The Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University(PJTSAU) is a state agriculture university, which was separated from the central Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University in the year 2014 as a result of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.Headquarters and Colleges The university has its headquarters at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. G.
Water and nutrients plays an important role for optimum growth and yield of sweetcorn under semi-arid conditions. During the growing seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21, an experimental trial was conducted at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, to examine the responsiveness of high-density summer sweet corn to drip irrigation and fertigation regimes. The treatment comprises of three drip irrigation levels (0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 Epan throughout the crop growth period) and four fertigation levels (100 and 125% recommended dose of nitrogen and potassium [RDNK] according to recommendation and crop coefficient curve). Results revealed that growth, cob and green fodder yields of sweet corn increased significantly with increasing irrigation levels up to 1.0 Epan combined with fertigation at 125% RDNK applied according to the crop coefficient curve (I3F4) during both years of experimentation. Total crop evapotranspiration (ETc) ranged from 182.3 to 278.1 mm and 170.3 to 245.3 mm across irrigation treatments during 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Crop water use efficiency (CWUE) was significantly higher under the lowest irrigation level (0.6 Epan) compared to 0.8 and 1.0 Epan. Crop coefficient (Kc) values at 1.0 Epan were estimated as 0.44, 0.82, 0.96 and 0.79 during 0-20, 21-40, 41-60 DAS and from 61 DAS to harvest, respectively, in 2019-20, and 0.45, 0.80, 0.95 and 0.79 during the corresponding stages in 2020-21. The physical optimum water requirement was 594.6 and 469.5 mm, producing yields of 13,393 and 12,752 kg ha-1 during 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. The economic optimum was slightly lower at 585.7 and 464.6 mm, resulting in yields of 13,389 and 12,749 kg ha-1 during the respective years. The study concludes that drip irrigation at 1.0 Epan combined with fertigation at 125% RDNK applied as per crop coefficient curve is optimal for maximizing high-density summer sweet corn productivity under semi-arid conditions.
The presence of genetic diversity is a fundamental prerequisite for the success of any crop improvement programme, enabling the plant breeders to select divergent parents for hybridisation. To investigate this in white finger millet, an experiment was undertaken during Kharif 2022 with 52 white finger millet accessions and 8 checks for 16 yield-related and quality traits. The yield-related traits include days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, number of fingers, finger length, finger width, number of tillers, panicle weight, days to maturity, grain yield per plot and test weight, and the quality traits examined were grain iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to assess the extent of diversity among accessions, and the first five principal components (PCs) were observed to have eigenvalues greater than one, which accounted for 75.85% of the total variability. The first principal component (PC1) contributed the maximum towards divergence (29.57%), followed by PC2 (20.04%), PC3 (14.21%), PC4 (7.54%) and PC5 (6.49%). The characters that contribute maximum towards genetic diversity were days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, test weight, grain calcium, zinc, phosphorus and iron. Cluster analysis divided the total accessions into four clusters, and accessions from clusters I and III are promising for grain yield improvement, while those from cluster II are ideal for enhancing nutritional quality. Overall, the study concluded that the accessions studied were highly diverse for yield-related and quality traits, and careful selection of these accessions and traits will be beneficial for developing improved cultivars
Three native Trichoderma asperellum strains viz., TAIK1, TAIK4, and TAIK5 identified through rigorous functional screening of rice rhizosphere isolates and exhibiting strong antagonistic activity against major pathogens viz., Rhizoctonia solani, Ustilaginoidea virens, Xanthomonas oryzae, Sclerotium oryzae along with multiple plant growth–promoting traits, were selected for comprehensive genomic analysis. Comprehensive genome characterization revealed key functional gene families involved in plant defence, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and growth enhancement. The genomes encoded a diverse set of extracellular lytic enzymes—such as chitinases and β-1,3-glucanases—and antimicrobial peptides, including bacilysin, bacteriocin, and subtilosin, which are essential for pathogen suppression. Genome-wide mining uncovered biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for several secondary metabolites, including enniatin, dimethylcoprogen, clavaric acid, AM-toxin, melanin, aculeacin, anabaenopeptin NZ857, nostamide A, bacitracin, quercetin, surfactin, and lantibiotic. Functional annotation identified genes associated with plant growth promotion, such as those involved in siderophore biosynthesis, Epl1/Sm1, swollenin, ankyrin-repeat, and WD40-repeat domain proteins, contributing to nutrient uptake, root development, and induced systemic resistance. Among the metabolites, 6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one (6PP), a volatile compound from TAIK1, demonstrated strong antifungal activity and was selected for further biocontrol application. Phylogenetic analysis of functional genes indicated genetic divergence and specialization among the strains. Furthermore, SSR markers were mined to facilitate population genetics studies and future strain improvement. These findings highlight the potential of TAIK1, TAIK4, and TAIK5 as promising candidates for the development of bioformulations, offering sustainable solutions for rice disease management and supporting novel antibiotic and biofertilizer innovations.
Background and aims: Dry-direct seeded rice cultivation saves hefty amount of irrigation water; however, contributes to loss of applied nitrogenous fertilizers through higher run-off volumes. This can be checked by drip irrigation and fertigation in dry-direct seeded rice. Methods Field experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, Rajendranangar, Hyderabad, India during Kharif of 2022 & 2023 to study the effect of different rice varieties and irrigation levels combined with 2 different doses of nitrogen (N) on the root characters, nutrient mobilization and spread of N in the soil. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with 3 rice varieties (M 1 : KNM-1638, M 2 : JGL-24423 & M 3 : DRR Dhan-42) in the main plot and 2 irrigation levels (1.0 Epan & 1.5 Epan) along with 2 nitrogen levels (100% N & 125% N) in the sub-plot. Results M 3 registered significantly higher root parameters, dry matter production and uptake of nutrients. Root parameters, dry matter production and nutrient uptake were recorded to be significantly higher when irrigation was scheduled at 1.5 Epan. Lower values for soil available nutrients in post-harvest soil was observed in M 3 and among sub plots; 1.5 Epan with 100% N. Irrigation scheduled at 1.0 Epan registered lower soil available N status both at 15 & 30 cm away from the lateral compared to irrigation scheduled at 1.5 Epan. Conclusions Variety, DRR Dhan-42 in combination with 1.5 Epan irrigation with 100% N could be adjudged as the best treatment for obtaining higher grain yield.
Exploitation of hybrid vigour has led to a dramatic increase in yield and resistance performance in several crops. However, maintenance of genetic purity during large-scale production of hybrid seeds is a long-standing constraint in both public research organisations and the seed industry. This affects both the breeding efficiency as well as the supply of pure seed to growers. In a number of crop species, the seed production guidelines and procedures are ineffective in maintaining genetic purity of seed and were also found inadequate to meet the huge demand for quality seed. A new quality seed production scheme is proposed herewith that integrates the traditional seed production system and modern genetic marker technology. The DNA-marker-based assay is rapid, cost-effective, and can detect hidden genetic contamination of seed. We have also demonstrated the application of a seed testing model in pigeonpea hybrids. Our scheme is suitable not only for pigeonpea but in general for all crops.
