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ThesisItem Open Access Host-parasitoid relationship between Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) and Fulgoraecia melanoleuca (Fletcher) on sugarcane(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Sharma, Tarun; Shera, P.S.The studies on the “Host-parasitoid relationship between Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) and Fulgoraecia melanoleuca (Fletcher) on sugarcane” were conducted at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 2019 and 2020. Among the host stages, 4th instar nymphs and adult females were more suitable for the parasitoid, F. melanoleuca in terms of higher larval survival, adult emergence, more proportion of females in the progeny and higher fecundity. The exposure of 1st instar host nymphs to the parasitoid resulted in cent per cent mortality within two days before any signs of parasitism. None of the parasitized 2nd to 4th instar nymphs survived as normal adults as all the parasitized individuals died as nymphs, nymph-adult intermediates or weak adults. However, in case of parasitized 5th instar nymphs, 18.0 per cent adults were normal. The mean longevity of nymphs parasitized in the 3rd, 4th and 5th instars was prolonged significantly; maximum prolongation was in the 4th instar. However, longevity of nymphs parasitized in the 2nd instar was even less than un-parasitized ones. When host adults were offered to the parasitoid, there were significant differences in mortality of parasitized and un-parasitized adults. Further, parasitoid-induced prolongation in the longevity of the surviving parasitized adults was observed for both the sexes. Among different agro-climatic zones, population count of P. perpusilla and F. melanoleuca as well as natural parasitism was more in Jalandhar (central plain zone) as compared to Hoshiarpur (sub-mountainous undulating zone) and Fazilka (Western zone). The parasitoid remained active in overlapping stages during the months of April to November with peak activity in September month at all the locations. It overwintered in cocoon or egg stage on sugarcane trash from December to March months. Among the selected insecticides, chlorpyriphos 20 EC, imidacloprid 17.8 SL and fipronil 5 SC were comparatively toxic to the parasitoid, while pymetrozine 50 WG, chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC, flubendiamide 480 SC and flonicamid 50 WG were harmless to moderately harmful. The prolonged pupal period, reduction in adult emergence and decreased adult longevity were the sub-lethal effects in the insecticides, chlorpyriphos 20 EC, imidacloprid 17.8 SL and fipronil 5 SC. Biopesticides (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki 0.5 WP, Metarhizium anisopliae 1.0 WP and Beauveria bassiana 1.0 WP) and botanicals (azadirachtin 1500 and 50000 ppm) were safer to all the stages of F. melanoleuca.ThesisItem Open Access Impacts of agricultural mechanization on avian diversity in Ludhiana district(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Harnoor Kaur; Kler, Tejdeep KaurThe present investigation was carried out to study the impacts of agricultural mechanization on avian diversity at nine selected rice-wheat fields from three locations, Sarabha (Location I), Pakhowal (Location II) and Dangon (Location III) from April 2020 to March 2021. A total of 50 avian species were recorded from the selected fields during the study period. Rock Pigeon (8.63%), Cattle Egret (8.55%), House Crow (8.50%), Common Myna (7.61%), Eurasian Collared Dove (7.17%) and Red-wattled Lapwing (6.46%) were the most abundant species found. During the Kharif season, a total of 48 bird species of 46 genera were recorded while 49 bird species belonging to 45 genera during the Rabi season. The mechanical operations like ploughing, harvesting and other post harvesting operations with disc plough harrow, plougher, combine harvester and straw baller have shown much higher avian species richness and diversity irrespective of the field type. Higher values of species richness and diversity were recorded from the organically cultivated fields and fields with agronomic practices recommended by PAU as compared to fields with conventional cultivation practices. Increase in species richness and diversity was observed during the harvesting and post-harvesting operations due to use of combine harvesters, thresher, straw baller, disc plough harrow and land leveller. As evident from the present study cultivating crops both organically and by following PAU recommended agronomic practices might help in sustaining higher avian species richness and diversity.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of larvicidal potential of kinnow peel extracts against Aedes aegypti Linnaeus(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Arshkamaljot Kaur; Kocher, Devinder KaurTransmission of dengue virus by Ae. aegypti mosquito is one of the major global issues. Presently plant based products are in high demand for mosquito control, as they are effective, easily available and eco-friendly. Different types of extracts viz. oil, ethanolic and aqueous were prepared from kinnow peel and tested @ 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80ppm, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25% and 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0 and 10.0% respectively for their larvicidal efficacy against Ae. aegypti 4th instar larvae. Results indicated 70ppm of oil, 0.20% of ethanolic and 9.0% of aqueous extracts as effective larvicidal concentrations. Certain morphological damages and abnormal behavioural activities were observed in the treated larvae. These kinnow peel extracts were found to be highly volatile in nature, as no residual activity in terms of larval mortality occurred in the left over effective concentrations of these extracts. However, residual effect in the form of delayed development (L4 to adult) was observed in all the treated sets in comparison to control and vehicle-control. All kinnow peel extracts were found to have statistically similar larvicidal potential in freshly prepared and stored (2, 4 and 6 months old) extracts, indicating no effect of storage on their larvicidal activity. Thus, the identification of kinnow like plant based oil/extracts having larvicidal properties combined with capacity to damage larvae, alter their behaviour along with delay in developmental phases is the need of hour and should be exploited in future for managing the problem of dengue transmitting vector, Ae. aegypti.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of oxidative stress and genotoxicity in carps of south-western region of Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Money; Navdeep KaurThe carps i.e. Catla (Catla catla) and Mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) were collected from three different locations i.e. Ludhiana, Muktsar and Bathinda. The content of proteins, activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx,GR), level of LPO and GSH in organs (liver, kidney, gills) and muscles of carps, heavy metal content, genotoxicity and qualitative analysis of proteins in liver of carps was estimated. The protein content, activity of GR and level of GSH was found to be present in order: Ludhiana > Bathinda >Muktsar whereas, activities of antioxidant enzymes(SOD, CAT, GPx) and levels of LPO were in the order: Muktsar >Bathinda > Ludhiana in all the organs and muscles of both the carps. Heavy metals (As and Cr) were found in the liver of both carps of district Muktsar and Bathinda above the permissible limits. DNA damage determined by genotoxicity (Comet assay) was also found to be high in the liver of carps of district Muktsar followed by Bathinda and Ludhiana. Qualitative analysis of proteins (SDS-PAGE) revealed protein bands (32 KDa, 38KDa) were present in liver of Catla and Mrigal of both Muktsar and Bathinda whereas some of the protein bands (120 KDa, 150 KDa and 200 KDa) were observed only in Mrigal of Bathinda. The carps of South-western region of Punjab (Muktsar and Bathinda) are more prone to oxidative stress due to groundwater contaminants.ThesisItem Open Access Population dynamics, genetic variation and evaluation of pesticide residues in Indian flying fox Pteropus giganteus(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Gagandeep Kaur; Rajwinder SinghThe present study was conducted to estimate the population abundance and dynamics of Pteropus giganteus, its preference in roosting sites, genetic variation and evaluation of pesticide residues at Chatpat Bani (district Pathankot), village Katani Kalan (district Ludhiana) and village Longowal (district Sangrur) during 2019-20. The mean bat population on different tree species was higher at Chatpat Bani than at village Longowal. At Chatpat Bani, mean bat population was maximum during summer (3139.0) whereas maximum during winters (425.0) at Longowal. At Chatpat Bani, per cent bat population roosted on trees was highest on Indian ash tree (79.0%) and lowest on Punjab fig (2.38%) whereas it was highest on safeda (50.88%) and lowest on ber tree (3.37%) at Longowal. At Chatpat Bani, the concentration level of heavy metals was estimated in faecal pellets and among all, Cr (17.35 ppm) was highest while As (0.99 ppm) was lowest, whereas at Katani Kalan, the concentration level of Cr (24.87 ppm) was highest while Cd (0.64 ppm) was lowest and at Longowal, highest concentration levels were recorded in Cr (26.30 ppm) while lowest in Cd (1.72 ppm). In a similar trend, concentration levels of macro- and micro-elements varied in all selected locations. Contamination of pesticide residues in faecal pellets was found negligible as GLC showed values below detectable limits i.e., <0.05 ppm at selected locations. The genetic variability of P. giganteus was studied in Pathankot and Ludhiana using faecal pellet samples. The full-length nucleotide sequences of bat mtCOI gene are 702 bp in both samples.ThesisItem Open Access Molecular Characterization of Fatty Acid Desaturases Genes in BRASSICA JUNCEA L.(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Pawar, Vishlavath Harish; Gurpreet KaurThe present study was undertaken for establishing allelic variation for FAD2 and FAD3 genes and developing primers for low/high oleic acid content for marker-assisted selection in B. juncea. Four orthologous of FAD2, BjuA.FAD2.a1, BjuA.FAD2.a2, BjuB.FAD2.b1 and BjuB.FAD2.b2 is located on the chromosomes A01, A05, B01, and B05 and six orthologs of FAD3, BjuA.FAD3.a1, BjuA.FAD3.a2, BjuA.FAD3.a3, BjuB.FAD3.b1, BjuB.FAD3.b2 and BjuB.FAD3.b3, located on chromosomes A03, A04, A05, B03, B04, and B05, respectively, were identified for genotypes with high, intermediate and low oleic acid content. The coding sequences of BjuA.FAD2.a1 showed premature termination of protein synthesis, whereas BjuA.FAD2.a2, BjuB.FAD2.b1 and BjuB.FAD2.b2 genes indicated a single exon without any intron. The same sequence length in both high and low oleic acid genotypes clearly revealed the role of point or missense mutations for high/low oleic acid. Multiple sequence alignment between sequences of low, intermediate, and high oleic acid for each orthologs indicated nucleotide variations at 18 and 6 positions only for BjuA.FAD2.a2 and BjuA.FAD2.b1, respectively, of these, only one and two SNPs could be translated to amino acid changes. Complete sequence information of FAD3 orthologs indicated exons interrupted with introns. Multiple sequence alignment indicated nucleotide variations only for BjuA.FAD3.a3 and BjuB.FAD3.b2. The inheritance of oleic acid on the F2 population indicated digenic additive control with high oleic acid being recessive in expression. CAPS markers developed for differentiating SNPs (high/low oleic acid) showed co-segregation with oleic acid content in the parents as well as in the F2 population. The agronomic evaluation indicated that some of the high oleic acid genotypes could serve as an excellent donor with minimal linkage drag.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of biofertilizer and organic fertilizer on soil health, growth and yield of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.)(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Gurpreet Kaur; Jupinder KaurThe integrated application of biofertilizer, organic and inorganic fertilizer is an agricultural practice which can replenish soil nutrient pool in a sustainable way to benefit soil and plant health. Thus, a field experiment was carried out to study the effect of biofertilizer, organic and inorganic fertilizer on soil microbial dynamics and nutrient status, plant nutrient uptake, growth parameters as well as on yield attributes of Cowpea crop. On analysis of data pertaining to soil microbial dynamics, significantly higher bacterial (289 × 107 CFU g-1 soil), PSB (46 × 103 CFU g-1 of soil) and diazotrophic (176 × 105 CFU g-1 of soil) population was observed in treatment T10 (N100 FYM + consortium biofertilizer) at 35 DAS, whereas, soil fungal (30 × 103 CFU g-1 soil) and actinomycetes (136 × 104 CFU g-1 of soil) population were observed to be significantly higher in treatment T10 (N100 FYM + consortium biofertilizer) at 70 DAS. The soil enzyme activities viz. dehydrogenase (6.991 µg TPF formed h-1 g of soil-1) and alkaline phosphatase enzyme (25.942 µg PNP formed h-1 g of soil-1) activity were recorded to be significantly higher in treatment T10 (N100 FYM + consortium biofertilizer) at 35 DAS. However, significantly higher urease activity (586.11 µg urea hydrolyzed formed h-1 g of soil-1) was observed in treatment T7 (N100 P100 + consortium biofertilizer) at 85 DAS. Soil nutrient status was analyzed at harvest. Significantly higher organic carbon (0.38 %), available nitrogen (122.7 kg ha-1), available phosphorus (28.9 kg ha-1) and available potassium (165.4 kg ha-1) were observed in treatment T10 (N100 FYM + consortium biofertilizer). Whereas, significantly higher electrical conductivity (0.254 dS m-1) was observed in treatment T8 (N50 FYM + NP50 with consortium biofertilizer) and significantly lower pH (7.29) in treatment T10 (N100 FYM + consortium biofertilizer). Plant nutrient uptake of nitrogen (98.04 kg ha-1), phosphorus (12.04 kg ha-1) and potassium (160.76 kg ha-1) were found to be significantly higher in treatment T8 (N50 FYM + NP50 with consortium biofertilizer). The various growth attributes of Cowpea viz. fresh weight of root (9.564 g) and dry weight of root (2.554 g), fresh weight of shoot (150.9 g) and dry weight of shoot (40.5 g), number of leaves per plant (90) and number of nodules per plant (25) were observed to significantly higher at harvest in treatment T8 (N50 FYM + NP50 with consortium biofertilizer). The pod parameters viz., number of pods per plant (23), fresh weight of pod (9.30 g) and dry weight of pod (3.56 g), pod length (7.4 cm) and pod width (0.933 cm) were observed to be significantly higher in treatment T8 (N50 FYM + NP50 with consortium biofertilizer) at harvest. However, the height of the plant (192.87 cm), number of branches (39 at harvest), fresh weight of leaves (47.1 g) and dry weight (19.6 g) of leaves were recorded as highest in treatment T9 (N25 FYM + NP75 and consortium biofertilizer). The yield at harvest as pod yield (2431 kg ha-1) and stover yield (8600 kg ha-1) was observed to be significantly higher in treatment T8 (N50 FYM + NP50 with consortium biofertilizer). Significant positive correlation was observed between bacterial population and enzyme activities, soil properties, plant NPK and yield. The results indicated that combined application of biofertilizer, organic and inorganic fertilizer improved soil health and plant growth leading to increased crop yield.ThesisItem Open Access Optimization of Nitrogen Application And Planting Density For Open Grown Rose For Loose Flower Production(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Arshdeep Kaur; Ranjit SinghThe present investigation was carried out to study the effect of nitrogen application and planting density on growth and flowering of rose under open conditions for loose flower production at Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 2020-21. Two years plants were planted at three different spacings 70 x 100 cm, 70 x 90 cm and 70 x 80 cm and were fertilized with four levels of nitrogen 0 g, 1.5 g, 2.0 g and 2.5 g per plant at monthly intervals starting from pruning. The experiment was laid out in RBD design with 12 treatments each having three replications. The treatment combination comprising of 2.0 g nitrogen with plant spacing of 70 x 100 cm resulted in maximum plant height (109.83 cm), plant spread (95.67 cm), flower diameter (6.83 cm), number of petals per flower (48.42), flower weight (3.45 g), number of flowers per plant (389.66) and flower yield (0.85 kg) per plant. The same treatment combination resulted in high loose flower yield (3348.47 kg) on per acre basis. The flowering was recorded earlier in case of 2.0 g N/plant under spacing 70 x 100 cm as it exhibited (54.10) days to bud appearance and hence, early flowering (64.00 days). The shelf life of flowers was recorded significantly higher during spring (10.87 hrs) and winter season (14.47 hrs) with 1.5 g nitrogen under 70 x 100 cm spacing which was statistically at par with 2.0 g nitrogen under 70 x 100 cm spacing. The peak flowering occurred during the month of April followed by March.ThesisItem Open Access Interaction of Meloidogyne spp., Fusarium spp. and Begomovirus(es) infecting muskmelon and identification of resistant source(s)(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Dalvir Singh; Sukhjeet KaurSurvey conducted in major muskmelon growing areas of Punjab in districts, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sangrur and S.A.S. Nagar revealed maximum incidence of begomovirus(es) (51.14%) from Sangrur district followed by S.A.S. Nagar (32.33%), Kapurthala (32.00%), Fatehgarh Sahib (26.00%), Jalandhar (25.79%) and Ludhiana (24.00%). Root knot nematode incidence was maximum in Ludhiana (29.25%) followed by Sangrur (23.14%), Jalandhar (12.63%) and Kapurthala (10.56%). Fusarium wilt incidence was highest in Sangrur (41.14%) followed by Ludhiana (39.00%), Fatehgarh Sahib (29.67%), S.A.S. Nagar (25.67%), Jalandhar (22.74%) and Kapurthala (17.11%). Symptomatic, morphological and molecular marker based detection revealed the association of three begomoviruses viz., Tomato leaf curl New Delhi Virus (ToLCNDV), Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPaV) and Squash leaf curl virus (SqLCV), Root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita and wilt causing fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. melonis with the muskmelon crop under Punjab conditions. During the interaction studies of root knot nematode, Fusarium and Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus in muskmelon, it was observed that maximum reduction in growth parameters was recorded where all the three pathogens were inoculated simultaneously. Root gall index was more severe in treatments with prior inoculation of root knot nematode (T2=4.5 and 4.28; T3=4.41 and 4.42) or with simultaneously inoculation of RKN with other pathogen (T5=4.56 and 4.50) in comparison to treatments where root knot nematode was inoculated ten days after other pathogen (T7=3.0 and 2.67; T11=3.11 and 2.06; T12 =2.83 and 2.0) in both the years. Severity of fusarium wilt was more where F. oxysporum f.sp. melonis was inoculated along with M. incognita either simultaneously or in sequence as compared to treatment with F. oxysporum f.sp. melonis alone. Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus severity grade was maximum (4.3 and 4.5) during simultaneous inoculation of all the three pathogens followed by treatment with virus alone (4.1 and 4.3) compared to treatments where virus was inoculated 10 days after nematode (2.8 and 2.3) or virus was inoculated 10 days after Fusarium (2.3 and 3.0) during both the years, respectively. Out of total sixty four muskmelon genotypes screened for resistance against root knot nematode, F. oxysporum f.sp. melonis and Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus, two genotypes, MCPS and SM2012-1 were found moderately resistant to M. incognita. Eight genotypes (SM2013-2, MM-KP15103, WM11, MM121103, KP4HM15, SM2012-1, MM Sel.-103 and SM2013-9) were found resistant to F. oxysporum f.sp. melonis. For Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus, genotypes, SM2013-2, WM11, SM2013-9 and SM2012-1 showed highly resistant reaction, while genotypes, MH-41, MM-KP15103, KP4HM15 and MM Sel.-103 showed resistant reaction and genotypes viz., MM120103, MH-51, Pusa Madhuras and MM121103 were found moderately resistant against the virus.
