High temperature induced by climatic fluctuations are an important threat for plant growth, development and quality of agricultural produces. Adaptableness to environmental changes generally derives from a large set of genetic traits affecting physio-morphological, biochemical and agronomic parameters. Therefore, the identification of genotypes with higher yield and good quality parameters at high temperatures is becoming increasingly necessary for future breeding programs. Here, we analyzed the performance of different tomato genotypes grown under elevated temperatures in terms of yield and nutritional quality of the fruit. High temperature stress was induced from flower initiation to maturity stage by keeping the pots in a temperature controlled green house facility for 45 days. The quality and yield parameters were taken at the harvesting stage. Starch and soluble sugar concentration in the leaves of tomato genotypes showed significant reduction in its amount under heat stress. Titrable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS) and ascorbic acid content of tomato fruits were highest under high temperature conditions compared to ambient condition but lycopene content decreased with rise in temperature. The yield attributes viz., number of fruits/plant, fruit set %, average fruit weight (g), yield per plant (g/plant) were significantly lower for Arka Saurabh, Arka Rakshak and Pusa Rohini when compared to other genotypes under study. Molecular characterization of selected 22 tomato genotypes were assessed using 25 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Phylogenetic tree was constructed by the unweighted neighbour-joining method (UPGMA) using NTSYSpc cluster analysis software. The Jaccard's similarity matrix was constructed using the SIMQUAL method using UPGMA algorithm in NTSYSpc. Jaccard's similarity matrix among these tomato genotypes ranged from a minimum of 0.22 to a maximum of 1 with an average genetic similarity of 0.67. Hence this study has importance in identifying genotypes that could maintain good quality and higher yield under high temperature condition.

to find out the effect of grass-fodder cowpea mixtures and row ratio on the growth characters of fodder grasses and fodder cowpea in open and in partial shade. The experiments were laid out in RBD with three replications, comprising of two grasses [G 1-Hybrid napier (Suguna), G 2-Guinea grass (Harithasree)], two fodder cowpea varieties (V 1-COFC-8 (open and shade), V 2-UPC-622 (open), UPC-618 (shade) and three grass legume row ratios (R 1-1:1, R 2-1:2, R 3-1:3). The results indicated the superiority of the grass legume mixture of hybrid napier cv. SUGUNA with both the fodder cowpea varieties in the grass legume row ratio of 1:3 with respect to yield and quality of fodder crops in open and shaded experiments.

An experiment was carried out in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.var.grossum sendt.) to study the influence of fertigation levels and different spacings on yield and yield attributes under polyhouse condition.The perusal of the data revealed that widely spaced (45 cm x 60 cm) plants produced the highest number of fruits plant -1 (13.75), fruit girth (25.23 cm) and fruit yield plant -1 (1.53 kg) while fruit yield m -2 (8.92 kg) was the highest for closely spaced (45 cm x 30 cm) plants. Yield and yield attributes were significantly influenced by fertigation levels. Among the fertigation levels, 100 % adhoc recommendation of KAU for precision farming (230: 25: 250 N, P2O5 and K2O kg ha -1 ) registered the highest number of fruits plant -1 (15.15), fruit girth (26.24 cm), fruit yield plant -1 (1.72 kg) and fruit yield m -2 (8.30 kg).

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The experiment was conducted at Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during July-November of 2012. The treatments consisted of three levels of FYM - F1 (20 t ha-1), F2 (15 t ha-1) and F3 (10 t ha-1) and three levels of substitution of the recommended dose of nitrogen. The levels of substitution are N1 (100 % recommended dose of N- 75 kg ha-1), N2 (75 % recommended dose of N -56.25 kg ha-1) and N3 (50 % recommended dose of N - 37.5 kg ha-1). Three controls were, C1 -Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) POP recommendation (FYM @ 25 t ha-1 along with 75:40:25 kg N:P2O5:K20 ha-1 as inorganic fertilizer), C2 –KAU Adhoc organic POP recommendation (FYM @ 25 t ha-1 + Poultry manure at 5 t ha-1 + Pseudomonas + Trichoderma and PGPR mix 1, each @ 2.5 kg ha-1) and C3-Farmers practice – (Cow dung slurry @ 20 t ha-1). FYM @ 20 t ha-1 recorded significantly higher plant height, number of branches and LAI. The maximum value for all growth parameters were observed at 100% level of N substitution. Combined application of FYM @ 20 t ha-1 along with 100% substitution of recommended dose of N (75 kg ha-1) in organic form registered maximum plant height, branches, LAI, and root spread.