Field experiment was carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during summer and South West Monsoon seasons of 1997 to study the effect of NPK levels and seed setting treatments on the yield attributing characters of sunflower var. CO4. The yield attributing characters viz., head diameter, number of seeds head, seed filling percentage and 100 seed weight were significantly influenced by NPK levels. Whereas the seed setting percentage was influenced both by NPK levels and seed setting treatments. Application of N: P: K at 80:40:40 kg ha-1 was found to be superior in enhancing the yield and yield attributing characters in both the seasons. Among the seed setting treatments, application of 0.2 per cent borax with 2 per cent diammoniumphosphat (DAP) spray at ray floret opening stage was found to be superior in influencing the seed filling percentage in both the seasons.

Field experiments were conducted during kuruvai seasons (June-Sept) of 1994 and 1995 to identify appropriate techniques and suitable rice varieties for direct seeding under puddled condition at Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai. Five rice varieties viz., Vikas, IET 9978. IET 9994, IET 9221 and ADT 36 were included during kuruvai 1994 and during 1995, the variety. IET 9221 was replaced by IET 10402 and ASD 16. Four management practices viz., transplanting, wet seeding, weed control and split application of fertilizer were included in the experiments. Grain yield obtained under direct seeding is comparable with transplanted rice. Rice varieties, ADT 36, ASD 16 and JET 9978 are found to perform well under direct sown situation with improved management practices viz., herbicide application followed by one hand weeding and application of recommended dose of N,P,K (125:50:50 kg/ha) and ZnSO4 (25 kg/ha).

The rainfall data pertaining to 40 years were analysed and contingent crop plan was developed for Trichy district. The annual mean rainfall was 742.02 mm. The distribution pattern of annual rainfall over the 40 years reveals that in 15 years, it was normal (37.5%) and in 10 years, it was deficit (25.0%). Excess rainfall was recorded in 13 years (32.5%). In two years, the rainfall was scanty (5.0%). Among the four seasons, North East monsoon contributes the highest quantity rainfall (47.2%) followed by South West monsoon (37.5%). The sowing rains of 20 mm and above were recorded in the third week of August through the end of the year. Based on the rainfall pattern, suitable crops are recommended for various soil types like red, black and salt affected soils.

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Field. experiments were conducted on the clay loam soils of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during kharif (June-Sep) and rabi (Oct-Jan) seasons of 1984-85. The herbicide treatments were dicamba at 0.075, 0.125, 0.200, 0.300, and 0.500 kg ha¹ and 2, 4-DEE at 0.200, 0.300, 0.600 and 0.800 kg ha¹ during kharif and 0.200, 0.300, and 0.500 kg ha¹ of dicamba and 0.300, 0.600 and 0.800 kg ha of 2,4-D EE during rabi applied individually and in all combinations. Butachlor 1.5 kg ha¹ and hand weeding twice treatments were included in rabi for comparison. Dicamba +2,4-D EE mixture at 0.300+ 0.600 gave the highest grain yield of 5261 and 4892 kg ha during kharif and rabi seasons, respectively. The grain yields with hand weeding twice (4798 kg ha¹) and butachlor treatments (4816 kg ha-1) were comparable with higher doses of individual application of these herbicides during rabi season. The highest weed control efficiency and index were observed in dicamba + 2,4-D EE mixture at 0.5+0.8 kg ha-1 applied in both seasons closely followed by 0.3+0.60 kg ha-1