A field experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi) seasons of 2015-16 and 2016-17 at C-unit research farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India to determine the effect of boron and zinc on growth and yield of potato under lower Gangetic plains of West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with four replications having seven treatments viz. T1 (RDF of NPK 200:150:150 kg N: P2O5:K2O/ha), T2 (T1+2.0 kg B/ha as soil application), T3 (T1+ 4.5 kg Zn/ha as soil application), T4 (T1+2.0 kg B/ha and 4.5 kg Zn/ha as soil application), T5 (T1+ 0.1% boron (boric acid) as foliar application in three times at 40, 50 and 60 DAP), T6 (T1+ 0.1% zinc (zinc sulphate) as foliar application in three times at 40, 50 and 60 DAP) and T7 (T1+ Foliar spray of 0.1% zinc (zinc sulphate) + 0.1% boron (boric acid) at 40, 50 and 60 DAP). The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture and slightly alkaline in reaction (pH 7.35) having an organic carbon content of 0.57%, 183.26 Kg available N/ha, 16.80 kg available P/ha, 132.00 kg available K/ha. The available Zn and B content of initial soil were 1.48 mg/kg and 0.86 mg/kg respectively. The results revealed that the highest values of various nutrient use and uptake efficiency parameters were recorded with the foliar application of Zn and B. Also, the same trend was observed where the highest value of harvest index of 83.20% and returns per rupee invested above farmer"s practice of 28.5% was observed in T7 (T1+ Foliar spray of 0.1% zinc (zinc sulphate) + 0.1% boron (boric acid) at 40, 50 and 60 DAP).

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How dreadful a virus may be -this has been well understood across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Viruses pose a serious threat not only to mankind but also to agriculture by infecting several economically important crops such as rice, wheat, corn, cotton, and vegetables. Conventional methods will not be able to control these quickly evolving and emerging plant viruses. Present-day genome-editing techniques have emerged as promising tools to introduce desirable traits in target crop plant. The two major antiviral strategies, RNA silencing and genome editing have been vividly discussed in this review article. RNA silencing strategy has been utilized in antiviral breeding for more than three decades. Many crops engineered to stably express small RNAs targeting various viruses have been approved for commercial release. Among these technologies, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has gained more popularity by virtue of its simplicity, efficiency and reproducibility. CRISPR/Cas9 have been exploited to engineer plant virus resistance, either by directly targeting and cleaving the viral genome, or by modifying the host plant genome to introduce viral immunity. Here, we describe the biology of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and plant viruses, and how this genome engineering tool has been used to target the devastating plant viruses.

Background: Mungbean is one of the most important legume crop with high nutritional value and is consumed in various forms in different parts of India. In order to meet its growing demand, there is a need to increase the yield through adoption of breeding approaches like heterosis breeding and breeding for high yielding varieties. This demands a critical study of the gene action involved in regulation of yield and yield attributing traits which can be achieved through generation mean analysis. Methods: In the present study, generation mean analysis was undertaken using five parameter model to estimate the nature and magnitude of gene action of yield and its component traits in six crosses of greengram. Result: Magnitude of dominance gene effect was reported to be higher than additive gene effect in most of the crosses. Either one or both the interaction components were found significant for all the traits besides number of branches per plant and hundred seed weight. It was evident from the study that the yield components could be improved by exploiting both additive and non-additive gene effects. The transgressive segregants thus produced will prompt the development of desirable high yielding genotypes.

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