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Weeds pose a major challenge at the initial stages of sugarcane and when uncontrolled cause high yield losses. This study was undertaken to define a better and cost-effective weed management strategy. Field experiment was carried out at District Seed Farm (C Unit) of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India (22°97'N latitude and 88°43'E longitude with the 9.75 meters above the mean sea level) under natural weed infestations in sugarcane in 2017–2018 and 2018-19. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of herbicides on weed floras, non-target soil organisms and productivity of sugarcane (cv. CoS 98231). The pattern of nutrient uptake by weed species was also itemized. The treatments were comprised of four doses of Atrazine 50% WP (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 kg a.i. ha-1), Trifloxysulfuron-Na (10% OD) 30 g a.i. ha-1 and weedy check within a randomized complete block design, replicated four times. The results revealed that among the tested herbicides, the utmost dose of Atrazine was most efficient against grassy as well as broadleaf weeds. The higher weed control efficiency (> 60%) and cane yield (85.41 t ha-1) were recorded from treatment received Atrazine 4000 g a.i. ha-1 followed by its lower doses. Owing to an efficient controller of diversified weeds same herbicide treated plot removed the least amount essential primary nutrients irrespective of all weed species. Herbicides did not show any phytotoxicity symptoms on sugarcane throughout the observation period. Based on overall performance, the Atrazine 50% WP (4000 g a.i. ha-1) may be considered as the best substitute for others post-emergent herbicide against the complex weed floras in sugarcane.

The study was aimed at the evaluation of nutritive values in terms of total protein and some essential amino acid content of a set of 258 diverse rice landraces maintained in the Germplasm Section of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University at Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Protein content of milled grains ranged from 4.91% to 12.08% with the mean of 6.63%. Similarly wide variation was recorded in lysine content which varied from 1.73 to 7.13 g/l6g N, the mean being 4.62 g/I6g N. Grain protein and lysine levels varied two to three folds. Variation for lysine content (CV 23.68%) was higher than that of protein content (CV 12.45%). This clearly indicated the existence of wide genetic variability for protein and lysine contents in rice. Two sets of ten elite lines each containing high levels of protein and lysine were further analyzed separately for another essential amino acid tryptophan. In the set with high protein, the tryptophan levels varied from 0.36-0.88 g/16 g N, the mean being 0.642 g/l6 g N. Among the landraces containing high levels of lysine, the tryptophan content ranged from 0.256 to 0.86 g/16 g N, the average being 0.514. A positive correlation of tryptophan with lysine content (r = 0.076) and a strong negative correlation with total protein content (r = -0.923) were recorded. Donor lines for breeding rice varieties with optimum protein quality were identified as potential donor parents for genetic improvement of rice for nutritious grains. Fourteen SSR primer sets were used to investigate the level of polymorphism among the ten elite landraces of extra early maturity group. The estimated similarity ranged from 20.18 to 69.00% reflecting much variation at the DNA level.