Plenty of variations in nutritional, morphological and agronomic traits occur in the pigmented rice germplasm. The current study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics of 71 pigmented rice genotypes having different origin taking one Korean landrace (Heugjinjubyeo) as control. Amongst the twenty eight growth characters studied; leaf length, leaf width, ligule length, panicle length and panicles per hill showed a higher degree of variance. The heading dates of the pigmented rice germ plasm were distributed from Aug. 1 to Sep. 28. Thirty five cultivars that headed or flowered in August were found adaptable for cultivation in Korea. The mean culm length and panicle length were significantly higher than Heugjinjubyeo but most of cultivars having strong or middle of culm strength made it possible to produce the stable yield. Some cultivars showed unique qualitative characters such as openness of culm angle, purple ligule, auricle, awn and glume colors, poor panicle exsertion and long empty glume. Nine cultivars including Heugjinjubyeo showed purple seed coat color while those of the others (62 cultivars) were of red seed coat.

Significant variations occur in pigmented rice germplasm with respect to their antioxidant potential. Therefore this study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant potential of exotic rice germplasm collected from different parts of the globe. Grain samples of exotic rice germ plasm (21 0 accessions) were collected from different countries of Asia, America and Europe and their ground grain samples were extracted with 80% methanol at 30 oc using sonicater for 30 minutes to estimate their total polyphenol and flavonoids contents and antioxidant activity. Rice germplasm had tremendous variations with respect to total polyphenols (0.0800.71 mg g- 1) and falvonoid contents (0.091 00.413 mg g" 1 ) and antioxidant activity (18096%). Rice cultivars with red and black seed coat had higher antioxidant activity owing to significantly higher polyphenols and falvonoid contents in their grains. Therefore rice cultivars with red and black seed coat color should be included in breeding rice genotypes with higher nutritional value.

Chilling resistance at sowing is pre-requisite to avoid high temperature stress at terminal stage of spring planted maize crop. Seed priming offers promising solution to improve crop resistance against low or high temperature stress. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the role of seed priming in improving the performance of spring planted maize under various sowing dates. Seeds of hybrid maize FH-810 were soaked in aerated solution of CaC}z (2.2%), moringa leaf extracts (MLE, 3.3%) and salicylic acid (SA, 50 mg L- 1 ) while dry and water soaked seeds (hydropriming) were used as controls. Both primed and untreated seeds were planted on 02 and 22 Feb, and 14 March. Late planted maize observed notable decline in mean emergence time than early planted crop owing to high temperature at planting. Both low and high temperature in early (02 Feb) and late (14 March) planted maize resulted in reduced seedling growth and tissue water status accompanied with elevated membrane electrolytes leakage. Moreover all the priming techniques improved the studied parameters of crop compared with control at all planting dates. Seed osmopriming with SA improved crop stress resistance by earlier emergence, increased seedling dry weight, tissue water status and improved membrane stability followed by osmopriming with CaC12.

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of selenium priming on growth and productivity of maize at Agronomy Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Maize seeds were primed with different concentrations of selenium (0, 5, 25, 50 and 100 JlM) while untreated seeds were taken as control. Results showed that seed priming with all levels of selenium improved the germination parameters, growth and yield of maize. Seed priming with 50 JlM of selenium recorded maximum grain yield (2.35 t ha- 1) while minimum (1.66 t ha-1) grain yield was observed in case of untreated seeds (control). Further research should be carried out to find out mechanisms of growth and yield improvement of maize as a result of seed priming with selenium.

Weeds are the major hindrance in the adoption of conservation agriculture in a rice wheat cropping system. There exists a conflict in the agronomic and soil requirements between a conventional rice production system and the following wheat crop. Puddling in the conventional rice productions system helps in controlling weeds in rice and following crops, but disturbs the soil structure resulting in poor stand establishment of the following wheat crop. This study was conducted to monitor the soil properties, weed dynamics and stand establishment of wheat grown by conventional and conservation tillage options after different rice production systems. Maximum soil bulk density and root penetration resistance was observed after a conventional flooded rice system with the lowest values in aerobic rice culture. Wheat stand establishment was impeded following flooded rice system; however this was quite better after the aerobic rice. However, after flooded rice, wheat stand establishment was improved with deep tillage. Hydropriming was better in improving the stand establishment than osmopriming. Weed biomass was highest after the aerobic rice; however it was a minimum after the flooded rice. Amongst the tillage systems in wheat, maximum weed flora was observed in zero tillage; however that was a minimum in bed sowing. Conservation agriculture may help in improving the stand establishment in rice wheat cropping system by improving soil physical properties, but weeds are still a major threat to adopting this form of agriculture.