calcium, iron, zinc, folate, thiamin, niacin, vitamin C, and vitamin A compared with NOHG. The study demonstrates that households with OHG had greater dietary diversity from homegarden produce compared with that of households with NOHG leading to better food and micronutrient intake and nutritional security.

A recent outbreak of FAW (Spodoptera frugiperda) caused a substantial yield loss in corn was recorded in Sri Lanka especially from Uva, Eastern and North Central provinces. This was first reported in Sri Lanka in August 2018 and over the last six months, the livelihood of the majority of small-scale farming families was greatly affected. National mobilization of resources, agriculture related institutions together with university academia actively participated with the government campaign of combating the pest and improving the livelihood of affected people all over the country. The effort of this short communication is to describe the magnitude of FAW infestation, its implications in Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka and the contribution of the inter-institutional support towards the sustainable management of the Fall ArmyWorm epidemic in Sri Lanka. Amount of land extent used for corn cultivation in Ratnapura district was estimated as 292.65ha, while 32.95 ha were infected with the pest (11.3%). Highest provincial land extent use for corn in Sri Lanka was Uva province where considerable pest damage has been reported. In Uva, total 42436.7 ha were cultivated in maha season where 30998.3 ha has infected and destroyed (73%). Even though corn was cultivated in lower land extent in Ratnapura, effective and organized disaster management response in Ratnapura was able to minimize the pest impact to 11.3% from total losses.

No abstract

Five separate field experiments were conducted at Hungama in the Hambantota district, Sri Lanka, to evaluate the growth performances of selected five tree species i.e.Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), Wood apple tFeronoa /imonia), Kottamba (Terminalia catappa), KathurumurungatSesbonia grandiflora) and Katuandara (Acasia leucoploeai, mainly available in the salt-affected areas. Each tree species consisted of six treatments which were differentiated with three potting mixtures (i.e. top soil, sub soil and a mixture of top soil -cattle manure) filled in planting holes and again with mulching and without mulching. The experimental design for at experiments were Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates. Two months old plants raised in poly bags were used in all the experiments. Plant height and dry matter yield of plants were determined as growth parameters, once in three monthsThe experimental site was near the Hungama Lake and salinity of the soil is about 9.5 mmhos!cm at topsoil and 8.3mmhos/cm at 30 cm depth. All the plants have shown good growth performances in all treatments. Growth performances were not significantly affected by mulching for all plant species. Tamarind, Wood apple and Kottamba, which were grown in planting holes filled wi.l: subsoil, showed significantly higher growth performances. But in Kathurumurunga, the better performances were observed in the treatment, which used a potting mixture of cattle manure -top soil while in Katuandara, plants grew well in all the treatments irrespective of the treatment effect. Therefore all five tree species, which were used for the experiment, may be recommended as salt tolerant tree species.

Rice is considered as self-pollinated crop but out-crossing is possible. At307 is a high yielding, 90d variety developed at the Rice Research Station, Ambalantota, Sri Lanka possessing good attributes to be recommended as a commercial variety in Sri Lanka. It contains both Indica and Japonica germplasms. At307 has failed to pass the seed certification several times due to lack of its genetic purity perhaps due to out-crossing nature, or mechanical mixing. Therefore the present study was conducted to investigate the characteristics associated with out-crossing of At307. Comparison was done with Bg300, Bg304, At303 and At306 improved 90d rice varieties at Ambalantota rice research station during the Yala season, 2010. Out crossing mainly depends on flowering behavior, floral characteristics of male and female parts and variation in environmental factors. Varietal differences were found to be significant at 5% probability level for spikelet open angle. But spikelet open duration, numbers of spikelet per panicle (NS/P), stigma exsertion percentage, flowering period of plant, culm length), panicle length. Flowering period of panicle, angle of flag leaf, length of flag leaf and width of flag leaf were not significantly different among five selected rice varieties. Out-crossing associated characters of At307 were normal except spikelet opening angle. Increased exposes the stigma more to alien pollens resulting emerges off-types in future generation of At307.