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Studies were carried out in NA 7 cultivar of aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn) to assess the efficacy of organic and inorganic mulching materials on growth, flowering and yield during 2013 and 2014. Treatments consisted of mulching materials, viz. black polythene, white polythene, paddy straw, saw dust, sarkanda, dry grass with control (unmulched). The results indicated that maximum increase in tree height (0.55 m), tree spread in north-south (0.23 m) and east-west (0.17 m) and tree volume (11.11 cm3) was recorded in black polythene mulch, while it was minimum in control. The black polythene mulch reduced the weed growth in terms of count and weight by cent per cent. As far as floral characteristics, plant with black polythene mulch were the first to flower (11 April 2013), with maximum duration of flowering (23 days) and male : female flower ratio (22:1). Black polythene mulch was superior to all other mulching treatments in terms of yield attributes as it registered maximum fruit set (56.15%), minimum fruit drop (55.87%) and higher yield/tree (72.77 kg/tree). Thus, it can be concluded that black polythene improved the tree growth, flowering, fruit production and lowered weed population of aonla cv. NA 7 as compared to control in rainfed areas.

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In order to establish in vitro protocols for raising aseptic cultures of cotyledon segments excised from five-week-old in vitro raised seedlings were used as explant material. Among surface sterilants, mercuric chloride 0.1% for three minutes provided least rate of contamination (24%) and the maximum explant survival (76%). The highest per cent culture establishment of 97.79% was obtained in cotyledon explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) containing 2,4-D (3.0 mg/l) and maximum callus induction (95.41%) was observed on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D (2.0 mg/l). Among different plant growth regulator treatments, maximum callus regeneration of 82.19% was observed on MS medium supplemented with BAP (3.0 mg/l) whereas, minimum callus regeneration (4.33%) was found in MS medium supplemented with BAP (3.0 mg/l) in combination with IAA (0.75 mg/l) and malt extract (500 mg/l). Maximum rooting response (96.00%) was recorded on MS (half strength) medium with NAA (2.0 mg/l) and was at par with rooting percentage of 92.00% on MS (half strength) medium supplemented with NAA (1.5 mg/l). The plantlets were successfully acclimatized in different potting mixtures and highest survival rate (91.35%) was achieved in potting mixture containing garden soil with sand and farmyard manure (1:1:1).

Farming systems of households in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State have been analyzed based on the primary data collected through a total sample of 450 farmers in 2010-2011. The cereal based farming system and livestock based farming system has been found mostly in the study area except in Rajouri district where only cereal based farming system was predominant. Livestock and cereals only have been found to be the main sources of farm income in all the districts, whereas maximum contribution to their income was from non-farm. The study has indicated that credit has no impact on farm income as none of the sample farmers has taken credit from any sources, whether it is institutional or non-institutional sources. It was also observed that cross-bred breeding programme has not marked headway in the sample area. As far as resource use efficiency was concerned, CobbDouglas production was used and it was observed that the elasticity coefficient was highly significant for area under cereals (AUC) in Reasi and Doda districts whereas for area under other crops (AOTH) it was found to be highly significant in Kathua and Doda districts. Doda district was found highly significant for both DA and EI also.