Mia Mukul

This study investigated the effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced osmotic stress on the germination and seedling growth of five tossa jute varieties under three treatment conditions: control, PEG 5%, and PEG 10%. Significant reductions were observed in germination percentage (GP), seedling length and fresh and dry weight of root and shoot under PEG treatments. Total length (TL), root length (RL) and shoot length (SL) were reduced under PEG stress, particularly in varieties Acc. 1148(V2) and Acc.6099(V3). PEG reduced mean GP from 94.4% (control) to 87.1% (PEG 5%) and 88.8% (PEG 10%), and reduced mean shoot length by 16–24%, while root length was largely maintained or increased, indicating a shift in early biomass allocation under osmotic stress. BJRI Tossa pat 5(V4) consistently showed the highest tolerance to PEG stress, maintaining relatively better germination, seedling growth, root length and biomass compared to other varieties. Correlation study revealed that, early seedling vigor in tossa jute is strongly influenced by root length, root biomass and total dry matter accumulation. The positive associations between GP, TL and RW highlight their importance as selection indices for drought tolerance while negative correlations of shoot weight with root traits indicate an adaptive balance between root and shoot under water deficit. BJRI Tossa pat 5 was identified as a promising genotype for early-stage drought tolerance but subsequent validation is needed under field water-deficit conditions.

Tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) is a natural fibre crop that produces good quality golden fibre. Predicting fibre yield and quality is crucial in jute breeding programs. Fibre anatomical characteristics provide valuable insights into both fibre yield and quality. Hence, seven tossa jute genotypes were investigated through field-based morphological studies and laboratory-oriented anatomical studies for fibre yield and yield-attributing morpho anatomical variability at Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) during March 2023 to February 2024. Morphological analysis revealed significant genotypic variations in plant height, base diameter, green weight, fibre yield and stick yield (p < 0.05), highlighting their potential as key differentiators for breeding activities. The genotypes JRO-524 and O-0412-9-4 exhibited superior traits, including higher plant height (2.67 m and 2.64 m) and base diameter (13.89 mm and 13.18 mm) at 110 days after sowing. High heritability was observed for green weight (80.22 %) and fibre yield (80.05 %), indicating that these traits can be effectively targeted for genetic improvement. Anatomical studies revealed significant variability in stem diameter, bark thickness and fibre bundle attributes (p < 0.01). JRO-524 demonstrated the highest stem diameter (17.67 mm) and bark thickness (1.53 mm), while BJRI Tossa pat 9 excelled in trapezoid width and total bundle area. Principal component analysis (PCA) captured 85.7 % of cumulative variance across the first three components, with plant height, base diameter and fibre yield being major contributors. The PCA biplot categorized genotypes into five groups, elucidating genetic diversity for targeted breeding strategies. These findings will provide a foundation for developing high-yielding, fibre-rich tossa jute varieties in future.

Waterlogging is a serious abiotic stress for Tossa jute cultivation in flood-prone areas or haor areas of Bangladesh. There is no waterlog-tolerant variety in Bangladesh, and hence it is essential to study the growth performance of Tossa jute genotypes under waterlogged stress. Two previously selected lines, Accession (Acc.) 1306 and Acc. 1318, an exotic variety JRO-524 and three popular varieties, e.g., BJRI Tossa pat 5, BJRI Tossa pat 8 and BJRI Tossa pat 9, were grown at Jute Agricultural Experiment Station, Manikganj in 2022. Jute genotypes were grown in three different blocks in which two plots were inundated at 65- and 80-day age, respectively and one plot was used as a control without inundation. Artificially, waterlog condition was maintained for 30 days. Survivability status and other agronomic characteristics (plant height, stem diameter, fresh weight, root length, fiber yield) were observed closely after the submergence condition. There was a difference in the plant survivability percentage. Maximum plants (97.1%) of Acc. 1306 were survived under waterlog conditions at 65 days after sowing (DAS) but in case of inundation at 80 DAS, JRO-524 had maximum survivability (92.9%) than other genotypes followed by Acc. 1318(91.6%) and BJRI Tossa pat 8 (90.2%) Among all jute genotypes, BJRI Tossa pat 5 gave highest fiber yield (3.05 t/ha) when inundated after 80 days followed by inundated after 65 days (2.75 t/ha) in this variety compared to the control. Correlation study reveals that fiber yield and stick yield of Tossa jute are strongly correlated; root length and adventitious root length have negative correlation with green weight with leaf, fiber and stick yield. BJRI Tossa pat 5 showed robust adaptive responses with notable increases in both root length and adventitious root length in case of inundation at 65 and 80 DAS. BJRI Tossa pat 5 may be considered as a relatively waterlog tolerant Tossa jute variety which can be used for cultivation in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh.

Kenaf ( Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a warm‐season annual crop from the Malvaceae family, valued for its bast fibers, where selecting the right variety is key to maximizing fiber yield and quality for industrial use. The study was conducted from February 2023 to February 2024 to select high yielding variety along with characterization for physicomechanical properties of four kenaf varieties (HC‐2, BJRI Kenaf 3, HC‐95, and BJRI Kenaf 4) developed by Bangladesh Jute Research Institute in Bangladesh. The investigation was done in field condition using a randomized complete block (RCB) design with three replications keeping the unit plot size of 6.0 m ² (3 × 2 m). The results revealed that BJRI Kenaf 4 recorded higher fiber yield (15.23 g/p) among four varieties, but HC‐95 gave stable yield (13.67 g/p) considering the associated traits such as plant height, base diameter, and fresh weight. Fiber yield and stick yield showed strong relation ( r = 0.739 ^∗∗ ). According to the physicomechanical test results, BJRI Kenaf 4 exhibited a favorable fiber diameter of 31.64 μ m compared with the other varieties and the highest tensile strength (51.44 gm/tex), which was approximately 4.98% higher than HC‐2 (49.00 gm/tex), 7.99% higher than BJRI Kenaf 3 (47.63 gm/tex), and 5.39% higher than HC‐95 (48.81 gm/tex). The highest fiber whiteness (39.86%) was observed in the BJRI Kenaf 3 variety. The thermal stability of kenaf fibers was evaluated through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), which revealed that BJRI Kenaf 4 possesses greater thermal stability than the other varieties. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of kenaf fibers indicates the existence of various functional groups. Selecting the appropriate kenaf variety for fiber yield and fiber qualities for the manufacturing of targeted kenaf goods will be helpful by this study.

Jute (Corchorus spp.) is a natural fiber crop having a lower extent of genetic variability due to its self-pollinating nature. The success of any breeding program for variety development primarily depends on the presence of genetic variation in the parental genotypes. A field experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design at ManikganjStation of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) during 2019-2020. The genetic divergence of 58 tossa jute (C. olitorius) genotypes including two pre-released standard varieties (O-9897, BJRI Tossa pat 4) and 56 accessions were studied to select genotypes having the most divergence in natural rainy condition. The jute genotypes were categorized into five clusters based on Mahalanobis D2 analysis. Cluster I and IV showed maximum inter-cluster distance (181.44) while the maximum intra-cluster distance (16.15) was recorded in cluster I. Cluster V revealed the highest values for number of nodes, stem mid-diameter, core diameter, green weight with leaves, dry stick weight and dry fiber weight per plant while cluster IV showed higher means for plant height, green bark thickness and leaf area. The highest contribution (47.14%) was wielded by plant height of total deviations. The results recommended that hybridization between genotypes of cluster V, IV and III could provide a wide range of discrepancies in the segregating generation which could offer chance for isolation of good genotypes with high fibre yielding lines.

The animal meats contain harmful fat and cholesterol contents but plants are the important sources of secondary metabolites that play important role against diseases, and showed less side effects. Jute, Kenaf and Mesta are self-pollinated annual herbaceous plants used to produce fibre contents. These plants are also used for nutritional purposes. Jute leaves contain vitamins, minerals, energies, macromolecules, phytochemicals, micronutrients, amino acids, anti-oxidants essential to promote human health. Only two species of jute (C. capsularis and C. olitorius) are commercially cultivated for fibre content. Olitorius leaves are sweet but capsularis leaves are bitter in taste. The young twigs and leaves of olitroius jute are used as delicious vegetable, and some capsularis cultivars released in Bangladesh can be used as leafy vegetables at young stage. C. olitorius is known as Molokhia and used as green leafy vegetable (GLV) in African and Eastern countries as a viscous soup. Hibiscus (Kenaf and Mesta) plants have antioxidants, anticancer, antibacterial and anti-cholesterol qualities. These plants produce multi-coloured lovely flowers used to grace our environment. Kenaf (H. Cannabinus) seeds contain essential amino acids and used as feed meals for the birds in different countries. Mesta or Roselle (H. sabdariffa) leaves and calyces have both vegetable and medicinal values.

The purpose of this study was to observe the germination rate and fungal pathogens association in selected Tossa jute varieties. The experiment was conducted following Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Truthfully labelled seeds (TLS) collected from four districts in Bangladesh, was used in the present study. The Highest germination rate (93.5%) and the lowest infection (31.25 pathogens/100 seed) were observed in BJRI Tossa Pat 5 (O-795) variety. BJRI Tossa Pat 4 (O-72) was observed as the most vulnerable against pathogen infection (121.25 pathogens/100 seed) and the showed lowest germination (83.25%). Regressions co-efficient (β) -0.82 was observed between germination (%) and total number of pathogens on seeds. Regression co-efficient (β) was -0.71 between moisture (%) and germination (%) of Tossa seeds. Regression co-efficient (β) was 0.65 between moisture (%) and total number of pathogens at Tossa jute seeds. For conducting the experiment, there was no limitation. From the study, it may be concluded that, seed-borne pathogenic fungi negatively affect the germination (%) of Tossa jute seed. SAARC J. Agric., 20(1): 67-76 (2022)

A field experiment was conducted at Jute Research Experimental Station, Manikganj, Bangladesh during 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons to study the feasibility of intercropping leafy vegetables at early stage of the fibre crop: kenaf along with conventional weeding methods for better weed suppression and higher productivity. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was followed consisting of eight treatments with three replications. Three leafy vegetables: red amaranth, jute shak and kangkong were used as intercrop with kenaf following 1 hand weeding and 1 hand hoeing alternately. Sole kenaf (weeded twice) was also grown as control. The total weed vegetation was comprised of grasses 49%, broadleaved 33% and sedge only 18%. Performance of kangkong as intercrop was found better in terms of weed suppression. Hand weeding was found more efficient as a cultural weeding method in reducing weed density. Although intercropping resulted in significant yield reduction of kenaf but increased net return and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) by increasing kenaf equivalent yield (KEY). The land equivalent ratio (LER) was found higher in all intercropping treatments than sole kenaf which indicated more efficient utilization of land under intercropping. Red amaranth intercropping+1 hand weeding resulted the maximum gross return (TK.1,36,200 ha-1) while the highest gross margin (Tk. 59,390 ha-1) and BCR (1.78) was obtained from jute shak intercropping+1 hoeing. Considering the production cost, monetary return and productivity, Kenaf intercropped with Jute shak+1 hoeing was found better than other intercropping treatments. SAARC J. Agric., 19(1): 165-176 (2021)