This paper measures the impact of a micronutrient training among women farmers with young children on the demand for zinc-enhanced varieties. We conducted a randomized control trial by providing micronutrient training in randomly selected villages in May–June 2017. These farmers were also given information on the biofortification of rice with zinc. One week after the training, we conducted a phone-based bidding for high-zinc rice seeds among trainees and their counterparts in control villages. More than 70% of the treated female farmers participated in the bidding for high-zinc rice seed, but only 23% of the women in the control group participated in the bidding. Female farmers who self-reported that they had input into most or all decisions on the use of income generated from rice bid a higher price than other female farmers. The results suggest the effectiveness of the micronutrient training, at least in a short period immediately after the training.

BACKGROUND Zinc-biofortified rice could contribute to zinc intake in deficient populations, but processing it into parboiled rice could affect this potential benefit. Zinc and iron true retention (TR) in milled rice produced under conditions resembling household and commercial parboiled methods was evaluated. Zinc and iron TR in milled rice obtained from biofortified and non-biofortified rice subjected to different soaking temperatures during parboiling was also evaluated. RESULTS Conditions resembling commercial parboiling methods resulted in 52.2-59.7% zinc TR and 55.4-79.1% iron TR, whereas those used for household parboiling resulted in 70.7-79.6% zinc TR and 78.2-119.8% iron TR. Zinc TR in milled (8-16% bran removal) biofortified and non-biofortified parboiled rice was 50.6-66.8% when soaking rough rice at 20 degrees C and 29.9-56.0% when soaking rough rice at 65 degrees C; both had lower zinc TR than non-parboiled rice (58.0-80.6%). Iron TR was generally similar between milled non-parboiled and parboiled rice (26.2-67.6%) and between parboiled biofortified and non-biofortified milled rice. CONCLUSION Parboiling conditions used to obtain milled rice targeted for own household consumption resulted in higher zinc and iron TR compared to parboiling conditions used for milled rice targeted for markets. More zinc from the inner endosperm moved towards the outer layers at high soaking temperature, resulting in lower zinc TR for milled parboiled rice soaked in hotter water. Parboiled rice soaked at temperatures used in households could provide more zinc to diets compared to rice soaked in hotter water commonly used in large rice mills, especially when rice is extensively milled. (c) 2021 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Condensation heat transfer of R1234yf inside smooth and microfin tube with 2.5 mm outer diameter are studied experimentally. The experiments are carried out at a saturation temperature of 20°C and 30°C, mass velocity ranging from 50 to 200 kg m−2s−1 and vapor quality ranging from 0-1. The effects of mass velocity, vapor quality, and saturation temperature on condensation heat transfer coefficient are analyzed with R1234yf and R134a. Condensation heat transfer correlation for smooth tube is developed considering present experimental data and other researchers’ data. Correlation is developed using experimental data for 2.5 mm to 10 mm outer diameter tubes and refrigerants are R134a, R1234yf, R123 and R1234ze (E) by including other researchers’ data. Newly developed correlation is successfully predicted experimental data and other sources data within mean deviation of 15 %. Experimental data are also compared with previous correlations proposed for smooth and microfin tube.

This study investigated the pressure drop of adiabatic vapor-liquid two-phase flow inside horizontal smooth and microfin tubes with 2.5 mm outside diameter. R134a and R1234yf were used as working fluid and the experiments were carried out at saturation temperatures of 20 and 30°C, mass velocities ranging from 50 to 200 kg m−2s−1 and vapor qualities ranging from 0.1 to 0.9. The effects of mass velocity, vapor quality, refrigerant properties and tube diameter on the pressure drop were analyzed. Some typical previous pressure drop correlations were used to predict the experimental data. A new two-phase pressure drop correlation for small diameter tubes was proposed based on the experimental data. The new correlation agrees with the available other researchers’ data and it can be broadly applied to the small diameter smooth and microfin tubes, wide range of mass velocity and many kinds of refrigerants.

The agro-morphological characterization of germplasm is of utmost importance to generate information to be utilized in plant breeding programmes. The aim of this study was to characterize the agro-morphological traits of 113 accessions of aromatic germplasm (Oryza sativa L.) based on qualitative agro-morphological descriptors. No duplicates were identified among the studied accessions for qualitative traits in the cluster analysis, which means there is a high diversity among the accessions for these traits. Following UPGMA cluster analysis, 113 accessions of aromatic germplasm formed ten distinct clusters. The highest numbers of germplasm (96) were found in cluster IXd, 2 were found in cluster III, IV and VI, 3 were found in IXc and the lowest number of germplasm (1) in cluster I, II,V, VII, VIII, IXa, IXb and X, respectively. Aroma evaluation revealed that 67 germplasm were scented, 34 were lightly scented, while the rest 12 germplasm were nonscented. Germplasm namely Begun bichi, Elai, Chinigura, Basmati 370, Ranisalut, Sakkorkhora, Jirakatari, Raduni Pagal, Kalijira (long grain), Black TAPL-554, Kalgochi, BRRI dhan34, BRRI dhan50, Badshabhog-2, Tulsimala-2, Kataribhog, BU dhan2R , Sakkorkhana, Maloti, Bashful could be used for further improvement for incorporating aroma to the high yielding varieties. Bangladesh Rice j. 2018, 22(2): 41-54

The heat transfer coefficients were measured for condensation and evaporation of R134a and R1234yf inside smooth and micro-fin tubes. The experiments were performed for a smooth tube of 2.14 mm inner diameter and three micro-fin tubes of 2.17 mm, 2.68 mm and 3.18 mm equivalent diameter respectively. To measure the local heat transfer coefficient, the test section is sub-divided into three sections and having a total of 852 mm working length. The ranges of refrigerant mass flux were from 50 -100 kg m-2 s-1, and the saturation temperature was 20 °C for condensation and 13 °C for evaporation. Effects of mass flux, vapour quality, tube diameter and refrigerant properties on heat transfer coefficient were considered. During the evaporation test, the heat transfer coefficient of R1234yf was found to be lower than that of R134a. Microfin tubes are more efficient than smooth tube. Typical correlations were used to predict the measurement.

While the pleasant scent of aromatic rice is making it more popular, with demand for aromatic rice expected to rise in future, varieties of this have low yield potential. Genetic diversity and population structure of aromatic germplasm provide valuable information for yield improvement which has potential market value and farm profit. Here, we show diversity and population structure of 113 rice germplasm based on phenotypic and genotypic traits. Phenotypic traits showed that considerable variation existed across the germplasm. Based on Shannon–Weaver index, the most variable phenotypic trait was lemma-palea color. Detecting 140 alleles, 11 were unique and suitable as a germplasm diagnostic tool. Phylogenetic cluster analysis using genotypic traits classified germplasm into three major groups. Moreover, model-based population structure analysis divided all germplasm into three groups, confirmed by principal component and neighbors joining tree analyses. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and pairwise FST test showed significant differentiation among all population pairs, ranging from 0.023 to 0.068, suggesting that all three groups differed. Significant correlation coefficient was detected between phenotypic and genotypic traits which could be valuable to select further improvement of germplasm. Findings from this study have the potential for future use in aromatic rice molecular breeding programs.

This study was made to investigate the condensation local heat transfer and adiabatic pressure drop of R134a inside a 2.5 mm outside diameter smooth and microfin tube at low mass flux condition. Data were measured for mass fluxes from 50 to 300 kg m−2s−1, vapor qualities from 0 to 1 and saturation temperatures from 20 to 30 °C. The effects of mass flux, vapor quality, saturation temperature, microfin and diameter of test tube were analyzed. The pressure drop of the microfin tube was about 1.5 times higher than that of the smooth tube at mass flux 50 kg m−2s−1. The heat transfer coefficient of the microfin tube was about 2–5 times higher than that of the smooth tube at mass flux 100 kg m−2s−1. Experimental results were also compared with typical correlations. For the microfin tube, however, all the existing correlations do not adequately predict the present data. Poor predictions may be attributed to the lack of the small diameter microfin tube with low mass flux data in their database. Hence, it is essential to develop a condensation and pressure drop correlation for the small diameter microfin tube at low mass flux condition.

The paper reports experimental adiabatic two-phase pressure drop of R134a in smooth and groove mnichannels having 20 channels with hydraulic diameters of 0.81 mm and 0.64 mm, respectively. The pressure drop measurements were done under mass flux range of 50-200 kg/m(2)s, saturation temperature range of 30-35 degrees C, and inlet vapor quality range of 0.1-0.9. The effects of mass flux, saturation temperature, inlet vapor quality and channel geometry on pressure drop were investigated. The results showed that the mass flux, inlet vapor quality, saturation temperature and channel size play an important role in increasing or decreasing the pressure drop. The results also showed that the total pressure drop is dominated by the frictional pressure drop. The present experimental data were compared with some existing well known pressure drop correlation available in the open literature.

Thirty-one duplicate and similar named rice germplasms of Bangladesh were studied to assess the genetic variation for the agro-morphological and physico-chemical traits and simple sequence repeat banding patterns during 2009–2012 at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute. The range of variations within the cultivar groups showed higher degree. The principal component analysis showed that the first five components with vector values > 1 contributed 82.90% of the total variations. The cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into four clusters, where no duplicate germplasm was found. The highest number (11) of genotypes was constellated in cluster I and the lowest (3) in cluster II. The intra- and inter-cluster distances were the maximum in cluster I (0.93) and between clusters I and IV (24.61), respectively, and the minimum in cluster IV (0.62) and between clusters I and III (5.07), respectively. The cluster mean revealed that the crosses between the genotypes of cluster I with those of clusters II and IV would exhibit high heterosis for maximum good characters. A total of 350 alleles varied from 3 (RM277) to 14 (RM21) with an average of 7.8 per locus were detected at 45 microsatellite loci across the 31 rice accessions. The gene diversity ranged from 0.48 to 0.90 with an average of 0.77, and the polymorphism information content values from 0.44 (RM133) to 0.89 (RM206) with an average of 0.74. RM206, RM21, RM55, RM258 and RM433 were considered as the best markers on the basis of their higher polymorphism information content values. The dendrogram from unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average clustering also classified the genotypes into four groups, where group IV comprised of 20 genotypes and group III of one genotype, but no duplicate was found. Finally, similar and duplicate named rice germplasms need to be conserved in gene bank as are distinct from each other.

Ninety-eight genotypes (40 genotypes of Balam, 27 of Jesso-Balam, 21 of Kartiksail and 10 of Dhaliboro groups, respectively) of similar or duplicate named rice accessions along with HYV’s were studied for quantitative, qualitative and molecular characters at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute during 2009-12. For estimating diversity level, the genotypes were divided into five populations. The PIC ranged from 0.50 (Dhaliboro) to 0.74 (Balam) with 0.69 for HYVs, indicating the existence of more diversity and broader genetic base in Balam land race cultivars. Similarly, genetic diversity with an average of 0.83 ranged from 0.55 (Dhaliboro) to 0.77 (Balam) and 0.73 for HYV’s. The Shannon’s information index ranged from 1.00 (Dhaliboro) to 1.73 (Balam) and it was 1.48 for HYV’s. The number of different allele ranged from 3.56 (Dhaliboro) to 7.80 (Balam), while the number of effective allele from 2.63 (Dhaliboro) to 5.11 (Balam) and it was 5.18 and 4.14 for HYV population, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance showed that the maximum percentage of variation was present among individuals within populations (85%), followed by among populations (15%). The spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was found highly significant (rs=0.51; t=2.98) between ranking of inter-genotype (D=√D2) and Nei’s genetic distances, indicating strong association between them. The correlation tests revealed that SSR diversity analysis is the most powerful method for grouping. But, combination of quantitative and molecular methods may be the best. Finally, 21 core collections were selected from Balam group. The selected core accessions need to conserve as active collection in Genebank, utilize as parents in hybridization programs and develop QTL map for unlocking valuable genes.

A total of 72 rice genotypes including Balam (40), Jesso-Balam (27) rice land races and popular varieties (5) from Bangladesh were characterized using 45 SSR markers for studying genetic diversity and identification of duplicate germplasm. Altogether 430 alleles were detected which varied from 4 to 18 per locus with an average of 9.6. The highest number of alleles (18) was found in the locus RM302. The highest gene diversity (0.91) was found in RM337 and RM224, while the lowest (0.52) was found in RM237. The PIC values ranged from 0.90 to 0.46 with an average of 0.78. The highest PIC value was observed in loci RM337 and RM224 followed by 0.89 in RM55, RM258, RM21 and RM206, respectively. The gene diversity and PIC values revealed that RM337, RM224, RM55, RM258, RM21 and RM206 were the best markers to identify and distinguish the genotypes. Besides, the UPGMA clustering method generated seven clusters, where no duplicate genotype was found. It also showed that Balam and Jesso-Balam groups of germplasm were constellated into separate clusters. The Nei’s genetic distance ranged from 0.3556 to 1.0. Conserved, characterization and utilization of the unique and distinct variability of all the similar or duplicate named land races of Balam and Jesso-Balam rice is suggested.

The study was conducted to investigate genetic variability among 113 aromatic and fine local rice genotypes of which five were exotic in origin. The test genotypes were evaluated for 19 growth traits, yield components, and yield. All the quantitative traits varied significantly among the test genotypes. High heritability along with high genetic advance was observed for flag leaf area, secondary branches per panicle, filled grains per panicle, grain length, grain breadth, grain length breadth ratio, and 1000 grain weight. Such findings suggested preponderance of additive gene action in gene expression for these characters. Grain yield was significantly and positively correlated with days to flowering, days to maturity, panicle length, filled grains per panicle, and 1000 grain weight. According to D (2) cluster analysis, 113 test genotypes formed 10 clusters. Selection of parents from the clusters V and X followed by hybridization would possibly result in desirable heterosis for the development of heterotic rice hybrids. Finally, molecular characterizations of the studied germplasm are required for high resolution QTL mapping and validating the presence of candidate genes responsible for valuable characters.

Twenty-seven Jesso-Balam rice accessions of Bangladesh were studied for 21 qualitative agro-morphological characters at BRRI during T. Aman 2009 and T. Aman 2011 seasons. The presence and shape of penultimate leaf ligule showed no variations among the genotypes. Out of 19 characters, majority of the genotypes showed no anthocyanin color in leaf sheath (93%), medium intensity of anthocyanin color in basal leaf sheath (7%), green leaf blade (74%), strong surface pubescence of penultimate leaf blade (48%), no anthocyanin color in auricles and collar (93%), colorless ligule (93%), white color of stigma (93%), erect blade of flag leaf (52%), erect curvature of lateral tiller (100%), no anthocyanin color in nodes (93%), weak intensity of anthocyanin color in nodes (7%), weak intensity of anthocyanin color in internodes (67%), yellowish to straw anthocyanin color of lemma and palea (48%), medium intensity of anthocyanin color in lemma and palea (41%), yellowish/straw color of apiculus (93%), awnless (89%), awns at tip only (11%), yellowish white to straw color awns (100%) and intermediate type of leaf senescence (74%). On the other hand, the Jesso-Balam germplasm along with BR7, BR16, BRRI dhan50 and Nizersail were grouped into three major clusters according to the UPGMA clustering method based on Dice coefficient. Cluster III was the major group with maximum genotypes (26), while clusters I had two (JBPL9 and JBPL23) and cluster II had three genotypes (JBPL13, JBPL15 and JBPL16), respectively. The genetic distance ranged from 0.000 to 9.969. Three pairs of accessions (2465 and 2464), (2455 and 2454) and (2453 and 2478) in cluster III were found duplicates. Finally, the Jesso-Balam pure lines possessed exclusive variability and unique features which need safe conservation and sustainable use in future rice breeding programmes for issues like intellectual property rights. * Corresponding Author: Mir Sharf Uddin Ahmed  sharfuddin.brri@gmail.com International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 50-58, 2016 International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 14-22, 2014

Twenty-one qualitative agro-morphological characters of 40 Balam rice were studied during T. Aman 2009 and T. Aman 2011 seasons at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur. Single seedling was transplanted using spacing within and between rows of 20 and 25 cm. The fertilizers were applied at the rate of 60-50-40-10 kg NPKS per hectare. The qualitative characters were recorded using procedure of DUS tests for inbreed and hybrid rice of Bangladesh. The presence and split or two-cleft shape type penultimate leaf ligule showed no variation. In total, 24 land races (60%) showed colorless leaf sheath and basal leaf sheath, 14 (35%) had green leaf blade, 16 (40%) had strong surface pubescence of penultimate leaf blade, 33 (82%) showed colorless auricles and collar, 30 (75%) had white color of stigma, 33 (82%) showed erect blade of flag leaf, 31 (77%) had erect curvature of lateral tiller, 30 (75%) showed colorless nodes, 17 (42%) had weak intensity of color in internodes, 14 (35%) showed yellowish to straw color lemma and palea and 18 (45%) had its medium intensity, 16 (40%) showed yellowish/straw color apiculus, 35 (87%) had awnless grain and 23 (58%) showed intermediate type of leaf senescence. Besides, Balam rice along with BR7, BR16, BRRI dhan50 and Nizersail were grouped into four major clusters by the UPGMA clustering method based on Dice coefficient. Cluster III was the largest group with thirty genotypes. The dendrogram revealed that the genotypes B7 (acc. no. 853) and B23 (acc. no. 878) was 100% duplicate or similar. The genetic distance ranging from 0.0 to 9.995 also indicated wide genetic variation among the germplasm. Finally, Balam rice showed unique feature of valuable genes for safe conservation in Gene bank and sustainable utilization in future breeding programs regarding intellectual property rights.

In total 28 accessions of Jesso-balam rice were characterized for 38 morpho-physicochemical characters at Bangladesh Rise Research Institute during T. Aman 2009 and 2011 seasons.The analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (p<0.01)among the genotypes for all the characters.The mean separations showed high degree of variations and no single duplicate was found.The culm height (cm) ranged from 99.74 (JB20)-138.53(JB22), effective tiller number per hill from 7 (JB6)-15 (JB4, JB26), straw yield per hill (g) from 21.01 (JB26)-47.01(JB22), panicle length (cm) from 23.49 (JB20)-29.89(JB22), primary branch number from 9.67 (JB20)-13.67(JB23), secondary branch number from 19.67 (JB20)-53 (JB18), grain length (mm) from 5.92 (JB26)-9.37(JB8), 1000-grain weight (g) from 11.0 (JB26)-25.88(JB14), protein content (%) from 5.9 (JB15)-9.9(JB26), grain yield per panicle (g) from 1.65 (JB12)-3.37(JB21) and grain yield per hill (g) from 16.67 (JB26)-26.4(JB4), respectively.The high GCV and h 2 b together with high GAPM were found in 1000-grain weight, seedling height, secondary branch number, panicle exertion, effective tiller number per hill, straw yield per hill and penultimate leaf area suggested that selection may be effective for these characters in segregating generations.The simple correlation indicated that the higher the PBN, SBN, SBFGW, LBR and TGW possessed greater PL, GL and PGY.Finally, the pure lines of Jesso-balam rice germplasm offers valuable gene reservoir which need to conserve and characterize using molecular tools for validating useful genes.

In total 40 land races of Balam rice of Bangladesh were studied at BRRI during 2009-11.The analysis of variance of 38 morpho-physicochemical characters showed highly significant differences among the genotypes.The mean performances showed high degree of variations among the genotypes.The culm height varied from 61.5 (B31) to 137.26 cm (B11), effective tiller number per hill from 6.33 (B34) to 24.67 (B30), straw yield per hill from 8.44 (B21) to 57.93 g (B39), primary branch number from 6.33 (B21) to 14.33 (B17), secondary branch number from 11 (B26) to 50 (B29), grain length from 6.43 (B33) to 10.83 mm (B8), 1000-grain weight from 16.44 (B32) to 33.22 g (B39) and grain yield per hill from 8.47 (B26) to 33.31 g (B17), respectively.The mean separations showed that no single duplicate genotype was present in the land races.Besides, high GCV and h 2 b together with high GAPM were observed in culm height, 1000-grain weight, LB ratio, panicle exertion, secondary branch number, plant height etc. suggested that selection may be effective for these characters in segregating generations.In correlation coefficients between different characters, 63 correlation coefficients were positive in nature and only 10 estimates were negative.This represents very highly favorable situation for obtaining high response to selection in improving yield and yield components in rice germplasm evaluated.Therefore, these characters emerged as most important associates of grain yield in rice.Finally, the traditional rice germplasm can offer valuable gene pools, which need to be characterized by using molecular tools for QTL mapping of valuable traits.

An experiment was carried to estimate heterotic performances of newly developed test hybrids utilizing CMS system during Rabi 2011 using RCBD design. Five known CMS lines and sixteen developed R-lines were crossed through line × tester analysis. Eighty test hybrids were developed. It is very difficult to find a hybrid earlier to BRRI dhan28 as life cycle of 140 days. Heterosis for days to first flowering varied from -6.23% to 16.35% with a SD of 4.47 meanwhile heterosis for days to 80% flowering varied from -9.24% to 11.04% with a SD of 4.03. Among eighty crosses seventy two were found positive heterosis for days to first flowering but sixty four crosses were found for days to 80% flowering. RG-BU08-016R crosses with IR58025A (-2.68*) and IR62820A (-3.42**) showed significant negative standard heterosis for days to first flowering. Five crosses of IR58025A showed significant negative heterosis with RG-BU 08-005R (-3.42*), RG-BU 08-006R (-5.28**), RG-BU 08-013R (-4.129**), RG-BU 08-016R (-5.78**), RG-BU 08-018R (-4.06*) for days to 80% flowering. Besides these 4 crosses of IR62820A showed significant negative heterosis with RG-BU 08-007R (-2.32*), RG-BU 08-016R (-6.03*), RG-BU 08-018R (-4.58**) followed by GAN 46A/RG-BU 08-006R (-4.58*), BRRI 1A/RG-BU 08-001R (-2.55**) and BRRI 1A/RG-BU 08-006R (-9.24**) resulted significant negative heterosis for days to 80% flowering. Positive heterosis were recorded for IR58025A with RG-BU 08-007R (26.97**), RG-BU 08-0046R (8.77**) and RG-BU 08-105R (14.44**) for PER and RG-BU 08-018R (42.46**), RG-BU 08-046R (112.30**), RG-BU 08-057R (27.46*) for SER. While two R-lines, RG-­BU 08-013R (25.41**) and RG-­BU 08-057R (7.21*) were found having significant positive heterosis for panicle exertion rate crosses with IR62820A but RG-BU 08-025R (52.82**), RG-BU 08-057R (122.66**) and RG-BU 08-063R (37.38**) were found having significant positive heterosis for SER. IR62820A/RG-BU08-057R showed significant positive heterosis for both panicle and stigma exertion rate. GAN46A/RG­-BU 08-063R (5.65* & 133.02**) was recorded showing significant positive heterosis for both panicle and stigma exertion rate where. But the crosses of IR68888A was not shown exhibiting a great contribution for panicle and stigma exertion rate except RG-BU08-018R (25.94**). Meanwhile the crosses of BRRI1A was recorded having significant positive heterosis for PER with RG-­BU08-005R (13.41**), RG-­BU08-007R (5.65*) and RG-BU08-097R (25.94**) as well as RG-BU08-007R (133.02**), RG-BU08-013R (48.19**) and RG-BU08-038R (29.21*) were recorded having significant positive heterosis for SER.