The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, during the period from November 2008 to March 2009 to investigate the effect of IAA and phosphorus on the growth and yield of French bean. The experiment consisted of two factors, one factor is three levels of IAA and other factor is four levels of phosphorus. BARI Zhar Sheem-1 was used as a test crop. Application of IAA and phosphorus at different levels had positive impact on growth, yield and yield components of French bean. The highest (17.59 t/ha) green pod yield of French bean was observed in 30 ppm IAA application and the lowest (12.50 t/ha) was obtained from control treatment. On the other hand, the highest (18.16 t/ha) green pod yield was recorded from 130 kg P₂O₅/ha application and the lowest (12.63 t/ha) was obtained from control treatment. The highest green pod yield (18.97 t/ha) was obtained from the combination of 30 ppm IAA and 130 kg P₂O₅/ha application plot and the lowest (10.00 t/ha) was in control condition. The maximum (3.65) benefit cost ratio was obtained due to application of 30 ppm IAA and 130 kg P₂O₅/ha, while the lowest (2.07) in control condition. Therefore, the best results were obtained from 30 ppm IAA and combination with 130 kg P₂O₅/ha.

The strategy employed in the management of Meloidogyne incognita on tomato is to use some nematicides. This has however risen environmental and health concerns. In order to maintain environmental and human health protection coupled with the necessity to consume healthy foods, there is essential for an alternative nematode control method which does not leave residuals nor pollute environment in anyway. The influence of agricultural wastes (corncobs, rice husks and sorghum husk) and a synthetic nematicide carbofuran was evaluated on Meloidogyne incognita infected tomato plants. The agricultural wastes significantly (p=0.05) reduced nematode population, especially sorghum husk was the most effective to enhance tomato yield to reduced Meloidogyne incognita population. The use of agricultural wastes with soil admixing substantially reduces the population of Meloidogyne incognita, thus discouraging the application of synthetic nematicides.

An experiment on tomato was conducted at the Net House Premises of Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur during the winter season from Nov.2013 to Feb. 2014. The major objective of the study was to assess the salinity tolerance ability of promising tomato genotypes for the identification of salt tolerant ones. Six levels (1.14, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 dS/m) of irrigation water salinity were imposed to three genotypes of tomato V₁ (BARI Hybrid Tomato 4), V₂ (BARI Hybrid Tomato 5) and V₃ (BARI Hybrid Tomato 8). The pot experiment was set up in a Completely Randomized Design with 3 replications. Salinity was imposed as per treatments at the pre flowering stage of 45 and 55 DAS. The photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and intercellular CO₂ concentration was the highest for the V₃ was at 14.56, 3.09, 0.25 and 199.75 mol/ms, respectively. The ration of Potassium: sodium ratio for V₁, V₂ and V₃ was 3.43, 3.55 and 3.72, respectively, which indicates their adaptability under salt stressed situation to a considerable extent, where the performance of V₃ was slightly better compared to the other two varieties. Increasing levels of salinity resulted in lower SPAD values in leaves regardless of genotype. Photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and intercellular CO₂ concentration showed significant negative linear relationships with electrical conductivity of the irrigation water. Sodium salt stress showed antagonistic effect on the absorption of N, P, K, Mg and, S while it was synergistic for Ca concentration although root Ca concentration showed declining trend. Considering all studied traits and yield potentiality, BARI hybrid tomato 8 can be regarded as the salt tolerant genotypes.

This study examined the capacity building needs of entrepreneurial skills among yam entrepreneur farmers in Ekiti state, Nigeria. Data were collected on respondents’ socio economic characteristic, task and skill gap of entrepreneurial activities. Data were analysed with frequency, percentage, mean and multiple regression analysis. Findings shows that respondents were fairly old (mean age=55years), literate (67.5%), small-scale (mean= 0.96 hectare farm size) and household size (mean=6persons). Respondents had low proficiency and needed to be trained for capacity building for sourcing and use of necessary farm tools/machinery (mean=1.85), operating farm machinery (mean=1.21), processing yam tubers into different products (mean=2.28), sourcing for fund to finance yam farming and processing activities (mean=1.75), value addition skills in processing yam tuber to different products (mean=2.41), packaging skills of yam produce and processed products (mean=2.66), keeping basic records of farm income and expenses(mean=2.44), planning, prioritising and organising yam farming tasks (mean=2.26), assessing and managing yam enterprise risks (mean=1.22), precautionary practices against yam enterprise related hazards (mean=2.34), identifying and cooperating with government bodies (mean=1.54), team working skills, and persuasive communication and negotiation skills (mean=2.36). The study concluded that yam entrepreneur farmers are had low proficiency in several yam entrepreneurial skills. It was therefore recommended that yam entrepreneur farmers in Ekiti State should be trained in the needed areas of yam entrepreneurial skills.

The application of mobile telephones in fish farming seems to be moving gradually towards to effective and efficient to the farmers. Problem faced by fish farmers for getting agricultural information have been made easier, cheaper and faster by the use of mobile phones. The study examined the assessment of the use of mobile phone as an information communication channel among fish farmers in Lagos state, Nigeria. The research design was subjected for a survey in which data was obtained from 160 registered fish farmers in Lagos state, comprising of Epe and Badagry Local Government Areas who were purposively selected for the study. The survey instrument used was questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyse data. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were male with average age of 43 years and married with average years of fish farming experience of 12 years. It was further revealed that all the respondents had access to mobile phones. The mobile phone services that are majorly used by respondents is the phone call, SMS, flashing and radio. They majorly use this services to access information mainly on feed, fish processing/preservation, drugs, fingerling, equipment, and fish harvesting/ techniques from majorly extension agent, input service provider and colleagues. However, the use of mobile phones was constrained by the problem of low quality from services provider, high cost of mobile phone, fluctuating services and erratic power supply. The study recommended that national telecommunication policy and supporting infrastructure should be established to support mobile phone technical services to reduce fluctuating services and provision of adequate power supply to enhance fish farming production in the Lagos state.

The experiment was conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Ishwardi, Pabna during rabi season of 2014-15 to find out the appropriate dose of Molybdenum for seed production of cauliflower (var. BARI Phulcopi-1). Five Mo doses (0 kg/ha, 0.5 kg/ha, 1.0 kg/ha, 1.5 kg/ha and 2.0 kg/ha) and three application method (100% basal, 50% basal + 50% foliar spray and 100% foliar spray) were used as treatment variables. Maximum number (16.33) of leaves/plant was found in 2 kg Mo/ha as basal application which was statistically similar to 1.5 kg Mo/ha (16.00) as basal application and minimum number (13.33) of leaves/plant was recorded from control. The highest seed yield (240.71 kg/ha) was obtained from 1.5 kg Mo/ha used as 50% basal + 50% foliar spray and the lower seed yield (122.76 kg/ha) was obtained from control. The highest gross return (Tk 2407100), gross margin (Tk2211525) and benefit-cost ratio (12.31) wererecorded from the same treatment.

Red colour bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) was coated either with chitosan (1.5% and 2% solution) or Aloe vera (AV) gel and the coated surface was air dried by using high speed fan. Coated peppers were kept into paper cartoon and stored in ambient condition (25±2°C and 55±5% RH). The success of coating in retaining postharvest quality of bell pepper was evaluated by determining respiration rate, ethylene production, firmness, weight loss, external colour change, ß-carotene content, ascorbic acid content, TSS, pH, fungal decay and sensory quality. The incidence of rot started on 6 days after in uncoated bell pepper. Fruits coated with 1.5% chitosan affected by fungal decay on 9 days after storage. On the other hand, rot incidence was initiated in 2% chitosan and AV gel coated bell peppers on 12 days after storage. AV gel or chitosan coating reduced respiration rate, weight loss, decay and preserved colours, firmness, ascorbic acid content and other quality parameters. Therefore, delaying the progress of bell pepper decay due to senescence or microbial attack was observed.

The study described socio-economic characteristics of participants, investigated motivating factors, benefits and threats posed by the hunting expedition. A three stage sample technique was used to select 100 participants used as respondents. A highly reliable (0.78) interview schedule was used for data collection, and analyzed using frequency, table, meal) and Chisquare.

Findings showed that the mean age of participants was 35.16 years while 83 % were literate. The hunting expedition was motivated by the desire to access animal protein and socialize while the accrued benefits include spiritual and mental health purposes. However, the participants’ income and employability were not enhanced; rather the hunting led to poor social capital development, extinction of plants, animals and loss of lives. In addition, the hunting was not a suitable surrogate to agricultural production as means of livelihood. There was a significant relationship among age (Χ ² = 991.365, tabulated = 64.402, p = 0.000); education attained (Χ ² = 139.651, tabulated = 5.060, p = 0.000) and participation in the hunting expedition. Since the literate youths were involved, they should be empowered in modem farming practices, to disabuse their minds from hunting while the scheme is outlawed in order to curtail its negative impacts on economic and social development of participants.

D-mannitol addition as a co-substrate with methanol at the induction phase during fermentation by Pichia pastoris (Mut+) is a new beneficial technology for recombinant protein production. The major challenges as heat generation and high oxygen demand are increasing during induction phases with methanol at large scale and this causes high oxygen demand during cultivation time. One way possible to reduce the oxygen demand for getting more protein productivity is the addition of D-mannitol along with methanol during induction time. The co-feeding strategy was optimized to produce phytase activity of 10280 U/ml which is two and half time higher compare to methanol fed alone and we suggest that it could be used as food additives for non-ruminant animals. A deep understanding of regulation of AOX1 promoter is that, the physiology of the cells which are being used to govern protein production during methanol/D-mannitol strategy is still not developed at large.

Thermal stratification occurs in water bodies because of the heat that is absorbed during daytime and the heat that is released during nighttime. Understanding the behavior of water temperature in shallow waters is important for practical applications in aquaculture. In this study, thermal stratification in the closed saline water bodies of three aquaculture ponds has been investigated with different initial salinities of 0, 15, and 30 psu at the Klongwan Fisheries Research Station, Kasetsart University in the Prachuap Khirikhan province, Thailand. Further, the weather and the vertical profiles of water temperature were measured at 10-min intervals from June 1 to October 31, 2017. During the observation period, the solar radiation at noon time was approximately 400-700 W/m², the air pressure was higher than 100 kPa, and the air temperature was approximately 25 °C-35 °C. Further, rainfall occurred only for a short duration, and only a low amount of rainfall was received during the observation period. Over the whole observation period, 90% of the observed wind speeds was less than 4 knot, while the remaining 10% of the recorded speeds was high and ranged from 5 to 10 knot. A high wind speed was observed during nighttime. After sunrise, short-term stratification was observed during daytime, and stratification disappeared gradually as the water surface started cooling. The disappearance of stratification was caused by the thermal exchange between the air and the water surface. In case of saline water, the amount of heat exchanged during daytime and nighttime was higher than that observed in case of fresh water because the heat capacity of saline water was lower than that of fresh water.