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Investigation on the effect of water soluble fertilizers (starter and booster) on growth and yield of tomato was carried out at P.G centre, UHS campus, GKVK, Bengaluru during summer season, 2011. Combination of starter and booster at 2% along with RDF resulted in a significant increase in growth parameters like plant height (100.40 cm), number of leaves (60.2), number of branches (23.4), total chlorophyll content (1.25 mg g-1), leaf area index (4.16) and dry weight per plant(178.37 g). Among different yield attributes, a significant increase was observed in fruit setting percentage (81.07), number of fruits per plant (38.60), fruit volume (63.0 ml), fruit size (10.98 cm2), average fruit weight (55.60 g), yield per plant (2.03 kg) and yield per hectare (39.87 Mg ha-1) due to the application of both starter and booster at 2% along with RDF. However, early flowering (27.25 days) and early harvest (54.97 days) were recorded with application of water soluble fertilizer at 1.5% along with RDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoplankton community structure and dynamics of Kochi estuary (bar mouth) have been studied seasonally. Three seasonal samplings namely pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon were made, and a wide variation was observed in phytoplankton community with respect to nutrients and other physicochemical parameters. Contrary to other seasons, dinoflagellate cell density increased during pre-monsoon season though species diversity was less pronounced (D > 0.15). Peridinium oceanicum was the dominant dinoflagellate during pre-monsoon season. Significant fluctuation in three principal nutrients namely total nitrogen, total phosphorous and silicate were observed during pre-monsoon (TP < 1.8 micromol l(-1), TN > 40 micromol l(-1) and SiO4 < 20 micromol l(-1)) season as compared to monsoon season (TP > 3.20 micromol l(-1), TN < 20 micromol l(-1) and SiO4 > 27 micromol l(-1)). Salinity values were also found to be high during pre-monsoon ( > 25 psu). Study suggests that variation in salinity and nutrient concentration during transition of seasons could result in succession of species, thereby causing change in phytoplankton community structure. High salinity and nitrogen values along with low values of silicate and phosphorous resulted in proliferation of dinoflagellates during pre-monsoon season.