: The present study was laid out in RBD with three replications. Various organic fertilizers viz., farm yard manure (FYM) @ 7.5 t ha -1 , leaf mould compost @ 7.5 t ha -1 , vermicompost (VC) @ 2.5 t ha -1 , humic acid (HA) @ 0.2 per cent (FS), VAM and inorganic fertilizer (RDF 100:50:150 NPK kg ha -1 ) were applied. The growth and yield parameters were studied at different stages of crop growth. The study revealed that the growth characters viz., plant height, at 30 and 45 DAP, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width and days taken for sixth leaf stage were significantly influenced by the application of organic fertilizers T 9 [Vermicompost @ 2.5 t ha

A long-term field experiment was conducted to design and implement alternative production systems with increased resource use efficiency, productivity and to determine the effect of tillage systems and mineral fertilizers on soil organic carbon patterns. This experiment intended to evaluate the effects of these management strategies on soil structural formation and structural stabilization of a sandy loam soil. The shift from puddled -transplanted rice on the flat land to raised bed systems affects the productivity and resource use efficiency of the rice-wheat system. Therefore, the potential benefits and constraints of tillage crop residue practices need to be quantified on short to long-term basis, optimum layouts and management systems to maximize yield and efficiency. Due to lesser energy input and higher output T3 ZT with 6tha -1 residue retained had 20% and 5% higher energy use efficiency than T7 CT and T6 PRB with 6tha -1 residue retained. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from the 15 to 100 cm soil layer in the field grown with wheat to assess SOC, bulk density, C restoration rate, C sequestered, C sequestration efficiency (%) and crop yield. However, at the end of the 18 years period, SOC was 25% greater with T6 than T7, 16% greater with T4 than T1, and 17% higher with T2 than T7. Average SOC concentration of the control treatment was 0.54%, which increased to 0.65% in the RDF treatment and 0.82% in the RDF+FYM treatment and increased enzyme activities, which potentially influence soil nutrients dynamics under field condition. Compared to F1 control treatment the RDF+FYM treatment sequestered 0.28 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 whereas the NPK treatment sequestered 0.13 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 . As tillage intensity increased there was a redistribution of SOC in the profile, but it occurred only between ZT and PRB since under CT, SOC stock decreased even below the plow layer. Increased SOC stock in the surface 50 kg m -2 under ZT and PRB was compensated by greater SOC stocks in the 50-200 and 200-400 kg m -2 interval under residue retained, but SOC stocks under CT were consistently lower in the surface 400 kg m -2 . Over the last 18 years, CT lost 0.83 ±0.2 kg of C m -2 while ZT gain 1.98 ±0.3 and PRB gain 0.97 ±0.2 kg of C m -2 in the 1200 kg of soil m -2 profile. These findings suggest that carbon sequestration can be improved if treatments T4 or T6 are used in lieu of T7, respectively.

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Seven CMS lines were crossed with six inbred lines in Line x Tester fashion to elucidate the information on the nature of gene action involved in the inheritance of important quantitative traits and to select the parents with good gca and crosses with good sca effects. The resultant 42 hybrids were evaluated along with their parents with three standard checks at three locations in Andhra Pradesh state viz., Hyderabad, Tandur, and Jagtial. The pooled analysis of variance for combining ability revealed that sca variance was higher in magnitude compared to gca variance for all the characters except oil content indicating the preponderance of non-additive gene action for all the characters while additive gene action for oil content. The gca effects of the parents in pooled analysis revealed that among the lines ARM 243B and CMS 17B and among the testers RHA-6D-1R, RES-834-1 and 3376R were found to be promising general combiners for seed yield and yield component characters. Based on significant sca effects in pooled analysis, five hybrids viz., CMS 89A x RES-834-1, CMS 17A x LTRR 341, ARM 243A x R 298, ARM 238A x 3376R and CMS 852A x R-649 were identified as promising for seed yield and other yield contributing characters.

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