The gladiolus (Gladiolus spp.) industry is based on its flower and also its corm production.

Soil management practices are used to enhance soil organic carbon, fertility, and crop productivity around the world. However, accurate information about the appropriate amount of straw incorporation is not available, because it is generally believed that at least 30% of the soil surface should be covered by straw, which is not implemented in all field environments. Therefore, a two-year (2016-2017) field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of different percentages of straw incorporation and tillage methods, i.e., reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT), on crop yield, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and soil carbon storage (SCS) in rice-wheat cropping systems, under eight treatments. The experimental results showed that the greatest reduction in soil dry bulk density (ρ b ) was found under CT with 100% straw coverage (9.79%), whereas the least reduction occurred under CT with no straw (1.31%). The mean TN concentration, soil organic matter (SOM), and soil carbon storage (SCS) were significantly higher by 0.98 g/kg, 17.07%, and 14.20%, respectively, under reduced tillage with 60% straw incorporation (RTsi 60 ) compared with all other treatments. Our findings demonstrate that the incorporated wheat residues resulted in the highest rice production (7.95-8.63 t/ha) under RTsi 60 . We recommend the adoption of reduced tillage with 60% straw incorporation to increase rice yield, improve soil structure, and enhance TN, SOM, and SCS in paddy soil under rice-wheat rotation fields for agricultural sustainability.

Gladiolus is an important estimated 8th in the world cut flower trade's cut flower grown throughout the world for its elegant attractive spikes of different hues and good keeping quality. The commercial cultivation of Gladiolus is based on natural multiplication of corms and cormels. However, multiplication rate of corms and cormels is slow and the conventional method of propagation is insufficient to meet the demand of planting material and eventually affect the final cost of corms. A number of improved conventional techniques including division of the corms, removal of leaf and flower spikes, use of standard corm size, and mechanical removal of sprouts can increase the multiplication rate of corms and cormels. These improved conventional methods of propagation are insufficient to meet the demand of planting materials. In vitro techniques are applicable for the propagation of corm producing species. These techniques are adopted at commercial level in order to fulfill supply gap of huge demand. A number of in vitro protocols have been developed for regeneration of Gladiolus plantlets using different media by using various explants sources of the plant. However, literature is rather scanty on in vitro cormel formation and acclimatization of in vitro propagules.

The study was carried out to evaluate quality attributes of immature fruits of four commercially grown varieties of mango namely Sindhri, Chaunsa, Langra and Desi. The immature mango fruits were collected from basin of mango tree in the end of April followed by washing, surface drying and extraction of fruit pulp. The extracted fruit pulp was assessed for pH, TSS, moisture and ash percentage, acidity, vitamin C, fat, protein and sugars. Besides, minerals including sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper, chromium, and manganese were also determined. On the basis of varietal comparison Sindhri had more moisture (88.60%), ash and fat (0.60%) each, total sugars (6.99%) and reducing sugars (2.78%) as compared to rest of the varieties. However TSS (9.35%), protein (0.71%), and non reducing sugars (4.86%) were recorded the highest in Langra variety. Only the Chaunsa variety had maximum pH of 3.01 and vitamin-C (27.16 mg 100g-1). Regarding mineral elements, Desi was found potential in terms of sodium (453.93 mg kg-1), calcium (403.79 mg kg-1), Zinc (3.47 mg kg-1) and iron (5.95 mg kg-1). The zinc and iron was at par with the results obtained from Langra. However, potassium (904.58 mg kg-1) and copper (2.58 mg kg-1) were observed the highest in Langra, magnesium (78.09 mg kg-1) in Chaunsa and manganese (2.43 mg kg-1) in Sindhri.

A field experiment was conducted during 2014-15, aiming to observe the efficiency of irrigation methods and plastic mulch on the yield and crop productivity of Okra. Okra seeds (cv. Subzpari) were grown on ridges with plastic under two different irrigation methods i.e. Every Furrow Irrigation (EFI) and Alternate Furrow Irrigation (AFI). The soil physical properties of ridges being affected by plastic mulched were analyzed before sowing and after harvesting. The results revealed that dry density of soil decreased by 0.03 g cm-3 and 0.04 g cm-3 for AFI and EFI methods, respectively. The total volume of irrigation water applied under AFI method (2169.70 m3 ha-1) was calculated to be half of the total irrigation water applied to EFI method (4340.91 m3 ha-1). Yield obtained under EFI method was 8518 kg ha-1 which was 10.5% greater than yield obtained under AFI method (7621 kg ha-1) and 31.40% when compared with traditional method. The crop water productivity (CWP) for AFI method (3.51 kg m-3) was calculated to be greater than CWP obtained under EFI method (1.96 kg m-3). The study concluded that both EFI and AFI methods, under plastic mulched ridges practices were beneficial to increase the crop yield with improved crop water productivity.