AbstractProduction of healthy and vigorous capsicum seedling is most important factor in successful commercial production and yield and quality of capsium fruits. Moreover, germination of the seed is a critical, because the rest of the plant life is directly dependent upon the rate of its germination. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of various locally available seedlings growing media on seedling growth of capsicum seedlings as well as growth and yield of capsicum inherent with the nutrients with seedling growing medium ball. Different cost effective growing media treatments were used viz., soil, FYM, vermicompost, forest litter alone or in combination in equal proportion to raise the seedlings of capsicum cv. California Wonder in portrays under naturally ventilated polyhouse at ICAR-CITH Regional Station, Mukteshwar, Nainital (UK) during 2016-17 and 2017-18. The objective of this study was to determine the best growing media (soil alone and its different combinations with farm yard manure, vermicompost and forest litter) in portray for healthy seedling and germination percentage of pepper cv. California Wonder under polyhouse conditions. The results of the study showed that mixture of media significantly increased length, diameter and weight of seedling. However, maximum seed germination (82.50 %) recorded in FYM+VC and VC+FL media. Whereas, highest seedling height (16.12 cm) and girth (2.61 mm) found in FYM media. The seedling raised in soil+vermicompost media produced maximum number of secondary roots/seedling (51.20). The plants of which seedlings were raised in soil+FYM+VC+FL media produced maximum average fruit weight (98.43g) whereas, maximum fruit yield/plant (1.42 Kg.) recorded with the plants of which seedlings were grown in FYM+VC+FL media. The maximum benefit: cost ratio (3.16) of seedling production of capsicum cv. California Wonder was found with seedlings produced in the FYM growing media.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an important spice and condiment crop grown throughout the country as well as world. It is one of the most important bulb vegetable crop which have been used since ancient for its culinary, medicinal and health benefits [1]. It is the second most important cultivated bulb crop after onion grown in 0.30 million hectare area which produced 1.72 million tonne bulbs with the average productivity 5.73 tonne/ha [2]. In Asia, people use fresh leaves of garlic as salad, and pickle is also prepared from garlic cloves [3]. It has higher nutritive value than other bulb crops [4] and also good export potential as fresh bulb as well as in the dehydrated form [5]. Besides, garlic has several medicinal values such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozol, anti oxidant and anticancer properties [6]. Large quantities of this crop are exported to earn foreign exchange and it is also used in pharmaceuticals industries because of its great medicinal values. The lack of sexuality in garlic limits the increase of variability that is useful for breeding for economically important traits, such as tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, earliness, yield and quality [7]. A large number of ecotypes have been established over time in various areas of cultivation. Considerable morphological and biochemical variations between and within ecotypes are been established [8]. To meet the domestic requirement and fulfill the export demand, selection of suitable variety for growing under different agronomic condition is necessary. Due to vegetative propagated crop, variation in garlic occurs only through random or induced mutation and/or somaclonal variation and new cultivars are bred by clonal selection, induced mutations, somaclonal variation or genetic engineering. In mid and high hills of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir etc., the long day type strains are to be developed/selected for getting high yield and quality. Very scanty work has been done on the evaluation, selection and development of long day type garlic varieties/strains. Hence, with a view to develop/select good quality high yielding long day type garlic varieties/lines for growing under mid and high hills, different lines of various parts of the country received under All India Network Research Project (Onion and Garlic) were evaluated for their growth, yield and quality parameters at ICARCentral Institute of temperate Horticulture Regional StationMukteshwar, Nainital (Uttarakhand) during rabi extended summer 2016-17. Abstract Twenty four diverse genotypes of long day garlic were evaluated which exhibited significant differences for growth, yield and quality parameters viz., plant height, number of leaf, leaf length, polar and equatorial diameter of bulbs, average bulb weight, number of clove/bulb, total soluble solids and total bulb yield per plot. Among the lines, highest yielding genotype i.e. G-408 AP recorded maximum bulb yield (3.55 Kg/plot and 157.93 q/ha). The genotypes G-408 AP, CITH-G-10 and VLG-2 recorded bulb weight of 44.40 g, 42.60 g and 36.40 g, respectively. Maximum TSS of 42.50 0 brix was recorded in genotype UHF-G-12-2 followed by Selection 10-3 (41.50 0 brix) and G-417 (40.70 0 brix). Presence of wide range of variation of mean and coefficient of variations depicted the chance of improvement in the present genotypes through clonal selection and later on could be stabilized and utilized as new varieties for the region. The line G408 A.P. has potential of highest bulb yield under long day condition of Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand. The genotypes under study showed sufficient genotypic variability, heritability and genetic advance for most of the traits especially economic trait i.e. bulb yield. Apart from it, the significant and positive correlation coefficients were also exists between the traits under study. Hence, there is chance of improvement in the genotypes through clonal selection and better variability in various traits could be developed through clonal selection for further improvement of the crop/genotype.

The labile organic carbon (C) and C-related enzymes are sensitive indicators capturing alterations of soil organic matter (SOM), even in a short-time scale. Although the effects of crop husbandry and land use change on these attributes have been well studied, there is no consensus about how plant phenology may impact them. This study aimed to determine the short-term effect of six distinct phenological stages (PS-1: full bloom; PS-2: fruit set; PS-3: pit hardening; PS-4: physiological maturity; PS-5: 60 d after physiological maturity; and PS-6: fall) of peach on the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions of different oxidizability, labile C pools, and C-cycle enzyme activities in soils, for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016) in the North-Western Himalayas (NWH). Peach rhizosphere soils were sampled at the topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (16–30 cm) layers, along with rhizosphere soils from adjacent perennial grasses, which served as a control. Values for most of the assessed parameters, including very labile C, labile C, microbial biomass C, permanganate oxidizable C, dissolved organic C, mineralizable C, amylase activity, and carboxymethyl-cellulase activity, were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher at PS-3 than at other phenological stages of peach. Conversely, a sudden decline in these soil variables was recorded at PS-5, followed by a slight buildup at PS-6, particularly in the topsoil of the peach orchard. Short-term changes in organic C fractions of different oxidizability, influenced by peach phenological stage, significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected C management index, C pool index, and lability index. Both the C management index and lability index showed their highest values at PS-3 and their lowest values at PS-5, clearly indicating short-term accretion and depletion of SOC, in tandem with the peach phenological events. Principal component analysis suggested that a composite of soil indicators, including microbial biomass C, dissolved organic C, amylase, and invertase, could help detect short-term changes in SOC content. It is concluded that peach phenological events had a major impact on the short-term variations of the studied soil variables, which could be attributed to changes in the above- and belowground plant residues, as well as the extent of nutrients and water acquisition.

This study was aimed to assess the performance of various tomato genotypes under ventilated poly-house conditions. The study was conducted in Kumaun hills of Uttarakhand (India) during summer 2017. The study revealed the presence of high genotypic and high heritability for most economic traits viz., number of fruits plant−1, yield plant−1, ascorbic acid content and total antioxidant activities. The variety ‘VL-4’ proved superior over other varieties with respect to fruit length (5.43 cm), fruit width (5.27 cm), number of fruits plant−1 (51.67), average fruit weight (85.34 g) and fruit yield plant−1 (4.42 kg). Highest luminous (L*= 49.96), TSS (6.03oB), reducing sugar (1.99%) and total sugar (3.39%) were estimated in genotype ‘H-86’; whereas highest red colour (a*= 42.43) and total antioxidant activity (28.06 mMTE L−1) were found in hybrid ‘Dev’ and maximum yellow colour (b*= 48.8) in hybrid ‘Badshah’. The chroma (C*= 57.16), ascorbic acid (40.22 mg 100 g−1), non-reducing sugar (1.62%) and lowest hue angle (ho=38.83) were found maximum in hybrid ‘Shahanshah’. The maximum heritability (broad sense) estimates were noted for total sugar (100%) and non-reducing sugar (100%). The study depicted the scope of further improvement of these traits through selection procedure and these genotypes could be considered for further heterosis breeding programme for future improvement.

ABSTRACT Soil fertility in many parts of the north‒western Himalayan region (NWHR) has declined owing to accelerated nutrient mining under existing crop regime. Therefore, this study aimed to assess effect of the predominant horticulture‒based land uses on soil fertility and health in mid and high hills of NWHR. Soil samples (0‒20 cm) were collected, analyzed for different soil chemical attributes (pH, electrical conductivity, organic C, available primary-, secondary-, and micro-nutrients), and compared across five key land uses: perennial grass (PG), peach orchard (PO), apple orchard (AO), field vegetable farming (VF), and protected vegetable farming (PV). Soils of the investigated land uses were neutral to near neutral in soil reaction (6.3‒6.8) except field vegetable and protected vegetable farming. Amount of soil organic C and labile organic C was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in soils of apple orchards (18.6 g kg‒1 and 687.3 mg kg‒1, respectively) and peach orchards (20.4 g kg‒1 and 731.3 mg kg‒1, respectively) over others. An abrupt and significant increase in Olsen-P was recorded in soils of field vegetable farming (17.1 mg kg‒1) and protected vegetable farming (13.0 mg kg‒1), which shifted their nutrient index (NI) of P in to high category (≥ 2.33). The concentration of mineralizable-N in soil was statistically at par in soils under perennial grass and fruit orchards, while protected vegetable farming showed maximum soil mineralizable-N content (115.5 mg kg‒1) and NI of nitrogen (1.83). The NI was in high category (≥ 2.33) for copper, iron, and manganese in majority of the land uses. In view of the results, temperate fruit‒tree based land uses are benign in up‒keeping soil fertility and soil health, and needs promotion on large scale. Additionally, policies to create incentives for the build-up of soil organic matter and replenishment of the depleted soil macro and micro nutrients in vegetable-farmed lands are warranted.

An experiment was conducted under polyhouse and field conditions during 2013, 2014 and 2015 to evaluate the level of resistance of less known apple rootstock, i.e. Paron (Malus baccata var. himalaica) and some popular rootstocks of the region (MM 106, MM 111, M 9 and Srinagar crab) against white root rot disease. All the test rootstocks were grafted with CITH Lodh Apple-1 before their use in field conditions. Paron showed high resistance against D. necatrix by exhibiting least mortality (15.33%) at highest test dose (10 g/kg soil) of inoculum in pot culture under polyhouse, whereas other test rootstocks showed 100 percent mortality at this dose of inoculum. In the field, Paron showed no wilting symptoms on scion cultivar even after 60 days of inoculation, it showed least bronzing and inward cupping of leaves (3.25%), defoliation (3.50%), necrosis on bark (21 mm), wood (17 mm) and vascular tissues (23 mm). It was rated as resistant against D. necatrix as compared to other test rootstocks on the basis of significantly lowest disease severity (4.35%) and least effect of test pathogen inoculation on its above and below ground parts. Srinagar crab was rated as highly susceptible in comparison as, it exhibited significantly highest disease severity (69.80%). From this study, it can be inferred that the rootstock of Paron should be used for shaping production of apple in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a globally famous vegetable and is used in a variety of ways, including eaten fresh, added as a spice or prepared as a main ingredient in cooking. Pungent and sweet taste, texture, and several other qualities are required for onions to be suitable as processing ingredients. In this study the evaluation of onion genotypes for growth, yield and quality in hill condition in order to achieve more production and productivity objective. However, there is great potential for increasing area, production and productivity of this crop in the hill region, and hence, there is an urgent need to evaluate different long day onion genotypes. Therefore, significant variation among the 50 genotypes of onion was observed for all the traits viz., plant height, leaf length, number of leaves/plant, polar and equatorial diameter of bulbs, average bulb weight, total soluble solids, percentage of grade (A, B and c) of bulb, total yield (q/ha) and % weight loss after 2 month of storage. It was also observed that moderate for bulb weight was positively associated with polar diameter and length of bulb. For improving bulb yield component traits in onion, the generation of genetically broad base population using diverse genotypes in breeding programme is advocated. the highest bulb yield (1061.30 q/ha) was recorded in genotypes oN-15-33, followed by 911.70 q/ha and 889.10 q/ha in oN-14-23 and oLr-1343, respectively. the weight loss % after 2 months of storage recorded minimum in genotypes oN-1388 (3.33%). Estimates of heritability in number of leaves/plant (18.60%) and total bulb yield q/ha (99.00%). the average bulb weight and yield/m2 is positively correlated with bulb yield (q/ha).

Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum is the most widely cultivated species of pepper which finds use in culinary and medicinal industry. Genetic divergence among 20 germplasm, collected from diverse locations of India, was estimated on 18 morphological, growth and chemotypic characteristics. Based on above characterization, the genotypes were grouped into 7 clusters. Cluster II had maximum number of genotypes (06), followed by Cluster I and III (4 each) and IV (3); whereas cluster V, VI and VII had only one genotype each. The highest (35.91) inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster VI and VII and lowest (12.66) between cluster I and II. Cluster IV (D-2 24.35) exhibited highest intra-cluster distance whereas cluster I had lowest intra-cluster distance (D-2 6.28). On the basis of cluster means, genotypes viz., 'CITH-M-SP-12', 'UHF-1' and 'SP-461' contributed maximum towards genetic divergence for high ascorbic acid content, TSS, reducing and total sugars content. Considering diversity pattern and other horticultural performance, 'CITH-M-SP-2' from cluster VI may be considered as one of the better parents in hybridization programme for most growth and yield parameters.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of 18 apple cultivars. The highest fruit yield (46.11 kg/tree), fruit weight (217.33 g), fruit volume (231.67 cc), fruit length (6.98 cm) and fruit diameter (8.22 cm) was recorded in 'Spur Type Red Delicious'. The lowest fruit yield (19.12 kg/tree) and fruit length (4.33 cm) was recorded in 'Chaubattia Anupam'; while, lowest average fruit weight (64.67 g), fruit volume (63.33 cc) and fruit diameter (5.32 cm) was observed in 'Gloster'. The maximum TSS was recorded in 'Skyline Supreme' (14.73 degrees B) and minimum was in 'Chaubattia Princess' (11.26 degrees B). However, the highest titratable acidity was recorded in 'Golden Delicious' (0.66%) and lowest in 'Chaubattia Princess' (0.14%). The cultivar 'Skyline Supreme' possessing highest values for ascorbic acid (8.25 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (9.62%), total sugars (12.42%), total carotenoids (235.73 mu g/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (41.95 mMTE/L) while 'Prima' exhibited lowest values of ascorbic acid (3.92 mg/100 g) and total sugar contents (6.15%). The lowest values for reducing sugars (5.13%), total carotenoids (79.45 mu g/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (30.66 mM TE/L) were recorded in 'Gloster', 'Vermont Spur' and 'Stark Spur', respectively. The cultivar 'Golden Delicious' is the most luminous (L*=84.86) and having the highest yellow colour (b*= 67.10) and hue angle (h degrees = 87.41), whereas 'Chaubattia Anupam' showed the highest red colour (a*= 54.15) and Chroma (C*= 67.53). From this investigation it can be inferred that the cultivar 'Spur Type Red Delicious' and 'Skyline Supreme' performed better in the region under prevailing climatic conditions.

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi 2014-2015 at Experimental Farm of Division of Vegetable Science SKUAST-K Shalimar to find out the suitable nutrient management practices for enhanced growth and yield attributes of Chinese cabbage. Based on VC, FYM, SM, and BDC, the experiment was comprised of 13 treatments (including RDF) with or without biofertilizers and laid out in RCBD with three replications. Data revealed that VC @ 6.6t/ha + AB + PSB + KSB (T4) recorded maximum plant height (30.33cm), fresh weight (1170.00 g plant-1), dry weight (64.37 g plant-1) and shoot/ root dry weight ratio (16.46) at 60 DAT against the minimum plant height (22.67cm), fresh weight (578.33g plant-1), dry weight (31.59 g plant-1) and shoot/ root dry weight ratio (10.93) in 50% nutrient application through inorganic + 50% through FYM (T6). While talking about RGR, T4 further verified its superiority by presenting higher RGRs (0.97 and 0.743 g.g1day-1), no. of folded leaves (30.33plant-1), head diameter (6.50 cm), head length (21.16cm), head weight (613.33g) and head compactness of (1.89) coupled with least number of days taken to head initiation (19.33) in opposition to the significantly lowest values of folded leaves, head diameter, head length, head weight and head compactness (0.86) coupled with maximum number of days taken to head initiation in T6 which was immaterially trailed by T1 i.e. RDF.

Vegetable crops, the important components of horticulture and effective supplements of nutrition, assume great significance in providing food and nutritional security along with to generate employment in the country. The demand for fresh vegetable has increasing trend owing to growth of health conscious population and enhanced income. The challenges ahead are to have sustainability and competitiveness and to achieve the targeted production to meet the availability of 300g/caput/day. Challenges are to produce more vegetables from shrinking land and declining water in the scenario of climate change. Microorganisms are important attributes in agriculture to promote the circulation of plant nutrients and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. Effective microorganism are organic products containing living cells of different International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Special Issue-7 pp. 2575-2581 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

An experiment was conducted at ICAR-CITH, Regional Station, Mukteshwar, Nainital, Uttarakhand in ten apple cultivars to assess the physico-chemical changes and shelf-life at ambient storage conditions for 49 days. The physiological loss in weight, TSS, reducing sugars, total sugars, non-reducing sugars and fruit decay percentage increased, while fruit firmness, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content and organoleptic score decreased during storage in all cultivars. Cultivar Skyline Supreme exhibited lowest physiological loss in weight (7.77%), highest TSS (14.93 degrees B) and organoleptic score (7.19) than other apple cultivars. However, the cv. Red Chief exhibited highest ascorbic acid (12.32 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (8.89%) and total sugars (10.59%) and the cv. Bright-N-Early exhibited highest fruit firmness (8.18 lb/in(2)) and lowest fruit decay (5.05%) than other apple cultivars. Conclusively, Skyline Supreme, Red Chief and Bright-N-Early have better shelf-life than other apple cultivars under ambient storage conditions.

Comparative Assessment of Physico-Chemical Characteristics among Different Peach Cultivars under Mid Hill Conditions of Uttarakhand

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of five kiwifruit cultivars viz., Monty, Hayward, Allison, Bruno and Abbott in the year 2016. The highest fruit yield (70.28 kg/tree), fruit length (71.73 mm), fruit weight (61.66 g) and fruit volume (60.41 cc) were recorded in cultivar Allison. The lowest fruit yield (25.12 kg/tree) and fruit length (52.20 mm) were recorded in Hayward, while lowest fruit weight (53.84 g) and fruit volume (52.70 cc) were estimated under Monty. The fruit firmness was found highest (7.53 lb/in2) in Hayward, while the lowest (2.37 lb/in2) in Monty. The highest T. S. S. (13.50°B) was found in Allison, while lowest (11.67°B) in Abbott, whereas highest acidity (2.39%) was recorded in Monty and lowest (1.89%) in Abbott. The highest ascorbic acid (110.47 mg/100 g), carotene content (354.33 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (37.04 mMTE/L) was recorded in Bruno, while lowest ascorbic acid (89.52 mg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (31.14 mMTE/L) were recorded in Hayward. The lowest carotene content (218.56 μg/100 g) was recorded in Monty. The highest reducing (7.04%) and total sugars (8.31%) were found in Monty, while lowest reducing (4.56%) and total sugars (5.10%) in Hayward. Therefore, Allison followed by Bruno cultivar of kiwifruit needs to be popularize in the region in view of yield and physicochemical performance.

Comparative Physico-Chemical Properties of Fresh and Gummosis Affected Peach (Prunus persica) var. Red June Grown in Uttarakhand