Bitter gourd is one of the popular vegetables for its medicinal values. It is monoecious cucurbitaceous plants which have imbalance sex ratio of male-female flowers that causes lower fruit yield. Different research works on cucurbits like bitter gourd and other related crops in respect of plant growth regulators, plant nutrients, and priming practices have been conducted in different parts of the world. Literatures related to the present study have been reviewed and found that bitter gourd genotypes produced larger male-female ratio and the induction of male flower was earlier than that of female ones. Growth regulators have significant positive effect on yield and yield components. Application of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) enhanced the length of main vine, but decreased the primary branches while ethylene producing chemicals Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) increased the number of primary branches per plant. Application of auxin like 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) at 50 and 100 ppm and CEPA at 150 ppm also proved to be effective in inducing earlier female flowers at lower node. Application of CEPA at 150 ppm and NAA at 50 ppm was found to be the best treatments for reducing sex ratio by increasing the female flowers by suppressing the male ones, and consequently induce higher yield.

The experiment was conducted at the field and laboratory of the Department of Crop Botany, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Salna, Gazipur during the period from December 2016 to March 2017 to find out the morpho-anatomical appraisal of some pulse crops of Fabaceae family under salinity stress. Seven pulse crops viz., Lentil var. BARI Masur-7, Mungbean var. BARI Mung- 6, Blackgram var. BARI Maskalai-1, Chickpea var. BARI Chola-9, Field pea var. BARI Motor-1, Grasspea var. BARI Khesari-3 and Cowpea var. BARI Felon-2; two levels of salinity 0 and 8 dSm-1were imposed as experimental treatments. It was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications. The NaCl was directly mixed to the dry soil. The soil (6 kg pot-1) of each treatment was placed in plastic pots with drainage holes in the bottom. The results of the experiment revealed that, salt stress caused decrease in morphological attributes and also changed anatomical features. There was a significant variation in relative values (%) of plant height, root length (%) root dry matter (%) and shoot dry matter (%) of seven selected pulse crop varieties due to the salinity stress. The highest percentage of relative plant height (92), relative root length (98), relative root dry weight (89) and relative shoot dry weight (72.8) were observed in cowpea followed by grass pea and the lowest percentage of relative plant height (51), relative root length (56), relative root dry weight (54) and relative shoot dry weight (48) were observed in lentil. The stem anatomical features were found similar changes in xylem and phloem area. Among the pulse crop varieties, cowpea and grass pea were performed better whereas lentil and black gram were found more susceptible species than the others according to their morphological and anatomical attributes. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 44(3): 439-451, September 2019

Salinity is an abiotic stress which affects plant’s growth, morphology and cellular functions, and alters the ionic balance in the cytosol and vacuole in various crops. In the present investigation, salt stress was tested with three rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties/genotypes viz. Pokkali, Sunduri Samba, and Khasa with three levels of salinity (0, 6, and 9 dSm-1). In the investigation,growth, morphology, and ionic status in roots, stem, and leaf were observed under pot culture with three replicates in each treatment. The results of the experiment revealed that salt stress decreased in growth attributes namely, root dry matter, shoot dry matter, total dry matter and root: shoot ratio. Sunduri Samba showed higher values, but Khasa the lowest. Mineral ion content especially the cation in the plant tissue namely Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ differed significantly due to salt stress as well as the K+/ Na+ ratio decreased in root and shoot due to salinity. Sunduri Samba maintained quite higher K+/Na+ than the susceptible genotype. Due to salinity, different growth characteristics and K+ concentrations decreased but Na+ concentration increased. Here the tolerant genotype Sunduri Samba accumulated higher amounts of K+ than the susceptible genotype Khasa and altered the ionic ratios through distribution of Na+ ion in shoot. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.56(3), 207-214, 2021

Mung bean, an important pulse crop, its growth, and development are affected by various abiotic stresses where salinity hampers yield seriously. An experiment was conducted under the hydroponic condition to observe the effect of salinity on the anatomical attributes of mung bean genotypes. The design of the experiment was randomized complete with factorial having five levels of salinities i.e. 0 (control), 6, 8, 10, 12 dSm-1. The results indicated that anatomical features of mung bean plants were affected by the application of salt. The cortex and stele radius and vascular bundle strands were reduced due to salt application. The vascular bundle size especially the length was decreased with the increased levels of salinity. Similarly, the radius of cortex was also decreased with the increased levels of salinity. The results concluded that the application of salts altered the plant's internal structures, especially the vascular bundles and leaf spongy parenchyma tissue. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 57(3), 139-148, 2022