Azarian Journal of Agriculture
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Jun 2017

Global warming will lead to changes in spatiotemporal distributions of regional water resources and the global hydrological cycles. Thus, an important task in climate change detection is represented by the analysis of changes in meteorological variables. The current paper aimed to detect the trends of hydro-meteorological variables such as precipitation and river discharge by focusing on the impacts of climate change. In order to achieve the stated purpose, linear regression and non-parametric test of Mann–Kendal were used on water balance components such as runoff, actual evapotranspiration and precipitation using Palmer equation in eight north eastern basins of Khorasan province. Thirty years of data results of Mann–Kendall test indicated that, the trends in average precipitation were inhomogeneous across the watersheds. The analysis of time series of discharge in most of the watersheds showed an obvious falling trend at 95 and 99 percentage levels of confidence monthly, seasonally and annually. Also, an ascending trend in evapotranspiration rate and temperature was found throughout the years. Generally, the global climate change has no significant effect on the hydrological inputs in the studied area. However, evapotranspiration component, as a part of output factors, has been increased due to the observed warming trend. Thus, a drastic strategic management is highly recommended to reduce the amount of loss.

Understanding of the growth promotory or inhibitory allelopathic effects of agroforestry trees on other plants is necessary for selection of suitable crops to be cultivated in their vicinity. In this experiment, aqueous leaf extracts of three agroforestry trees (Populus deltoides, Melia azedarach and Morus alba) were evaluated on germination and seedling growth of wheat applied at concentration 1, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 g L-1 while distilled water was used as control treatment. Lower concentration of extracts (1 and 1.5 g L-1) of P. deltoides stimulated percent germination, root and stem height and dry biomass while higher concentration (2 and 2.5 g L-1) had no effect on these parameters. Mean germination time (MGT) was not affected by the extract and its concentration. Aqueous extracts of M. azedarach and M. alba at concentration > 1 g L-1 significantly lowered the studied parameters except MGT which was significantly prolonged. Negative allelopathy was more evident at the highest aqueous extract concentration (2.5 g L-1) of the two trees. Extracts of M. alba were found more growth inhibitory than those of M. azedarach. The study suggests that lower concentration of leaf extracts of P. deltoides imparts stimulatory while M. azedarch and M. alba have negative allelopathic effects on wheat germination.

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different post emergence herbicides for the control of monocot weed the Japanese broom (Bromus japonicus ) in wheat crop. Five herbicides viz., metribuzin, isoproturon, metribuzin plus isoproturon, Atlantis and sulfosulfuron were used at their recommended doses in RCBD with three replications. The weedy check was kept as control where no herbicide was sprayed. All the herbicides were applied as post-emergence after second irrigation at 60 days after sowing the crop. The lowest weed counts per m2 (0.583) and highest percent of weed mortality (99.07%) were observed where metribuzin plus isoproturon was used. This was followed by Atlantis with 3.26 weeds per m2 with 95.14% mortality of weeds. However, significantly higher 1000 grain weight was noted with Atlantis (29.50 g) and metribuzin plus isoproturon (28.58 g). The treatments did not differ significantly with respect to 1000 grain weight. All the herbicide helped to increase the yield from 16 to 22%, but did not differ significantly with respect to yield gain. The highest yield (3759.40 kg ha-1) was produced by Atlantis followed by sulfosulfuron (3757.20 kg ha-1 ). On the basis of cost benefit ratio sulfosulfuron (34.95) proved to be the best followed by metribuzin (16.78). Therefore, sulfosulfuron and metribuzin are recommended for the control of Bromus weed in wheat crop.

Maize is considered as staple food and is a way of life for the hilly region of Nepal. The production and yield of maize crop is very low which is unable to meet the current demand and is mostly affected by various insect/pests and diseases. For such a backdrop, 182 cross sectional data were collected using simple random techniques in Palpa in June, 2016. Forced scaling technique was used to rank problems based on index value. The total average landholding was 0.91 hectare with 0.32 ha under maize seed cultivation. About 90.7 and 69.8% farmers were access to extension service and had received training respectively. Infestation of insect/pests ranked at first as a major problem in maize seed production with 0.79 index value followed by infrastructure/credit, storage, unavailability of inputs and marketing problems. Similarly poor bargaining power ranked as a 1st major marketing problem. Better access to extension service as well as frequent training service to farmers should be provided to increase production and yield of maize seed. Government and other stakeholder organizations should focus to develop irrigation infrastructure for the overall development of maize sector.

In an effort to determine the effect of different sulfur levels plus Thiobacillus (Thiobacillus sp.) bacteria on yield, yield components and protein content of canola cultivars, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2014-2015. The experimental treatments consisted of three hybrid genotypes of winter canola (Hyola401, RGS003 and Gerry) and sulfur at five levels (0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 kg ha-1, plus Thiobacillus). The results indicated that various cultivars of canola and different values of sulfur plus Thiobacillus had a significant effect on studied factors. As Hyola 401 contained the highest number of pods per plant, 1000 grain weight, grain yield and shoot dry matter. Gerry genotype also had the maximum height to the first branch and number of branches, while the largest diameter of main stem was observed in RGS003 and Gerry. Moreover, the 1000 kg S ha-1 treatment achieved maximum height to first branch and harvest index, while the highest number of pods per plant, number of branches, grain yield and shoot dry mass were found in 750 and 1000 kg S ha-1 treatments. In the interactions, the highest grain yield was observed in the interaction of Hyola401 in 1000 kg S ha-1, while the highest protein content in the interaction of Gerry cultivar was obtained in 750 and 1000 kg S ha-1. In conclusion, sulfur and thiobacillus supplementation could be lead to better crop performance and significant increment in protein level of canola seeds.