Sugarcane is an important food-cum cash crop and the only source of sugar production in Bangladesh. However, its productivity seriously hampered due to pest, and diseases especially, due to red rot disease, which is proven difficult to control through fungicides. On the other hand, high ploidy, low fertility, large genome and complex environmental interactions make conventional arduous for sugarcane improvement. In this context, biotechnological approaches such as induction of somaclonal variation can be used to create new genetic variability for improvement of this crop. In this work a large...

Taxonomic investigation of the family Asteraceae (Compositae) growing throughout the Rajshahi Division situated in the northern part of Bangladesh was carried out. A total of 36 species under 29 genera of the family Asteraceae were collected and identified. Of the total number of species, 8 were found under cultivation and 28 grow wild in the study area. Ageratum conyzoides, Blumea lacera, Eclipta alba, Tridax procumbens, Vernonia patula and Xanthium indicum were recorded as densely populated and Mikania cordata as the only climbing species. Blumea laciniata and Wedelia trilobata have been...