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Correlations and path coefficient were studied in 39 exotic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes for nine yield contributing characters. The correlation coefficients were determined to find out the inter relationship among the characters studied. Yield per plant was found highly significant and positively correlated with flowers per plant, fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit diameter and individual fruit weight which indicated that yield could be increased by improving a traits. In order to obtain a clear picture of the inter relationship between yield per plant and its components, direct and indirect effects were measured using path coefficient analysis. Fruits per plant showed the highest positive direct effect (0.980) on yield per plant followed by individual fruit weight (0.958). On the other hand, the highest negative direct effect on yield per plant showed by days to first flowering (-0.277) followed by fruit length (-0.141). The characters showed high direct effect on yield per plant indicated that direct selection for these traits might be effective and there is a possibility of improving yield per plant through selection based on these characters. Residual effect was considerably low (0.183) which indicated that characters included in this study explained almost all variability towards yield. Keywords: Correlation coefficients; path coefficient analysis; residual effect DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpbg.v23i1.9313 BJPBG 2010; 23(1): 13-18

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Insect species inventories along with pest prevalence, foraging behavior of pollinators and their effect on fruit set of mango were studied in a mango‐based agroforestry area in Bangladesh during January to June 2013. Of 1751 collected insects, 11 species in five orders and nine families were pests, 13 species in six orders and eight families were predators and eight species belonging to three orders and seven families were found as pollinators. The pests exerted significantly higher abundance but lower diversity than pollinator, predator and other insects. The pollinator richness was found to be lowest but showed higher as well as similar diversity to other category insects. Three pest species prevailed throughout the season and hoppers showed significant abundance. Among the predators, ants were most abundant. Sulphur butterfly and syrphid fly revealed statistically identical and higher abundance than other pollinators. During the flowering season, pests were dominant and the abundance of insects was observed to peak at 11.00 h. The pollinators differed in their landing duration on flowers and their activity led to higher levels of fruit set. This study provides baseline information on insect abundance in an agroforestry system, which stresses the importance of conservation of beneficial insects.

This experiment was conducted during September, 2011 to March, 2012 in the experimental field of Department of Horticulture, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur to find out the effect of planting date on the yield of broccoli genotypes. There were five genotypes viz. Early green, Forest green, Green calabrese, Premium crop and Green king and four planting dates viz. 2 October, 27 October, 21 November and 16 December. The treatment effects were statistically analyzed and found significant in most of the characters studied. Genotype Green calabrese was the highest in average plant height (53.70 cm). Green king produced the maximum spread diameter (69.23 cm), stem diameter (30.35 mm) and early initiation of floral head. Genotype Early green performed the best regarding head weight (343.87 g), yield per plant (477.4 g) and yield (19.10 t/ha). Broccoli planted on 21 November initiated early flower head, maximum head diameter (16.99 cm), head weight (314.49 g), yield per plant (453.64 g) and total yield (18.15 t/ha). The genotype Early green planted on 21 November showed the best performance in yield per plant (580.17 g) and yield hectare (23.21 t/ha).Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 40(3): 465-478, September 2015