http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/5698 2026-04-05T00:00:56Z http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/4400 Technical efficiency and its determinants: Paddy farming in Mahakanumulla cascade system Perera, K.L.P.A.; Hemachandra, D. Paddy farming is predominantly practiced in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Most paddy lands in the dry zone belong to traditional hydrological cascade systems known as Village Tank Cascade Systems (VTCS) and paddy lands receive irrigation water from the tanks in VTCS. Land is a scarce resource for agriculture in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is important to achieve high efficiency in paddy farming to increase paddy production in the country. A paddy farm is technically efficient if it is producing the maximum output using the minimum quantities of inputs, such as labour, capital, and technology. This study examines technical efficiency of paddy farmers in Mahakanumulla VTCS and its determinants. The technical efficiency of the farmers is estimated using parametric frontier technique; the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). In the first stage of the analysis a production function is estimated using the Maximum Likelihood Estimator. In the second stage, an inefficacy model is estimated with plot size, age,experience, household size, full time farming, and land ownership status as determinants of technical inefficiency. According to the results, the average technical efficiency of paddy farmers in Mahakanumulla VTCS is 92.3%. Only the plot size, experience, and household size are positively related to technical inefficiency and significant at 10%. According to the study findings, the technical efficiency of paddy farmers in Mahakanumulla VTCS does not vary significantly from the most efficient farmer in the area. This could be due to the fact that in the VTCS, farmers are operating under more homogenous conditions. However, it does not indicate that paddy farmers in Mahakanumulla VTCS are highly productive as results only reveal the technical efficiency level of paddy farmers in comparison to the most efficient paddy farmer in the area. Therefore, it is important that productivity improvements are continuously carried out. 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/4399 Time poverty and food production of women farmers: Case of Imbulpe DS division in Sri Lanka Rathnachandra, S.D.D.; Malkanthi, S.H.P. Gender equity has been emphasized as a considerable aspect regarding sustainable development in any nation of the world. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the level of time poverty of women farmers and its impact for food production in the Imbulpe Divisional Secretariat (DS) division in Rathnapura district in Sri Lanka. The objectives were to identify the time allocation of women farmers and to assess the time poverty and the effect of time poverty on food production in the study area. A sample of 300 women farmers was randomly selected through the simple random sampling method from five selected Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions of the Imbulpe DS division. A self-administered questionnaire survey was used with the help of a pre-tested questionnaire, in data collection from April to July 2019. The model of Harvey and Mukhopadhyay (2007) was used as the measurement of time poverty with necessary modifications based on the situation of the study area. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used in data analysis. The findings revealed that the respondents have obtained a considerably high headcount index of time poverty (0.79) in their efforts in food production. Therefore, it can be concluded that women farmers who live in the Imbulpe area consist of a low level of time for their farming and leisure activities. Therefore, conducting extension programs related to the application of modern farming technologies and enhance market information accessibility to reduce the time consume when marketing their agricultural products and enhance the participation in stress management programs are timely important activities to help these women farmers. 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/4396 Rhizobia inhabiting Clitoria ternatea L. in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka: An assessment of stress tolerance and genetic diversity Tennakoon, P.T.M.K.C.; Rajapakse, S. Legume-Rhizobial symbiosis plays a greater agronomical and ecological significance as it provides fixed nitrogen through Biological Nitrogen Fixation. Clitoria ternatea is a leguminous plant that hosts a wide range of rhizobial strains. Even though it is a widely distributed plant, comprehensive information and studies conducted on the rhizobial - C. ternatea symbiosis is lacking in Sri Lanka. This study aimed to identify different stress-tolerant rhizobial strains inhabiting root nodules of C. ternatea growing in seven selected locations of Anuradhapura district of Sri Lanka. Twenty-eight pure rhizobial colonies were isolated and they were separately grown in ½ Lupin broths and were subjected to four different physiological conditions, pH, temperature, salinity, and drought. Most of the isolates were well-grown within the pH range of 5.0-8.0, the temperature range of 30-35 °C and at 0.2% Polyethylene glycol-8000 (PEG) concentration. There was no observable pattern in the growth of rhizobial strains in different physiological conditions. The twelve rhizobial strains which showed high tolerance to extreme physiological conditions were subjected to a combination of physiological stress conditions of pH 8.0, temperature 36 °C, 3.0 % NaCl and 0.4 % PEG. The maximum growth in combination physiological study was observed in a strain collected at the Palugaswewa site. According to the dendrogram prepared by the Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC) profile, twelve strains are genetically diverse, as they belonged to11 clusters at 69.89 % of similarity level. These stress-tolerant rhizobial strains could be used for further studies on cross-inoculation of crop legumes as an alternative to the nitrogenous fertilizers. 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/4395 Production and optimization of bioethanol from over ripen sour banana fruit wastes (Musa sapientum) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Vivekanandaraja, R.; Kapilan, R. This study was carried out to produce bioethanol from low quality over ripen Musa sapientum (sour banana) fruit wastes to enhance the yield of bioethanol. When the sour banana juice was inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (2 g/L) in the fermentation media (100 mL, 8o Brix) composed of 10 g/L yeast extract, 10 g/L KH2 PO4 , 2 g/L (NH4 )2 SO4 , 2 g/L peptone, and 0.5 g/L MgSO4 ·7H2 O and fermented for 24h at 30 °C and 100 rpm, the ethanol yield was 0.8% v/v. When nitrogen sources urea, ammonium sulphate, ammonium carbonate, and ammonium nitrate were used in the fermentation media (2.0 g/100mL), significantly higher ethanol yield (p<0.05, 0.90%) was produced with ammonium carbonate. When yeast inoculum was increased to 5 g/L, the ethanol yield was significantly higher (p<0.05, 1.00%, 1.11 times) than the control. When the temperature was 25 °C, the ethanol yield was significantly increased (p<0.05) by 1.2 times the control temperature of 30 °C. When the rotation speed was 150 rpm, the ethanol yield was significantly higher (p<0.05) than the control (100 rpm). Ethanol yield was significantly higher (p<0.05, .15 times - 4.10 %) with 90% of banana juice. With 0.1 g/100mL of ammonium carbonate, ethanol yield was significantly increased by 1.1 times (p<0.05, 40 %) than the non-optimized control (0.2 g/100mL). Sucrose significantly stimulated ethanol yield than the other sugars. Fifteen grams per hundred milliliters of sucrose yielded significantly higher ethanol (p<0.05, 2.33 times) than the non-optimized control (2 g/100mL). When the pH of the medium was optimized at 6.0, the ethanol yield was significantly higher (p<0.05, 12.60%). Therefore, Musa sapientum could be an effective substrate for bioethanol production and optimization process increased the bioethanol yield significantly by 15.75 times (12.60% - 1.6o Brix). 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z