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during the Kharif season of 2016-2017. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with ten treatments in three replication consist of three levels of each growth regulator i.e. GA 3 at 10, 20, 30 ppm, NAA at 20, 30, 40 ppm and 2,4-D at 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 ppm. Maximum plant height (96.18 cm), maximum number of primary and secondary branches, and maximum fruit per plant (46.06), fruit yield per plant (1320.0 g) and fruit yield per hectare (52.5 t/ha) was observed with the application of GA 3 at 30 ppm. However, maximum number of flowers was obtained with the application of 2,4-D (5 ppm). The results indicated that the use of GA 3 at specific concentration of 30 ppm, considerably increased the weight of fruit and significantly increased total yield up to 52.5 t/h.

Salinity in soil and water is a critical factor that is causing hindrance in crop production under salt affected areas. Plant metabolic activities are apparently restricted due to accumulation of salt. The event of salt stress happens to be the reason of severe alteration in the sequence of plant growth and development which ultimately reduces the survivability of plants. The physiological and biochemical mechanisms of tolerance to various osmotic and ionic components of salinity stress are evaluated at the cellular, organ and whole plant level. The course of adaptation towards salinity stress could be of various types such as avoidance, exclusion, extrusion, ion compartmentalization etc. Appropriate understanding of mechanism involved in salt tolerance at different levels in plant tissues provide a new opportunity to integrate physiological and biochemical knowledge to improve the salinity tolerance of fruit crops, especially from the nutritional aspect. Such information not only helpful in escalating the productivity in salt affected areas, but also facilitate in bringing relatively more salt affected areas under cultivation.

Soybean and black soybean are important kharif crops which play a vital role in nutritional and livelihood security in Uttarakhand hills. Considering the scope of improvement in productivity through the improved varieties and recommended production technologies, front line demonstrations were conducted by ICAR-VPKAS, Almora during kharif 2015 and 2016. The present study revealed that the average technology gap for black soybean (1.58 q/ha) was lower than soybean (7.87 q/ha) at farmer's field which is suggesting the need to further develop better performing varieties in black soybean than existing ones as the potential yield levels of improved varieties are easily achievable in given environment. The extension gap for black soybean (5.57 q/ha) and soybean (6.25 q/ha), exhibiting the potential of improving productivity by understanding the causes of yield gaps and abridging them with proper interventions. In terms of economic impact based on benefit cost ratio in front line demonstrations, the cultivation of black soybean (1.0) was found more profitable than soybean (0.94) besides, better feasibility of improved technological interventions in black soybean at farmer's field revealed by lower technology index of black soybean (12.72%) than soybean (39.10%). An insight on various constraints causing yield gaps and potential interventions to mitigate them have also been discussed.