Maize (zea mays) is the most important cereal crop after rice in Bangladesh. During storage, maize grains are severely destroyed by insect pests. Most of the farmers of Bangladesh do not know how to preserve corn seed properly due to insufficient knowledge of storage pest of maize. An experiment was conducted to assess the major pests associated with stored maize, the damage and losses they cause in Bangladesh during July to December 2017. Sixty (60) farmer's farms from fifteen major maize growing districts of Bangladesh were assessed. Sixteen Arthropods, Fifteen Coleopterans, Five Lepidopterans and one Acarina were documented from the collected samples. Maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) followed by maize grain moth (Sitotroga cereallela), rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae), flour beetle (Tribolium confusum) and Areca nut weevil (A. fasciculatus) were the major pests of stored maize in the study area. Among them, Maize weevil (S. zeamais) is the dominant, destructive and most important pest of maize in Bangladesh. This pest was found in abundance in all areas assessed damaging maize grain. Quantitative average grain damage of 75.85% and losses of 51 to 85% are common in the store within five to six months after storage. An integrated weevil management method should be implemented to prevent the high quantitative and qualitative grain losses incurred to contribute towards family food security in Bangladesh.

Salinity screening of 24 rice genotypes was performed at the reproductive stage for evaluating their salt tolerance level. On the basis of yield and yield components, genotypes were categorized as tolerant, susceptible and moderately tolerant. PBRC-30, Ashfal, Horkuch, STL-20 and Pokkali were found as tolerant while Binadhan-7, S-39 L-11, S-37 L-27, S-37 L-36 and S-37 L-39 were found as susceptible. Selected three SSR markers viz. RM336, RM21 and RM510 were used to determine salinity tolerance. The genetic diversity was ranges from 0.8194 to 0.8854 with an average of 0.8530. The highest PCI value was 0.8742 and the lowest was 0.8004 from RM510 and RM21, respectively. The UPGMA clustering system generated six genetic clusters. The highest genetically dissimilarity of (Cluster 1) vs (Cluster 2 sub-cluster A) and the crossing would be helpful for salt tolerant rice development. Thus, selected SSR primers and genotypes would be useful in marker assisted breeding, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and gene pyramiding in breeding programmed for improvement of rice for salt tolerance.

Embryogenic calli from mature seeds of four indica rice genotypes were used to observe their regeneration potentiality and establish a suitable in vitro plantlet regeneration protocol. MS medium supplemented with different phytohormone combinations were used to observe the callus induction ability of the explant. The highest callus induction (73.19%), biggest size of callus (3.133mm) and higher callus weight (0.7167g) were observed in Binadhan-6 in MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg L-1 2,4-D over all the genotypes and MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg L-1 2,4-D was the best over all the treatments (66.83%). Among the phytohormone combinations, MS + 8 mg L-1 Kinetin + 0.5 mg L-1 NAA showed the highest shoot regeneration (50.67%) and shoot length (13.7cm). Among the genotypes, Binadhan-6 was highly responsive to shoot regeneration (55.83%). The best root formation from regenerants (87.889%), maximum number of roots per plant (20) and the highest length (4.467 cm) of roots were in MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 IAA in Binadhan-6. In pot and soil, Binadhan-6 showed the highest survival rate of the plantlet 91.30% and 85%, respectively. This callus induction and in vitro regeneration protocol will be widely applicable for the tissue culture of indica rice.

An experiment was conducted at the research field of Jute Research Regional Station of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) at Kishoreganj during August 2009 to January 2010 to assess the effect of cutting length and position of cutting on seed yield and quality of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.). Three cutting lengths (15 cm, 20 cm and 25cm) and three cutting positions (1st top, 2nd top and 3rd top) were the treatments. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest seed yield (917 kg ha-1) was obtained from 1st top x 15cm interaction and the lowest (811 kg ha-1) was recorded in 3rd top x 25cm cutting length. The highest seed germination (89%), field emergence (87%) and accelerated ageing (73%) were recorded from 1st top x 15cm interaction and the lowest seed germination (83.00%), field emergence (81%) and accelerated ageing (72) were recorded in 3rd top x 25 cm cutting length. The upper position of cutting produced the highest yield and best quality seeds. The Agriculturists 2018; 16(1) 13-20