Volume 4 Issue 1 February 2021 ISSN 2616-3926
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Volume 4 Issue 1 February 2021 ISSN 2616-3926 Volume 4, Issue 1 February 2021 ISSN 2616-3926 BHUTANESE JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE Agriculture Research and Extension Division Department of Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture and Forests Thimphu: Bhutan Volume 4, Issue 1 February 2021 ISSN 2616-3926 Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture is registered with the ISSN International Centre, Located in Paris 75003 (France), 45 rue de Turbigo. Editor -In-Chief Dr. Yadunath Bajgai, Specialist III, National Centre for Organic Agriculture (NCOA), Yusipang, Department of Agriculture (DoA) Associate Editor Mr. Lakey, Principal Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Research and Extension Division, DoA, Thimphu Editorial Board Dr. Dorjee, Specialist III, National Plant Protection Centre, DoA Mr. Lakey, Principal Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Research and Extension Division, DoA Dr. Ganja Singh Rai, Principal Horticulture Officer, ARDC, Samtenling, DoA Mr. Dechen Tshering, Program Director, National Post Harvest Centre, DoA Special Acknowledgement Mr. Mahesh Ghimiray, Specialist II, Agriculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC), Bajo Mr. Tirtha Bdr. Katwal, Program Director, NCOA-Yusipang, Thimphu, DoA Member Secretary Mr. Wangda Dukpa, Chief, Agriculture Research and Extension Division, DoA, Thimphu Editorial Assistant and Correspondence Kuenzang Om, Sr. Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Research and Extension Division, DoA, Thimphu Editorial The Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture welcomes the submission of research articles and short communications. Article may be submitted to [email protected]. Please follow the journal format provided in the author guidelines, accessible from www.bja.gov.bt or www.doa.gov.bt. The online open access for the Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture is now available at www.bja.gov.bt. Publisher Agriculture Research and Extension Division, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Thimphu: Bhutan Post Box 113, Postal Code 11001 Contact no. +975-2-322228/331316 Copyright © Department of Agriculture, 2021 Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan A part or whole of this publication may be reproduced or disseminated with proper acknowledgement to the above address. Readers are encouraged to send comments or feedback on articles in this journal for future improvement. i FOREWORD The Department of Agriculture is delighted to bring out the fourth volume of the Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture (BJA). BJA is a print open access English language journal on agriculture and publishes research articles annually with the primary purpose of providing an additional mechanism to disseminate appropriate technologies, and knowledge and information in the agriculture sector. Across cross-cutting themes like agronomy, postharvest, economics, agro-biodiversity, soil and water management, farming systems, pest and disease management and climate change, the journal covers research findings that are innovative and relevant to sustainable agriculture development in Bhutan. It has been a difficult year with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting everyone across the board. The department has, in its own little measures, made significant reforms in its approach to agriculture development so as to help deliver immediate recourse to our farmers as well as the economy. At the same time, our efforts into empirical and objective research to help develop data-driven technology should continue unabated. This volume which we are able to release uninterrupted is thus a testament to our collective resolve in seeking new and relevant technologies and effectively communicating them through a peer-reviewed platform. Our editorial team, comprising members entirely from within the Department of Agriculture, is pushing hard to conform to international standards. Concerted efforts are underway in continuously improving the quality of the journal and we are glad and hope that with every passing issue we enrich ourselves with experiences that enable us to set the bar ever higher. I thank the authors and the reviewers alike for their contribution as well as the BJA Editorial Board for their added efforts in successfully taking out this edition. I wish everyone a resourceful reading. Stay safe and best wishes. Kinlay Tshering (Ms) DIRECTOR ii EDITORIAL The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our resilience and taught us far-reaching lessons. The most pertinent ones concern those that test the reliability and elasticity of our agriculture and food systems, medical preparedness, supply chain management, and infrastructures for virtual communication and digital information exchange. The strengths of domestic food production and the consequences of heavy dependence on external food supply have become all the more apparent. Once we find ourselves on the other side of the pandemic divide, the ‘washing-hands’ may gradually and as well shift to ‘dirtying-hands’ with local food production taking centre-stage to preempt crises in food and nutrition. It is hoped that against such emerging contexts the technologies and knowledge generated and presented in this volume of the Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture (BJA) will only build on and strengthen our agriculture and food systems, and serve as enriching literature for future endeavours in this sector. There are a set of 12 interesting articles that capture varied disciplines from crop germplasm evaluation and innovation testing to new insights into postharvest processing. Fresh understandings into aspects on rice, quinoa, bean, chirayita, kiwifruit, potato, groundnut, mango, pear and apples are presented, including assessment of performance of farmers’ groups and cooperatives. The volume also covers work on biochar and evaluation of local yeast strains in winery. We are pleased to report that the quality of articles in this journal is improving. The percentile of acceptance of articles has risen to around 50 now. We are grateful to all authors, reviewers, facilitators and the journal editorial board for their concerted effort and diligence in ensuring this volume a success. On behalf of the journal board, I extend our gratitude to all contributing institutions including the Agriculture Research and Development Centres at Wengkhar, Samtenling and Bajo, the National Post Harvest Center (Paro), the National Centre for Organic Agriculture (Yusipang), the College of Natural Resources (Lobesa), the Regional Agriculture and Marketing Cooperatives Office (Mongar), and above all the Department of Agriculture for providing the resources for these research and for supporting the authors and collaborators alike. We rededicate ourselves to generating evidence-based knowledge and credible technologies to help take forward sustainable agriculture development in the country. We hope our readerships find the articles useful and interesting. Thank you to all our readers and users. Tashi Delek! (Yadunath Bajgai, PhD) Editor-in-Chief iii TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD................................................................................................................................. ii EDITORIAL ................................................................................................................................. iii Evaluation of New Mango Varieties in Samtenling, Sarpang ........................................................ 1 Productivity and Preferences of New Potato Varieties and their Relationships in Five Districts of Bhutan ........................................................................................................................ 11 Effect of Wood-derived Biochar as Growth and Development Medium for Kiwifruit Seedlings ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Performance of Agricultural Farmers’ Groups and Cooperatives in Eastern Bhutan .................. 38 High Yielding Indeterminate Bean Varieties to Diversify Bean Farming .................................... 54 Agronomic Parameters of High-Altitude Rice Varieties and their Relation to Temperature at Different Growth Stages ............................................................................................................... 63 Effect of Fruit Thinning on ‘Hosui’ Pear Fruit Quality and Yield ............................................... 77 Evaluation of Sowing Time of Quinoa in a Potato-based Cropping System in Cool temperate Agro-ecological Condition of Haa, Bhutan .................................................................................. 85 Assessment of Performance and Oil Recovery (%) in Existing Groundnut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) Accessions ............................................................................................................. 98 Determination of Post-harvest Losses of Quinoa at Different Stages of Handling at Saling Gewog, Mongar District ............................................................................................................. 114 Comparative Study on Physio-chemical and Organoleptic Attributes of Apple Wine Fermented from Local and Imported Yeasts .............................................................................. 122 Assessment of Nursery Methods and Manures for Cultivation of Chirayita (Swertia chirayita Buch-Ham.) in Lauri Gewog, Bhutan ......................................................................................... 137 iv Yangden et al. 2021 Bhutanese Journal of Agriculture 4(1) 1-10 Evaluation of New Mango Varieties in Samtenling, Sarpang Tshering