be very useful for genetic breeding and conservation programs.

Prafulla Gawande has completed his PhD in the field of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the age of 27 years from Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Kokan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Maharashtra State, India. He is working as Assistant Vegetable Breeder at Chilli and Vegetable Research Unit, Dr. PDKV, Akola, Maharashtra State, India. He has published over 17 research papers in the journal of repute and is working on vegetable crop improvement.

Ten parents and their twenty one hybrids from a line x Tester design were evaluated for fruit yield and its component characters. The variance due to line x tester was highly significant for almost all the traits except days to first harvest and 1000 seed weight indicating the presence of significant differences between lines and testers, whereas variance due to lines was non significant for all the characters under study except average fruit weight and 1000 seed weight. While variance due to testers was non significant for all the traits. On the basis of GCA effects the testers N-51 and N-57 were identified as most promising parents for involving in breeding programme aimed in improving number of fruits per plant, while the line AKC-435 showed significant GCA effects for average fruit weight and could be used as donor parent for improving average fruit weight in chilli as well as other important yield contributing characters. The cross combinations AKC-438 x GP-03-2, AKC-435 x N-72-2, AKC- 435 x N-57, AKC-435 x GP- 235, AKC- 436 x N- 44-2 and AKC- 438 x N-51 were recorded as specific combiners for wet red chilli yield per plant due to positive significant SCA effects. The magnitude of heterobeltiosis ranged from -26.88 to 102.35 per cent for the character fruit yield (Q/ ha). The most promising crosses with significant positive heterobeltiosis for wet red chilli yield per plant were AKC- 435 x N-57 (102.33%), AKC-435 x N-72-2 (83.02%), AKC- 438 x N-57 (51.27%) and AKC-436 x N-57 (50.16%).

Mohamed Saber Ismaeil is currently working at National Research Center, Egypt.

Surface soil samples irrigated with low quality water, i.e., agricultural drainage water or treated sewage effluent for prolonged time between >35 to >85 years as well as control alluvial soil irrigated with Nile were collected. The microbiological characteristics of these soils were compared with the microbiological characters of a soil irrigated with Nile water collected from Tanash village. Results showed the microbial biomass represented by bacteria, fungi and Azotobacter was in general more or less the same in the different investigated soils. On the other hand, the new indicators of pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas) exhibited positive existence even in the soil irrigated with Nile. Data showed that the most important parameter indicating the bioactivity of a certain soil ecosystem, i.e., dehydrogenase activity was highest in soils irrigated with sewage effluents from either Abu-Rawash or Zeneen sewer plants being even higher than in the soil irrigated with Nile.

Jehan Saud Al –Abrahaim is currently working at Microbiology Section, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Princess Nora Bent Abdul-Rahman University, Saudi Arabia.

Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) technique was used for isolation and identification of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) in homogenates of four common Saudi varieties of pepper Capsicum annum. Two sweet pepper (Sirtaki and S.P.KING) and two hot pepper (Cruise and E48.192). Ten virus specific primers were used to amplify DNA fragments. Specific bands of PCR products were observed at the position were corresponding to the expected size of DNA amplification product. The results indicated that primers could permit the specific detection of AMV and RAPD-PCR technique is efficient to distinguish between pepper varieties in their infection by alfalfa mosaic virus. Identifying the primary sources of the inoculum may help to reduce AMV spread and the severity of effects on pepper production. The observed symptoms showed that, two sweet varieties were very sensitive to virus infection. Meanwhile the hot varieties were tolerant or resistant to virus infection. In E48.192 and S.P.king varieties, virus was transferred by seeds.

Thomas Ojikpong completed his PhD in 2007 from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria in Agronomy, specializing in Crop Production and Physiology. He has also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Horticulture from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot Israel and the Overseas Technical Teachers Award Certificate from The University of Wolverhampton, Walsal UK. He is the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Cross River University of Technology, Obubra-Nigeria. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

A field experiment was conducted at Obubra in the forest belt of Southeastern Nigeria in 2014 cropping season to study the effects of organic manure sources on the growth and yield of turmeric. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Treatments comprised Moringa oleifera biomass at 10 t/ha, Poultry droppings at 10 t/ha, Cow dung at 15 t/ha and Rice husks at 15 t/ha. Organic manure sources significantly (p<0.05) increased turmeric plant height and yield. Poultry droppings and cow dung gave the highest plant height of 84.1 cm and 80.9 cm respectively and rhizome yield of 9056 kg/ha and 8028 kg/ha respectively. This was followed by Moringa biomass and rice husk with a yield of 6806 kg/ha and 5667 kg/ha respectively.

S Chandrashekhar, MSc, PhD is working as Associate Professor at College of Sericulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru and is involved in Teaching, Research and Extension activities since seventeen years. He organized and participated in many national and international conferences, workshops etc. and published more than 50 scientific publications including research articles, books etc. He is recipient of many State and University awards and served as PI and Co-PI for externally funded projects. He also served as NSS Programme Officer since 9 years and organized health camps, social environmental and national integration camps for the benefit of students and farming community.

The foliar constituents of castor genotypes viz., major and secondary nutrients had marginal influence on growth indices showing positive trend with respect to improvement in the performance of eri silkworm. Major nutrient like nitrogen and secondary nutrient like calcium had significant relationship with growth indices, while the growth indices were non-significant with other major (phosphorus and potassium) and secondary nutrients (magnesium and sulphur). The growth indices viz., silk index (r=0.7707), oviposition index (r=0.7263), leaf – silk conversion rate (r=0.7096), growth index by per cent pupation (r=0.7281) and net reproductive rate (r=0.7386) with nitrogen content of castor leaves showed significant positive relationship among them. Further, calcium content was found to have significantly positive correlation with larval weight index (r=0.8969), cocoon weight index (r=0.9548), silk index (r=0.9688), eclosion index (r=0.8936), oviposition index (r=0.9425), leaf-cocoon ratio (r=0.8408), leaf - egg ratio (r=0.8672), leaf – cocoon conversion rate (r=0.8521), leaf – silk conversion rate (r=0.9323), growth index by per cent pupation (r=0.9815), growth index by per cent moth emergence (r= 0.9609) and net reproductive rate (r=0.9492), while the trend was reverse with larval duration index (r=-0.9405), pupal duration index (r=-0.9293) and larval -pupal duration index (r=-0.9579).

Shrinivas Jadhav is pursuing PhD, 4th semester at Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sknagar, Gujarat. He completed Postgraduate studies MSc (Agri.) from Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat with OGPA of 6.93/10 and completed under graduation from Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani, Maharashtra with OGPA of 7.11/10. He is a Life time member (membership) of GAAS (Gujarat Association of Agricultural Sciences). He is working as an Assistant Professor at CSMSS College of Agriculture, Aurangabad, affiliated to Marathwada Agricultural University. He attended many international and national conferences and has published research papers in reputed journals and news article.

The present studies were carried out on four different genotypes of Spine Gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb.) to standardize a reliable procedure for shoot and root initiation. The cultures were initiated using node explants of genotypes R1P17, R2P5, R9P7 and R11P5 and different plant tissue culture mediums composed of MS-medium supplement with combination BAP, IBA and NAA. The results for shoot and root initiation revealed that none of the explants was able to induce shoot and root on MS medium without hormones, but the explants of all genotypes cent per cent survived on MS medium supplemented with combination of BAP, IBA and NAA. Shoot initiation and shoot proliferation were greatly affected by the genotypes, medium combinations and their interactions. MS + 1.0 mg/l BAP + 0.2 mg/l NAA medium for genotype R1P17 initiated early shoot and genotype R11P5 produced more number of shoots. Highest shoots length was produced by the R11P5 genotypes. Medium MS + 1.0 mg/lBAP + 0.2 mg/lNAA was identified as the most efficient and can work as common medium for regeneration of Spine Gourd under micropropagation. The regenerated shoots of 3 to 4 cm in length were found ideal for in vitro root induction. The results revealed that the MS medium containing 0.5mg/l NAA was the most effective medium for the root initiation in regenerated shoots of all the genotypes. The highest root length was reported by R1P17 genotype on MS + 1.0 mg/l IBA. The medium MS + 1.5mg/l NAA recorded significantly minimum number of day to initiation of root and MS + 0.5mg/l IBA recorded significantly maximum root length. The rooted shoots were successfully established in polythene bags containing sand, soil and FYM in 1:2:1 ratio. The established plants were finely transplanted in the field conditions.

Hussein Said-Al Ahl is currently working at National Research Centre, Egypt.

This study was to investigate the response of Anethum graveolens L. plants to the nitrogen fertilizer (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 kg N/fed.) with or without bio-fertilizers (at 2 kg/fed.) on the flavonoids content and essential oil as well as its chemical constituents during the vegetative stage (90 days after sowing). The recorded results showed that in the two seasons, treatment of 60 kgN/fed with or without bio-fertilizers gave the best values of volatile oil percentage and oil yield in the herb. Also the most effective fertilization treatment on flavonoids content was 40 or 60 Kg N/fed with bio-fertilizers. In the essential oil constituents of Dill herb, all treatments showed α-phellandrene (42.44 to 66.39%) as the major compound followed by p-cymene(11.97 to 18.39%) and limonene (1.42 to 14.25%) then -phellandrene (7.67 to 11.18%).

Ho-Young Ban is candidate of a PhD degree in plant science at Seoul National University in Republic of Korea. And he has a master’s degree in electronic engineering. Currently, he is studying crop modeling and remote sensing.

An preliminary analysis was attempted to develop a crop yield prediction method using remote sensing data for the region that crop cultivation and management information is not readily available. Illinois state(2000-2014 year) of USA and Heilongjiang province(2002-2011 year) of China, a major maize and soybean production region of each country, were selected as target regions of this study. Remote sensing data were used MOD13A2 data of 16-day interval from 129 to 289 julian day in MoDerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS). Normalised Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) value of MOD13A2 was converted to Leaf Area Index(LAI) using NDVI-LAI equation that was formulated with LAI and NDVI data measured in our laboratory. Land cover map for each year in Illinois state was downloaded from National Agricultural Statistics Service(NASS) in the USA. And land cover map of Heilongjiang province was obtained from Inha University in Korea. For standardization, all data were converted to 1km X 1km grid by UTM projection and WGS-84 coordinates using ENVI. LAI values for each crop in all the grids of target regions were extracted based on land cover map using MATLAB. Using the extracted LAI values, leaf area duration (LAD) were calculated for each grid and averaged over all the grids in each region by year and crop. Linear regression anlysis was performed between average LAD’s and reported grain yields. LAD of maize in Illinois showed fairly close correspondence (R2 = 0.86) to the reported maize yield. However, the others showed low determination coefficients (soybean, Illinois, R2 = 0.19; maize, heilongjiang, R2 = 0.28; soybean, heilongjiang, R2 = 0.15). In these cases, the determination coefficients got improved much only by detrending the yearly increase of yield using linear regression. Even though LAD during whole growth period would be a good indicator for crop growth and yield, other factors such as drought, solar radiation, disease and pest, etc. should be taken into account for enhancing the accuracy of yield prediction.

Woo-Sung Jung graduated from Department of Plant Science, Seoul National University in summer 2012. His research interest is climate change effect on rice.

For delineating the responses of spikelet sterility to environmental variables and panicle temperature, a series of experiments were conducted in four plastic houses that were controlled to the target temperatures of ambient (AT), AT+1.5℃, AT+3.0℃ and AT+5.0℃ at the experimental farm of Seoul National, Korea in 2013 and 2014. Three rice (oriza sativa L.) cultivars differing in maturity were grown under ambient temperature plastic house until transferred to different temperature-controlled plastic houses at initial heading stage of each cultivar. Air temperature, solar radiation, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), internal temperature of spikelet (Ts), and surface temperature of panicle (Tp) were monitored at an interval of one minute and, for subsequent analysis, averaged over flowering time during seven days after initial heading of panicle. The spikelet fertility showed wide range of variation from 100% to 4.6% depending on treatments. The ridge regression revealed that not only air temperature but also VPD was negatively associated with spikelet fertility. The spikelet fertility was well fitted to logistic equations not only of air temperature, Ts, and Tp but also of VPD. The model performances showed no clear differences regardless of temperatures employed to the model equations, while the bi-logistic equation model employing air temperature and VPD as independent variables showed the best performance. Our result was contrary to the previous reports that the increase of VPD reduced high temperature-induced spikelet sterility by increasing transpirational cooling of panicle. The present results indicate that increasing VPD in high temperature conditions would accelerate desiccation of anther or pollen during flowering and recuce pollen viability and germination, leading to lower spikelet fertility. Further detailed study is needed to verify VPD effects on spikelet fertility in high temperature conditions.