Research
Selection and Precise Varietal Recommender System
A field experiment in a randomized block design was conducted during Rabi season 2019-2020 on 13 wheat varieties with the twin objectives of objectively selecting and precisely recommending the suitable plant types to farmers of Deoria district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The varieties were evaluated on 12 characters like plant height (cm), flag leaf area (cm2), peduncle length (cm), spike length (cm), effective tillers, grains per spike (grain number), grain weight (g), spikelets per spike, test weight (g), grain yield per plant (g), biological yield per plant (g) and harvest index (%). Normalized cumulative ranks were used to objectively select suitable crop ideotypes. The top five varieties viz., HD-2967, MACS-6222, HUW-669, K-0307 and HUW-213 were precisely recommended to farmers of this region for cultivation.
Relative Performance and Karnal Bunt Infestation of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L. Em. Thell.) Accessions in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Twenty wheat accessions were evaluated on 11 parameters in an experiment at Center for Research and Development (CRD), Gaunar, Usaraha, Gorakhpur, U. P. in a randomized block design with three replications. The objectives of the experiment were to assess the relative performance of the accessions on various parameters and extent of Karnal bunt (KB) infestation. Normalized cumulative ranks were used to assess the relative performance of accessions. KOH seed soaking technique was used to assess the extent of Karnal bunt infestation. Based on normalized accumulating ranks the performance order of wheat accessions is BHU-25, HPST-16-17-16, HPAN-101,HPAN-57, PBW-677, CRD Gehu 1, BHU-31, ANKUR, HPST-16-17-07, HPAN-111, HPAN-127, HPAN-65, HPST-16-17-15, PBW-Zn 1, HPAN-42, HPAN-164, HD-2967, WB-02, ZINCOL and HPAN-147. All the 20 accessions of wheat were susceptible to Karnal bunt and infestation ranged from 3.67% (HPST-16-17-15) to 70.33% (HPAN-147). High performers and least bunt infested accessions like BHU-25, HPST-16-17-16, HPAN-101, HPAN-57 and PBW-677 could be further investigated or directly recommended for cultivation in this area.
Multi-Criteria Selection in Gram (Cicer arietinum L.) Germplasm
An experiment involving 12 genotypes of Gram (Cicer arietinum L) was carried out at B. R. D. P. G. college farm to select varieties close to ideal plant types through a multi-criteria selection. These genotypes were grown in three replications under standard package of practices to raise a good crop. These genotypes were evaluated on 12 characters namely, plant height, days to 50% flowering, primary branches/plant, secondary branches/plant, days to maturity, number of pods/plant, number of seeds/plant, biological yield/plant, seed yield/plant and the harvest index. The normalized cumulative rank analysis was used to find out a preference order of these genotypes. The preference order is PUSA 362, P-3719, CSG-151, E-100YM, ICCI6015, GNG1581, RADHA, IPC 94-94, ICC15850, ICC 3535, ICC1009 and KWR 108. The top five genotypes from these could be recommended to farmers for cultivation in this region. A single table is enough to present the results of such experiments. The top two varieties were compared with ideal plant type and the best one (PUSA 362) could be further improved by crossing it with CSG515, IPC 94-94, ICC3535 and KWR 108.
Normalized Cumulative Ranks for Maize Breeding and Varietal Recommender System
Nine varieties of maize (Zea mays L.) namely H4226, RAJAJI, TMMH826, TATA 849, KAVERI 25K-60, RMH 1818, KANAK, BISCO-940 and RASI 4640 were evaluated on thirteen parameters in a randomized block design with three replications. The objectives of the experiment were to select suitable plant types based on considering all the thirteen parameters, suggesting scope for further improvement and recommending suitable maize ideotypes for cultivation by farmers of this region. Normalized cumulative ranks analysis found BISCO-940, KAVERI 25K-60, H4226, TATA 849 and TMMH826 to be top five varieties that could be recommended to farmers for cultivation on the criteria of less number of leaves per plant, small and narrow leaves with high venation, early tasseling and silking, dwarf plant types with lower cob placement, long cobs with less number of bracts for ease of peeling off the cobs and thick cobs with more kernels and kernel rows. There is scope for further improvement in the top performer variety BISCO-940 in characters like cob length, & early tasseling and silking. All these three characters could be improved by crossing BISCO-940 with a single variety TMMH826. If this cross proves to be a heterotic combination then a hybrid maize variety could be thought or synthetics and composites could be developed from top five best performers. Thus, normalized cumulative ranks analysis is an excellent versatile tool for plant breeding and varietal recommender system.
