Meghalaya Local: A Natural CMS based hybrid of cauliflower grown in Meghalaya

VK Verma, AK Jha and BK Singh

Vegetable Newsletter 1 (1): 6, 2014

E-mail: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

Meghalaya Local a long duration high yielding local cultivar of cauliflower is widely grown by the farmers in the East Khasi Kills, West Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and part of Ribhoi district in Meghalaya. Being a cross pollinated crop heterosis breeding is very popular in this crop. To produce the quality hybrid seed, the uses of male sterile line is very important. Two type of male sterile lines i.e. MS-I (with non-viable pollen) and MS-II (without stamen) were identified and tested from the local collection (Table 1).

Table 1. Yield and related traits of CMS lines

Traits	MS-I	MS-II
Days to curd initiation	115.3	117.0
Days to curd maturity	140.0	148.0
No. of leaves	23.7	26.0
Leaf weight (kg)	1.30	1.50
Leaf length (cm)	53.8	55.0
Leaf dia (cm)	25.0	28.2
Stalk wt.(g)	12.1	11.6
Marketable curd wt. (kg)	0.920	1.100
Gross plant weight (kg)	2.290	2.670
Harvest index (%)	40	41

VRFBB-91: A French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) germplasm for earliness

BK Singh

Vegetable Newsletter 1 (1): 5, 2014

E-mail: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

French bean varieties developed by different organizations generally start pod setting during February to mid-March and very sparsely during first fortnight of December in North Indian plains. IIVR has recently identified a new genotype ‘VRFBB-91’ whose pods are ready to harvest during first fortnight of December. It has been collected from Jhum land of Kolasib, Mizoram. Plant growth is bush type, height ranged from 45-60 cm and bears pink colour flowers at 35-40 days after sowing. The pods of VRFBB-91 are green and bright in colour, fleshy, tender, straight, cylindrical, free from parchment and harvested usually about 9-12 days after flowering. The pod sieve size i.e. pods width (measuring through ventral to dorsal sutures) and pods thickness (measuring through sidewall to sidewall) both ranged from 0.82-0.88 cm, hence pod cross-sectional shape is round, a desirable trait of vegetable French bean. On an average, the weight and length of each tender pod is 6.6 g and 15.4 cm, respectively. The line bears 20-22 pods/plant and yields 140-150 g tender pods/plant in crop duration of 80-85 days. A pod contains about 6.7 seeds which is kidney shape, black in colour and 100 seeds’ weight is approximately 23.85. The yield potential (tender pods) of VRFBB-91 is 115-120 q/ha which is better than released varieties such as Kashi Sampann, Arka Komal, Arka Suvidha, Swarnaprya, Pant Anupma and Arka Anoop (25-50 q/ha).

Indian collections of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.): Genetic variability, inheritance, character association and performance

BK Singh and Y Ramakrishna

Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources 27 (3): 263-270, 2014

E-mail: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

Abstract

Twenty-seven genotypes of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) were evaluated to estimate the variability and inheritance pattern, to suggest suitable breeding strategies and to identify productive genotypes. Highly significant mean squares for all the traits indicated large variation among genotypes. High genetic gain through selection is expected for shoot length, leaf area, rhizome yield and dry matter yield because of additive gene inheritance; while curcumin accumulation in rhizome could be improved by selecting the heterotic seedlings as it is governed by non-additive gene. Furthermore, leaf length and curcumin content could be the most effective and reliable selection indices, as indicated by correlation and path coefficients, in identifying the curcumin-rich productive genotypes. A variety of North East India ‘Megha Turmeric-1’ excelled for the traits of commercial importance (dry matter recovery and curcumin yield). Conclusively, the genotypes of North East India were superior to other parts of India for most of the economic traits and potentially useful for genetic enhancement as well as for varietal improvement of turmeric.

Key Words: Curcumin; Heritability; North East India (NEI); Turmeric (Curcuma longa); Variability; Yield.