An experiment was conducted at Plant Pathology Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur during cropping season of T-Aman, 2008. All the four plant extracts viz. garlic clove extract, neem leaf extract, bishkatali leaf extract and allamanda leaf extract were used to control major seedling diseases and to observe seedling quality of rice. Extract of garlic clove followed by neem leaf extract gave the best result in controlling all the target seedling diseases viz. brown spot, leaf blast, seedling blight, narrow brown leaf spot, bacterial leaf blight and foot and root rot. Besides, garlic clove extract was found to be most effective for producing highest healthy seedlings with reducing diseased seedlings. Simultaneously highest root and shoot length and vigor index were also observed with the seed samples treated with garlic clove extracts.

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Screening of tomato genotypes under different concentration of salt-stresses was carried out to find out the salt tolerant tomato germplasm on different Morpho-physiological attributes during October 2011 to February 2012 at the hydroponics laboratory of the Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). Seven tomato genotypes viz., C-71, C11 x C51, C-51, WP7, WP8, WP2 and BARI Hybrid Tomato-4 and four salinity levels viz.,(control, 4, 6, 10 dS/m) were imposed at pre-flowering stage of tomato genotypes were grown in nutrient solutions. Twenty day old seedlings were transplanted in nutrient solutions. Table salt was added in the nutrient solution to develop salinity of 4, 6 and 10 dS/m. Leaf photosynthesis rate and chlorophyll fluorescence measures were used to evaluate genotypes against salinity. Photosynthetic data reflected Genotype C-71 was fairly tolerant to salinity levels up to 10 dS/m^-1 while Genotype WP-7 was found sensitive to salinity. Chlorophyll fluorescence intensity of dark adopted leaves of genotypes might be due to high potential in Ribulose carboxylase (RuBP) of Photo System II.

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An experiment was carried out at the laboratory of plant physiology section of HRC during the rabi season of 2011-2012 taking tomato (cv. Ratan) fruits of three maturity stages (mature green, breaker and half ripen) and six ethrel levels (control, 125, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm) to find out the suitable stage of fruit maturity for post harvest application of ethrel and also to determine the optimum dose of ethrel for tomato ripening. The source of ethrel was Prolong (ethrel 40% W/W). The visual color and firmness changes during ripening at 24.5˚C ± 1˚C and 65-70% relative humidity were evaluated. Different maturity stages, ethrel levels and their combinations showed significant variation in different physical and chemical characteristics of tomato studied. The highest value of rotting was shown by half ripen tomatoes. The 1000 and 2000 ppm ethrel gave the maximum rotting irrespective of maturity stages. However, the maximum weight loss and shelf life were found in green mature tomatoes. The shelf life of tomato fruits treated with 250 and 500 ppm was also high level. The percentage of rotting and weight loss was increased with gradual advancement of time. The highest value of weight loss and shelf life was recorded in green mature and breaker stage tomatoes without ethrel and with 250-500 ppm ethrel treatment. The highest value of vitamin-C, TSS and titrable acidity were shown by half ripen and pH by green mature tomatoes at different day of storage. The ethrel concentration. of 250-2000 ppm gave maximum vitamin-C and TSS at different storage time. Mature green and breaker stage tomatoes treated with 250-500 ppm ethrel produced maximum TSS at 9 days of storage. Treatment with 250-2000 ppm ethrel hastened the color changes by 3 days when compared with control fruits both in mature green and breaker stage.

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Women continue to form a crucial part of Nigeria’s farming community, not particularly due to their sheer large number but also because of their participation in the production of highly needed food crops such as vegetables. Vegetable production is fast becoming an attractive livelihood alternative among rural and peri-urban farmers in many parts of Nigeria. However, vegetable farming and women farmers generally have so far not received adequate institutional attention in Nigeria. This study investigated the extension needs of women vegetable farmers in Kwara State, north-central Nigeria, with a view to enhancing evidence-based extension programming. Systematic random sampling was used to select 208 women vegetable farmers, while trained enumerators collected relevant data with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of positively presented items on a 4-5 point Likert-type scales. Data analysis revealed that most respondents used traditional low-yielding production and management techniques and consequently earned meager income. Furthermore, less than 30% of them had any previous extension contact. Even though, nearly 60% of respondents were somewhat aware of modern production techniques, only few had tried, and fewer still had adopted up to 40% of the techniques. Respondents’ major perceived adoption constraint was ‘lack of capital’. But their low knowledge level concerning some relatively affordable modern and better result-yielding vegetable production and management techniques was palpable from the data collected. This has limited most of them to wet season vegetable production. The study further revealed that respondents require crucial extension intervention in the areas of farm information sourcing, irrigation, crop protection, soil improvement, storage and marketing. It is imperative that extension should form an integral component of agricultural and rural development initiatives. Skill and knowledge needs of farmers should not only be given priority, but must also be prioritized.

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A field experiment on coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) was taken at the five irrigation levels, consisting of no irrigation, one irrigation at branching stage (30 DAS), two irrigations, one at branching stage and other at flowering stage (60 DAS), two irrigations, one at branching and other at seed filling stage (90 DAS) and three irrigations, each at branching, flowering and seed filling stage. The experiment was conducted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh with a view to observing the effect of irrigation on seed yield and yield attributes of coriander and determining the irrigation schedule of coriander for achieving its highest yield potential. The results revealed that three irrigations application of branching, flowering and seedfilling stage was the effecting performance in respect of seed yield attributes and produced the maximum seed yield (2.10 t/ha). The maximum total water use (TWU) was recorded from three irrigations (151.31 mm) but the highest total water use efficiency (TWUE) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) were obtained from two irrigations (141.65 kg/ha/cm and 205.90 kg/ha/cm, respectively). The three irrigations gave the highest gross margin of Tk 58564/ha with the maximum BCR of 2.26.

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A 10×10 diallel experiment was conducted on groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to explore the genetic mechanism of yield and its related traits. The data obtained from the experiment were subjected to analysis of variance. The analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among the parents and their hybrids in F₁ generation for all the character were studied in the experiment. The observations were recorded on 50% flowering, plant height, harvest index, pod size, 100 pod weight, 100 kernel weight, diseases infection and yield per hectare, respectively. It reveals that additive and non-additive gene action was involved in the inheritance of this character. Hayman’s ANOVA in accordance with Morley Jone’s modification reveals that both additive (a) and dominance (b) components were significant and exclusively control this character. Graphical analysis revealed non additive gene action with overdominance for harvest index, 100 pod weight, 100 kernel weight and pod index. Additive gene action with overdominance was found for pod size and diseases infection. Genetic analyses of traits confirm the involvement of additive and non-additive gene effects in governing the inheritance of these traits. No epistatic effects were found for all the traits under consideration. From these results, it could be concluded that selection for all the traits under study would be effective in early generation within limits of this experiment.

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The effect of moisture levels and storage containers on the seed quality of chickpea was investigated in the laboratory of Department of Agronomy, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) Dinajpur, Bangladesh during April-July 2009. Three seed container viz, sealed container, polythene bag and gunny bag and three moisture level i.e. 8.88 %, 12.23 % and 14.10 % were included in the study. Chickpea seeds with 8.88% initial moisture level were found in good condition in respect of germination, less number of abnormal and dead seedlings, better shoot and root length, vigour index and poor fungal incidence. The highest germination percent was found 81.12−88.36%, while the lowest percent of abnormal seedling (9.21−13.00%) and dead seedling (3.39−7.20%) was found in chickpea with 8.88% the initial moisture level at different storage periods. Fungal incidence was found less in chickpea seeds with the same initial moisture level. Among the storage condition, sealed container was found the advantage for chickpea seed storage compared to the usage of polythene bag and gunny bag. The seed container of gunny bag was also found in inferior condition in case of above parameters. Interaction between sealed container and moisture level at 8.88% was performed better in all aspects compared to the gunny bag with 14.10% moisture level. Our results concluded that optimum moisture level and ideal storage condition has the greatest benefit on the quality seeds.

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Performance of fifteen papaya genotypes was studied at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Ishwardi, Pabna during 2010-2011. Wide range of variabilities was found among the fifteen genotypes. The highest plant height and base girth were exhibited in the genotype PP-38 (131.67cm) and (21.67cm). Moreover, the lowest plant height and base girth were also exhibited in local genotype (111.67cm) and PB-14 (16.33cm). Genotype PB-18 produced the maximum number of fruit per plant (48.0) where as the minimum (10.00) was in PRO-23. The highest yield (89.82t/ha) was obtained from PB-18, which was statistically differed from the other genotypes. The lowest yield (28.00 t/ha) was produced by local genotype. The genotypes PP-36 (81.50 t/ha), PJ-22 (66.32 t/ha), PP-31 (65.80 t/ha) and PB-14 (57.57 t/ha) also showed good yield performance. The PB-38 had the maximum TSS(14%), which was statistically identical to PB-18 (13.6%), and it was closely followed by PP-36 (12.25%). The minimum (6.59%) TSS was recorded from ISD-002, which was statistically similar to local (7.0%).

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Thirty one genotypes of mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) were evaluated to estimate the variation based on the difference of quantitative characters. All genotypes that are significantly differed with these characters were belonged 6 groups (Clusters I to VI) by principal component analysis. The components of each clusters were varied from 1 to 9 genotypes. Cluster VI comprised of 9 genotypes, followed by cluster IV consisting of 8 genotypes and cluster V consisting of 6 genotypes. However, there were existed at 4 genotypes in clusters I, 3 genotypes in cluster II and 1 genotypes in cluster III, respectively. Maximum intracluster distance was observed in Cluster IV (9.28), followed by Cluster VI (8.70) indicating the wide genetic variability within the genotypes belonging to the two clusters. By evaluating the intercluster distance, the maximum value was obtained between Clusters I and III at the value of 27.60, followed by cluster II and III (25.95) indicating maximum diversity between the genotypes belonging to the two clusters. The minimum intercluster distance between Clusters II and VI (5.24) indicated that the genotypes of these clusters were genetically the least diverse genotype and almost of the same genetic architecture. Cluster III exhibited the highest mean value for nodes of 1st peduncle, cluster per plant, cluster on main stem, cluster on branches, primary branches per plant and pods per plant. Whereas cluster I had the lowest days to maturity and maximum pods per cluster as well as the highest grain yield per plant.

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An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during December 2008 to May 2009 in order to evaluate the effect of spacing of transplanting, rate of urea super granules (USG) and depth of their placement on the yield of Boro rice. The experiment consisted to two spacing of transplanting, three rates of USG and three depths of placement of USG were considered. Experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Our results revealed that the effect of spacing of transplanting was significant in respect of yield and most of the plant characters. The higher grain yield (4.46 t/ha) was obtained from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting than 20cm × 25cm spacing of transplanting (4.24 t/ha). Effect of rates of USG significantly influenced all the yield contributing characters except weight of 1000-grain and crop characters length of panicle. The highest grain yield (4.73 t/ha) was obtained at 2.7g USG (68 kg N/ha). Effect of depth of placement of USG significantly influenced the yield, yield attributes and growth characters of the crop except length of panicle and weight of 1000-grain. The highest grain yield (5.08 t/ha) was obtained when the crop was grown with 8 cm depth of placement of USG. USG placement at a depth of 6 cm gave the lowest grain yield (3.73 t/ha). From the interaction of spacing of transplanting and rate of USG, the highest grain yield (4.82 t/ha) was obtained from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting × 68 kg N/ha and the lowest grain yield (3.75 t/ha) was obtained from 20cm × 25cm spacing of transplanting × 1.8g USG (46 kg N/ha). From the interaction of effect of spacing of transplanting and depth, the highest grain yield (5.30 t/ha) was obtained from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting × 8 cm depth and the lowest grain yield (3.68 t/ha) from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting × 6 cm depth. From the interaction of rate of USG and depth, the highest grain yield (5.27 t/ha) was obtained from the interaction of 2.7g USG (68 kg N/ha) × 8 cm depth and the lowest grain yield (3.21 t/ha) was also obtained from 1.8g USG (46 kg N/ha) × 6 cm depth. From the interaction of spacing of transplanting, rate of USG and depth, the highest grain yield (5.39 t/ha) was obtained from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting × 2.7g USG (68 kg N/ha) × 8 cm depth and the lowest grain yield (3.19 t/ha) was also obtained from 20cm × 20cm spacing of transplanting × 1.8g USG (46 kg N/ha) × 6 cm depth. It may be concluded that BRRI dhan29 with spacing of transplanting of 20cm × 20cm in combination with 2.7g USG (68 kg N/ha) and 8 cm depth of its placement appeared as the promising practice to maximize the yield of boro rice.

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In Bangladesh, more than 70% of the population are engaged in agriculture, however, the income of the farmer is still low compare to other professions due to lack of proper information related to advanced agricultural production techniques and poor marketing system. In order to improve such situation, Kyushu University, Japan along with three Bangladesh collaborative partners has conducted a 3 year long grass-root project supported by JICA. The aim of the project has been to generate income for small (low income, small or no land owners) BOP (Bottom of Pyramid) farmers by providing the knowledge of chemical free farming through ICT (Information Communication Technology). In this article, we introduce the challenges we faced and summarize the impact of the project on socio-economic improvement of targeted farmers.

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