An experiment was conducted in the field of Indian Institute of Hortricultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore during August 2006 to June 2008. The experiment consisting of eight treatment combinations were laid out in '2x4' factorial RCBD with 5 replications to assess seed set per capsule. The results revealed that highly significant differences were observed for number of well-developed seeds and underdeveloped seeds. Among four cross combinations 'H.S. 88-10-22 x Shobha' (27.63 well-developed seeds per capsule) and 'H.S. 84-7-11 x Shobha' (27.01 well-developed seeds per capsule) were significantly higher than those of other two cross combinations. The interaction effect of fresh pollen-cum-'H.S.88-10-22 x Shobha' produced significantly higher number of welldeveloped seeds (41.02 per capsule) than those of the other treatment combinations. In contrast, treatment combinations viz., cryopreserved pollen-cum-'H.S. 88-10-22 x Shobha' produced the lowest number of welldeveloped seeds (10.85 per capsule).Inclusion of fresh pollen to genotype 'Shobha' and cryopreserved pollen of H.S. 88-10-22' revealed better performances for maximum seed set per capsule.

Twelve intervarietal crosses and ten interspecific crosses of gladiolus were tested separately in RCBD, each with 4 replications in the field of Agriculture Research Station, Dailekh from 2010 to 2011.The objective of the study was to find the potentiality of seed set in different crosses within and between the species. Under intervarietal crosses, high pooled capsule set per spike resulted in ‘Ginger Red x G-4’ (95.0 %), ‘G-4 x American Beauty’ (92.5%), ‘Intrepid x G-4’(92.5%), ‘G-4 x Intrepid’ (91.7%), ‘American Beauty x G-4’(88.5%) and ‘Intrepid x American Beauty’(83.15%),but ‘Ginger Red x American Beauty’ and ‘Ginger Red x Intrepid’ produced the lowest pooled capsule set per spike with 50.1% and 53.8% respectively. ‘Intrepid x G-4’ produced the highest pooled number of seed sets with 66.0 per capsule followed by ‘G-4 x American Beauty’ with 44.0 and ‘G-4 x Intrepid’ with 44.0 while both ‘Ginger Red x American Beauty’ and ‘Ginger Red x Intrepid’ produced the lowest pooled number of seeds with 2.0 per capsule. Under the interspecific crosses, Pooled number of seed set per capsule was inconsequentially high in ‘Psittacinus hybrid x G-4’ with 56.0, ‘Intrepid x Psittacinus hybrid’ with 54.0 and ‘White Prosperity x Psittacinus hybrid’ with 52.0. The seed set due to the effects of present crosses of gladiolus are more satisfactorily successful than those in the previous studies. Incorporation of genotype ‘G-4’ and ‘Intrepid’ both as female and male parents have contributed to high number of seeds per capsule presumably due to inherent varietal trait coupled with favorable environment for triggering seed set. Nepal Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 13, No. 1 (2012) 17-24 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v13i1.7394

This study was conducted in the field

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) of seedling origin creates large variability within this crop. A research study was carried out at Directorate of Agricultural Research, Lumle, Kaski and Marpha, Mustang to characterize and deciphers the variability of thin-shelled walnut for further selection, conservation and variety registration. Walnut orchard of Mustang district was surveyed in March, 2018 and 50 walnut trees were labeled according to its flowering and flushing time. 36 accessions of thin-shelled walnut were characterized on 17 different parameters regarding growth habit, bearing habit, fruit and kernel characteristics. Around 88.89% trees exhibited terminal fruiting habit and remaining showed lateral fruiting habit. Three type of tree shape was noticed as spreading round, semi-erect and erect. Huge variation in nut shape was observed having 50% trees were with circular nuts. Four types of shell strength was recorded; 11.11% accessions having papery shell, 27.78% having weak shell, 47.22% having intermediate shell and 13.88 having strong shell strength. Average nut yield of trees ranged from 15-75 kg with an average of 26.67 kg. Nut weighted from 5.96-18.99 g with an average of 11.14 g.  Kernel weight ranged from 2.8-8.92 g. More than 50% shelling was recorded in 13 accessions. The kernel quality of 14 accessions (out of 36) showed 5 rank (Excellent quality); and remaining 22 accessions showed 4 rank (Good quality). Based on this characterization, 13 accessions were selected and recommended for further multiplication and variety registration.

Seven promising genotypes of Gladiolus were experimented during the two consecutive years of 2014/15 and 2015/16 in the field of Horticulture Research Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur (1332 masl) to evaluate the performances of their vegetative, floral and corm characteristics. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. The treatments consisted of seven genotypes (ARSDG-01, ARSDG-02, ARSDG-03, ARSDG-04, ARSDG-05, ARSDG-06 and ARSDG-07). Fifty-four corms of each genotype were planted in the crop geometry of 25 x 25 cm. A total of sixteen characters were observed. The pooled results of two years data indicated significantly different except plant height, spike length, rachis length, number of cormels per mother corm and individual corm weight due to the effects of seven evaluated genotypes. Genotype ARSDG-04 was proven as the earliest one for days to the first spike emergence (73.00 days), the full spike emergence (76.50 days) and the first unfurling of florets (83 days). In contrast, ARSDG-01 and ARSDG-06 were late genotypes for the same three characters. The number of florets/spikes was considerably high in two genotypes viz., ARSDG-06 (21.00) and ARSDG-03 (20.50). The number of daughter corms/mother corm was significantly high in ARSDG-05 (3.10) and ARSDG-04 (2.92) whereas it was minimally low in ARSDG-02 (1.66) and ARSDG-07 (1.69). Summing up all sixteen characters of evaluated genotypes, ARSDG-04 as the first, ARSDG-05 as the second and ARSDG-03 as the third have respectively emerged as superior ones as opposed by those of the rest of evaluated genotypes of Gladiolus.