The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of age, sex, running distance and origin of horse on racing speed for Thoroughbred Arabian horse in Tunisia. Although the occidental type is known to be more successful in racing than the Tunisian type, we undertook this study to try to confirm or deny this supremacy for a sample of racehorses born in Tunisia from occidental father. A total of 333 racing records were considered for race performance. The effects of environmental factors on (sex, age, father’s origin, race distance, number of race seasons) race performance were analyzed using the least-squares method(LSM).The racehorses studied were all Arabian Thoroughbred horses in operation at the racecourse of Ksar Said from 2010 to 2020. They are 180 horses, 90 horses born of a Tunisian father, and 90 horses born in Tunisia ofthe occidentalfather. These horses are the best and most successful in their category. The study revealed that the gender and age effectswere statistically insignificant onracingperformance. Race performance was significantly influenced by the distance and the origin of the father which affirms the improving role of the occidentalhorse in the Tunisian population.

Agriculture multifunctionality highlights the importance of non-food benefits as joint products of agriculture. A study on the non-food benefits of agriculture is important to explore the potential of innovating the agricultural industry for sustainable development. The societal influence of agriculture multifunctionality (AMF), for instance job opportunities, more environmental-friendly crop-production methods and food security, is not much known, especially in Malaysia. Thus, the objectives of this study are to estimate the economic value and the factors influencing willingness-to-pay (WTP) for AMF. Additionally, there are vast potentials in AMF to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2, 8 and 12. A contingent valuation (CV) with two payment solicitation formats was commissioned on respondents in Kuala Lumpur to study the WTP an agricultural premium of the purchase values of agricultural products to support AMF. The findings support the direction of innovating the agricultural industry through AMF as one of the forerunners of sustainable growth for developing countries like Malaysia. Although only half of the respondents vowed their WTP for AMF, it is observed that households, which spend more on agricultural products such like vegetables, fruits and related goods are having higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF. The odds ratios change to values of more than 1.00 with spending, which was three times the mean value. And that payment card format begets higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF compared to open-ended CV method format. The findings encourage entrepreneurs, especially the youth to venture into the innovative non-food benefits of agriculture for more responsible usage of our natural resources and decent economic growth.

Pesticides have been a major contributor to the growth of agricultural productivity and food supply. Pesticides were a key factor in significant agricultural productivity growth during the last century and continue to be a critical factor in reducing crop damage. Fifteen insecticides were investigated to select their effective and economic doses against Hairy caterpillar in a Tossa Jute variety during April-October’ 2020 at the Department of Entomology, Manikganj and Narayanganj, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Bangladesh following Randomized Completely Block Design with three replications. All new insecticides with a standard were found effective for controlling jute hairy caterpillar giving 95.38, 94.55, 95.19, 92.85, 93.59, 94.22, 93.49, 93.62, 89.84, 95.72, 93.56, 93.38, 94.42, 95.39, 91.34 and 95.41 % at Manikganj; 95.78, 93.32, 93.97, 93.18, 92.09, 92.49, 93.74, 92.93, 92.29, 93.69, 93.95, 93.17, 95.31, 94.99, 92.11 and 94.53 % reduction of infestation at Narayanganj at 5th day after spray over control plot respectively. In Manikganj, the highest fibre yield (3.66 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Rock 20 EC and the lowest (2.96t/ha) was found in Reset 20WDG treated plot. In case of Narayanganj, the highest fibre yield (3.85 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Proxy 20 EC and the lowest (2.79t/ha) was found in Daman treated plot. These insecticides can be recommended for the farmer’s use to control jute hairy caterpillar.

Seed priming is an effective, eco-friendly method to promote seed germination and seedling vigor of okra to overcome the reduced and delayed germination in fresh or stored okra seeds caused by seed hardness. An experiment was carried to evaluate the effects of different priming on okra seeds germination and seedling vigor using Arka Anamika variety at Horticulture lab of Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. Investigation was carried out with 6 treatments (T₁: seed priming with tap water, T₂: seed priming with 200ppm NAA solution, T₃: seed priming with 10% PEG-200 solution, T₄: seed priming with 200ppm GA₃ solution, T₅: seed priming with 5% Trichoderma solution and T₆ no priming) with 4 replications in Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Seeds primed with T₁ to T₅ were soaked for 24 hours and shade dried for 6 hours before sowing. Priming with T₄ was found to be best in terms of maximum seed germination (60.12%), seed vigor index (5772.68 cm), mean germination rate (7.53 seeds per day). The highest shoot length (81.40 mm) was observed at T₁ whereas enhancement of root length occurred with the priming with T₃. All treatments had a significant positive effect on all the germination parameters in comparison to control. The study concluded that GA₃ priming enhanced germination as well as seed vigor in okra and hydro priming and tricho-priming can be used as an alternative to GA₃ priming among farmers in Nepal.

For feed producers who suffer from high intolerance to production costs, the only way to cope with the condition is to avoid devices that drive up costs. Extruded feed processed from a clay-slate dryer through a fluidized bed could be used to make fish feed. The aim of the study was optimise the process conditions on the clay-slate fluidized bed dryer operating at a commercial production of fish feed using the response surface methodology. The fish feed composition were processed at bed height (50-200 mm), drying air temperature (60–120°C), airflow velocity (0.66-0.70 m/s), drying time (10–90 min) and extrudates size (4–8 mm). Product quality parameters such as moisture ratio and dryer efficiency were determined and analyzed. Second-order polynomial equations, containing all the process variables, were used to measured process. Moisture ratio was influenced mostly by linear relationship temperature and drying time. The temperature and the quadratic temperature conditions significantly affected the efficiency of the dryer. For the fluidized bed drying of extruded fish feed, optimal conditions were set for the bed height of 185.76 mm, a temperature of 97.2°C, an air flow rate of 0.67, a drying time of 65.36 min and an extrudate size of 7.40 mm recommended. At these conditions the moisture ratio and efficiency were 0.86 and 74.39, respectively. The influence of the various components of the fluidized bed dryer on the drying rate must be better understood so that control systems can be developed to take full advantage of this technology.

This study was conducted to assess the fertility status of different altitude of apple orchard and their effect upon soil nutrients and to study the relationship between different altitude and their availability. Seven different orchards located in 2800, 2700 2600, 2500, 2400, 2300 and 2200 at Apple Zone, Raskot, Kalikot were selected as treatments. They were replicated three times in Randomized Complete Block Design. Composite soil samples were collected in each study site from 0-3 ft soil depth in ‘W’ pattern from each plot. Analyses of soil samples were done in regional soil testing laboratory, Surkhet for chemical properties. There was a significant effect (p<0.05) of altitude on soil macronutrients except available potassium level. Maximum amounts of soil organic matter, acidic and soil rich in nitrogen and phosphorus were found in 2800 masl whereas more basic soil , poor soil organic matter and soil poor in nitrogen and phosphorus were found in 2200 masl. Result showed that in altitude of 2200 masl has poor soil nutrients compared to apple orchards in higher altitude. Kalikot is the top producer of apple in Nepal. This assessment will helps apple growers for adopting better nutrient management plan in their orchards according to the altitude in the district. Further, it is recommended to conduct soil nutrient assessments for all other apple growing regions in the country.

A study was conducted at AFU livestock farm, Rampur, Chitwan in 2017-18 to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of garlic and ginger in different combination on feed intake, growth performance and economics by using commercial Cobb 500 broilers. A total of two hundred, 11-day-old chicks were allocated randomly to five different treatments. The experiment was designed in a Completely Randomized Design, each treatment with four replication and each replication had 10 birds. They were fed isoproteinous and isocaloric Basal diet (BD) and BD supplemented with four different levels of garlic and ginger such as T1 (BD only), T2 (BD + 1% garlic); T3 (BD + 1.0% ginger); T4 (BD + 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger) and T5 (BD + 1% garlic and 1% ginger). Weekly average body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, and feed efficiency were recorded up to sixth week of age. All data were statistical analyzed using Completely Randomized Design. The results showed that overall feed consumption was significantly (P≤0.05) higher for broiler fed diet supplemented with 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger (T4) followed by T5 (basal diet with 1% garlic and 1% ginger). On the other hand significantly higher (P≤0.01) cumulative weekly live body weight and body weight gain (g/bird) was found for the treatment with supplemented 1% garlic powder (T2), followed by broiler fed diet supplemented with 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger powder (T4). Similarly, feed conversion ratio was significantly (P≤0.01) better in broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic (T2) followed by basal diet with supplementation of 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger (T4). The maximum benefit was obtained from the broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic (T2). The findings revealed that broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic powder had helped as a growth promoter contributing to the better growth performance, feed efficiency and higher benefit: cost ratio. Thus, addition of 1% garlic powder can be safely recommended as a growth promoter in broilers.

Changes in soil organic matter (SOM) are slow and difficult to monitor, usually apparent after few decades. Recent changes in the agriculture had its influence on soil, including the soil organic matter content. About 60% of soil in Nepal now have low organic matter content. Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) was focused more on the concept of green revolution to increase the chemical fertilizer inputs, however, the scenario is changing. Use of organic fertilizers is promoted extensively by government and different organizations with a target of increasing SOM content from 1.92% in 2015 to 4% by 2035. This paper aims at analysing the current status, targeted goal and the challenges faced in the augmentation of the soil organic matter using data available. Achieving this target requires an addition of extra 2.244 ton/ha of organic matter on a yearly basis for 20 years. The average amount of organic matter (2.5-3 ton/ha) applied is lesser than a single season grain harvest. 4.69% of sites had high soil organic matter in fiscal year 075/76 which slipped to 2.64% in 2076/77. The sites with low soil organic matter increased from 12.73% to 15.31%. The causes behind the SOM decline varies according to different agro-ecological zones like soil erosion, residue burning, imbalanced fertilizer use, defective FYM production etc. Findings suggest precise technologies required to be adopted to tackle with the different niche specific causes of soil fertility decline. Despite the complete nutrient content, bulky nature of organic fertilizers sets a major drawback regarding their transportation, distribution and commercialization. Government of Nepal is promoting organic fertilizer use by subsidizing their production cost by 50%. Following integrated nutrient management (INM) techniques, sustainable soil management practices (SSMP) and promotion of use of locally available resources can play a huge role in making the technology sustainable to the farmers.

Durio zibethinus, commonly known as Durian, is an exotic Southeast Asian tropical fruit. More than the pungent aroma the fruit is well-known for, it is said to be beneficial to health as it contains many antioxidants and bioactive compounds that have different potentials for positive impacts on health. However, there is scant existing literature which gives an overview on the amounts of bioactive compounds in several varieties of durian in Southeast Asia, and the relevant health benefits. This review article therefore seeks to consolidate the literature which have identified bioactive compounds and investigated antioxidant activities in durian cultivars from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China, and studies that have given insight on potential medicinal properties of durians. A literature review was conducted using databases Scopus and ScienceDirect and a total of 30 articles were reviewed. Total polyphenols and flavonoids were highest in the Mon Thong cultivar compared to other Thailand varieties, and ripe or overripe durians were found to contain the highest amounts of polyphenols and flavonoids. Durians were also found to contain medicinal properties, such as anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic potential, and protective effects on cardiac health. Further research on these bioactive compounds in the nutritious fruit with potential medicinal properties can contribute to the medicinal value of durians, as well as benefit the pharmaceutical industries.

Mango is one of the major fruit crops of Terai region of Nepal; however, farmers are experiencing poor productivity. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the productivity and major constraints of the mango production in Saptari district of Nepal. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was administered among randomly selected 106 farmers from the district of Nepal. Face to face interview was scheduled to obtain the data from sampled farmers from March 26 to May 25, 2020. Multiple regressions were used to access the various factors affecting the productivity of the mango. The regression model depicted that the total number of productive trees and training on commercial mango production was found statistically significant at 1% level of significance. A unit change in the total number of productive trees was found to change the productivity by 0.94 units. Additionally, one-unit change in the trainings regarding commercial mango farming caused the change in productivity by 0.53 units. Further, incidence of diseases and pests, poor access to market, lack of irrigation facility, incidences of natural hazards and modicum of fertilizers on orchard were the major production constraints of mango in Spatari district of Nepal. Therefore, the study has suggested indispensable need training on commercial mango cultivation practices in Saptari district of Nepal.