In this study, hydroxyapatite (HAp) and gelatin (GEL) scaffolds were prepared to mimic the mineral and organic component of natural bone. The raw material was first compounded and resulting composite were molded into the petridishes. Using Solvent casting process, it is possible to produce scaffolds with mechanical and structural properties close to natural trabecular bone.The mechanical properties of composites were investigated by Thermo-mechanical analyzer (TMA), Vickers microhardness tester, Universal testing machine. It was observed that the composite has maximum tensile strength of 37.13MPa ( oven drying) and % elongation of 7.68 (Oven drying) and 2.04 (Natural drying) at 15% of Hap respectively. These results demonstrate that the prepared composite scaffold is a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering.

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth and yield performance of four strawberry germplasms at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October 2010 to April 2011. The experimental materials were four strawberry germplasms: V1 (SAU Line-01), V2 (SAU Line-02), V3 (SAU Line-03) and V4 (SAU Line-04). The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five replications. Among the germplasms the maximum number of flowers (32.5/plant), the maximum number of fruits (28.8/plant), the highest average fruit weight (12.3 g) and the highest total fruit yield (361 g/plant) were found in V1. Considering the overall results of the study, it may be concluded that V1 (SAU Line-01) is a promising strawberry germplasm for cultivation in Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/agric.v11i2.17495 The Agriculturists 2013; 11(2) 104-108