In the present paper an attempt has been made to study the comparative economics of tomato cultivation under poly house and open field conditions in Karnal district, Haryana. Production and marketing constraints under poly house cultivation have also been identified. The primary data for the agriculture year 2013-14 were collected by personal interviews of the selected farmers with the help of a specially designed schedule. Simple statistical tool like Averages and percentages were used to compare, contrast and interpret the results properly. The overall findings of the study reveal that the cost of cultivation of tomato under poly houses was higher by Rs. 206816.90/acre as com-pared to open field conditions. At the same time, the net returns under poly houses were higher by Rs. 51097.54/acre. Farmers realized 53.71 % higher yield of tomato under poly house as compared to open field conditions. The gross return, returns over variable cost and net return were also higher by 106.94 %, 160.70 % and 48.70 %, respectively in case of poly house as compared to open field conditions. The results of the study also revealed that the tomato cultivation under poly houses has significantly contributed to the yield.

In laboratory tests, Rhizoctmia solani grew best on agar at 30 "C and pH 5-5. Mycelial growth was strongly inhibited by benomyl, chloroneb and quintozene, less so by thiophanate-methyl. The optimum temperature for inhibition was 25 "C for quintozene; the other three fungicides gave greatest inhibition at the lowest temperature tested (20 "C). Benomyl and thiophanate-methyl were most inhibitory at pH 7-8, chloroneb and quintozene at pH 5-6.In pot trials using mung bean, long melon, egg-plant, common pea and sugar beet, R . solani caused maximum disease at 20 "C and in wet and alkaline soils. As seed treatments, benomyl and thiophanate-methyl gave optimum control at 20 "C and pH 7-6; chloroneb and quintozene were most effective at 30 "C and pH 5-4. All four fungicides gave maximum control on plants growing in wet sandy loam. Comparisons of host effects showed that, on all the four hosts tested, thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 0.25 % (0.175 % a.i.) gave 90 % control, chloroneb w.p. at 0.3 yo (0.195 yo a.i.) gave 80 yo control on mung bean and sugar beet, benomyl w.p. at 0-3 % (0-15 % a.i.) was satisfactory on mung bean, egg-plant and sugar beet but not on long melon, quintozene w.p. at 0.3 % (0.225 % a.i.) gave effective control on sugar beet only. I N T R O D U C T I O NRhixoctonia solani Kuhn, a soil-borne plant pathogen of world-wide distribution, causing root rot and damping-off of a variety of plants, can be controlled by fungicides applied as seed treatments or soil drenches. There is some evidence that control by the commonly recommended fungicides is affected by host plant, seasons and locations. R. K. Grover & B. L. Chopra (unpublished) found that the control of R. solani rot of Phaseolus mungo by seed treatment with carboxin varied at different times of the year. Grover (1973) indicated the effect of environmental soil factors in determining the toxicity of five systemic fungicides to R. solmi Studies were therefore initiated to investigate the reasons for discrepancies in control of R . solani on different hosts and under different environmental conditions, using three systemic fungicides (benomyl, chloroneb and thiophanate-methyl) and one non-systemic (quintozene).

SUMMARYOf 41 fungicides tested in the laboratory, copper carbonate, copper sulphate, mercuric chloride, Agrosan GN, quintozene, kasugamycin, carboxin, pyracar‐bolid, carbendazim, chloroneb, benomyl, Ohric, RH 893 (2‐n‐octyl‐4‐isothiazole‐3‐one) and Terrazole were most inhibitory to the mycelial growth of Rhizoctonia solani on Czapek's agar plates and had EC50 values of less than 1 μg a.i./ml, while copper oxychloride, Udonkor, zineb, ziram, F 319 (3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl isoxazole) and anilazine were much less toxic, ziram being least inhibitory with an EC50 of 214 μg a.i./ml.Of 17 fungicides tested in the greenhouse as seed treatments, thiabendazole, carbendazim, benomyl, thiophanate‐methyl, dichlozoline and Ohric gave 80–90% control of damping‐off of mung bean seedlings. A single soil drench with thiophanate‐methyl and two drenches with benomyl gave about 90% disease control, More seedlings with R. solani infection survived when thiophanate‐methyl was used as a post‐inoculation soil drench than when benomyl or chloroneb were used.

Insects need a sufficient quantity of macro- and micronutrients in their diet for maximising their growth, development, and reproduction. To achieve high efficiency in the mass production of a particular insect species, the quality of the diet given must be considered, both in terms of its chemical (nutrients) and physical (hardness and form) characteristics. Black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), is a beneficial insect widely reared due to its easy and cost-effective maintenance. An example of the end-product of BSF larvae (BSFL) is known as BSF oil, which can be used for animal feed, raw material in bar/liquid soap, and biodiesel. To obtain the best quality of oil produced from BSFL, finding an optimal substrate through diet mixing or manipulation is quite necessitated. Fatty acids with more than 18 carbons should be found in the substrate to be absorbed into the fat of BSFL to obtain a high-quality oil. There is a positive correlation between the fatty acid concentration in the substrate and the concentration in BSFL, that the concentration in BSFL is influenced by the concentration in the substrate. This emphasises the importance of the substrate’s fatty acid content in incorporating these fatty acids into BSF oil. Although the oils produced by the insect are especially high in medium-chain fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids, yet, to produce on such a large scale requiring further investigations.

Rh&octonia solani caused maximum mortality of mung bean seedlings at 20~ and the disease incidence decreased with increase of temperature; 30 ~ was optimum for mycelial growth of the fungus in vitro. The fungus grew best in nutrient broth of pH 5.5 but infected mung bean and pea seedlings more severely in neutral and alkaline river sand than in the sand adjusted to acidic reaction. The disease incidence was higher in adequately moist sandy loam and less in soil under moisture stress. Incidence of cowpea seedling rot was higher in heavy-textured loam and silt loam soils than in light-textured sandy-and loamy sand.