Acknowledgement

May our boundless sins which have accumulated over several cycles of life be destroyed
by the Darshan of your feet.
O lord enjoin my mind to your feet.
I am overwhelmed with jay to avail the opportunity to envice my profound sense
of reverence and gratitude to Dr. S.K. Singh, Assistant Professor, department of Genetics
and plant Breeding and Chairman of my advisory committee, for suggesting this research
problem, untiring supervision, meticulous guidance and timely support whenever needed
during the entire course of this investigation and preparation of this manuscript.
I feel privilege to express my veneration for the eminent members of my advisory
committee, Dr. Devi Singh, Professor and Director Research, Department of Genetics
and Plant Breeding, Dr. S.A. Kerkhi, Professor and Dean Post Graduate Studies,
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Dr Pooran Chand, Professor and Head,
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding and Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Assistant Professor,
Department Agriculture Biotechnology, for their technical guidance, keen interest,
sympathetic attitude and timely help at different stages of present investigation.
I would immensely thankful to Mr. Suresh Chand Sharma, Mr. Chaman Singh,
Nitin Kumar and Priyanka Kapoor staff members for providing me timely help and
support.


I am immensely grateful to Mr. Atar Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of
Genetics and Plant Breeding, Dr. S.P. Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Soil
Science and Dr. D.K. Singh, Associate Professor Department of Agriculture Extension.
I wish to express sincere thanks to Dean PGS, Director Experiment Station, Dean
College of Agriculture, University Library and staff members for providing me necessary
facilities as and when needed.
I express profound sense of reverence to my Late Mummy and Papa who always
have been a source of inspiration and encouragement for me. I am overwhelmed to take
this opportunity to express love, support and affection to words my elder brother and
Didi, who means a lot for me and has done more, can accept. Their constant support,
instilled sense of responsibility, great sacrifice and confidence into me which helped me
throughout the study. I would also thanks to, Shikha, Riya, Shiradha/Gudia, Tully,
pawan, Akash, and Deepak for their constants love and affection. I would like to thanks
Dr. B. Gangwar Director (PDFSR) Modi Puram Meerut, Dharmendra Dev, Ex I.A.S., Dr.
V.P. Singh, Ex Sr. Commissioner Agriculture Ministry, Dr. D.P. Singh, Ex Director,
GBPUAT Pantnagar, Dr R.K. Katiyar, Ex Director Biotechnology Department, IARI
Pusa New Delhi, Dr Rajesh Khulby, VPKAS, Almora, Dr. Sowti Assistant Professor,
GBPUAT Pantnagar, Anjully Agrawal, Joint Director ARS Majhra, GBPUAT
Pantnagar for their love and support.
I wish to extend warm thanks to all my seniors and juniors especially Dr. Sanjeev
Kumar, Dr. Suneeta, Dr. Bhupendra Kumar, Narendra Kumar, Rupesh, Chitra, Manoj
Pandey and many more for their consistent assistance and delighted company at different


phases of this research . They have always supported me and helped me whenever I
needed. I also wish to place on records my heartiest thanks to all my batch mates.
I wish to extent warm thanks to my close friend Manu for her constant inspiration,
help and timely support. She has always accompanied me during happy and tough times.
Lastly thanks to all beloved and respected people around me who directly and
indirectly helped me during my degree programme and whose names could not be
mentioned here.







Meerut (Krishna Pal)
June, 2014 Author





CONTENTS

Chapter Title Page No.
1. Introduction 1-5
2. Review literature 6-47
3. Material and Methods 48-62
4. Result 63-99
5. Discussion 100-131
6. Summary 132-139
7. Literature cited 140-157
* Appendix i-xxx