2010 - Volume 05 Issue 2

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INORGANIC FERTILIZERS AND COMPOST AS BASAL APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF ONION (Allium cepa L.)

2021-01-08T06:48:29Z

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INORGANIC FERTILIZERS AND COMPOST AS BASAL APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF ONION (Allium cepa L.) Seran, T. H; Srikrishnah, S; Ahamed, M.M.Z An experiment was carried out to find suitable ratio of inorganic fertilizer and compost, which could give an economic yield of onion (cv. Jaffna Local). This experiment was designed in a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replicates. Treatments were recommended dosage of inorganic fertilizers as a control (T1), ¾ fold of the control treatment + compost (2 t ha-1 ) (T2), ½ fold of the control treatment + compost (4 t ha-1 ) (T3), ¼ fold of the control treatment + compost (6 t ha-1 ) (T4) and the compost alone (8 t ha-1 ) (T5). These were applied as basal application of fertilizer in this experiment. The results of this study revealed that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in the numbers of leaves and roots between the different treatments during the early stage of growth. Relatively higher yield (5.03 t ha-1 ) was obtained from the plants treated with inorganic fertilizers alone (T1), whereas compost alone (T5) produced the lowest yield (3.43 t ha-1 ). It was also noted that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences in the yields between T1 and T2 as well as T1 and T3. The inorganic fertilizers appear to have compensated with slow release of nutrients from the compost and their combined effects would have increased the yield. From this study, it could be stated that half fold of the inorganic fertilizer and compost at the rate of 4 t ha-1 (T3) could give profitable yield (4.75 t ha-1 ) and this combination could possibly reduce the cost of production in the cultivation of onion.

A STUDY OF THE SOCIO - CULTURAL PARAMETERS ASSOCIATED WITH MEAT PURCHASING AND CONSUMPTION PATTERN: A CASE OF SOUTHERN PROVINCE, SRI LANKA

2021-01-08T06:45:19Z

A STUDY OF THE SOCIO - CULTURAL PARAMETERS ASSOCIATED WITH MEAT PURCHASING AND CONSUMPTION PATTERN: A CASE OF SOUTHERN PROVINCE, SRI LANKA De Silva, P.H.G.J; Atapatt, N.S.B.M; Sandika, A.L The factors affecting purchasing and consumption of meat are diverse and complex. The objective of this study was to understand the social and cultural parameters associated with the meat purchasing and consumption pattern of southern province in Sri Lanka. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was employed to collect information from 265 consumers. All the respondents consumed at least one kind of animal product. Only 1 % of respondents did not consume any type of meat. Eighty five percent of the respondents had established their meat consumption pattern at their child age. The religious believes (74 %), economic concerns (47 %) and antipathy for killing animals (82 %) were the most popular reasons for not being meat consumers. The most preferred meat types were chicken followed by mutton, beef and pork. There was a significant correlation between the type of meat consumed and sex, religion, family size but not with type of market (rural vs. urban), education level and occupation. An inverse relationship was found between age and meat consumption. Financial capabilities, religious concerns and preference of children were the priority determinant that influenced the purchasing behaviour of meat and meat products. It was concluded that the meat and meat product market in Sri Lanka should be diversified to match with the diverse preferences for different meat types.

PREPARATION OF READY-TO-SERVE (RTS) BEVERAGE FROM PALMYRAH (Borassus flabellifer L.) FRUIT PULP

2021-01-08T06:41:55Z

PREPARATION OF READY-TO-SERVE (RTS) BEVERAGE FROM PALMYRAH (Borassus flabellifer L.) FRUIT PULP Nilugin, S. E; Mahendran, T A study was conducted to develop a ready-to-serve (RTS) beverage using palmyrah fruit pulp at different concentrations of 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16% with sugar, citric acid, distilled water and potassium metabisulphite, considering the recommendations of Sri Lanka standards for RTS fruit beverages. The results of physico-chemical analysis revealed that titrable acidity, ascorbic acid and total sugar increased while the pH decreased and total soluble solids remained same as 15o Brix with the increase in the pulp concentration from 8 to 16%. The findings of microbial studies showed no total plate counts in the formulated beverages. Samples subjected to sensory evaluation showed that there were significant differences between treatments with respects to colour, aroma, taste, consistency and overall acceptability. From the results of quality assessments, the formulated beverage with 12% of pulp concentration was found to be superior in quality and could be stored at 30±2°C for a minimum period of six months without any significant changes in quality.

AGRO- MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND RELATIONSHIPS AMOUNG MUSTARD GERMPLASM (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern & Coss) IN SRI LANKA: A CLASSIFICATION TREE APPROACH

2021-01-08T06:39:20Z

AGRO- MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND RELATIONSHIPS AMOUNG MUSTARD GERMPLASM (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern & Coss) IN SRI LANKA: A CLASSIFICATION TREE APPROACH Weerakoon, S. R; Somaratne, S An RT model (RT1) was constructed using 35 agro-morphological characters for 45 mustard (Brassica juncea) accessions. Based on the ‘variable importance’ of the model RT1, another model (RT2) was developed. These models were developed using classification and regression tree algorithms. The classificatory performance of the RT1 model was compared with RT2 model. RT1 and RT2 models classified the mustard accessions with misclassification rates of 2.3% (98% accuracy) and 4.3% (96% accuracy), respectively. The variable importance of RT1 and RT2 explained that leaf length (LLCM), hypocotyl length (HLCM), hypocotyl-anthocynin coloration (ACH) and leaf width (LWCM) at seedling stage and main inflorescence length (LMICM), silique length (SLMM) and seed yield/plant (SYDIVPG) at maturity stage play an important role in classifying mustard accessions. Comparison of RT1 with RT2 revealed that accuracy of classification made by RT1 is higher in predicting class memberships among mustard accessions. A large degree of variability within and between Sri Lankan mustard accessions has been observed for agromorphological characters with respect to LLCM, HLCM, ACH, LWCM, LMICM, SLMM and SYDIVPG. The genetic diversity of certain mustard accessions such as Accession Numbers 346, 8658 and 9726 is too high and RT models failed to classify them correctly with acceptable accuracy.