Pattern of morphological variations was studied in seven cultivars of cotton viz. (1) DPL-41, (2) DPL-20, (3) BAC-49, (4) DPL-50, (5) DPL-51, (6) JA/96-B and (7) DPL-90 by metroglyph and index score method (Anderson, 1957). Two most variable characters - plant height at maturity (PHM) and fibre yield per plant (FYP) were selected for X and Y axis, respectively. In metroglyph diagram there appeared two clusters one comprised of 2 and the other comprised of 3 cultivars. Cluster I representing cultivar nos. 1 and 2 and cluster II cultivar nos. 4, 5 and 7. In both the clusters (Cluster I and II) the members are not so closely associated. In cluster I the members seems to form a straight line and in cluster II they form a triangle. An exceptional feature is the off location of two glyphs representing cultivar nos. 3 and 6. Key words: metroglyph analysis; cotton; Gossypium Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 42(4), 449-454, 2007

Physiological and biochemical characteristics of nine different tomato cultivars were studied in order to select the cultivar of overall best quality. The tomato cultivars (Lalima, Manik, Summer, Deshy, Anupama, Jhumka, Chaity, Bizly and Lovely) were collected from different places of Rajshahi region. Those cultivars showed variability in physiological and biochemical characteristics. The range for the tomato quality parameters are as follows: fruit weight (44.76-111.70g), juice (81.25-69.94%), dry matter (7.58-9.92%), moisture content (90.08-92.42%), ash (0.438-0.530%), acidity (0.083-0.129% as citric acid), β-carotene (298-380µg/100g), vitamin C (6.98-11.43 mg/100g ), total sugar (3.45-4.52%), reducing sugar (1.21-1.56%), non reducing sugar (2.24-2.97%), protein (0.525-0.654%), iron (0.152-0.215 mg/100g), phosphorous (21.94-28.31 mg/100g), calcium (38.15-42.31 mg/100g), carbohydrate (4.18-6.24%), starch (0.16-0.21%), and so on. Bizli tomato cultivar has the best overall qualities with respect to fruit colour, fruit size, fruit pulp taste. These data of quality characteristics of tomato provide important information for consumers, producers and industrial processor for plantation and processing industry.

Morphological fruit characters and nutritional food value of different jackfruit cultivars were studied during May to July 2012 to find out the superior ones in terms of the standard variables. The different cultivars of jackfruit were collected from Rajshahi, Natore, Noagoan and Chapai Nawabgonj. These cultivars showed variability in morphological fruit characters and nutritional food values. Among them the percentage of pulp (38.60-47.37%), percentage of rind (15.67-20.00%), percentage of skin (14.86-23.68%), percentage of seed (09.46-19.33%), moisture content (63.39-76.62%), TSS (18.80-27.37%), total sugar (11.84-17.01%), vitamin C content (17.82-31.55 mg/100gm) and acidity (0.037-0.075% as citric acid) were estimated. The findings show that, evaluation of these promising cultivars have identified them as superior ones. The data provide important information in improving the quality characteristics of jackfruit for plantation and processing industry.

Present study was undertaken to investigate the relative efficacy of four growth regulators, viz., α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA) and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) at various concentrations (ppm) on the yield and some other quality characteristics of grape (Zakkao cultivar) at the experimental grape research vine of BCSIR Laboratories, Rajshahi during the period January, 2003 to July, 2004. Yield was found to be increased (33.11 %) by spraying with 05 ppm of 2,4-D as compared to control and other growth regulator treatments. Fruits of treated plants showed increased total soluble solids (20.28 %) and vitamin (23.18 %) than that of untreated one. The titrable acidity (T. A) of fruits (33.01 %) of the treated plants was reduced significantly as compared to control. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 42(1), 59-66, 2007

The fisheries sector in Bangladesh undergoes various post-harvest problems: the high post-harvest loss of fish. As fish is highly perishable, it needs proper handling, processing, and distribution in time. Ice is the major and primary material that is used in Bangladesh for fish preservation. Different methods are used for crushing ice. In the traditional method, ice is crushed with a heavy load by hand. This method is very laborious and most often does not provide a uniform shape. So, an attempt was taken to develop a low-cost ice crusher machine in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Based on the design and drawing, the machine was manufactured. Necessary materials to construct the machine were collected from the local market. The machine throughput capacity of the developed ice crusher was found 854.85 kg/hr. with an overall loss of 10.5%. Based on the test parameters, the machine performance was found satisfactory. The machine construction cost was estimated as Tk 11048. The operating cost for ice crushing was calculated, and it was found to be Tk 0.07/kg. This machine was simple at construction and the cost is also low, which indicates that the machine is suitable input for ice crushing to the marginal user. Where electricity is not available and large commercial heavy ice crushers are not available, this machine can be very suitable.