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The present research aimed to study gene effects for oil content and fatty acid composition in sunflower. It involved a set of 92 hybrids developed by crossing four CMS lines with 23 perfect restorers. Experiment was conducted at experimental field area of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. The data was recorded on oil content and quality traits. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the traits studied. Among the lines; CMS 42A was observed to have higher significant positive gca effects for oil content, linoleic acid & linolenic acid and higher significant negative gca effects for palmitic acid and stearic acid, whereas, for oleic acid line, CMS 40A had higher positive gca effects. Among the testers, TSG 275 had higher significant positive gca effects for linolenic acid and significant negative gca effects for stearic acid. High positive gca effects for oleic acid and oil content were observed for TSG 331. The tester OPH 91 was good combiner with high positive gca effects for oleic acid and negative gca effects for palmitic acid, whereas, tester TSG 288 exhibited highest positive gca effects for linoleic acid. The best cross combinations; CMS 40A×TSG 259, CMS 607A×TSG 271 and CMS 40A×OPH 73 showed significant specific combining ability effects for oil content and cross CMS 40A×TSG 289 had significant specific combining ability for oleic acid and linoleic acid. The cross combination CMS 40A×TSG 259 is giving a significant jump of over 12 % against the current commercial check for oil percentage and for other quality traits more than 50 % over the standard check, which is significant for undertaking improvement of hybrid for oil quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. complex) is an important sugar crop of subtropical region (NWZ zone) comprising states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan of the country. In Punjab, it is the second most important industrial crop after Cotton, being cultivated on an area of 95 thousand hectares that caters the need of 16 (9 cooperative and 7 private) sugar mills running in the state. Sugarcane scientists and technocrats of the state associated in the improvement of sugarcane crop through various conventional and non-conventional approaches encounter problems of narrow genetic base of crop, complex genome, poor fertility, genetic recombination as well as long breeding selection cycle. During 2015-16 crop season, the concerted efforts of sugarcane scientists, sugar mills and farmers on various researchable aspects has led to harvest cane productivity of 750 quintals per hectare and recorded sugar recovery of 10.07 percent in the state. To sustain the sugar industry of Punjab, it is very important to advise sugarcane grower for the choice of the varieties and their planning based on different maturity groups, planting season and type of crop (plant/ratoon). At present, nine high yielding, good quality and red rot tolerant sugarcane varieties; 4 in early maturity group (CoPb 92, Co 118, CoJ 85 and CoJ 64) and 5 in mid-late group (CoPb 93, CoPb 94, Co 238, CoPb 91 and CoJ 88) have been recommended for commercial cultivation, of these three new varieties viz,, CoPb 92 (early) and CoPb 93 & CoPb 94 (mid-late) are found promising for cane yield, commercial cane sugar (CCS) and showing encouraging results among farmers and sugar mills. Since, sugarcane is the raw material for the sugar industry, its juice is used for the manufacturing of gur, shaker, sugar and cane tops are used as fodder while the byproducts of the sugar industry include bagasse, molasses, filter-cake, wax etc. The percentage of sucrose varies from 12-18% depending of the variety of cane, its maturity, condition of soil, climate and agricultural practices followed by the growers. In order to sustain cane crushing in mills, planting of varieties in early: mid-late (3:2), early (Autumn: Spring: Ratoon :: 1:1:1) and mid-late (Plant: Ratoon :: 1:1) ratios have been advocated. Besides, recent technological interventions like FIRB (furrow irrigated raised bed), sub-soiling (1mx1m), crop geometry (120mx30m paired row trench planting), single bud chip nursery raising and intercrops (wheat, cabbage, garlic, sarson, onion etc.) have resulted in enhancement of per unit area productivity of sugarcane. In addition, recommendation for management of borer complex (especially early shoot and top borer) with Coragen and Ferterra agro-chemicals have paid dividends to growers and industry in terms of cane production and sugar recovery. Therefore, execution of aforesaid planning and interventions through extension activities in mill command areas are advocated to sustain sugarcane agriculture for the benefits of growers and industry in the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight sugarcane genotypes including 3 standards representing mid maturing group were evaluated at Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Kapurthala, during 2013-14 and 2014-2015 under plant and ratoon crop in randomized block design. The experiment plot size in both years was 36 m-2 in three replications with an inter-row spacing of 90 cm. The data were recorded on seventeen cane yield and quality traits. Analysis recorded that genotypes used in the testing differed significantly with respect to all characters studied. The high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation were observed for single cane weight in plant crop and pooled analysis respectively, while, in ratoon crop for CCS t/ha. Cane yield was positively significantly correlated with CCS t/ha, stalk length, single cane weight and NMC at 12 months under both plant and ratoon crop while, with stalk diameter, purity at 10 months, no. of shoots at 240 days under ratoon crop. Path analysis revealed high effect of single cane weight, cane diameter, and NMC at harvest on cane yield in both plant and ratoon crops. This study revealed that characters with high heritability coupled with genetic advance and positive association with cane yield and heaving high direct and indirect effects are advocated as selection criteria while selection to be made for higher sugar and cane yield. High indirect effect of number of shoots at 240 days and NMC at harvest, cane length and diameter and single cane weight were recorded that may be used for indirect selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of water stress on morphological, seed yield and quality traits of sunflower cms analogues. The material comprised nine cms analogues having different cytoplasmic background namely CMS-XA (Unknown), E002-91, PKUZ-A, ARG-2A (H. argophyllus), ARG-3A (H. argophyllus), ARG-6A (H. argophyllus), DV-10A (H. debilis ssp vestitus), PHIR-27A (H. praecox ssp hirtus) and PRUN-29A (H. praecox ssp runyonii) with a common maintainer line (NC-41B). The material was grown during spring season 2011 and 2012 in randomized block design with three replications in a plot size of 4.5 m. ×0.6m. To create water stress environment the irrigation was stopped after the anthesis was complete. The data were recorded on different morphological, seed yield and quality traits. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for all the traits over the years. The cms analogues CMS-XA (37.48g), E002-91(32.07g), ARG-3A (32.17g), PHIR-27A (34.03g) and PRUN-29A (30.42g) were observed to be significantly higher yielder than that of NC-41B (23.53g). This suggested that these sources might be exploited to develop water use efficient cms lines suitable for developing hybrids for growing under water stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although relatively obscure, the market for distressed real estate tax liens exists in over 30 U.S. states, with a market size estimated to be around 20 billion dollars. While this niche asset class is relatively unknown to academics, internet advertising hypes tax liens to the populace as providing extraordinary returns. Not yet scientifically studied, this market provides a fertile and untouched arena for the application of asset pricing theory. Using insights from several areas of asset pricing, we formulate and test a pricing model for tax liens. The empirical evidence supports the pricing model, the (increasing) competitiveness of the tax lien market, and an unfair tax auction bidding mechanism for property owners that may provide extraordinary returns to investors, lending some credibility to the industry claims. We suggest avenues for extensions and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]