Maize (Zea mays L.) as a highly productive crop mostly influenced by weeds, that can reduce the yield about 25 to 90 % which is much more than the other losses. In this contests to assess the best weed management practice this experiment entitled “effect of application timing of chemical herbicides on weed control efficacy and productivity of rabi maize (Zea mays L.)” was conducted during rabi season of 2017-18 at Research farm of BAU, Bhagalpur. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications having 18 treatment combinations consisted of three as pre emergence (main plot) and six as post emergence (sub plot). The application of atrazine 1000 g a.i. ha-1 (PE) fb tembotrione 120 g a.i. ha-1 + atrazine 500 g a.i. ha-1 (PoE) significantly increases the LAI, dry weight, number of cobs plant-1, cob length, cob weight, number of grains cob-1 and grain yield of maize. So it may conclude that the that application of atrazine 1000 g a.i. ha-1 as PE fb tembotrione 120 g a.i. ha-1 + atrazine 500 g a.i. ha-1 as PoE may enhance the growth and yield by effective weed control which can increase the benefits of farmers growing rabi maize.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop of our country, in India area, production and productivity of chickpea are the 8.17 million hectares, 7.48 million tonnes and 915 kgha -1 , respectively and in Uttar Pradesh it is cultivated on an area of 0.62 million hectares with a production 0.51 million tonnes and productivity 824 kgha -1 . The area under chickpea crop has reduced to 0.60 million hectares in 2014-15 from 1.06 million hectares in 1966-67 (Anonymous 2016) due to slow initial growth and it suffers International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 05 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

A field experiment was carried out in experimental farm of Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur during the rabi season of 2014-15 to test the effect of synthetic compounds on performance of wheat under high temperature stress condition. Treatments were laid out in split plot design with three replications. Two contrasting varieties of wheat, i.e. DBW-14 (timely sown) and K 307 (late sown) were kept in main plots. Each main plot was further sub-divided into fourteen subplots which received foliar spray of different synthetic compounds either at a fixed dose at booting or at anthesis stage or half the fixed dose at both booting and anthesis stage. The foliar spray were as follows: M1- no spray, M2- KNO3 (1.0 %) at booting stage, M3- KNO3 (1.0 %) at anthesis stage, M4- KNO3 (0.5 %) both at booting and anthesis stage, M5- CaCl2 (0.2%) at booting stage, M6- CaCl2 (0.2%) at anthesis stage, M7- CaCl2 (0.1%) both at booting and anthesis stage, M8- Glycinebetaine (100 mM) at booting stage, M9- Glycinebetaine (100 mM) at anthesis stage, M10- Glycinebetaine (50mM) both at booting and anthesis stage, M11- Arginine (2.5mM) at booting stage, M12- Arginine (2.5mM) at anthesis stage, M13- Arginine (1.25mM) both at booting and anthesis stage and M14-spray of water both at heading and anthesis stage. Result shows that grain yield was increased significantly and maximized (36.96 and 31.23 qha-1 for V1 and V2 respectively) when the crop received foliar spray of KNO3 at the rate of 0.5% both during booting and anthesis stage over no foliar spray. The corresponding values with the foliar spray of CaCl2 showed same trend like KNO3 and were found to be statistically at par. Economic analysis revealed that the foliar spray of KNO3 at the rate of 0.5% both during booting and anthesis in DBW-14 significantly increased and maximized B: C ratio (1.9) over control but did not respond significantly in K 307. Thus, the study suggests that foliar spray of KNO3 at the rate of 0.5% both during booting and anthesis in a short duration variety like DBW-14 is beneficial to mitigate the ill effects of high temperature stress and enhance the yield to a profitable limit.

Phosphorous, sulphur and biofertilizers are able to increase the root development, growth, yields and quality of crop plants. In this contests to assess the effect of phosphorus, sulphur and biofertilizers on growth attributes and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) a field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Research Farm of Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology, Faizabad (U.P.) during rabi season of two consecutive years of 2014-15 and 2015-16. The experiment was layout in SPD having twenty-four treatment combinations consisted of three phosphorus levels (0, 30, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1), two sulphur levels (0, 20 kg ha-1) and four seed inoculation with biofertilizers (un-inoculated, PSB, Rhizobium and PSB + Rhizobium). The application of phosphorus at 60 kg ha-1, sulphur at 20 kg ha-1 and seed inoculation with PSB + Rhizobium significantly increased the growth, dry weight, number of nodules plant-1 and yields (grain & straw yield) of chickpea over the control /un-inoculated. Use of optimum fertilizer level along biofertilizers could able to enhance the performance of crop in terms of growth and yield.

Inoculation of biofertilizers leads to reduction of chemical fertilizer requirement by fixation & solubilisation of plant nutrients and thus, may able to maximize plant growth, yields and quality of output.To study the beneficial effect of biofertilizers on performance of pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) a field experiment was conducted in randomized block designduring the rainy (Kharif) season of 2014 at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, India.Seeds of pearlmillet were treated with diazotrophic bacteria namely- Pseudomonas fluorescens, Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum lipoferum, Acetobacter diazotrophicus and one fungi- Trichoderma viride @ 10-25 g kg-1alone and in combinations. The combined treatment with all the bioinoculants enhanced the grain yield (44%), nutrient uptake (N by 79.9% and P by 87.9%) and grain quality (Protein by 58.9% and carbohydrate by 17%), single inoculation was also found profitable over the control (Un-inoculated). Therefore, inoculation of pearlmillet seed with different biofertilizers could produce pollution free and healthy (better quality) food for increasing population and may able to reduce chemical fertilizer application without any significant reduction in grain yield.

Osmoprotectants/Synthetic compounds (KNO3, CaCl2 etc.) is beneficial to mitigate the ill effects of high temperature stress occurs due to late sowing of wheat and may enhance the yield to a profitable limit. In order to estimate the effect of synthetic compounds on performance of wheat under high temperature stress condition a field experiment was carried out in experimental farm of Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur during the rabi season of 2014-15. Treatments were laid out in split plot design with three replications. Two different varieties of wheat i.e. DBW-14 (timely sown) and K-307 (late sown) were kept in main plots, subplot received foliar spray of different osmoprotectants. The foliar spray were as followed: M1- no spray, M2- KNO3 (1.0 %) at booting stage, M3- KNO3 (1.0 %) at anthesis stage, M4- KNO3 (0.5 %) both at booting & anthesis stage, M5- CaCl2 (0.2%) at booting stage, M6- CaCl2 (0.2%) at anthesis stage, M7- CaCl2 (0.1%) both at booting & anthesis stage, M8- Glycinebetaine (100 mM) at booting stage, M9- Glycinebetaine (100 mM) at anthesis stage, M10- Glycinebetaine (50 mM) both at booting & anthesis stage, M11- Arginine (2.5 mM) at booting stage, M12- Arginine (2.5 mM) at anthesis stage, M13- Arginine (1.25 mM) both at booting & anthesis stage and M14- spray of water both at heading & anthesis stage. Result shows that ear head biomass, dry matter accumulation and grain yield was increased significantly while, growth attributes are found non-significant. Maximum yield was recorded (36.96 and 31.23 q ha-1 for V1 and V2 respectively) when the crop received foliar spray of KNO3 at the rate of 0.5% both during booting and anthesis stage over no foliar spray. The corresponding values with the foliar spray of CaCl2 showed same trend like KNO3 and were found to be statistically at par. Thus, the study suggests that foliar spray of KNO3 at the rate of 0.5% both during booting and anthesis in a short duration variety like DBW-14 can provide the strengthen to plant against high temperature stress and provide better yield under late sown condition in most part of the country.