A field experiment on "Response of Sweet corn hybrid to establishment methods and weed management practices under temperate conditions" was conducted at research farm of Faculty of Agriculture (SKUAST-K) kharif during 2017. The treatments comprised of three establishment methods (Transplanting polypot (TP),Transplanting nursery (TN) and Direct Seeding (DS) and six weed management practices (Atrazine @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as pre emergence + hand weeding and intercultivation at 30 days after sowing (W1), Pendimethalin @ 1.0kg a.i. ha -1 as pre emergence + hand weeding and intercultivation at 30 days after sowing DAS (W2), Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg a.i. ha -1 pre emergence + Sulfosulfuran 60 g a.i. ha -1 as post emergence at 30 DAS (W3), Atrazine @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as pre emergence +Tumbotrione 120 g a.i. ha -1 as post emergence at 30 DAS (W4), Weed free (W5), Weedy check(W6) laid out in RCBD with three replications. Sweet corn variety Sugar-75 of Syngenta was used as the test variety. The seedling parameters were significantly superior in transplanting polyplot sown in green house. All the growth parameters (viz. plant height, dry matter production, leaf area index), days to tasseling, days to silking and yield parameters viz. number of cobs plant-1, number of grains cob -1 , green cob yield and stover yield and harvest index) were observed to be significantly higher in transplanting polyplot. The plant height, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation and number of leaves were observed to be significantly higher in treatment of atrazine @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as pre emergence + tembotrione 120 g a.i. ha -1 as post emergence at 30 DAS (W4). Yield parameters viz., green cob yield and green fodder yield increased significantly in treatment of atrazine @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as pre emergence + tembotrione 120 g a.i. ha -1 as post emergence at 30 DAS (W4). It can concluded that under existing conditions transplanted polypot in combination with application of atrazine @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 (pre-emergence) + tembotrione @ 120 g a.i. ha -1 (post-emergence) (TPW4) showed highest benefit cost ratio of 7.97 and proved superior for realizing higher yield and profitability of sweet corn under temperate conditions.

Maize is one of the most important cereal crops of Kashmir Valley where it serves as a source of food, feed, fodder and industrial raw material, providing enormous opportunity for crop diversification, value addition and employment generation. However, the average productivity of maize in Kashmir Valley is quite low (1.5 t ha-1) when compared to the national productivity (2.5 t ha-1). The development, dissemination and adoption of high yielding, early maturity, cold tolerant maize hybrids can serve as the most economical, effective and coherent approach to contribute significantly towards increasing maize production in Kashmir Valley. A single cross hybrid SMH4 (Shalimar Maize Hybrid 4) has been developed to enhance the maize productivity in high altitude agro-ecologies of the Valley. SMH4 possesses very high yield potential of about 7.0-8.2 t ha-1 compared to 2.5-4.0 t ha-1 as realised by the predominantly grown landraces in hilly agro-ecosystems. The hybrid revealed the grain yield superiority of about 23.61% and the stover yield superiority of about 15.77% over the commercial check viz., Shalimar maize Hybrid 1. The variety is resistant to Turcicum leaf blight and common rust, besides showing resistance to stem borers and cut worms. SMH4 has a very good acceptability by farmers for its high yield potential (both grain and fodder), better seedling vigour and early maturity. SMH4 with the traits like cold tolerance and early maturity can play a potential role in enhancing the economy of maize growers under high altitude ecologies of Kashmir Valley. The development, upscaling and mass adoption of SMH4 in temperate agro-ecologies will lead to socio-economic upliftment of small and marginal farmers through increase in production, productivity and farm profitability.

Transplanting rice appears to pose many problems, including depletion of freshwater reservoirs and competition for labor. Conversely, direct seeding allows us to overcome shortcomings associated with conventional transplanting. Nitrogen is a crucial nutrient needed for plant growth and yield. Therefore, this study was executed to analyze the influence of nitrogen on the performance of rice genotypes grown by direct seeding in wet soil. The experiment comprised various rice cultivars, i.e., Shalimar Rice-1, Shalimar Rice-3, Shalimar Rice-4, and Jhelum, and nitrogen (N) levels, i.e., 0, 90, 120, and 150 kg/ha. Shalimar Rice-4 produced a maximum grain yield (6.39 t/ha), followed by Shalimar Rice-3 and Jhelum). The application of 150 kg N/ha showed maximum values for growth parameters, yield attributing traits, and grain yield (6.68 t/ha); however, it remained at par with 120 kg N/ha. Crop water productivity was highest in Shalimar Rice-4 (0.49 kg/m3), and the same showed a consistent increase with increasing N levels from 0–150 kg/ha, with a comparable value of 0.49 to 0.51 recorded at 120 and 150 kg N/ha. Moreover, the Shalimar Rice-1 variety required the maximum in growing degree days (GDD) and helio-thermal units (HTU) to attain different phenological stages till physiological maturity (131 days). However, the cultivar Shalimar rice-4 (SR-4) performed better by registering significantly higher heat use efficiency (HUE) (4.44 kg/ha °C/day). Additionally, the highest net return and the benefit-cost ratio were registered by Shalimar Rice-4. B:C ratio of 1.75 was realized from application of 150 kg N/ha, which remained very close to that achieved with 120 kg N/ha. In conclusion, the rice cultivar Shalimar Rice-4 with the application of 120 kg N/ha could boost rice production under DSR in water-scarce regions of temperate northern India.

In temperate mountain agro-ecologies of India, cultivation of landraces and farmer's varieties using traditional methods is the main reason for low productivity of maize in potential niches. Painstaking efforts made at Mountain Crop Research Station, Sagam during kharif 2008 and 2009 resulted in two modern, high yielding maize composites viz., Shalimar Maize Composite 3 (SMC-3) and Shalimar Maize Composite 5 (SMC-5) with all the traits liked by the resource poor and marginal farmers. SMC-3 and SMC-5 showed grain yield superiority of 10.5 and 14.8% over the best commercial check (C15) and 42.9 and 48.7% superiority over local check, respectively. SMC-3 variety also resulted in 6.6% and 49.65% increase in stover yield over commercial check (C15) and local check, respectively. On the otherhand, SMC-5 showed 12.3 and 58.31% superiority in stover yield over commercial check and local check, respectively. Thus, both these varieties gave higher net returns and B:C ratio visa -vis check. Further, they showed moderate resistance against Turcicum leaf blight and common rust and resistance to stem borer, blue beetle and aphids. Application of 100% recommended dose of fertilizers long spacing of 60×20 cm 2 can be recommended as it resulted in significantly higher grain yield. SMC-5 contained elevated levels of tryptophan (20%), lysine (46%) and sugar contents (16%) over commercial check. The mass adoption of farmer preferred and reasonably priced, high yielding composite varieties can give a boost to maize productivity and profitability.