Maize, a major staple crop that is essential for Nepal's food security and rural livelihoods, is increasingly threatened by the invasive fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith), which causes substantial yield losses while farmers' heavy reliance on indiscriminate pesticide use and limited knowledge of sustainable management practices obstruct effective control. Field survey was carried out in six major maize-growing areas of Kathmandu valley- Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur districts to assess the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) incidence, severity and farmers’ management practices during maize growing season in 2024. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for farmer interview , and damage assessment in the field was recorded using a score ranging from 1 to 9 scale based on the reference damage on the scaling of the leaf lesions, scraping of leaf surfaces and visual observations of the damage symptoms. Data analysis and result interpretation were carried out using MS Excel 2016 and SPSS version 29.0.2.0. Results indicated that maize crop damage incidence and severity varied significantly (p<0.05) with p<0.001 at vegetative and p=0.005 reproductive stages. Damage severity was highest in V11 stage during vegetative stage and dough (R4) stage during reproductive stage of maize crop. Similarly, in relation to temperature, the damage was more at temperature range of 25°C to 27°C. The highest infestation (91%) was observed in Kathmandu compared to other two districts. The survey indicates that maize farmers have to focus on agro-ecological adoption approaches like chemical, cultural, physical/mechanical, IPM, biological, and botanical measures for the management of this pest.
Lalit Sah, R. B. Thapa, G. Bhandari et al.· Journal of Agriculture and E...· 0 citations
Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is an important rhizomatous spice crop with good nutritive and medicinal values. Curcuminoids and essential oil are the important quality parameters affecting the export and industrial utilization of turmeric products, while the economic importance of turmeric in Nepal is well-documented, there is a significant research gap regarding the physico-chemical profiling of specific genotypes. In view of addressing this void, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the physico-chemical properties of different turmeric genotypes to identify those meeting international quality standards at the Ginger Research Program (GRP), Kapurkot, Salyan in April 2024. The research was carried out in a completely randomized design with 11 genotypes, each replicated 3 times. Parameters such as dry recovery percentage, powder recovery percentage, bulk density, moisture content of rhizome, pH content, essential oil, and curcumin content were observed. Result showed that curcumin content, essential oil content, and pH content ranged from 2.81% (KH-2) to 6.07% (Cl 9803); from 5.60% (Cl 0209) to 8.33% (Cl 9803), and from 6.17 (Cl 0209) to 6.50 (Cl 0207 and Cl 1312), respectively. Dry recovery and powder recovery percentages ranged from 13.89% (Cl 9802) to 18.90% (Cl 9805) and from 12.95% (Cl 9802) to 17.94% (Cl 9805), respectively. The highest bulk density was observed in Cl 0201 (1.07 g/cm³), and genotype Cl 9802 (87.05%) had the highest moisture percentage in the rhizome. Overall, the genotype Cl 9803 was identified as the best genotype for production, export and industrial utilization. Moreover, the findings of this study may provide information for selective breeding programs by identifying turmeric genotypes with superior physico-chemical properties.
Nawaraj Neupane, Toran Devkota, Santosh Neupane et al.· Turkish Journal of Agricultu...· 0 citations
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