An experiment was conducted at Dang, Nepal in 2021 to scrutinize the effect of different doses of gibberellic acid on the growth and yield performance of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). From February to April, seven different dosages of Gibberellic acid (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 ppm) were tested in Completely Randomized Design (CRD), replicated 4 times with an average daily temperature of 15-28°C and relative humidity ranging from 75-90 %. The oyster mushroom cultivation was undertaken under aseptic conditions, and the growth and development of mushrooms were recorded. Results of the study revealed that the highest yield (2.55 kg/ball), number of fruiting bodies (47), and effective primordia (11), better stipe length (5.132 cm) were found in 10 ppm of GA3 application. The result suggested that GA3 at 10 ppm/packet would be the best possible concentration for the production of Oyster mushrooms.

Flowers are adorable creations of the god useful for all occasions from birth to death of human life. Thus, the tendency of people to accept flower on all occasion make it a great potential sector to contribute largely to the national GDP. The floriculture business is increasing 6-9% yearly over the last 20 years. About 20% cut flower, 60% ornamental plants, 90% seeds, and 20% as a whole floral product demands is fulfilled by imports with 12-15% increasing demand annually. Among them, only 14 % of farmers are contacted in extension and 31% received training regarding production, marketing promotion and linkage, entrepreneurship development, and leadership development. 80% share of floriculture export is occupied by propagation material, especially to India, and importing live plants and cut flowers majorly from India i.e., 38.40%. This is due to weak accessibility of information on technology and technical experts, low price export and high price import, weak export marketing management, promotion, and country singularized export. Policy for investment guarantee, import substitution, and export promotion; infrastructure development for wholesale markets, cold storage, refrigerated van, and collection center; package program for irrigation, greenhouse, transport, packaging, manpower development, and seeds; research and development for local spices, manpower development, production location, diseases, and pests, marking network, etc. are the essential need of floriculture sector development in Nepal.

Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a major fruit crop of Nepal and faces huge post-harvest loss due to inconvenient and unscientific practices in post-harvest. To identify better practices, seven treatments viz no packaging materials (T1), cardboard packaging (T2), newspaper wrapping (T3), plastic packaging without any perforation (T4), plastic packaging with three perforations (T5), plastic packaging with six perforations (T6) and rice straw packaging (T7) replicated three times. The research was evaluated on the color, physiological weight loss, juice content, total soluble solids, pH, and total acidity on the 5th, 10th, and 15th days. The physiological weight loss and juice recovery percentage were only affected whereas other parameters remained unaffected by packaging materials. Plastic packaged with six perforations mandarin accounts lowest weight loss i.e., 8.56%, and the highest juice recovery i.e. 41.07%. To summarize, plastic (20 microns) packaged with six perforations is the best way to enhance the post-harvest life of mandarin among used treatments.

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