agricultural training centres (atcs) promote crop and livestock development by providing extension information to farmers and serving as models of improved crop and livestock husbandry practices. although potato farmers in nyandarua county were trained on potato production technologies, their average yield was ≤16 tonnes per hectare compared to the national potential of 30 tonnes. this study th...

We assessed the effects of nitrogen, drought and gibberellin A(4/7) on sexual expression of 2- and 3-year-old jack pine (Pinus banksiana L.) seedlings grown in either a 1/3 peat/sand mix or a 3/1 peat/perlite mix. The seedlings were either watered daily (well-watered treatment) or droughted by withholding water from July 13 to August 24 (drought treatment). Half of the plants in each irrigation...

The importance of infrequent events for both adaptive evolution and the evolution of species interactions is largely unknown. We investigated how the infrequent production of large seed crops (masting) of a bird-dispersed tree (whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis) influenced phenotypic selection exerted by its primary avian seed predator-disperser, the Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana). Se...

Inequality in reproductive success has important implications for ecological and evolutionary dynamics, but lifetime reproductive success is challenging to measure in long-lived species such as forest trees. While seed production is often used as a proxy for overall reproductive success, high mortality of seeds and the potential for trade-offs between seed number and quality draw this assumptio...

Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr.) seed treatments are recognized as useful in reducing losses from seed borne pathogens and seedling damping off agents. The seed treatment with fungicide is essential in the improved technology for increasing crop production. In the present investigation two seed protectant fungicides captan and carbendazim are used. Effect of fungicides on growth of Rhizobium jap...

> Seed systems are crucial for sustainable food system outcomes: agricultural sustainability, food security and healthy diets. > Production and distribution, innovation and regulation are the key functions of seed systems, which make a difference to sustainable food systems. > Currently used methods to measure the performance of seed systems concentrate narrowly on their contribution to agricul...

The Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has historically supported a major fishery along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. Although commercial landings of oysters along the East Coast have been in significant decline for decades, oyster aquaculture has the potential to provide for a sustained commercial harvest as well as to generate a product that is superior to wild-caught oys...

Plants were regenerated from encapsulated shoot tips of pointed gourd. Shoot tips isolated from multiple shoot cultures of AM-8 and AM-15 cultivars of pointed gourd were encapsulated in sodium alginate beads. For germination and shoot proliferation, encapsulated shoot tips (artificial seed) were cultured in MS basal medium containing different concentrations and combinations of BAP and NAA. Use...