Character association and path analysis in twenty genotypically diverse indigenous genotypes of garlic (Allium sativum L.) were studied at the Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar during the years 2010 and 2011 for nine important characters. Total bulb yield showed positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic associations with plant height, number of leaves per plant, pseudo-stem length, bulb weight and number of cloves per bulb, indicating that selection based on these traits will help increasing the yield of garlic. Path coefficient analysis provides an effective means of a critical examination of specific force action to produce a given correlation and measure the relative importance of each factor. In this analysis bulb yield was taken as dependant variable and rest characters were considered as independent variable. Bulb weight showed high positive and direct effect and significant positive correlation with total bulb yield. Therefore, bulb with higher weight should be considered in selection criteria for increasing the total bulb yield and emphasis should be given for selecting the genotypes with higher bulb weight. Overall path analysis indicated that direct effect of bulb weight and equatorial bulb diameter and indirect effect of plant height, number of leaves per plant, pseudo stem length, polar bulb diameter, equatorial bulb diameter, number of cloves per bulb and average weight of 50 cloves should be considered simultaneously for amenability of total bulb yield. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sja.v11i1.18374 SAARC J. Agri., 11(1): 45-52 (2013)

Larvae that survived sublethal infection of Spodoptera litura granulovirus (SlGV) as 4th and 5th instars led to an increase in the larval period of treated larvae when compared with control. While pupal period and pupal weight remained unaffected, a significant alteration in sex ratio was observed. Although survivor moths could mate successfully, there was a significant reduction in the proportion of ovipositing females in treated larvae as compared with control. A significant reduction in fecundity of moths emerging from treated larvae was also noticed, but the egg viability was never influenced by the treatment. However, there was a significant increase in progeny mortality in treated larvae over control. The offspring mortality in survivors increased up to three subsequent generations but not thereafter. Hence, repeated field applications of inoculum are required. The implication of the present findings in terms of reduced fecundity coupled with increased larval development indicates that vertical transmission can lead to increased virus dispersal, both of which would reduce the host's innate capacity for population increase. This is particularly important in S. litura, which is a migratory species and occurs sporadically in a particular agro-ecosystem.

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To assess the effects of stocking density on growth and production of shing (Heteropneustes fossilis)in ponds, an experiment was carried out for a period from 06 August to 22 December, 2015. Three stocking densities used were 80, 160 and 240 fish /decimal and designated as T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Each treatment has two replications. Shing having a mean body weight of 1.18g was used in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. A commercial feed fed at the rate of 50% of body weight up to first 15 days and then gradually it was readjusted to 35%, 25%, 15%, 5% and 2% respectively. The water quality parameters were monitored at 15 days interval and the ranges were: temperature 23.0 ºC to 30.25 ºC, pH 6.64 to 8.16, dissolved oxygen 4.91 to 6.99 mg/l and transparency 36.15 to 41.5 cm. Results showed that, the fish stocked at the rate of 80 fish/decimal in T1  get best individual weight gain (42.63g) followed by T2(38.52g) and T3 (34.82g), respectively. The SGR ranged between (1.77to1.81) %/day. There was significant variation (P<0.01) among the survival rate which ranged from 66.45% to 88.75%. The production was 3.02 kg, 4.96 kg and 5.55 kg/dec/134 days in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. But the highest production of 5.55kg/dec/134 days was obtained in T3 with stocking density of 240 fish/dec might be due to higher stocking density. Although the highest production was obtained in T3 but individual growth performance of shing (Heteropneustes fossilis) was highest in T1. The highest net profit was found (BDT 2591) in treatment T2 compared to treatments T1 (BDT 1800) and T3 (BDT 1479). The cost benefit ratios were 1.59, 1.48 and 1.10 % in T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Asian Australas. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2016, 1 (2), 380-385

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