Under small and marginal farm conditions, allocation of land exclusively for forages is not possible.  Hence, integration of forages in existing crop geometry can ensure production of grain and fodder, simultaneously under rainfed conditions.  A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different nutrient management practices on rice and fodder intercropping systems under rainfed conditions during 2015–2017.  The intercropping system comprised (i) sole rice (R), (ii) rice and cowpea (5:2) (CP) and (iii) rice and ricebean (5:2) (RB) whereas the different nutrient management practices comprised (i) application of farm yard manure (FYM) at 5 t ha^–1 (farmers’ practice) (N₁), (ii) application of inorganic fertilizer (recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) of rice, 60:30:30 kg ha^–1 of N:P₂O₅:K₂O) (N₂) and (iii) application of both FYM at 5 t ha^–1 and 50% of RDF inorganic fertilizer (N₃).  The results of the experiment revealed that the growth attribute such as leaf area was influenced significantly when fodder crops were taken as intercrops because rice plant was getting more nitrogen from soil due to nitrogen fixation of leguminous fodder crops.  Among the nutrient management practices, significant differences in leaf area were found beween N₂ and N₁, and between N₃ and N₁ treatments.  However, regarding total number of effective tillers, significant differences were found neither between nutrient management practices nor between cropping systems.  The rice equivalent yield (REY) based on price (REYP) was found to be significantly lower in CP (2 615 kg ha^–1; –6.4%) and RB intercropping systems (2 571 kg ha^–1; –8.0%)  than in R monocropping system (2 794 kg ha^–1).  However, the REY based on energy (REY_E) of CP (2 999 kg ha^–1; +7.3%) and RB (2 960 kg ha^–1; +5.9%) were found to be significantly higher than that of R (2 794 kg ha^–1) irrespective of nutrient management practices.  Between different nutrient management practices, the N₃ treatment recorded the highest REYP and REY_E which was at par with the N₂ treatment and significantly higher than the N₁ treatment irrespective of cropping systems.  The combined application of both organic and inorganic sources of nutrients helped to supply nutrients throughout the growing season, which led to improved growth parameters and rice yield.  The R monocropping system resulted in more income and rain water use efficiency (RWUE) closely followed by rice and fodder intercropping systems.  However, the REY_E and energy use efficiency (EUE) of rice and fodder intercropping systems were higher than those of R.  Also, fodder helped to meet the requirement of cattle feeding in the off-season.  Hence, the intercropping system is advocated in the study zone.  Further study can be done on ecosystem services and carbon sequestration potential of the intercropping system, as well as the system’s coping ability in response to short drought through observing periodic soil moisture regime in root zone.  

Shelf life is an important breeding trait in tomato, especially for the tomato production in subtropical and tropical regions.  Previously we have isolated and characterized ethylene receptor mutants, Sletr1-1 and Sletr1-2 from mutant population based on Micro-Tom cultivar.  Sletr1-1 showed insensitivity to ethylene while Sletr1-2 showed reduced sensitivity to ethylene.  We also have demonstrated that the traits are useful for extending fruit shelf life of the hybrid tomato cultivars.  For commercializing the hybrid cultivars, the seed quality is another important trait.  In this study, we evaluated the effects of the Sletr1-1 and Sletr1-2 mutations on the seed quality characteristics of F₁ hybrid lines generated by crossing Sletr1-1 and Sletr1-2 with three commercial tomato cultivars, Intan, Mutiara and Ratna.  Sletr1-1 mutation conferred insensitivity to ethylene in the F1 hybrid seedlings, resulting in negative effects including reduced germination rate, vigor index and emergence speed index.  Interestingly Sletr1-2 mutation had almost no effect on the seed quality characteristics of the F₁ hybrid lines, suggesting that Sletr1-2 was suitable for producing high quality of hybrid seeds.