Pericarp browning is the major post-harvest problem of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn) fruit, resulting in reduced commercial value of the fruit. Control of postharvest pericarp browning of fruit using 9 different postharvest treatments were studied. The treated fruits were packed in transparent perforated (0.2% ventilation) low density polythene bags (100 gauge). On storage, pericarp browning increased irrespective of treatments with the decrease in pericarp specifi c activity, total pericarp phenol and total anthocyanin. Anthocyanin degradation index and polymeric colour increased during storage. Pre-cooled (10 0 C) fruits treated with 0.6% sodium metabisulphite solution for 10 min, air dried followed by dipping in 2% HCl for 5 min and packing in perforated LDPE bags recorded the lowest polyphenol oxidase specifi c activity (2.2 units/mg protein) with maximum retention of total anthocyanin (47.3 mg/100g) leading to the lowest pericarp browning after 9 days of storage with attractive red colour, freshness and enhanced shelf life of 9 days at ambient conditions (27.7 ± 1.2°C, RH 78 ± 4%).

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: A field experiment was conducted at farmer's field during Rabi season of 2011-12 in Jorhat district to study the effect of different combinations of organic sources of nutrients viz., vermicompost, FYM, rock phosphate along with bio-fertilizer on different growth parameters, yield and profitability of French bean cultivar Arka Anoop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four treatments and five replications. In this investigation, the results revealed that application of vermicompost + FYM + Rhizobium + rock phosphate (T 2 ) significantly increased the germination percentage (87%), growth parameters and yield of the crop viz., plant height (37.50 cm after 60 days of sowing), number of branches plant -1 (6.48 after 60 days of sowing), green pod length (12.16 cm), green pod number plant -1 (20), green pod weight (300.05 g plant -1 ), dry weight of plant (18.74 g), number of seeds pod -1 (6.08) than the remaining three treatments. There was no significant difference in days to 50 per cent flowering among different treatments. However, nodulation was maximum in the treatment T 4 (41.88) and minimum in T 1 (38.20) . Nodules plant -1 in the treatment combinations T 2 and T 3 were at par. Highest yield (14 t ha -1 ) with maximum benefit : cost ratio (3.35:1) was obtained in the treatment combination T 2 and the lowest (7.00 t ha -1 ) was obtained in the treatment T 1 with minimum benefit : cost ratio (2.50:1). Though the yield was higher in the treatment T 3 than T 4 , yet the benefit : cost ratio was more in the treatment T 4 . It may be due to high cost of vermicompost than FYM.KEY WORDS : Vermicompost, FYM, Rhizobium, Growth, Yield, French bean HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Sarma, I., Phukon, M., Borgohain, R., Goswami, J. and Neog, M. (2014). Response of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to organic manure, vermicompost and bio-fertilizers on growth parameters and yield. Asian J. Hort., 9(2) : 386-389.

Physico-chemical changes that occur during ripening affect the post harvest quality and shelf life of banana fruits. Finger drop is a major post harvest physiological disorder that deteriorates the quality of banana particularly in cultivars having genome "A". Enzyme activity was found responsible for this disorder. Various practices including application of chemicals and growth regulators have been adopted to check this disorder and to improve quality of banana during storage. Research works pertaining to the cause, symptoms and prescribed solutions have been reviewed in this paper.

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.)  is a recently introduced super fruit in India, gaining popularity both in the rural and urban areas because of its attractive colour, delicious taste, high nutritive and medicinal values. It is adaptable to humid as well as semi-arid tropical and subtropical conditions. The growing acceptability of the fruit along with its immense antioxidants and medicinal properties has led to high demand of its cultivation followed  quality planting materials in desired quantity. Dragon fruit can be propagated by various ways both sexually via seeds as well as asexually via stem cuttings, grafting and also via micropropagation. In this review various methods of propagation of dragon fruit are described along with some propagation aspects related to dragon fruit on which very limited information is available. Potential areas on dragon fruit propagation that require further research to generate more data in order to improve the techniques are also discussed.