Banana is considered a short life commodity. Extended storage of bananas can be accomplished when ripening is not induced by a large ethylene exposure. Extension of shelf life banana would be possible by applying different promising postharvest treatments. The present study attempts to investigate the effect, of different postharvest treatments namely modified atmosphere with or without ethylene scavenging chemical (KMnO 4 ), cooling, low temperature and hot water treatment on shelf life and quality of 3 commercially important bananas namely Sabri, Champa and Amritasagar. The two-factor experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with three replications. Sabri, Champa and Amritasagar showed significant differences in time periods to reach successive stages of ripening. Longer period was required to reach ripening stages in variety Sabri than those of Champa and Amritasagar. Postharvest treatments and varieties were found to exhibit significant variation in total soluble solids (TSS) content during storage. The variety Sabri had the highest TSS content than that of Champa and Amritasagar. An increasing trend in TSS contents was observed in all varieties at all stages of ripening. The disease severity and disease incidence wer e greatly influenced by postharvest treatments and varieties during ripening and storage. All the treatments exhibited significant effects in relation to disease incidence. Modified atmosphere packaging with ethylene scavenger (KMnO 4 ) and storage of banana at 15C resulted in reduced disease. Disease incidence was the lowest in Sabri variety than that of Champa and Amritasagar. Different postharvest treatments and varieties showed highly significant variation on shelf life. Results showed that the shelf lives of bananas of the variety Sabri, Amritasagar and Champa were 10.81, 9.00 and 10.11 days, respectively. Sabri had the longest shelf life (16.25 days) than two other varieties. Postharvest treatments exerted significant effects to extend shelf life of bananas. The longest shelf life of 15.58 days was observed in bananas held at 15c temperature. Significant extensions of shelf life were also recorded in fruits held in plastic bags with or without KMnO 4 . Combinedly, the longest shelf life was found in fruits of Sabri variety at 15C. Considering the findings it may be concluded that significant variation existed due to the effects of different varieties and postharvest treatments in respect of prolongation of shelf life and other quality parameters of banana. The she lf life of banana could be extended up to 15.58 days in low storage temperature (15C) and up to 10.91 days in modified atmosphere packaging with KMnO 4 . The longer shelf lives of banana with the above mentioned treatments might be related to the slower changes in physico-chemical compositions.

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A field experiment was carried out at the research farm of Tuber Crops Research Sub-station, Munshigonj of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) during rabi seasons of 2005-06 and 2006-07 to find out the effective and economical integrated weed control method in potato. Chenopodium album and Amaranthus viridis were the major weed species in potato field. Mulch (water hyacinth) along with herbicide application (Ronstar 25 EC @ 1 ml/L water) at 7 days after planting (DAP) was found most effective in controlling weed population (94 to 95%) upto 30 days of planting than that employed by only mulch (45 to 53%). The weeds were found to reduce tuber yield to the extent of 43 percent. Mulching plus herbicide spraying at 7 DAP followed by one time uprooting of weeds by hand at 25 DAP produced the highest tuber yield of 23.39 t/ha in 2005-06 and 29.58 t/ha in 2006-07 and it was most effective in controlling weeds as compared to unweeded and mulched plots. The highest net returns (Tk. 116141/ha in 2005-06 and Tk. 205646/ha in 2006-07) and maximum benefit cost ratio of 2.64 and 3.28 were noted with mulching by water hyacinth + herbicide application at 7 DAP + one time weed uprooting by hand at 25 DAP.

Increasing system productivity in a planned way is an important base for attaining food security, where bringing marginal land like Charland under intensive crop cultivation is highly desirable. The field trial was conducted in the Charland of the Jamuna River under Saghataupazilla of Gaibandha during 2017- 18 & 2018-19 to increase the productivity and profitability through the development of three crops-based improved cropping patterns instead of the local practice (double-crop). Three crops based improved cropping pattern namely Millet (BARI Kaon-2)-Jute (O-9897)-T. Aman (Gainja) was compared with the existing cropping pattern of Millet (Local)-Fallow-T. Aman (Gainja). The experiment was laid out in six dispersed replications maintaining RCB design. The introduced improved cropping pattern produced the higher system productivity based on rice equivalent yield, REY (12.95 t ha-1), than the existing cropping pattern (4.20 t ha-1), which is three times higher than the existing pattern. Total field duration and turnaround time were 323 and 42 days, respectively in improved pattern and 215 and 150 days, respectively in the existing pattern, which revealed that 108 days more could be made productive through the introduction of improved cropping pattern. The alternate pattern increased production efficiency and land-use efficiency by 35% and 30%, respectively than that of the existing cropping system. The gross margin was also three times higher in the improved cropping pattern (1, 41,600 Tk ha-1 yr-1) compared to the farmers’ existing cropping pattern (38,350 Tk ha-1 yr-1). The marginal benefit-cost ratio (MBCR) was calculated 2.44 in an improved cropping pattern over the existing cropping pattern. The inclusion of an extra one crop (Jute) in the existing cropping pattern and replacement of the local millet variety by high yielding variety (BARI Kaon-2) could play a significant role to increase the system productivity as well as profitability in the Charland of Saghata, Gaibandha. The Agriculturists 2020; 18(1) 129-136