soil moisture status under traditional agroforestry ... · web viewadulteration of herbal products...

Journal of Progressive Agriculture, Vol.1, No. 1: October 2010

Haemagglutination as a rapid tool to differentiate Saraca asoca bark from the adulterant Polyalthia longifolia

C BEENA* AND V V RADHAKRISHNANAll India Coordinated Project on Medicinal , Aromatic Plants and Betalvine, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural

University, P.O. Vellanikkara, Thrissur -680656, Kerala, India.E mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Saraca asoca(Roxb.) Wilde, the asoka tree is one of the red listed plants of the Western Ghats. . The bark of asoka tree is the source of the ayurvedic medicine “asokarishtam” used in the treatment of gynecological disorders . The rising demand has led to its widespread adulteration. It is widely adulterated with the bark of Polyalthia longifolia an ornamental tree. This paper presents a quick and easy method to determine the adulteration in asoka bark. Haemagglutination method using the phosphate buffered saline ( PBS) extract of the stem barks and o positive human erythrocytes was proved to serve as an effective ,quick, easy and cheap tool in differentiating the raw bark of asoka from its major adulterant Polyalthia longifolia .This can be recommended as a tool for the floor level checking of the market samples for ensuring the quality .

Key words: Adulteration, haemagglutination, Saraca asoca, Polyalthia longifolia, PBS ( phosphate buffered saline) .

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) de Wilde commonly known as Asoka (Figure 1) is a sacred tree of India, famous for its use in the treatment of gynaecological disorders. Asoka belongs to the family Caesalpiniaceae. It is one of the red listed plants of the Western Ghats. Asoka is especially relied upon as an astringent to treat excessive uterine bleeding from various causes including hormone disorders, fibroids and for regulating the menstrual cycle. It was estimated that the domestic demand of the bark of Saraca asoca was more than 15,000 tonnes for the year 2007-08. This high annual demand of the bark needs to be obtained from this medicinal tree which is now in an endangered stage. As there is a wide gap between demand and availability, it is clear that some other plant material is collected and utilized instead of Saraca asoca. There are reports that the bark of asoka is widely adulterated with the bark of Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.) (Figure2) which is known as Bangali ashok. belonging to the family Annonaceae. Polyalthia is having different medicinal properties and uses and it cannot be used as a substitute to asoka. Active ingredients that contribute to the medicinal property of asoka are phenols and tannins where as that of polyalthia are alkaloids. Substituting asoka with polyalthia may not be effective in treating gynaecological disorders or it may lead to some serious health hazards whose symptoms will develop only later.

Adulteration of herbal products has clinically relevant effects. Health problems related to herbal drugs are observed too often due to the contaminants rather than the declared ingredients. As these adulteration cause serious health hazards later ,it is important to have a floor level checking for the market samples for avoiding the adulterants. Under this circumstances we have taken up this study to find out an easy ,quick and reliable method for the identification

of common major adulterant of the important ayurvedic herbal drug asoka bark and the results of the study are presented here.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Stem barks of Saraca asoca and Polyalthia longifolia were collected from College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala, India.and authenticated by the botanists. The samples were shade dried. 1 g sample of each was put in 10 ml Phospahte buffered saline ( PBS, pH 7.4) overnight ( 10%). This extract was used for the HA ( haemagglutination) assay using standard methodology10. Double fold serial dilutions of 50 ul extract in 50 ul Phosphate buffered saline( PBS) was prepared in micro titer plates (ELISA plates)and mixed with 50ul of 2% PBS washed human erythrocytes of O positive blood group taken from human volunteer. Microtiter(ELISA) plates were incubated at room temperature for about 2 hours and the HA titer for each sample was recorded. Haemagglutination titer (HA titer) is the maximum dilution of the sample giving a visible agglutination. Agglutination is the clumping together of blood cells due to the network like linkage between the Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and the specifically reacting molecules present in the samples. As the RBCs are coloured there is no need of any other colouring agents. It was noted that all the S.asoca samples (4 different tree samples taken) gave positive haemagglutination with an HA titer ranging from 8 to 36 where as no agglutination was given by any of the four different Polyalthia longifolia bark samples ( HA =0) tried .(Figure-3). This revealed that the genuine S.asoca bark can be easily differentiated from the adulterant Polyalthia. using this technique.

1

mailto:[email protected]


Haemagglutination assay (Figure 3)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In most of the cases of drug adulteration, the adulterant will have similar morphology as that of the genuine samples. It is very difficult to distinguish them

2

A1 to A 4 - asoka samples with 8, 8, 32, 8 as HA titer respectively.P1 to P4 - polyalthia samples showing no Haemagglutination.

2 4 8 16 32

Figure.1. Saraca asoca Figure.2.Polyalthia longifolia


physically. If the drug in question is spurious or adulterated, or is from an entirely different biological source it may still contain similar confusing compounds. Hence chemical fingerprints also will be confusing. Fingerprinting experiments by TLC conducted showed that there were a lot of similarities between asoka and polyalthia rather than differences. Remashree et al has reported that the comparative anatomical study can be taken up for the differentiation between the original and spurious bark samples of asoka. Very recently S.Khatoon et al has reported that HPTLC profile studies using the methanol extract of bark samples can be depended. All these techniques require costly equipments , chemicals and cumbersome procedures. But the present study revealed that HA assay using O + human RBCs is a good technique,practically very simple, cheap and less cumbersome. It can be used as a quick reliable and effective tool for the authentication and quality assessment of S. asoca and this method can be recommended

for the floor level checking of market adulterant of the important herbal raw drug Saraca asoca. The work was carried out during 2009- 2010.

Haemagglutination technique has never before tried adulterant identification in herbal drugs. Usually chromatographic techniques are reported for standardization and to control the quality of both the raw material and the finished products. We tried a different biological technique that can be used for differentiating asoka from polyalthia. The presence of an entity- a haemagglutinin- was found in the stem barks of saraca asoca which causes agglutination of RBCs whereas it was found to be absent in polyalthia . Detailed studies are required to find out the specific molecule causing haemagglutination in asoka samples.

Acknowledgement Authors thank the financial support from ICAR.

REFERENCES

De Smet PAGM. 1992. Toxicological outlook on the quality assurance

of herbal remedies. In Adverse effects of Herbal drugs. Vol 1, (ed. De Smet, P.A.G.M., Keller, K., Hansel, R., Chandler, R. F.,) Heidelberg, Springer- Verlag . pp. 1-72.

Drug Interactions. 2nd edn. 1998. Adulteration of herbal products Eclectic Medical Publications, Sandy.

Houghton PJ, Pharmacognosy. 1999. The basis for quality herbal medicinal products, Pharmaceutical New., 6, pp. 21–27.

Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia, 1998,Vols I and II, RRL.Jammu- Tawi and IDMA, Mumbai, India.

Khatoon S, Neha Singh, Kumar S, Srivastava N, Rathi, A and Mehrotra S., 2009. Authentication and quality evaluation of the important ayurvedic drug asoka bark.J. of Scientific and Industrial Research..Vol.68393-400.

Nadkarni KM. The Indian Materia Medica., Vol.I, pp. 1104-1105.

Nayar, MP and Sastry ARK. 1990. Red Data Book of Indian Plants, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, vol 3.

Nelson L, Shih R., Hoffman R., 1995. Aplastic anemia induced by an adulterated herbal medication.Clin Toxicol, 33,467-470.

Parvati Menon 2002. Conservation & consumption: A study on the crude drug trade in threatened plants in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, Kerala Research Programme on local level development studies, Thiruvananthapuram , p 39.

Pueppke SG, 1979.Purification and characterisation of a lectin from the seeds of the winged bean,Psophocarpus tetragonolobus.Bioche.Biophys.Acts,581,63-70.

Rajani M, Shrivastava N, Ravishankara MN. 2000. A rapid method for isolation of andrographolide Nees (Kalmegh). Pharm Biol. 38, 204-209.

Remashree A.B, Sudhakar R., Jayanthy A , Unnikrishnan KP and Indira B, 2005.Comparative anatomical and phytochemical markers to identify asoka from its common adulterant.Aryavaidyan .Vol.XIX.1,13-24.

Sperl W, Stuppner H, Gassner I., Judmaier W, Dietze O., Vogel W, 1995. Reversible hepatic veno- occlusive disease in an infant after consumtion of pyrrolizidine containing herbal tea. Eur J Pediatrics ,154, 112-116.

The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, .2001-02. Part I, Vol.I, Demand study for selected medicinal plants, Centre for research, planning and action, Ministry of Health and family welfare, Govt.of India. pg 14.

The Wealth of India – Raw materials, 1998. Vol IX, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, pp 232-234.

The Wealth of India – Raw materials, Vol VIII, 1999. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, pp 187-188.

3


Assessment of seasonal soil moisture under traditional agroforestry systems in Garhwal Himalaya, India

ARVIND BIJALWANFaculty of Technical Forestry, Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, M.P., India.

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The seasonal soil moisture content was assessed under three agroforestry systems viz. Agrisilviculture (AS), Agri-hortisilviculture (AHS) and Agri-horticulture (AH) systems in northern and southern aspects of Garhwal Himalaya, India. The soil moisture under these agroforestry systems was higher compared to sole agriculture (treeless or control) system. The soil moisture ranged from 8.66 per cent (AS) in summer to 35.96 per cent (AH) in monsoon season (0-15 cm depth) and 11.39 per cent (AS) in summer to 31.71 per cent (AS) in monsoon (16-30 cm depth). The soil moisture status in sole agriculture system reported significantly different in all agroforestry systems under 0-15 and 16-30 cm depths. The influence of northern aspect obtains more moisture than the southern.

Key words: Moisture content, Agroforestry, Sole cropping, Agrisilviculture, Agrihortisilviculture, Agrihorticulture

Agroforestry systems are considered more sustainable and favourable to improve the soil properties. Presence of trees in combination with annual crops is believed to offer systematic plant cover to protect the soil from erosion as well as enhancement of moisture status of soil. In traditional agroforestry systems, trees are used to improve the soil fertility, maintain the hydrological balance and conserve the soil, moreover the tree-crop combination used the soil water more efficiently than the sole cropping. The presence of multipurpose trees as an essential component of traditional settled agriculture on terraced slopes, and indicated the importance of trees in rehabilitation, improvement of degraded wastelands and mitigating drought (Dhadwal et al 1986). In situ retention of rainfall on the land itself by agronomic measures in the rhizosphere for better plant growth is one of the essential factors which can be achieved through agroforestry practices and by suitable agronomic measures.

The productivity in agroforestry systems is higher as compared to sole cropping systems, because higher yield of crop has been observed in forest influenced soil than in ordinary soil (Chaturvedi, 1981; Sanghal, 1983; Verinumbe, 1987). Agroforestry systems based on traditional kn owledge with water management as an integral component are more effective for rehabilitation of degraded community lands than afforestation with plantation crops (Maikhuri et al. 1997). Keeping in view the appraisal and assessment of soil moisture status under agroforestry systems, the present study was carried out in the traditional agroforestry systems of Garhwal Himalayan region of India.


The study was carried out in six different villages of Tehri Garhwal district of Garhwal Himalayan region of India, ranging between the elevation of 1000m to 2000m asl

during 2004 to 2006. The selection of these villages (sites) varied in elevation, aspects and biodiversity. The selected sites stretched between sub-tropical to temperate zones. The study area receives 1240 mm annual rainfall with the mean monthly maximum temperature varies from 11.6 0C in January to 26.0 0C in June, whereas the mean monthly minimum temperature ranges from 2.3 0C in January to 16.8 0C in July (Fig. 1).

The soil analysis was performed in the soil samples taken from agroforestry systems and sole agriculture system (controll) to compare the insitu moisture status of the soil. The soil samples were randomly collected from 0-15 and 16-30 cm depths during winter, summer and monsoon seasons, using soil auger. The soil samples were collected thrice in a season with one month interval. The soil samples were collected from different agroforestry systems and sole agricultural fields and immediately weighed using mobile digital weighing balance to obtain the fresh weight of the soil. Later the soil samples were brought to the soil science laboratory of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Hill Campus, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India and kept in the oven at 105 0C for 24 hours till constant weight was achieved and weighed. Further the soil moisture was calculated using gravimetric method.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The soil moisture percentage under agroforestry systems was observed to be higher as compared to sole agriculture system, which is thought to be beneficial for the growth and development of agriculture crops. The soil moisture ranged in different existing agroforestry systems varied from 8.66 per cent (AS) in summer to 35.96 per cent (AH) in monsoon season at 0-15 cm of depth and 11.39 per cent (AS) in summer to 31.71 per cent (AS) in monsoon (16-30 cm depth) on different study sites (Table 1).

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It was observed that the soil moisture % in winter varied from 22.38 to 29.87 %, 19.30 to 27.95 %, 14.69 to 20.97 % in 0-15and 20.38 to 28.15 %, 18.95 to 30.12 %, 19.15 to 25.00 % in 16-30 cm depth for AS, AHS, AH systems respectively. In summer season, the soil moisture % ranged from 8.66 % (AS) to 17.87 % (AH) under 0-15 cm depth and 11.39 % (AS) to 20.33 % (AH) under 16-30 cm depth in different study sites. It was recorded that the soil moisture % varied from 8.66 to14.19 %, 10.88 to 16.53 %, 11.47 to 17.87 % in 0-15 cm depth and 11.39 to 17.80 %, 14.58 to

19.83 %, 14.70 to 20.33 % in 16-30 cm depth for AS, AHS, AH systems respectively in summer season (Table 1). In monsoon season the soil moisture % ranged from 25.01 to 35.96 % both in AH system (0-15 cm depth) and 22.71 % (AH) to 31.71 % (AS) under 16-30 cm of depth on different study sites. It was found that the soil moisture % varied from 28.89 to 35.62 %, 28.78 to 31.28 %, 25.01 to 35.96 % in 0-15 cm depth and 28.48 to 31.71 %, 27.57 to 30.30 %, 22.71 to 31.03 in 16-30 cm depth for AS, AHS, AH systems respectively in monsoon season (Table 1).

Table 1: Seasonal soil moisture content (%) under traditional Agroforestry systems

AF system/ Site Winter SeasonAS AHS AH

0-15 16-30 0-15 16-30 0-15 16-30N1 29.34 24.28 27.95 30.12 19.94 24.88S1 25.13 21.99 19.30 18.95 15.81 23.35N2 22.46 20.38 25.41 28.29 15.04 19.40S2 22.38 21.38 21.43 23.05 14.69 19.15N3 29.87 28.15 25.93 28.27 20.97 25.00S3 27.43 23.36 21.15 20.40 17.83 23.31Mean (N+S) 26.1 23.26 23.53 24.85 17.38 22.52Mean (N) 27.22 24.27 26.43 28.89 18.65 23.09Mean (S) 24.98 22.24 20.63 20.80 16.11 21.94Control 18.23 22.42 15.12 18.37 14.63 18.6

AF system/ Site Summer SeasonAS AHS AH


AF system/ Site Monsoon Season AS AHS AH


AS = Agrisilviculture system, AHS = Agrihortisilviculture system, AH= Agrihorticulture systemN (Northern aspect) = N1, N2, N3

S (Southern aspect) = S1, S2, S

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The soil moisture status in sole agriculture system (control or without trees) is significantly different in all agroforestry systems on different sites under 0-15 and 16-30 cm depths. The statistical analysis (Table 2) shows that there is a significant difference (p<0.01) in the moisture content, when compared with different aspects and seasons. Depth had also significant difference (p<0.05) in the availability of soil moisture content. The interaction between season and depth (p<0.01), depth and system (p<0.05) were also recorded significantly different (p<0.05). The soil moisture content is higher in agroforestry system when compared in sole cropping pattern in winter and summer season while this trend was not as such followed in the rainy season. In general the soil moisture content was higher in 16-20 cm of depth under trees and treeless conditions but the situation was adverse in the monsoon season where higher moisture content was observed in 0-15 cm of depth. As far as influence of aspect on soil moisture content is concerned, the northern aspect acquired more moisture than the southern.

The comparative variation of tree-crop system to sole cropping and impact of aspect and soil depth for soil moisture conservation under different seasons and agroforestry systems are depicted in Fig.2 & 3.One of the most widely acclaimed advantages of agroforestry is its potential for conserving the soil and maintaining its fertility and productivity (Nair, 1993). In a similar study Sing et al.,

2003 reported that among four depths viz. 0-15, 15-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm, the maximum moisture content was observed in 0-15 cm deep soil layer during monsoon. Similarly, the higher moisture content in 0-15 cm depth under agroforestry systems in the present study was also attributed to the exposure of upper soil to the rain during monsoon season, while in summer season the impact of tree shade reduced the water loss from the soil surface (Kumar and Yadav, 2003; Singh et al 2003). In sole agriculture crop system the soil moisture % was slightly lower as compared to agroforestry systems, this may be due to the high rate of evaporation of water from the surface of open fields during summer season while reverse trend in the monsoon season was noticed due to prevalence of excessive moisture. The noticeable difference in the soil moisture content on different aspects (north and south) and seasons showed that the northern aspect always possessed higher moisture content due to lower insulation which in turn gives birth to rich vegetation. During May, insolation period also increased the atmospheric and soil temperatures, which influenced soil temperature adversely and equilibrium is attained only after the monsoon showers are received in the months of June to August. Donohue et al. (1987) observed that land with a slope at right angle to the sun would receive more heat and will warm faster than flat surface. The statistical analysis showed that there was significant difference in the soil moisture content on different aspects, seasons and soil depths.

Fig. 1: Meteorological details of the study sites (2004 to 2006)

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Fig. 2: Comparative soil moisture (%) in open and Agroforestry systems in winter seasons

Winter season

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Agroforestry systems

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Fig. 2: Comparative soil moisture (%) in open and Agroforestry systems in summer seasons

Summer season

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Fig. 2: Comparative soil moisture (%) in open and Agroforestry systems in winter, summer and monsoon seasons

Monsoon season

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AS AHS AH


Moi

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Tree crop system Sole cropping

Fig. 3: Seasonal soil moisture content (%) in different site (aspects) under existing Agroforestry systems

Winter season

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REFERENCES

Chaturvedi, A.N. 1981. Poplar for planting, Uttar Pradesh Department Bull. no-50 Lucknow, pp 27.

Dhadwal, K.S., Narain, P. and Dhruvanarayan, V.V. 1986. Roots effect of trees on field boundary can be estimated by training: Indian Farming, (April) pp 43.

Donohue, R.L., Miller, R.W. and Shickluna, J.C. 1987. Soil chemical and colloidal properties. Soil: An introduction to soil and plant growth Prentice Hall of India, Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. pp 107-108.

Kumar, S. and Yadav, M.P. 2003. Effect of different moisture conservation practices on soil profile recharging and water use efficiency in silvipastoral system. Indian J. of Agroforestry 5(172): 55-59.

Maikhuri, R.K., Semwal, R.L., Rao, K.S. and Saxena, K.G. 1997. Rehabilitation of degraded community lands for sustainable

development in Himalaya: a case study in Garhwal Himalaya. International J. of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 4: 192-203.

Nair, P.K.R. 1993. An introduction to agroforestry. Kluwer academic publication, London. In cooperation with ICRAF. pp 498.

Sanghal, P.M. 1983. Species compatibility consideration in agroforestry. The state of art in India. In: proc. National seminar on agroforestry. Karnal. pp 416-428.

Singh, A., Singh, R. and Pannu, R.K. 2003. Effect of Eucalyptus plantation on moisture extraction pattern, water use and yield of wheat. Indian J. of Agroforestry 5(1&2): 45-49.

Verinumbe, I. 1987. Crop production of soil under some forest plantations in the Sahel. Agroforestry System 5(20): 185-188.

7


Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and economics of Sweet corn (Zea mays L)

N M CHAUHANKrishi Vigyan Kendra, RRRS, NAU, Vyara, Tapi, Gujarat, India.


ABSTRACT

Field experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm B.A.College of Agriculture, Anand during Kharif season of the year 2004-05.The main objective of the study was to find out the effect of organic & inorganic fertilizer on seed yield of sweet corn (Zea mays L.). The experiment was studied with split plot design having two levels of Biofertilizer, FYM and phosphorus as main plot treatments along with five levels of nitrogen as sub plot treatment. Application of organic matter had significantly increased height and all crop growth parameters and 5.75 per cent more grain yield with application of FYM@10 ha-1. Seed inoculation with Pseudomonas gave significant increase in growth and yield parameters and grain yield increased to the tune of 8.24 percent. Application of phosphorus significantly increased plant height at all crop growth stages and higher grain yield recorded by 6.74 per cent than central. Seed yield of sweet corn as well as growth and yield attributes were significantly increased due to varying lends of nitrogen. The higher grain yield (1633 kg ha-1) and strawer yield (5783 kg ha-1) was recorded with 120 and 160 kg N ha-1 respectively. The net realization of Rs. 30525 and 29255 ha-1 was recorded with 10 Tn FYM ha-1. Seed inoculation gave 31485 Rs. ha-1 and application of P2O5 at 0 and 50 kg. P2O5 ha-1 gave 6.70 per cent and 4.43 per cent higher grain and straw yield, respectively. The significant higher strawer yield were recorded with varying levels of Nitrogen, but highest net return was obtained with 120 kg nitrogen per hectare, The strawer yield were increased significantly with increasing levels of nitrogen from 0 to 160 kg per hectare.

Key words: Maize, Nitrozen, Growth, Phosphorus, Potash

Maize (Zea mays L.) popularily known as corn is one of the most important cereal of the world, ranking third amongst the food crops, next to rice and wheat both in respect of area and production.India occupied and area of 10.58 lakh hectares with the production of 14.32 lakh tones during the year 1993 correspondingly the Gujarat state had an area of 3.68 lakh ha with the production of 5.29 lakh tones.In Gujarat Maize is one of the important traditionally grown crop of tribal areas. Comprising the districts of Panchmahals, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha and Part of Baroda & Kheda districts, now recently this crop may be introduce in South Gujarat districts like Surat, Tapi. Among these districts Panchmahals is a leading district which accounts for area of 2.62 lakh hectares and production of 2.15 lakh tones.

Among various types of maize, sweet corn is very popular for the use of its green cabs in the United States of America. It differs from the field corn due to its higher sweetness, as it has high amount of sugar & alcoholic material. Besides, its consumption as vegetable purpose, it is also utilized for extracting sucrose as an industrial purpose.The role of O.M. for increasing crop production has been universally established, as it plays significant role in improving physical and chemical properties of the soil application of 12-15 tonner of FYM helps in increasing the yield of maize crop to the tune of 1.5 to 5.6 a / ha. Sweet corn is one of the heavy consumers of plant nutrients. It remains about 72 kg N2, 25 kg P2O5 and 220 kg K2O / ha. Nitrogen is the key element in crop growth and is the most limiting nutrient in Indian soils. The importance of nitrogen for increasing the yield has been widely accepted.

Maize is one of the crop that responses well to phosphoric fertilizer in almost all the soil types. It plays vital role in plant nutrition. The deficiency of phosphorus is soil severely limits root and shoot growth and thereby affecting the yield. The availability of phosphorous are also low as compared to that of N & K. under such situation, the phosphate solubilizing micro organism plays significant role in making the phosphorous available to plants by secretion of organic acids and enzyme phosphatase which solubilizes the insoluble phosphate and thereby it helps in increasing the crop production.


The field experiment was conducted during the kharif season of years 2004-05 at agronomy farm of B.A.College of Agriculture, AAU, Anand. The experiment was laid out on sandy loam soil, locally known as Goradu soil with very deep, well drained & fairly moisture retentive but low as compared to black soil. The experiment was laid out in forty treatments comprising all possible combinations of two levels of O.M. (FYM), two levels of Pseudomonas, two levels of phosphoric along with five lends of nitrogen .The study was carried out with split plot design (SPD). Combination of FYM×inoculations x phosphorous were taken as main plot treatment while levels of nitrogen were taken as subplot treatments with three replication having 5.4 m x 3.6 m gross plot size, 60 cm x 20 cm spacing and dibbling method of sowing. Application of well decomposed FYM as basal at 10 + ha-1 as per treatment 20 a. of total nitrogen of respective

8


levels of N compiled with full dose of phosphorous in form of SSP in a previously open furrow at the depth of 8-10 cm. Remaining 80% of nitrogen was applied in two installments UBC 50% of the total quantity at knew height stage and remaining 30 N of total amount at milking stage, The observations were recorded from five randomly selected plants from net plot (Pl. height, no.of barren plants) on growth & yield attributing character and also economics of (length of cob, number of cobs per plant, kernels row per cob, no. of kernels per cob, grain & stover yield) of sweet corn.


Growth and YieldWith a view to study the effects of organic matter,

inoculation of phosphate solubilizing microorganism along with levels of phosphorous and nitrogen on the growth and grain yield of sweet corn (Zea mays L.).The findings on the yields of growth and yield attributed characters and economics as influenced by different treatments are showed in table-1 and 2. Effect of seed inoculation with pseudomonas was found significant in respect to plant height at all growth stages. Seed treated with pseudomonas gave significant taller plants as compared to un inoculated seed .measured at21 days interval, i.e 21,42.63 and 84 DAS at all growth (16.44, 46.72, 137.33, 143.09) and grain (1340 kg ha-1) stages this might be due to the ability of phosphobacteria to bring soluble / insoluble inorganic and organic phosphates into soluble forms by secretion of organic acids. Similar results were also noted by Kataraki et al. (2004). Application of FYM on sweet corn found non

significant effect of FYM on plant height measured periodically at 21, 63 & 84 DAS. However, the application of FYM gave numerically higher values of plant height at each period of crop growth stage and higher grain yield 1325 kg ha-1,

Table-1: Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management of growth of sweet corn as influenced by levels of inoculation, FYM, phosphorus & Nitrogen.

Treatment Plant height (cm)21

DAS42

DAS63 DAS 84 DAS

InoculationC0 uninoculated 15.36 40.88 129.35 142.13C1 Inoculated 16.44 46.72 137.33 143.63CD (P= 0.05) 0.21 0.80 1.02 1.24FYM t ha-1

F0 0 15.81 42.57 133.18 142.45F1 10 15.99 45.03 133.50 143.32CD (P= 0.05) NS 0.80 NS NSPhosphorus kg ha-1

P0 0 15.55 43.02 131.00 141.02P1 50 16.25 44.58 135.68 144.75CD (P= 0.05) 0.21 0.80 1.02 1.29

C.V. % 3.38 4.63 1.95 2.22Nitrogen kg ha-1

N0 0 14.89 37.88 122.75 135.92N1 40 15.30 40.04 129.96 139.17N2 80 16.12 44.50 135.63 142.80N3 120 16.24 47.00 188.33 146.63N4 160 16.93 49.58 140.04 149.92CD (P= 0.05) 0.28 1.36 1.84 1.51

but Straw yield had non significant effect.This could be attributed to the lower mineralization of organic nitrogen. Such observation was also made by Sahoo and Mahapatra (2004).

Table-2: Grain, Strover yield & economics of Sweet corn as influenced by inoculation, FYM, phosphorus and nitrogen levels.

Treatment Grain yield (kg ha-1)

Strover yield (kg ha-1)

Gross realization (Rs./ha)

Total cost of cultivation (Rs./ha)

Net Realization (Rs./ha) BCR

InoculationC0 1238 4481 32745 3900 28845 7.39C1 1340 4838 35435 3950 31485 7.97CD (P= 0.05) 61.08 189.61FYM (t ha-1)F0 1253 4575 33155 3900 29255 7.50F1 1325 4752 35025 4500 30525 6.78CD (P= 0.05) 61.08 NSPhosphorusP0 1247 4550 32995 3900 29095 7.46P1 1331 4777 35185 4540 30645 6.75CD (P= 0.05) 61.08 189.61C.V. % 12.10 10.38NitrogenN0 1013 3447 26703 3900 22803 5.84N1 1128 3935 29774 4272 25502 5.96N2 1341 4671 35371 4543 30828 6.78N3 1633 5481 43017 4815 38202 7.93N4 1331 5783 35588 5087 30501 5.99CD (P= 0.05) 67.38 222.25InteractionCXP

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C.V.% 9.05 8.27

Application of phosphorus @ 50 kg P2O5 ha-1 was found significant on the plant height measured at all growth stages, grain yield (1331), strawer yield 4777 kg ha-1 (i.e. 21,42.03, 63 and 84 DAS) significant increase pl. height (16.25,44.58,135.68,144.75) due to the phosphorus as a key element influences different physiological process such as cell division & elongation , Pandey et al. (2000)

Significant linear increase in plant height, grown & strover yield was observed with each successive increase in nitrozen levels from 0 to 160 Kg .ha-1. Significantly increased the grain yield (1331 kg ha-1) & strover yield (5783 kg ha-1) with 160 kg ha-1 and also showed the maximum plant height (16.93, 49.58, 140.04, and 149.92) at all the crop growth stages. The higher availability of nitrogen might have increased its uptake as a results of which increased cell size and enhanced cell division, seems to have played an important role in increasing the plant height and yield, this findings Confirms to those reported by Sharma and Gupta (1998). Interaction effect between inoculation and phosphorus, FYM with phosphorus and nitrogen levels all

the interaction effect were significantly gave higher growth of and grain & strover yield of sweet corn.

The data on gross and net realization for different treatments of FYM, inoculation, Phosphorus and nitrogen presented in table-2 revealed that the higher net returns of Rs. 30525 / ha were received with treatment F1 (FYM 50kg/ha) of the seed treatment with Pseudomonas sp. gave a higher net returns & Rs. 31485 / ha as compared to uninoculated control. Application as 50 kg P2O5 / ha gave a higher net return of Rs. 30645 / ha as compare with no application of phosphorus.

Among the nitrogen levels, the maximum net returns of Rs. 38202/ha were realized with the application of 120 kg ha-1. The results confirm the findings of Adhikari et al.(2005). On the basis of study the results obtained from the investigation the conclusion can be draw for getting maximum seed and thereby net monetary realization the sweet corn should be fertilized with 10 t FYM + 120 kg N ha-1 + 50 kg P2O5 besides, seed inoculation with pseudomonas sp. raised on sandy seats of middle Gujarat.

REFERENCES

Adhikari, S., Chakraborty, T. Bagchi, D.K. 2005. Bio-economic evaluation of maize (Zea mays L.) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) itercropping in drought prone areas of chotonagpur pleateau region of Jharkhand. Indian J. of Agronomy 50(2):113-115.

Kataraki, N.G., Desai,B.K., and Pujari, B.T. 2004. Integrated nutrient management in irrigated maize. Karnataka J. of Agricultural Science 17(1):1-4.

Pandey, A.K., Ved, Prakash, Mani, V.P. and Singh, V.P., 2000. Effect of rate of nitrogen and time of application on yield and economics of baby corn (Zea mays L) Indian J. of Agronomy 45(2): 338-343.

Sahoo, S.C. and Mahapatra, P.K. 2004. Response of sweet corn (Zea mays L.) to nitrogen levels and plant population. Indian J. of Agricultural Sciences 74(6):337-338.

Sharma,M.P. and Gupta, G.P.1998. Effect of organic materials on grain yield and soil properties in maize – wheat cropping system. Indian J. of Agricultural Sciences 68(11):715-717

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Study the gender involvement of buffalo husbandry and their perception in tribal belt of Rajasthan

C M Yadav, B S Bhimawat and P M KhanKVK, Bhilwar, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology,Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.


ABSTRACT

A sponsored training program conducted on improved buffalo husbandry practices at KVK Dungarpur. In this training program 50 tribal women participated. All the desired information colleted from tribal women through personal interview. All the respondents were categories on the basis of age, land size, herd size and milk produced for sale, respectively most of the respondents time spent about 28 per cent in cleaning of animal sheds and dung disposal , same time spent in fodder harvesting , 26 per cent milking 10 per cent calf rearing and 8 per cent health management. Majoring of females performed operation like, milking, bathing, watering, feeding and health care, respectively. However, 100 percent female involvement like Dung disposed and cleaning sheds. Mostly 64 per cent respondent problem like anoestrus, 32 per cent repeat breeding 20 per cent prolapse, 10 per cent mastitis, 8 per cent calf mortality and 4 per cent bloat, respectively. These finding are that operations such as cleaning of sheds, collection dung; in which women are actively involved need to become skill oriented. Further more the animal scientists are required to develop modern and cost effective technologies to be disseminated to the end users through extension agents.

Key words: Gender, Involvement, Buffalo, Tribal, Rajasthan, perception

Livestock being an integral part of agriculture in India are instruments of future growth and development of the agriculture sector. Rural women play a very important role in animal production and participate actively in areas like animal feeding, milking, breeding cleaning and providing health care to the animals. As an adjunct to agriculture, livestock production contributes substantially to poverty alleviation and created employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. India is endowed with most fabulous livestock wealth in the world with 16.49 percent cattle population and 56.77 percent buffalo population with both the species, but together countries to 28 percent of world's large ruminant population. The size land holding had highly significantly correlation with feeding practices. The quality and quantity of ration was directly related to the economic status of the farmers ( Yadav and Bhimawat 2007). Nearly one-third of the households in the state maintained buffalo alone, cattle along and both (cattle and buffalo ) production systems ( Gupta et al. 2007) .

Buffalo production is instrumental in improving the nutrition security because of the fact that most of the milk and meat in the country is produced by the buffaloes. It is on important source of manure, domestic fuel and draught power in rural areas. Buffalos are backbone of commercial dairying due to their fat rich production potential. Livestock sector is an important source of livelihood in Rajasthan for rural farmers. Bovine farming is a process to convert

available feed and fodder material ( input) into milk and other by product (output) reported by Gupta et al (2008). Women constitute about half of the world's population, account for 60 percent of working hours and contributing up to 30 percent of the official labour force. Sangwan et al (1990) reported that the Male and female in farm and diary sectors in which men are involved in planning and women in implantation of the activity. Thus, present study was conducted to study the gender involvement of buffalo husbandry and their perception about different problems associated with buffalo rearing.


Under the tribal womens training program on improved buffalo husbandry practices, a program was conducted for women in village Faloz, district Dungarpur of Rajasthan by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dungarpur in Collaboration with Livestock Development Board, Jaipur for three day. Fifty women participated in this training program. The response was elicited with a well structured questionnaire on different issues pertaining to gender involved and perception their various problems of buffalo rearing. The data was first tabulated and appropriately analyzed to draw meaning inference. The data was analyzed in the form of frequency percentage and as per method of Snedecor and Cochran (1980).

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Profile of respondents in villages background features were collected (Table 1). The structure of responding sub population of the village involved 45.7 percent respondents from young age groups while 34 percent were of middle age group. The rest of the 20.3 percent were old. It show that most of them were young and in productive age group. As far as their land holdings size is concerned, Majority of them 65 percent were either landless or having land holding up to < 2.5 acres. 25.3 percent of the respondents possessed land size between 2.5 to 5 acres and about 9.7 percent respondents were having more than 5 acres, which is in close agreement with the finding of Bhagat et al. (2008).

Regarding the herd size, study revealed that 54 percent of the respondents owed 3 to 5 buffalo and 10.2 percent respondents possessed more than 5 buffalo of animal strength . 35.8 percent of the respondents were having less than 2 or 2 buffalos per family in the village. Information was also elicited with respect to the amount of milk produced for household. It is obvious from the Table 1 that the 86 percent respondents produced up to 10 Kg milk for sale while only 14 percent produced more than 10 Kg. for disposed.

Time spent in buffalo husbandry practices by women:

Women have big contribution in buffalo husbandly practices. Table 2 shows that 28% time spent in cleaning of animal sheds and fodder harvesting, 26% time spent in milking, 10% calf rearing and 8% health management, respectively. There is need to take due cognizance of

women's knowledge and experience while planning the research and livestock development programmers suitable to women. Gender involvement in buffalo husbandry practices are presented in Table 3. It is Evident from the table that the majority of the females i.e. about 80 percent of them performed operations like feeding, 92 percent watering, 96 percent bathing, and milking, 80 percent fodder harvesting, 60 percent heat detection, 80 percent animals care and calving and 40 percent health management and artificial insemination. However, operations like cleaning of sheds and dung disposal were solely performed by the women.

Identification of buffalo problem as perceived by women farmers are given in Table 4. The women respondents were well apprised with the physiological problems of buffaloes. Anoestrus condition in buffaloes was emerged as a serious problem in buffaloes as affirmed by 64 percent respondent. 32 percent repeat breeding, 20 percent prolapse, 10 percent, mastitic 8 percent calf mortify and retained placenta and 4 percent bloat, respondents respectively (Table 4).

It could be concluded in this study that respondents of tribal district of Rajasthan were following a good number of buffalo husbandry practices. It was encouraging to find that majority of these practices were rated as rational and useful by the scientist. Tribal women were highly involvement in buffalo husbandry practices. So it is need to develop suitable strategy and arranging adequate and timely training to women about modern technologies to make them more skilled care-takers of buffalo husbandry. It is imperative and urgent to reorient and modify the traditional practices. So that the scientifically proven practices are easily be diffused and adopted by buffalo owners.

Table 1 : Profile of respondents in village :

Age Profile Land Size Herd Size Milk produced

Category (Years) Percent respondents Acres Percent

respondingHerd size

(respondents)Percent

respondingMilk

produced ( Kg.)Percent

responding

< 10 to 30 (Young ) 45.7 Land less to < 2.5 65 <2 to 2 35.8 1 to 5 40

30 -50 ( Middle) 34.0 2.5 to 5.0 25.3 3 to 5 54.0 6 to 10 46

750 (Old) 20.3 > 5.0 9.7 > 5 10.2 >10 14

Table 2 : Time occupation as per various activities :

Activities Percent time spentCleaning of animal sheds and dung disposal 28Milking & Preparation of milk products 26Fodder harvesting and procurement 28Calf rearing 10 Buffalo health management 8

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Table 3 : Gender Involvement in buffalo husbandry practices

Activities Male (n)( Frequency percent)

Female (n)( Frequency percent)

Both genders(n) (Frequency percent)

Feeding 5 (10) 40 (80) 5 (10)

Watering 2 (4) 46 (92) 2 (4)

Bathing NIL 48 (96) 2 (4)

Milking 2 (4) 48 (96) NIL

Fodder harvesting 4 (8) 40 (80) 6 (12)

Heat detection 10 (20) 30 (60) 10 (20)

Health Management and AI 20 (40) 20 (40) 10 (20)

Dung disposal NIL 50 (100) NIL

Cleaning fodder NIL 50 (100) NIL

Chaffing fodder NIL NIL NIL

Animal care at Calving 4 ( 8) 40 (80) 6 (12)

Table 4 : Identification of buffalo problem as perceived by women farmers.

Problems expressed by respondents Respondents Percent

Anoestrus 32 64

Repeat Breeding 16 32

Mastitis 5 10

Prolapse 10 20

Calf mortality 4 4

Bloat 2 4

Retained Placenta 4 8

REFERENCES

Bhagat, R. L., Gokhale, S.B., Pande, A.B. and Phadka, N.L. 2008. Socio, eonomic factors influence conception rat in cattle under field conditions.

Gupta, D.C., Suresh, A and Singh, V.K. 2007. Livestock growth and major production systems in different agro- climatic zones of Rajasthan. Indian J.of Animal science 77: 494-99.

Gupta, D.C., Suresh. A. and Mann, J.S. 2008. Management practices and productivity status of cattle and buffalo in Rajasthan. Indian J. of Animal Science 78(7) : 769-774

Sangwan, V. Munjal, S. and Punia, R.K. 1990. Participation of women in form activities. Indian J. of Extension Education 26:112.

Snedecore, G. W. and Cochran W.G. 1980. Statistical methods, 8th end. Iowa state university press, Ames Iowa.

Yadav , C.M. and Bhimawat, B.S. 2007. Adoption of buffalo feeding practices In the tribal of Dungarpur district of Rajasthan Nutrition Conference, Oct. 4-7 at NDRI, Karnal, P.P. 70

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Impact of front line demonstration on adoption of improved castor production technology

S R KUMAWAT*, M L REGAR* AND D S BHATI***Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jalore and **KVK, Sriganganagar (SKRAU), Rajasthan, India.


ABSTRACT

The present study have undertaken in four adopted villages of Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Jalore district of Rajasthan. A sample of 180 farmers was taken by proportionate random sampling techniques comprising 90 farmers of demonstration and 90 farmers as non-demonstration. The result of the study found that maximum numbers of respondents were having medium level of knowledge in both categories while there was a significant difference was noticed in high level and low level of knowledge about castor production technologies of demonstrated and non-demonstratee farmers. Selected respondents of under the study were having sufficient adoption level in castor production technology while low level of adoption were recorded in crop techniques viz: Plant Protection, Seed Treatment, Balance use of manure and fertilizers and Irrigation management. The study identified constraints faced by castor farmers which induces more number of male farmers, long duration and non-availability of root-rot tolerant varieties. The study suggest for conducting intensive trainings on plant protection measures, seed treatment, irrigation management and balance fertilization for castor farmers to enhance the castor productivity in the area.

The ICAR introduced the concept of “first Line demonstration” under the ‘ Oil seed Technology Mission” during 1990-91. Later on these demonstrations were termed as “ Front Line Demonstrations” Front Line Demonstrations are the field demonstrations conducted under the close supervision of National agricultural Research System comprising of ICASR institutions, National research Centers, Project Directorate , Krishi Vigyan Kendras and state Agricultural Universities and their Regional Research Stations. Along with transfer of technology, the basic purpose of these demonstrations is to test research findings on farmers field and to get direct feed back from the farmers so that the scientists can reorient their research and training programmes. These demonstrations are conducted mainly on various oil seed and pulses crops to boost their production and productivity by using latest technologies.

Castor is an important oilseed cash crop. It may be grown in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate climate. India, with 1076.7 thousand hectares is the largest castor growing country in the world with 866.6 thousand tones of production, the highest in the world. The average yield of castor in India is only 805 kg/ha. as against the world average of 1056 kg/ha. India accounts for 35 percent and 37 percent of global area and production, respectively. Castor oil obtained from castor seed is non-edible, but it is used as raw material in manufacture of a number of specially soaps, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, perfumes, paints and lubricants etc. The total castor production in Rajasthan state is 46000 tones. The state is third highest in India after Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The total area and average yield is estimated to be 121200 hectare and 380 kg/ha. Respectively. In Rajasthan, the major castor producing district are Jalore, Sirohi, Barmer, Pali and Jodhpur. So far very few efforts have been made by the behavioral scientists

to study the responses of farmers towards the use of improved practices of castor for its sustainability and enhancement in its production and productivity. Realizing the importance of Front Line Demonstrations in transfer of technology, it was thought appropriate to study the effect of these demonstrations with following objectives :-

To find out the extent of knowledge of demonstrator and non-demonstrator farmers about castor production technology.

To measure the extent of adoption of improved castor production technology by the demonstrator and non-demonstrator farmers.

To identify the constraints being perceived by the farmers in castor production technology.


The present study was conducted in purposely-selected FLD villages of KVK Keshwana Jalore i.e. Harmu ,Bedana, Methari and Badanwari under three Panchyat Samiti namely Sayla, Ahore and Jalore of Jalore district of Rajasthan in the year 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively. For this study 90 demonstrator farmers and 90 non-demonstrator farmers were selected. The data were collected through personal interview with the help of pre-tested schedule. The responses of demonstrator and non-demonstrator farmers (90+90) were recorded in two-point continuum (known / unknown) in case of knowledge measurement and (yes/no) in case of constraints in castor production. In case of measurement of adoption of castor production technology responses of farmers were recorder according the weights was given by Agronomist

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Distribution of respondents according to their level of knowledge about CPT-

The knowledge of respondents about castor production technology (CPT) was measured. Respondents were divided in to three knowledge groups based on knowledge score obtained by them. The data related to knowledge of two categories of respondents (Demonstrator and Non-demonstrator farmers of FLD) indicate that the farmers knowledge of CPT has wide gap. In order to place the respondents into appropriate categories knowledge scores were distributed as reported in table-1.

The frequency as well as percentage of the respondents falling in each category was workout. The critical evaluation of table-1 clearly shows that majority of castor grower 132 (73.33 percent) had medium level of knowledge regarding CPT. Where as 35 respondents (19.44 percent)have high level of knowledge but only 7.23 percent respondents have low level of knowledge regarding CPT. In case of demonstrator farmers 63respondents (70.00 per cent) possessed medium level of knowledge about CPT. This is interesting to note that none of the respondents in the sample was reported to be with low level of knowledge and only 27 respondents(30.00 percent) had high level of knowledge about CPT. Among the Non-demonstrator farmers 69 respondents (76.67 percent) respondents had medium level of knowledge about CPT. This was followed by 13

respondents (14.44 percent) who possessed low level of knowledge . It was interesting to note that few farmers 8 (8.89 percent) was reported with high level of knowledge about CPT.

Benefited farmers have more knowledge about all the production technology than the no-benefited farmers. Among no-benefited farmers about 20 to 40 % have least knowledge about seed treatment, spacing, manure and fertilizer management and plant protection measures.

Table-1. Distribution of respondents according to their level of knowledge about CPT

Knowledge categoriesDemonstrator (N-90) Non-demonstrator (N-90) Total (N-180)

Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent

Low (Up to 18 score) 00 00.00 13 14.44 13 7.23

Medium (19-36 score) 63 70.00 69 76.67 132 73.33

High (Above 36 score)27 30.0 8 8.89 35 19.44

Table-2. Extent of knowledge of farmers about castor production technology

Practices Demonstrator (N=90) Non-Demonstrator (N=90)Number Per cent Rank Number Per cent Rank

High yielding verities 73 81 V 51 56 IVSoil and field preparation 65 72 IX 43 48 VISowing time 85 94 II 69 76 ISeed rate 87 96 I 61 67 IISeed treatment 68 75 VII 28 31 VIIISpacing and sowing depth 71 79 VI 35 39 VIIManure and fertilizer management 58 64 X 25 27 IXIrrigation management 74 82 IV 46 51 V

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Weed management 87 96 I 53 59 IIIPlant protection measure 66 73 VIII 20 22 XHarvesting of castor 78 86 III 35 39 VII

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Table-3. Adoption of farmers about Castor production technology

Practice Demonstrator (n-90) Non-Demonstrator(n_90)MPS Rank MPS Rank

Use of Hybrid seeds 78.88 I 31.11 VIField preparation 68.88 V 45.55 IVSowing time 62.22 VI 40.00 VSeed treatment 46.66 VIII 24.44 VIIISeed rate and spacing and Sowing depth 76.66 II 61.11 IUse of balance manure and fertilizer 45.44 IX 24.44 VIII Irrigation management 57.77 VII 35.55 VIWeed management 72.22 III 52.22 IIIPlant protection management 38.88 X 20.00 IXHarvesting and storage 71.11 IV 57.77 II

The responses of the farmers were recorded and score was given to each farmer for each practices. Percent adoption was measured with obtained score is divided by total score of each practices and multiplied by 100.

The over all ranking of Demonstrator farmers regarding their adoption about CPT shows that they possessed highest adoption about “Use of hybrid seeds” ranked as first with MPS 78.88 followed by seed rate and spacing and sowing depth which was ranked at second place with MPS 76.66 and weed management which had been ranked third with MPS 62.50. Based on table 3, it can be highlighted that out of the total ten aspects of CPT, three important practices in ascending order of importance were not followed by farmers satisfactorily which are ranked X, IX, VIII with their 38.88, 45.44 and 46.66, respectively. The practices were Plant Protection Management, Use of balance fertilizer and manure and Seed treatment. The highest adoption might have been appeared regarding use of hybrid seeds because half production of a crop is depend upon the quality of seed and in case of second highest adoption of seed rate and spacing because of the reason that the practices are not much complicated. Least adoption was reported in plant protection management, Use of balance fertilizer and manure and Seed treatment due to least knowledge about these practices. The findings are in line of Kumar, Dileep and Dangi, K.L.(2003).

Where as in case of non-demonstrator farmers the highest adoption was reported in seed rate and spacing and sowing depth with MPS 61.11 and ranked first. The second highest adoption was expressed by non-demonstrator farmers on harvesting and storage with MPS 57.77 because non-demonstrator farmers have average knowledge about this practices. The third rank of adoption by the farmers was weed management (MPS 52.22). The practices were Plant Protection Management, Use of balance fertilizer and manure and Seed treatment as least adoption and ranked IX and VIII, respectively.

An attempted has been made to identify the constraints related to castor production. The constraints with their degree of effect have been presented here under. Data in table 4 indicate that majority of the respondents were confronted with in-fluorescence of male flower with MPS 94 and assigned first ranks in problem hierarchy by them.

Further long duration crop was a serious constraints hindering farmers to an extent of 93 Percent and was placed at second position in the rank hierarchy. This was followed by non availability of wilt resistance variety of castor with MPS 79 Percent and was assigned third rank by respondents, respectively. Non- availability chemicals at local markets (MPS 30) was expressed at least severe barrier in the constraints in castor production and awarded last (Ninth) rank.

A critical analysis of the data presented in table-4 indicate that the demonstrator farmers expressed that in-florescence of male flower (MPS 100) , long duration of crop(MPS 96) and non availability of wilt resistance variety( MPS 73), constraints as first three important constraints, because maleness in castor is a serious problem, it reduce production directly, this problem mainly due to four reasons that is firstly by low quality seed, secondly by suddenly change in temperature, thirdly by long dry spell to the crop and fourthly by imbalance fertilization. Hence knowledge of farmers should be increased and proper solution should be communicated to farmers. Second important constraints was long duration of crops, it takes both Kharif and Rabi season, hence only one crop is take in year.

Where as in case of Non-demonstrator farmers long duration of crop (MPS 90) in-florescence of male flower (MPS 88) and non availability of wilt resistant variety (MPS 85) are major three constraints in CPT. In case of least constraints were market price is very low, Non- availability chemicals at local markets and non availability of hybrid seeds and ranked IX, VIII, and VII respectively.

Based on the study it could be concluded that clear-cut difference was reported in case of low level of knowledge i.e. non of demonstrator farmers were under this category where as 14.44 percent non-demonstrator fall under this category. Where as in case of high level of knowledge about CPT was clearly shows that 30 percent demonstrator farmers were fall under this category where as only 8.89 percent non-demonstrator farmers have a high level of knowledge about CPT.

Out of the total ten major aspects of caster production technology selected for assessing extent of

17


adoption, maximum adoption was reported in Use of hybrid seed (78.88 percent) in case of demonstrator farmers and in case of non-demonstrator farmers seed rate and spacing (61.11percent)was major adoption aspects of CPT.

Inflorescence of male flower was major problem in caster production where as non-availability of chemicals at

local markets was least problem in CPT. It can be conclude that extent of knowledge and adoption of CPT was higher among demonstrator farmers than the non-demonstrator farmers. The finding of this study clearly shows that FLD programme played an important role in increasing the farmers for adopting innovations and increasing their yied and profits.

Table-4. Constraints in Castor production

Constraints Demonstrator (N=90) Non-Demonstrator (N=90) TotalMPS Rank MPS Rank MPS Rank

Non availability of Hybrid Seed 24 VIII 42 VII 33 VIINon availability of Wilt resistance variety 73 III 85 III 79 IIIIn florescence of male flower 100 I 88 II 94 IMarket price is very low 28 VII 36 IX 32 VIIILong duration crop 96 II 90 I 93 IILack of knowledge about incidence of diseases and pest 34 VI 76 IV 55 IVNon availability of chemical at local market. 21 IX 39 VIII 30 IXLack of financial facility 39 V 50 VI 44.5 VIAny other- electricity for irrigation 53 IV 52 V 52.5 V

REFERENCES

Desai, C.P., Pandey, D. N, Patel, M.R. and Patel AA 1996. Farmer’s satisfaction with adoption of cumin cultivation, Gujarat Agriculture University Research J., 21(2), 72-75.

Lakhera J.P. and Sharma B M 2002. Impact of front line demonstration an adoption of improved mustard production technology. Raj. J. Extn. Edu. Vol. X, 43-47.

Kumar, Dileep and Dangi KL 2003. Adoption of improved castor production technology among tribal and non tribal farmers. Raj. J. Extn, Edu Vol. XI, 36-40

18


Attitude of women SHG members towards SHPIs and problems faced by them in running the SHGs

VEENITA KUMARIDepartment of Extension Education,& Communicatio Management, College of Home Science, CAU, Tura, Meghalaya, India.


ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya under ‘Intra Mural Research Project’ funded by Central Agricultural University. One of the objectives of the study was to assess the attitude of women entrepreneurs towards Self Help Promoting Institutions and also to find out the problems faced by them in running the Self Help Group. The result has revealed that most of the respondents (80.67 per cent) had favourable attitude towards the SHPIs while 12.66 per cent of them had most favourable attitude followed by 6.67 per cent of respondents with least favourable attitude towards them. The study found that major problems faced by them were group conflict, lack of motivation of members of the group, members are less hardworking and does not owe due responsibility of their duties, infighting among group members, competition with other Self Help Groups, etc. The result also showed that the respondents didn’t have any problem or resistance from parents, in-laws or husband/spouse.

Keywords: Attitude, Women Entrepreneurs, Problems, SHPIs, SHGs

Women entrepreneurs have been making significant impact in all segments of the economy. The emerging changes in the values and attitudes of the members of the SHGs are a clear manifestation of socio- economic empowerment interventions yielding relatively quicker results. A true entrepreneurial attitude requires refusing to quit when things get tough. According to Secord and Backman 5 (1964) the term attitude refers to certain regularities of an individual’s feelings, thoughts and predispositions to act towards some aspects of his environment. Attitude as been defined “as the degree of positive and negative effect associated with some psychological objects” (Edwards19691). The complexity of the problem of women empowerment process itself requires both macro and micro considerations, and it is difficult to pass a judgment on its success by using a single or just a few selected criteria. Life for a women entrepreneur having a small scale industry is not a bed of roses. The individual women entrepreneur single handedly faces a plethora of seemingly endless problems. But despite these numerous barriers and tangible obstacles women are, today, entering the field of business in increasing numbers. SHGs have the power to create a socio- economic revolution in the rural areas of our country. SHGs have not only produced tangible assets and improved living conditions of the members but also helped in changing much of their social outlook and attitudes. The nature of attitude held by women entrepreneurs towards their support agencies reflects the degree of credibility in their support agencies. In the running of SHGs, its members are surrounded by a wide variety of problems which affects their performance. Therefore, it is necessary to implore these problems. Hence the study was carried out with the following objectives

To assess attitude of women entrepreneurs towards SHPIs.

Ascertain problems faced by them in availing benefits provided by the SHPIs.


The study was conducted in 29 villages and one urban area of West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. Five SHPIs – District Rural Development Agency, International Fund for Agricultural Development, District Sericulture Department, BAKDIL (NGO) and Bethany Society (NGO) were randomly selected as SHPIs. 30 respondents from six villages supported by these SHPIs were randomly selected keeping into consideration that they were active SHG members.

To assess attitude of women entrepreneurs towards SHPIs, 19 statements were framed. These statements were marked on a five point continuum scale as ‘Strongly agree’ (5), ‘Agree’ (4), ‘Undecided’ (3), ‘Disagree’ (2) and ‘Strongly Disagree’ (1). Based on the total score obtained by the respondents they were categorized into three categories of low, medium and high. To find out the problems faced by them, respondents were asked questions related to the problems faced by them within the family, with members of SHG or with other people outside the SHG. The response given by the respondents were scored and then suitably categorized as low, medium and high.


Attitude of respondents towards SHPIs

Respondents were asked to indicate their opinion on a five point continuum scale, the attitude they had about the selected SHPIs. The statements were related to behavior, financial support, gender biasness, efficiency in discharging different roles by SHPIs etc.

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Table- 1: Attitude of women entrepreneurs towards SHPIs.

N = 150Category Frequency Percentage

Low (<26) 10 6.67

Medium (26 – 29) 121 80.67

High (>29) 19 12.66

Total: 150 100.0

From the result of table- 1 it is observed that most of the respondents (80.67 percent) had medium level of attitude towards SHPIs. A small percentage (12.66 percent) had high level of attitude towards them.

The nature of result depicts that women entrepreneurs had favourable attitude towards them. This attitude is because the SHPIs play significant role in uplifting the status of women entrepreneurs and thus making them empowered economically, socially and politically. Because the women entrepreneurs notice significant change in their life after becoming member of SHG, they had favourable attitude towards SHPIs because they owe some credit to them.

Problems faced by women entrepreneurs in availing benefits provided by the SHPIs

Family and SHG Problems:

The problems faced by women entrepreneurs have been presented in table - 2.

Table 2: Problems faced by women entrepreneurs. N = 150

Items Response

Frequency

Percentage

Problems/resistance from husband. No 150 100Problems/resistance from parents/parents-in-law. No 150 100

Attitudinal change in husband. YesNo

1491

99.330.67

Attitudinal change in parents/parents-in-law.

YesNo

1491

99.330.67

Stress felt in discharging dual duties.

YesNo

13137

8.6791.33

From the above result, it is found that cent percent respondents did not face any problem or resistance either from their husbands or parents-in-law. Infact, there was significant positive attitudinal change in husband/parents/in-laws after becoming SHG member. It is also found that the respondents did not feel stressed in discharging dual duties of home maker and earning member. These findings suggest that the husband/parents/in-laws were cooperative and encouraged them in every endeavour.

However, they faced problems with the members of the SHG, marketing of goods etc. The major problems stated in general by most of the respondents are listed below –

Group Conflict.Lack of motivation of member of the group.

Members are less hard working and does not owe due responsibility of their duties.

Infighting with group members.

Competitiveness with other Self Help Groups.

Entrepreneurial capabilities of the respondents:

Respondents were asked to indicate entrepreneurial capabilities in management of finance, labour, staff, procuring raw materials, marketing, loans, marketing of products etc. to ascertain the degree and nature of problem in entrepreneurial capabilities. They, were asked to answer on five point continuum of ‘Excellent’, ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’, ‘Reasonably OK’ and ‘Poor’ with scores of 5,4,3,2 and 1 respectively. Based on the total scores they were categorized as low, medium and high as presented in table No. 3

The findings of the table shows that majority of the respondents (92.67 percent) had medium level of entrepreneurial capabilities followed by 39 percent of them with high level and 27.33 percent with low level entrepreneurial capabilities. The data reflects that women possessed some degree of entrepreneurial capabilities by virtue of which they are running the SHG efficiently. One remarkable feature is that one-fourth of the respondents had low entrepreneurial capabilities. This may be due to low level of education.

Table 3: Entrepreneurial capabilities of the respondents.N = 150

Category Frequency Percentage

Low (<22) 41 27.33

Medium (22 – 30) 64 42.67

High (>30) 45 30.0

Total: 150 100.0

O Overall score of respondents on the problems faced by women entrepreneurs:

The result of table- 4 showed that majority of the respondents (70.67 percent) had medium level of problems followed by 26 percent of the respondents with high level of problems. Only 3.33 percent of them had low level of problems.

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Table 4: Level of problems faced by women entrepreneurs.

Category Frequency PercentageLow (<32) 05 3.33Medium (32 – 42) 106 70.67High (>42) 39 26.0Total: 150 100.0

The result suggests that majority of the respondents were facing medium level of problems in running of the SHG. Most of the problems are internal in nature. So, if the group members work as a team, with a sense of belongingness and cooperation, the performance and efficiency of the SHG could be improved.

It is concluded that majority of the respondents had favourable attitude towards SHPIs. It suggests that they have

positive attitude towards these SHPIs and since the SHPIs have a dynamic role to play in shaping the functioning of SHGs and thereby experiencing them in all spheres, therefore the SHPIs should strive to put more efforts so that the attitude level of respondents shift from favourable to most favourable. It is also concluded that the problems faced by the respondents chiefly centered on within the Self Help Groups and with members of other SHGs. Therefore, they should be given training by the SHPIs on Group dynamics, Leadership, cooperation, competition, etc. so that they will understand the importance of these dimensions and which will enable them to sort out their problems and help in better and smooth functioning of the SHGs.

REFERENCES

Edwards A L 1969. Techniques of attitude scale construction. Vikas and Simon Pvt. Ltd., Bombay: 26-28.

Hersey P and Blanchard K H 1995. Management of Organizational Behavior (6thEdn.). Prentice Hall, New Delhi: 345-362 .

KHDP1997. Fourth Year’s Work Plan of Kerala Horticulture Development Programme.

Pathak P A1992. Self Help Group ad Their Linkages with Banks, National Bank News Review: 9-10.

Secord R F and Backman C W 1964. Social Psychology- attitudes of educated women towards social issues, National Publishing House, New Delhi: 5-12.

22


Productive performance of Sirohi goat under field condition in Southern Rajasthan

O P PATHODIYA*, B S KHADDA**, PANKAJ LAVANIA*** AND S K SHARMA*****Department of Animal Production, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUA&T, Udaipur, Rajasthan, **KVK, Panchmahals,

Gujarat, ***KVK, Badmer, Rajasthan, ****LRS,Vallabhnagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

In the present study, data on milk production in part lactation of 140 days Milk Yield (MY 140 D), Total Lactation Milk Yield (TLMY), Total Lactation Length (TLL), Peak Milk Yield (PMY) and Average Daily Milk Yield (ADMY) of 304 sirohi goats maintained at AICRP on sirohi field unit at Livestock Research Station, Vallbhnagar, Udiapur (Raj.) were use for the study. The least square means of milk yield at 140 days, total lactation milk yield, total lactation length, peak milk yield and average daily milk yield were 56.34 ± 2.93 lit., 59.42 ± 2.18 lit., 163.28 ± 3.53 days, 562 ± 0.28 ml and 362.40 ± 15.91 ml, respectively . The effects due to year of kidding were found to be significant on TLMY and TLL, while the except lactation length all the traits under study have not effected by season of kidding.

Key wards: Goat, lactation length, lactation milk yield, peak milk yield

Sirohi goat is one of the important goat breeds of North western region of the country. Animal of this breed is medium to large in size and mainly reared for milk and meat by rural poor people. Kids of Sirohi goats do not get required quantity of milk from their dam's, which ultimately reflect growth of kids because milk production traits have direct effect on growth and survival of the their kids particularly during initial period. Milk production is very useful tool at the time of selection of Sirohi goats. Scientific Informations on milk production traits of Sirohi goat under field conditions are very scanty. The present study was planned to estimate the effect of genetic and non-genetic factors on milk production traits of Sirohi goats maintained under field condition at the door of farmers in the villages of Southern Rajasthan.


Data on 304 Sirohi goats sired by 21 bucks were collected from the adopted flocks of AICRP on Sirohi goat field units at Livestock Research Station, Vallabhnagar, MPUAT, Udaipur (Raj.) over a period of two years. Further, years were divided in to two seasons viz.; season Ist (July to Oct.) and season IInd (Nov. to Feb.). The animals were maintained on Kachha floor with Kachha roof under extensive system of management. Production traits considered for the present study were 140 days lactation milk yield (140 MY), total lactation milk yield (TLMY), lactation length (LL), peak yield (PY) and average daily milk yield (ADMY). The data were analyzed by the mixed model least squares and maximum likelihood computer programme of Harvey (1990). Heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlation for milk production traits were estimate through paternal half-sib correlation method while standard error were computed after Swiger et al (1964) and Robertson (1959) respectively.


The overall least squares means for of 140 days Milk Yield (MY 140 D), Total Lactation Milk Yield (TLMY), Total Lactation Length (TLL), Peak Milk Yield (PMY) and Average Daily Milk Yield (ADMY) were 56.34±2.93lit., 59.42±2.18lit, 163.28±3.53days, 562±0.28ml and 362.40±15.91ml respectively, which were found within the reported range of variation (Acharya 1982 and Kumar 1991). Effect due to year of kidding were found to be significant on total lactational milk yield and lactation length, Mehta and Khan (1993) and Shinde and Khan (2002) and Roy and Mondal(2010) also reported significant effects of year of kidding on these traits. Some changes in climate condition, human and managemental factors from year to year may cause such variation. Least squares analysis of variance indicated that except lactation length of all the traits under study have not affected by season of kidding. These results are in accordance with the findings as reported by Singh and Mukherjee (1998). Tomar and Arun (2000) reported that lactation length was significantly affected by season of kidding in Sirohi goats, while Mehta and Khan (1993) reported non-significant effect of season of kidding on lactation length. The dose kidded during July-October, month have higher lactational milk yield with higher lactation length than doe's kidded during November.-Febary. The milk yield and average daily milk yield observed higher for doe's kidded during November.-Febary. Month, milk yield at 140 days MY, TLMY peak yield and average daily milk yield increased gradually up to the 3rd parity, is could be due to attainment of physiological maturity after first parity and availability of good feeds. The effect of sex of kids and type of birth was non-significant on traits under study. owever doe's which have multiple births produced

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more milk in comparison to doe having single kids. This finding is in consonance with the report of Pathodiya (2003), Tomar et al (2000).

Except lactation length, all traits were significantly affected by parity. Similarly, Shinde and Khan (2002) and Roy and Mondal (2010) observed significant effect of parity on total lactational milk yield, 150 days milk yield and peak yield while, Tomar et al (2000) observed significant effect of parity on weekly peak yield. The variance due to location was highly significant on all the traits understudy. These results are in agreement with that of Joshi (1991). Difference between locations may be due to variance in management and feeding practices followed for goat rearing by the farmers, these finding are in consonance with the reports of Pathodiya et al (2004). The effect of sire was also significant

(P<0.001) on all the traits. The heritability estimate for all traits under study obtained was high except total lactational milk yield (0.214±0.15), indicating that sire used in the field were different in genetic potential as well as number of progeny per sire was less. Therefore, these traits can be improved through approaching mass selection for further improvement. The genetic correlation's obtained was positive and high except high and negative correlation between lactation length with TLMY, 140 MY, PY and average daily milk yield. The phenotypic correlation's except lactation length with average daily milk yield (low and negative) was positive and high among production traits under study. The positive genetic correlation of total lactational milk yield and 140 MY with peak yield indicated selection for higher peak yield would increase milk yield and simultaneously provides a selection criterion in the early lactation.

Table 1 Least Squares & Standard Error For Production Traits of Sirohi Goat In Field

SOURCES Obs. 140 MY(Lit.)

TLMY(Lit.)

LL(days)

PY(ml)

ADMY(ml)

Overall 304 56.34±2.93 59.42±2.18 163.28±3.53 562±0.28 362.40±15.91Year * **2001-02 218 56.67±3.23 62.55±2.64b 175.23±3.85b 585±0.31 358.07±17.932002-03 86 56.01±3.35 56.29±2.18a 151.34±3.98a 504±0.32 366.73±18.69Season **July - Oct. 139 56.29±3.11 59.95±2.64 165.73±3.72a 562±0.38 358.80±17.11Nov. Feb. 163 56.39±2.98 58.89±2.26 160.83±3.60b 563±0.28 365.99±16.28Sex Male 147 56.67±2.99 59.63±2.27 163.46±3.65 556±0.28 362.68±16.31Female 157 55.93±3.04 59.21±2.35 163.46±3.65 568±0.29 362.11±16.66Type of BirthSingle 272 55.23±2.82 58.84±1.99 165.20±3.41 548±0.27 352.20±15.18Multiple 32 57.45±3.53 63.29±3.28 161.36±4.20 576±0.35 372.59±19.91Parity * * ** *1 38 51.18±3.64 a 53.65±3.22a 165.16±4.30 498±0.36a 326.02±20.60a

2 72 55.02±3.28ab 57.70±2.71ab 162.29±3.91 546±0.32ab 355.55±18.22b

3 112 58.60±3.03 b 61.49±2.34bc 160.50±3.64 584±0.29bc 379.46±16.60c

4 52 58.28±3.34 b 59.81±2.81bc 162.99±3.98 567±0.32bc 367.65±18.67c

5 30 59.63±3.67 b 64.44±3.26c 165.39±4.33 616±0.36c 383.20±20.77c

Location ** ** ** ** **1 111 42.77±4.14a 42.32±3.88a 150.22±4.86a 330±0.41a 276.75±23.80a

2 47 64.48±4.85c 62.42±4.76b 150.48±5.64a 715±0.49c 420.07±18.23c

3 114 62.92±4.61c 70.85±4.47c 180.47±5.37c 619±0.46b 402.14±26.76c

4 32 55.20±5.78b 60.09±5.89b 171.95±6.69b 584±0.59b 350.62±34.09b

Mean superscripted by different letters differed significantly

Table 2 Estimate of Heritability, Genetic & Phenotypic Correlation Among Production Traits

Traits 140 MY TLMY LL PY ADMY

MY 140 0.663±0.237 0.955 0.056 0.787 0.944TLMY 0.955±0.69 0.214±0.154 0.235 0.776 0.916TLL 0.775±0.204 -0.561±0.341 0.751±0.250 0.060 -0.154PMY 0.898±0.79 0.822±0.165 -0.707±0.235 0.535±0.216 0.773ADMY 0.999±0.015 0.900±0.93 -0.863±0.238 0.909±0.82 0.518±0.213

Diagonal values are heritability, above diagonal and below diagonal values are phenotypic and genetic correlation's respectively.

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Table 3 Least Squares Analysis Of Variance For Various Factor Affecting Milk Production Traits.

Source of variance

M.S.S.

D.F. 140 Days TLMY LL PY ADMY

Sire 21 447.26** 272.008 644.56** 4.18* 13480.85*Year of Birth 1 6.42 599.22 8728.91* 3.07 1148.57Season of Birth 1 0.403 53.47 1168.82 0.00 2517.23Location 3 1056.82** 1554.68** 3415.59** 40.56** 43624.01**Type of birth 1 102.76 78.76 307.81 1.54 8679.75Parity 4 316.95 430.42 192.96 5.04* 15467.05*Sex 1 46.43 12.10 9.11 1.03 21.72Regression dam's body weight linear 1 216.38 295.25 1.16 5.51 9631.70Remainder (Error) 268 138.12 166.17 178.74 1.52 5036.03

** P<0.01, * P<0.05

REFERENCES

Acharya, R.M. 1982. Sheep and goat breeds of India. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 30, FAO of UN, Rome, Italy.

Harvey, W. R. 1990. User’s guide for LSMLMW PC-2 Version. Mixed model Least squares and Maximum Likelihood computer program. Ohio Univ. Colmbus,

Joshi, S.N. 1991. Studies on weight and body measurement of Deogarhi and Parbatsari goats M.Sc. Thesis Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner.

Kumar, Devendra 1991. Studies on reproduction and production traits in Parbatsari and Deogarhi goats. M.Sc. Thesis, RCA, Raj. Agril. Univ. Bikaner.

Mehta, B.S. and Khan, B.U. 1993. Genetic analysis of Sirohi flock. A book let published from Western region research station, CSWRI, Avikanagar (Raj.)

Pathodiya, O.P., Khadda, B.S., Gurjar, M.L. and Tailor, S.P. 2004. Some economic traits of Sirohi goats in field conditions. Indian J. of Animal Sciences 74 (1): 102-103

Pathodiya, O.P. 2003. Annual report (2002-03) AICRP on Sirohi goat. Livestock Research Station, Vallabhnagar (MPUAT, Udaipur) Raj.

Robertson, A. 1959. The sampling variance of the genetic correlation co-efficient. Biometrics. 15:460-485.

R Roy and Ajoy Mandal, 2010. Genetic analysis of lactation traits in Jamunapari goats. Indian J. of Animal Science 80 (3): 246-248,

Singh, D.K. and Mukherjee, D.K. 1998. Studies on milk production and reproduction traits of goats under field condition. Indian J. of Dairy Science 338-341.

Swiger, L.A., Harvey, W. R., Everson, D. O. and Gegory, K. E. 1964. The variance of interclass correlation involving groups with one observation. Biometrics.

Shinde, A.K. and Khan, B.U. 2002. Annual report (2001-02). All India Coordinated Research Project Sirohi Unit, CSWRI, Avikanagar (Raj.).

Tomar, A.K.S. and Kumar, Arun and Arora, A.L. 2000. Annual report (1999-2000). All India Coordinated Research Project on goat improvement (Sirohi Unit), CSWRI, Avikanagar (Raj.).

Tomar, A.K.S. and Arun Kumar 2000. Lactational performance and factors affecting it in Sirohi goats under semi-arid conditions of northwestern India. Small Ruminant Research (Under Publication).

25

Effect of integrated nitrogen management on available N, P and CO2 evolution at different intervals under wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivation

J P YADAV*, A K MATHUR* AND K K YADAV***Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUA&T, Udaipur and ** Dept. of

Soil and Water Engineering, College of Technology & Engineering, MPUA&T, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur (Rajasthan) during rabi season of 2005-06 to evaluate the effect of integrated nitrogen management on available N, P and CO 2 evolution at different intervals under wheat cultivation. The results indicated that application of nitrogen through organic manure or in integration with chemical fertilizer significantly improved the available N, P and CO2 evolution at 7, 15, 30 and 45 days after sowing and organic carbon at harvest.

Keywords: Integrated nitrogen management, wheat.

In Rajasthan state, wheat occupies an area of 2.1 m ha with the production of 5.8 m tonnes with an average yield of 2.54 m tonnes which is at par with the nation’s acreage but compared with realizable yield limit, it is far below. This suggests a great scope to further elevate the productivity in the state. It is generally recognized that the gap between actual and potential yield is primarily due to lack of sufficient and effective nutrient management. It is an established fact since long that amongst the nutrients, nitrogen plays an important role in the growth and development of crop plants. Nitrogen is indispensable for increasing crop production and productivity. Maintenance of crop production requires judicious use of nitrogen through fertilizer and manure in an integrated manner. Increase in productivity of soil, without deteriorating soil and environment has drawn attention of scientists working on natural resources. These resources need to be managed in a way that enhance biological activity, maintain biodiversity and productivity of soil for long term in a sustainable way. There is need to explore the additional untapped organic sources. Mushroom cultivation is based on compost or crop residues and harvest of a crop results in disposable organic waste. Mushroom waste is partly or fully decomposed organic matter with narrow C: N ratio and may serve as a source of nutrients as well as a source of inoculum for decomposition of soil organic residues. Therefore, this study is an attempt to study the comparative efficiency of FYM, button, and oyster spent mushroom compost in integration with inorganic source of nitrogen taking wheat as a test crop to study the effect of spent mushroom compost, farm yard manure and fertilizer on CO2 evolution and available nutrient status of rhizosphere soil.


A field experiment was conducted at Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur (Raj.) during rabi

season 2005-06. The soil of experimental field was clay loam texture, slightly alkaline in reaction (pH 8.2, EC 0.86 dSm-1) and calcareous in nature. The soil was medium in available nitrogen (292.15 kg ha-1), available phosphorus (22.5 kg ha-1) and available potassium (360.15 kg ha-1) and well supplied with micronutrients copper (1.94 mg kg-1), iron (6.84 mg kg-1), manganese (9.30 mg kg-1) and zinc (3.14 mg kg-1). The experiment consisted of 14 treatments replicated 3 times in a randomized block design. The soil samples were collected at 7, 15, 30 and 45 days after sowing and at the harvest of the crop and analyzed for available nitrogen, phosphorus, CO2 evolution and organic carbon content following standard procedures. The experimental data were statistically analyzed for analysis of variance and test of significance through the procedure appropriate to the randomized block design. The critical differences were calculated whereas ‘F’ test was found significant at 5 per cent level of significance. The treatment details were as:

________________________________________________

Treatment Treatment CombinationsNo. ____________________________________________________________

To ControlT1

100% N through inorganic source T2 75% N through inorganic source + 25% through FYMT3 75% N through inorganic source + 25% N through oyster SMCT4 75% N through inorganic source + 25% N through button SMCT5 50% N through inorganic source + 50% N through FYM T6 50% N through inorganic source + 50% N through oyster SMCT7 50% N through inorganic source + 50% N through button SMCT8 25% N through inorganic source + 75% N through FYMT9 25% N through inorganic source + 75% N through oyster SMC T10 25% N through inorganic source + 75% N through button SMC T11 100% N through FYM T12 100% N through oyster SMC T13 100% N through button SMC_____________________________________________SMC = Spent Mushroom Compost

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Nutrient availability

The data in Table 1 revealed that the application of nitrogen through different sources significantly increased the available nitrogen, phosphorus and CO2 evolution in soil at different days interval 7, 15, 30 and 45 days after sowing (DAS). The available nitrogen was highest at initial stage (7 DAS) in treatment T1 (100% N through inorganic source), but on later stages (at 15 DAS, 30 DAS and 45 DAS) N availability was maximum under treatment T4 (75% nitrogen through urea + 25% nitrogen through button SMC followed by T2 (75% nitrogen through urea + 25% nitrogen through FYM). Among organic manures the button SMC was superior over the FYM and oyster SMC because button SMC have lower C: N ratio than the oyster SMC and FYM. Dose of nutrient, mineralization rate and uptake of nutrients directly govern availability of nutrients in rhizosphere. The organic manures along with fertilizer influence the availability of nutrients in soil by mineralization process (Surendra Rao and Sitaramayya, 1997). The similar results were also reported by Ramanathan and Krishanmurthy (1973).

The available phosphorus content in rhizosphere soil at all stages (7, 15, 30 and 45 DAS) was significantly increased with application of nitrogen through different sources. The maximum available phosphorus was recorded under treatment receiving 25% nitrogen through urea + 75% nitrogen through button SMC followed by treatment receiving 25% nitrogen through urea + 75% nitrogen through FYM. The availability of phosphorus increased with increasing organic acids, which were released during decomposition of organic matter. These organic acids helped in the solubility of native phosphates. Further, the organic matter reduces fixation capacity of soil and increases the availability. Results of the present study are in close agreement with those of Bhardwaj and Omanwar (1994).

CO2 evolution

CO2 evolution is directly related to microbial activity. CO2 evolution was also increased with increasing organic matter content. The maximum CO2 evolution was obtained in treatment receiving 100% nitrogen through button SMC followed by FYM and oyster SMC. Application of fertilizer also increased CO2 evolution but rate was slower

than the plot receiving organic manures. It may be due to the fact that larger the level of soil organic carbon source larger will be survival of diversified microbial population and higher will be microbial activity. CO2 evolutions in incubation of soil at different days were also influenced by decomposition of organic material, which is directly correlated to microbial activity. Table 1 clearly showed that increase in dose of organic matter content, the CO2 evolution rate also increased till 30 days and at later stage it declined because mineralization and decomposition rate slower down than earlier stages. The results are in agreement to findings of earlier workers i.e., Sharma et al. (1983), Gregorich and Druury (1996), Maheswarappa et al. (1999), Chen et al. (2002) and Urmila (2005).

Organic carbon at harvest

Results pertaining to the organic carbon status of post-harvest soil presented in Table 1. A critical examination of data revealed that soil organic carbon status ranged between 0.61 to 0.85 % under various treatments. The highest organic carbon content was observed in treatment T13

(100% nitrogen through button SMC) followed by treatment T11 (100% nitrogen through FYM) and minimum value (0.61%) of organic carbon was observed in control. The soil organic carbon also increased with the use of different source of nitrogen irrespective whether in sole application or along with fertilizers indicating recycling of organic matter in the form of organic manures on continuous basis results in cumulative buildup depending upon the weather, temperature and other agronomic practices i.e. 100% N through organic sources (button SMC, FYM and oyster SMC) with a build up to extent of 0.85, 0.83 and 0.80 g kg-1

organic carbon (Table 1). Use of inorganic nutrients also resulted in comparatively better level of soil organic carbon, which could be attributed to enhanced root growth that remained in soil at harvest. The results are in agreement to earlier findings of Mathur (1997), Sharma and Gupta (1998), Yadav et al. (2000), Parmar and Sharma (2002), Ranganathan and Selvaseelan (1997).

Thus, organic manure alone though improve chemical and biological properties of soil considerably but could not sustain high crop yield due to slow release of plant nutrients. The study revealed that integrated use of chemical fertilizer and organic manure is an imperative in intensive cropping system, which maintained soil fertility status and soil health.

27

Table 1 Effect of Integrated nitrogen management on available N, P (kg ha-1) & CO2 evolution (mg 100 g-1 soil) at different intervals and organic carbon per cent.

7 days after sowing 15 days after sowing 30 days after sowing 45 days after sowing At harvest

Treatments

Available N

Available P2O5

CO2

evolutionAvailabl

e NAvailable P2O5

CO2

evolutionAvailabl

e NAvailable P2O5

CO2

evolutionAvailabl

e NAvailable

P2O5

CO2

evolutionOrganic carbon

T0 285.32 20.16 9.42 280.42 19.41 11.42 275.00 18.32 14.98 274.33 17.21 13.64 0.61T1 342.13 23.42 12.56 344.11 24.18 13.62 345.14 25.12 15.26 346.26 25.48 14.78 0.66T2 338.21 26.32 14.72 342.23 27.27 15.27 346.78 28.18 17.78 347.14 28.72 16.23 0.74T3 335.12 25.70 13.48 340.56 26.16 14.32 344.26 27.12 16.92 345.21 27.78 15.43 0.73T4 340.16 27.34 15.32 344.85 28.43 16.38 347.38 29.16 18.71 349.36 29.72 17.39 0.75T5 335.27 27.43 15.46 338.12 28.56 17.52 340.31 29.37 19.43 341.33 29.94 18.31 0.76

T6 330.42 26.34 14.26 334.23 27.54 15.39 336.16 28.43 17.58 338.11 28.84 16.72 0.74

T7 338.52 28.26 16.73 340.26 29.74 18.56 341.19 30.58 20.32 343.39 31.03 19.13 0.78

T8 331.38 29.72 17.23 336.37 30.47 19.71 338.21 31.67 22.46 340.52 32.16 21.27 0.80

T9 327.17 28.62 16.37 332.62 29.54 18.31 334.28 30.47 21.57 336.68 30.84 19.78 0.79

T10 334.19 30.12 18.29 338.51 31.17 21.58 339.14 32.17 23.73 341.74 32.94 22.37 0.82

T11 326.26 25.13 18.56 330.62 26.56 21.63 335.52 27.34 24.53 338.51 28.31 23.12 0.83

T12 322.24 24.72 17.62 328.26 25.38 20.12 331.47 26.56 22.43 334.36 27.13 21.53 0.80

T13 328.28 26.16 19.23 334.39 27.14 23.14 337.38 28.39 26.19 340.18 29.12 24.62 0.85SEm± 8.16 0.57 0.30 8.54 0.581 0.34 7.78 0.632 0.41 8.36 0.68 0.38 0.015

CD (P = 0.05) 23.73 1.67 0.88 24.82 1.69 1.00 22.64 1.839 1.19 24.30 1.98 1.10 0.046

REFERENCES

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Chen, C.R., Xu-Z.H. and Hughes, J.M. 2002. Effects of nitrogen fertilization on soil nitrogen pools and microbial properties in a hoop pine plantation in south east Queensland, Australia. Biol. Fert. Soils, 36: 276-283.

Gregorich, E.G. and Druury, C.F. 1996. Fertilizer increased corn yields and soil organic matter. Better Crops with Plant Food, 8: 3-5.

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Mathur, G.M. 1997. Effect of long term application of fertilizers and manures on soil properties and yield under cotton-wheat rotation in north-west Rajasthan. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 95: 288-292.

Parmar, D.K. and Sharma, V. 2002. Studies on long term application of fertilizers and manures on yield of maize-wheat rotation and soil properties under rainfed condition in western Himalayas. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 50: 311-312.

Ramanathan, K.M. and Krishnamurthy, K.K. 1973. Study on the relationship between organic carbon and available nitrogen in rice soils at successive growth stages of rice. Madras Agric. J., 60: 720.

Rangnathan, D. Selvi. and Selvaseelan, D. Augustine. 1997. Mushroom spent rice straw compost coir pith as organic manure for rice. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 45: 510-514.

Sharma, M.P. and Gupta, J.P. 1998. Effect of organic materials on grain yield and soil properties in maize (Zea mays)-wheat (Triticum aestivum) cropping system. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 68: 715-717.

Sharma, N., Shrivastava, L.L. and Mishra, B. 1983. Studies on microbial changes in soils as a result of continuous application of fertilizers, farm yard manure and lime. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 31: 202-206.

Surendra Rao, S. and Sitaramayya, M. 1997. Changes in total and available soil nitrogen status under integrated nutrient management of rice. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 45: 445-449.

Urmila, 2005. Studies on chemical and biological indices of soil under long term nutrient management in maize-wheat rotation. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur.

Yadav, B.L., Dwivedi, B.S., Kamta Prasad, Tomaw, O.K., Shurpali, N.J. and Pandy, P.S. 2000. Yield trends and changes in soil organic carbon and available NPK in long term rice-wheat system under integrated use of manures and fertilizers. Field Crop Res., 68: 219-246.

Effect of phosphorus and zinc fertilization on biochemical composition and bread making qualities of Wheat.

L K MISHRA* AND A B ABIDI

Department of Biochemistry, NDUAT, Kumarganj,Faizabad-224229, *Present Address- Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, VBS Purvanchal University, Jaunpur, U P, India.


ABSTRACT

Field trials were conducted to assess the response of conjunctive use of phosphorus and zinc fertilizer on the 1000-seed weight and certain biochemical components of three varieties of wheat (Triticum aestivum) viz: PBW-343, HW-2425 and NW-1014. Results indicated that the phosphorus and zinc application had an synergistic impact on the 1000-seed weight and protein content of the wheat varieties. The increase in the doses of phosphorus and zinc had a positive impact on all the physical and biochemical characters of the wheat varieties. Application of phosphorus @ 60kg/ha and zinc @ 10kg/ha was found suitable to enhance the nutrient composition and certain bread making qualities of the wheat varieties.

Key Words: Wheat, Bread making qualities, Biochemical composition, Phosphorus and Zinc fertilization.

The role of macro and micronutrients is crucial in crop nutrition and thus important for achieving higher yields. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), being primary essential nutrient, have prime importance in crop nutrition. Phosphorus (P) is involved in almost all biochemical pathways as a component part of energy carrier compounds, ATP and ADP. Phosphorus is one of the 17 essential elements required for plant growth and reproduction (Marschner, 1986). Phosphorus (P) is used in the plant for energy storage and transfer, maintenance and transfer of genetic code, and is structural component of cells and many biochemicals. Phosphorus deficiencies results in poor root growth, stunted top growth, reduced yield and crop quality alongwith delayed maturity. Six micronutrients i.e., Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, B and Mo are known to be required for all higher plants (Welch, 1995). These have been well documented to be involved in photosynthesis, N-fixation, respiration and other biochemical pathways (Marchner, 1986). Approximately 60% of the world arable land is considered to be difficult for the plant production due to mineral stress caused by the deficiency, unavailability, or toxicity of some essential nutritive elements (Foy 1983). Of the microelements, Zn is thought to be the most widespread (Graham et al. 1992, Yilmaz et al. 1995, Cakmak et al. 1999). Zinc is an important essential element present in plant enzymatic systems. Genc et al. (2006) reported that zinc has vast numbers of functions in plant metabolism and consequently zinc deficiency has a multitude of effects on plant growth. Zinc deficiency is a worldwide nutritional constraint for crop production in many types of soil in the world (Sillanpää 1982; Rengel and Graham 1995). According to Graham and Welch (1996) about 50% of the soil used for cereal production in the world contains a low level of plant available zinc which reduces not only grain yield but also nutritional quality (low in micronutrients essential for good human health). In general zinc application appears to improve the overall field performance of wheat plants.

Among the interactions involving macro and micronutrients the interaction between phosphorus and zinc is of greatest potential significance. This interaction is often negative (antagonistic) especially when a soil is deficient in both the nutrients but only one of them is applied through fertilizers. But it is quite possible to increase productivity in wheat through balanced use of phosphorus and zinc in such a

way that they act synergistically. The impact of phosphorus and zinc together on the quality aspects and yield of wheat varieties has been studied in the present investigation.


Experimental Design and Sowing conditions:

The field trial was conducted to study the effect of zinc and phosphorus fertilization on the nutritional qualities and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Three varieties commonly used in India i.e. PBW-343, HW-2425 and NW-1014 were used for the experiment purpose. The trial was laid out in a split plot design with three phosphorus (control, 60 and 90Kg/hec) and three zinc (Control, 5 and 10Kg/hec) doses in the form of Single super phosphate and zinc sulphate respectively. Before fertilization pooled soil samples were analyzed for the available phosphorus and zinc (DTPA extractable) and it was 16.8mg/kg and 0.5mg/kg. The crop was sown on 12th December 2003 at a seed rate of 120Kg/hectare as per the recommended agronomic practices so as to rare a healthy and vibrant crop.

Biochemical and Statistical Analyses:

The yield of the crop was obtained after harvest. The crop sample was obtained after the harvest and subjected to various biochemical analyses to ascertain the wheat quality. Bold healthy seeds were used to obtain the thousand seed weight. The sedimentation value and water absorption capacity were measured according to the method of The American Association of Cereal Chemistry (AACC, 2000). The protein content in the samples was determined by the method of Folin Lowry (1951). The amino acid composition such as Tryptophan content, lysine and methionine content was determined by the method of Spies and Chamber (1949), Felker et al (1978) and Horn et al (1940) respectively. The data obtained for different parameters was subjected to statistical analyses as per the method suggested by Gomez and Gomez (1984) for split plot design.



1000 kernel weight showed significant variation among different wheat varieties (Table 1). Thousand kernel weight ranged from 34.58 to 38.55 g among different wheat varieties. Significantly the highest 1000-kernel weight was observed in PBW-343 and the lowest in HW-2425.

Table-1: 1000-Seed weight of wheat as influenced by various treatments

Treatments Test weight (In grams)2002-03 2003-04

VarietyV1 (NW-1014) 37.38 37.18

V2 (HW-2425) 34.78 34.58

V3 (PBW-343) 38.55 38.35

CD (P = 0.05) (1.53) (1.52)

Phosphorus levels

P0 (0 kg/ha) 33.72 33.52

P1 (60 kg/ha) 36.52 36.32

P2 (90 kg/ha) 40.48 40.28

CD (P = 0.05) (1.54) (1.54)

Zinc levels

Z0 (0 kg/ha) 34.15 33.95

Z1 (5 kg/ha) 37.67 37.47

Z2 (10 kg/ha) 38.84 38.69

CD (P = 0.05) (1.54) (1.54)

The application of phosphorus and zinc in increasing doses led to significant increase in the 1000-seed weight during both the years of the field experiment. Maximum 1000- seed weight was recorded with the application of 90kgP/ha and 10kgZn/ha and it was statistically significant over all the other treatments. Statistically significant differences were recorded due to interaction between the phosphorus and zinc doses and phosphorus application @ 90 kg/ha in combination with zinc @ 10 kg/ha recorded significantly higher 1000-seed weight in both the years over all the treatments except phosphorus application @ 60 kg/ha along with zinc @ 10 kg/ha (Table-2).

Table-.2: 1000-Seed weight of wheat as influenced by interaction between phosphorus and zinc levels

Zinc levels

Phosphorus levels

2002-03 2003-04P0 (control)

P1 (60 kg/ha)

P2 (90 kg/ha)

P0 (control)

P1 (60 kg/ha)

P2 (90 kg/ha)

Z0

(Control)31.45 33.50 37.4

931.25 33.30 37.29

Z1 (5 kg/ha)

34.14 37.16 41.72

33.94 36.96 41.52

Z2 (10 kg/ha)

35.56 38.89 42.23

35.36 38.69 42.03

CD (P = 0.05)

2.677 2.677

The significant differences observed in 1000-kernel weight among wheat varieties may be due to the differences in the genetic make up of the varieties. However, these differences may be partly attributed due to different growing and environmental conditions prevailed during growing periods. The results are comparable with early findings of Finney et al. (1973), Slaughter et al. (1992), and Butt et al. (2001). The increase in 1000-seed weight due to increase in the doses of phosphorus may be due increase in the amount of available phosphorus during initial stage of growth when it is most needed. Thus, increasing doses of phosphorus ensure that it is available in adequate amount and palys the significant role in the carbohydrate synthesis more efficiently. The findings are in agreement with the results obtained by Sharma and Bhardwaj (1998).

The increasing trend in test weight due to increase in zinc doses during both the years of experiment may be due to the fact that application of zinc led to increase availability of zinc for plant growth in the zinc deficient local soil. Zinc is an important substrate involved in photo system-II of photosynthesis and plays vital role in energy metabolism process in plant. Thus, the increased availability and efficient absorption of zinc resulted in vibrant metabolism in wheat plant, which is an important reason for increase in test weight of the seeds. Similar results were obtained by Verma and Minhas (1987). The significant response observed due to interaction between the phosphorus and zinc doses may be due to the synergistic action of phosphorus and zinc doses. The synergistic action was mainly promoted due to the fact that the local soil was deficient in zinc and thus its application at the rate of 10 kg/ha could not trigger any antagonistic reaction as is normally witnessed when both these nutrients are applied in combination. The results are in conformity with the findings of Gattani et al. (1976) and Nayak and Gupta (1995).

The chemical composition of whole wheat flour such as protein content were significantly affected by the wheat varieties, phosphorus doses, zinc doses and interaction between phosphorus and zinc doses. (Table-3).

Table-3: Protein content in wheat as influenced by various treatments

Treatments Protein content (In per cent)2002-03 2003-04

VarietyV1 (NW-1014) 11.19 11.30

V2 (HW-2425) 11.53 11.65

V3 (PBW-343) 10.08 10.79

CD (P = 0.05) (0.54) (0.17)

Phosphorus levels

P0 (0 kg/ha) 10.81 10.92

P1 (60 kg/ha) 11.16 11.27

P2 (90 kg/ha) 11.44 11.55

CD (P = 0.05) (0.44) (0.44)

Zinc levels

Z0 (0 kg/ha) 10.39 10.49

Z1 (5 kg/ha) 11.41 11.52

Z2 (10 kg/ha) 11.61 11.73

CD (P = 0.05) (0.44) (0.44)

The variation among the varieties with respect to the protein content may be attributed to the different genetic makeup of the varieties. The varieties having vigorous growth rates and efficient root systems could easily adapt to the prevailing agro-climatic conditions. Thus, they could absorb the micro and macronutrients at much efficient rate and thereby initiate vibrant metabolism, which ultimately led to increase in protein content and other nutritional characters of wheat plant. The results of this investigation are comparable with early findings of Davis et al. (1981), Tanija et al. (1983). The concomitant increase in the protein content of wheat with increase in dosage of phosphorus during both the years of cultivation might be due to the affect of increase in phosphorus concentration in soil and it is well known that phosphorus nutrition directly and indirectly influences wheat grain protein in many ways. The nutrient is required for absorption and assimilation of ‘N’ by wheat plants (Haper and Paulsen, 1969), for translocation of ‘N’ from vegetation to grain which might indirectly affect protein concentration. The results are in agreement with the findings of Mosolov and Volleidt (1962). The increase in the availability of zinc in zinc deficient soil led to increase in protein content of wheat. It is well known that zinc is actively involved in protein synthesis of plants. It is an important structural component of the protein synthesis machinery and is involved in the form of zinc mottifs in protein synthesis of plant. Similar, results have been reported by Jhaw (1991). The synergistic action between phosphorus and zinc may be the reason behind the increasing trend of protein content (Table-4). The deficiency of zinc in soil also might have played indirect role in increasing the protein content in wheat. Application of zinc led to synergistic action with phosphorus in the zinc deficient soil. The results are in conformity with the findings of Webb and Loneragan (1990).

Table-4: Protein content in wheat as influenced by interaction between phosphorus and zinc levels

Zinc levels

Phosphorus levels2002-03 2003-04

P0(control)

P1(60

kg/ha)

P2(90

kg/ha)

P0

(control)P1

(60kg/ha)

P2

(90kg/ha)

Z0

(Control)9.83 10.33 11.00 9.93 10.44 11.11

Z1 (5 kg/ha)

11.11 11.51 11.60 11.22 11.63 11.72

Z2 (10 kg/ha)

11.49 11.63 11.72 11.60 11.75 11.84

CD (P = 0.05)

0.775 0.767

The amino acid composition of the whole wheat flour such as lysine, tryptophan and methionine content were significantly affected by phosphrus and zinc application during both the years of investigation (Table-5).

Table-5: Amino acid composition in wheat as influenced by various treatments (in per cent)

Treatments Tryptophan (in per cent)

Methionine (in per cent)

Lysine (in per cent)

2002-03 2003-04 2002-03 2003-04 2002-03 2003-04VarietyV1 (NW-1014)

2.24 2.22 1.44 1.43 2.20 2.22

V2 (HW-2425)

2.30 2.27 1.99 1.97 2.08 2.02

V3 (PBW-343)

2.26 2.24 1.82 1.80 2.40 2.42

CD (P = 0.05)

(NS) (NS) (NS) (NS) (NS) (NS)

Phosphorus levelsP0 (0 kg/ha) 1.79 1.78 1.66 1.64 2.14 2.16P1 (60 kg/ha) 2.44 2.42 1.77 1.75 2.23 2.25P2 (90 kg/ha) 2.56 2.53 1.82 1.80 2.31 2.33CD (P = 0.05)

(0.09) (0.09) (0.07) (0.06) (0.08) (0.04)

Zinc levelsZ0 (0 kg/ha) 1.96 1.94 1.50 1.49 2.16 2.18Z1 (5 kg/ha) 2.33 2.31 1.84 1.82 2.24 2.26Z2 (10 kg/ha) 2.50 2.48 1.90 1.88 2.27 2.29CD (P = 0.05)

(NS) (NS) (NS) (NS) (0.08) (0.09)

The impact of varieties and interaction between the phosphorus and zinc doses was non significant. The increase in the amount of amino acids due tho increase in the doses of phosphorus and zinc may be ascribed to the fact that both these minerals play a vital role in protein synthesis during the grain filling stages in the wheat crop and indirectly enhance the availability of nitrogen to the plants. Thus, increased effieciency of the protein synthesis is manifested in the increase in its structural components which include the amino acids such as lysine, tryptophan and methionine. Similar findings were reported by Lindsay (1972), Alessendroni et al. (1976) and Epperdorfer (1978). The sedimentation value and water absorption capacity were also significantly affected by varieties, doses of phosphorus and zinc (Table-6). The sedimentation value ranged from 31.53 to 36.21 while water absorption capacity was in the range of 65.62 to 72.48.

The varietal differences with respect to sedimentation value and water absorption capacity of wheat may be attributed to the fact that these varieties show significant variation among themselves in the context of gluten content. The sedimentation value and water absorption capacity of wheat is directly proportional to gluten content of wheat varieties. Therefore, it is natural that they have variation in their sedimentation values and water absorption capacity also. Similar results have also been reported by Islam et al. (1998). The positive impact on sedimentation value and water absorption capacity due to increase in the doses of phosphorus and zinc may be due to the vital role played by these nutrients in increasing the gluten as well as the total protein content of the wheat. The

findings of the present investigation are in conformity with the findings of Pratt (1971) and Jyurg et al. (1974). The results of the present investigation clearly indicate that in zinc deficient soil the interaction between phosphorus and zinc is positive which is in contrary to established negative interaction between these two nutrients. It may also be concluded that these two nutrients play a very important role in improving the bread making qualities and the biochemical composition of the wheat varieties.

Table-6: Sedimentation value and Water absorption capacity of wheat as influenced by various treatments

Treatments Sedimentation (in ml) Water absorption capacity (in ml)

2002-03 2003-04 2003-04 2003-04VarietyV1 (NW-1014) 31.53 31.84 65.62 66.27V2 (HW-2425) 35.85 36.21 71.76 72.48V3 (PBW-343) 34.11 34.45 66.93 67.60CD (P = 0.05) (1.67) (1.06) (2.67) (1.21)Phosphorus levelsP0 (0 kg/ha) 32.86 33.19 66.28 66.95P1 (60 kg/ha) 33.77 34.10 67.90 68.57P2 (90 kg/ha) 34.86 35.21 70.13 70.83CD (P = 0.05) (1.33) (1.34) (0.92) (2.66)Zinc levelsZ0 (0 kg/ha) 33.62 33.95 67.72 68.39Z1 (5 kg/ha) 33.86 34.20 68.08 68.76Z2 (10 kg/ha) 34.01 34.35 68.51 69.20CD (P = 0.05) (1.33) (1.34) (0.92) (2.66)

Acknowledgement: The University scholarship received by the first author during the course of the present investigation is gratefully acknowledged.

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Finney, P.L., G.S. Bains, R.C. Hoseney and D.R. Lineback, 1973. Quality of Indian wheats. Cereal Sci. Today, 18: 392–7.

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Effect of inter-cropping and weed management on yield and quality of chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

C S SHARMA AND B L KUSHWAHA*

KVK, Sangaria, Hanumangarh-335063, Rajasthan and * Head Deptt. of Agronomy, RMP (PG) Collage, Gurukul-Narasan, Haridwar, Uttranchal, India.


ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted during the Rabi (winter) season of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 at Gurukul-Narasan, Hardwar (Uttranchal) for “Studies on weed management in chickpea-mustard intercropping system”. Highest yield in terms of chickpea equivalent yield and maximum gross return in terms of Rs./ha were obtained by the chickpea + mustard (4:1) intercropping system. Weed free condition increases the yield and gave maximum gross return both in pure crop of chickpea/mustard and intercropping of chickpea and mustard.

Key words: Intercropping, Weed- management, Climate.

The production of crops may be increased either by putting additional area under crops or by increasing productivity per unit area by the use of new agro-technology. The possibilities for increasing area under pulses and oilseeds are limited because these crops face a serious competition from high yielding cereals and millets during rabi and kharif respectively. So the most possible way for increasing production in the countries like India is to increase per unit area yield of these crops, which may be enhanced tremendously by growing mustard as additional crop with gram in intercropping systems. In the present day agriculture a scientific approach of inter cropping is being adopted under irrigated area with a view to enhance productivity. Keeping these points in view, a field experiment was conducted during the Rabi (winter) season of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 at the farm of R.M.P. (P.G) College, Gurukul-Narasan, Hardwar (Uttranchal).


The location has a semi arid, sub-tropical climate having hot and dry summers with maximum temperature as

high as 43ºC in May-June and Severe cold winters with temperature falling about freezing point in December-January. The annual rainfall is about 680 mm major of which is received during July, August & September. The available Nitrogen, Phosphorus (P2O5) and Potash (K2O) of experimental field during 1998-99 were 218.0, 11.0 and 289.0 kg/ha and during 1999-2000 were 230.0, 13.0 and 260.0 kg/ha, respectively. Similarly, the pH and electric conductivity (m.mhos/cm at 250C) of the above field was 7.3 and 0.4 during 1998-99 and 7.4 and 0.4 during 1999-2000, respectively. The treatments imposed were combination of 5 intercropping systems (chickpea sole at 45 cm spacing, mustard sole at 45 cm spacing, chickpea + mustard (3:1) row ratio, chickpea + mustard (4:1) row ratio and chickpea + mustard (6:2) row ratio) and 4 weed management practices [weedy check control, hand weeding twice at 30 and 60 DAS, weed free (repeated weeding) and application of

pedimethalin @ 1kg a.i. per hectare] and were replicated four times in split plot design. The crop was sown in furrows 45 cm apart at a depth of 8-10 cm in chickpea and 2.5-3.0 cm in mustard & covered by light planking. The crop was sown on 30th October in both the years (1998-99 & 1999-2000). In intercropping system the recommended dose of fertilizers for both the crops viz. chickpea (20 kg/h N & 46 Kg/h P2O5) and mustard (60 kg/h N & 40 Kg/h P2O5) were

applied on row basis. The experimental crops were sown on 30th October during both the seasons. Chickpea equivalent yield was worked out with the help of existing prices of chickpea and mustard (Rs. 1000 and 1100/q respectively). Seed of chickpea sampled form each plot, were ground to 20 meshes and mixed thoroughly. The total nitrogen content in seed of chickpea was estimated by Kjeldahl method (AOAC, 1960). Protein content in seed of chickpea was calculated by multiplying the nitrogen content in seed with a factor 6.25 (AOAC, 1960). Gross profit per hectare of different treatments was workedoutastotalmonetaryvalue of economic produce and by products (Seed and straw yield) on the basis of local market prices.


The results in Table 1 reveals that the intercropping system did not differ significantly in respect of chickpea equivalent yield (q/ha) in both the seasons. However, chickpea + mustard (4:1) intercropping system produced higher chickpea equivalent yield (13.99 and 14.68 q/ha) than other intercropping systems in both the seasons. Weed management practices had significant effect on chickpea equivalent yield in both the seasons (Table 1). Chickpea equivalent yield increased significantly with weed free conditions in both the seasons followed by HW twice at 30 and 60 DAS and application of pendimethalin. Significant difference was observed among all the weed management practices. The weed when allowed to compete with crop for entire crop season reduced the chickpea equivalent yield by 29.70, 39.34 and 18.16 per cent during 1998-99 and 24.92,

35.23 and 14.40 per cent during 1999-2000 with W2, W3 and W4 respectively. It is evident from the results presented in Table 2 that intercropping system in combination with

weed management practices had significant effect on chickpea equivalent yield. It is clear from the data presented in Table 2 that the highest gross profit of Rs 14673 and Rs

15350 per ha was recorded at chickpea + mustard (4:1) intercropping system during 1998-99 and 1999-2000, respectively. The highest chickpea equivalent yield (17.58 q/ha and 18.36 q/ha) was recorded in S4W3 followed by S1W3 during 1998-99 and by S3W3 during 1999-2000. Weed free condition gave the highest gross profit of

Rs. 17278/ha and Rs 17557/ha in both the years respectively. An examination of Table 1 reveals that intercropping system did not show marked variation in nitrogen content and protein content in seed of chickpea during both the years. Weed management practices also failed to affect the nitrogen content and protein content in seed of chickpea in both the season.

Table 1. Chickpea equivalent yield (q/ha), Gross profit (Rs/ha) and Nitrogen content & Protein content in seed of chickpea as influenced by intercropping system and weed management practices.

Treatment Chickpea equivalentyield (q/ha)

Gross profit (Rs/ha) Nitrogen content inseed of chickpea

Protein content inseed of chickpea

1998-99 1999-2000 1998-99 1999-2000 1998-99 1999-2000 1998-99 1999-2000Intercropping SystemsS1, Chickpea sole at 45 cm spacingS2, Mustard sole at 45 cm spacingS3, Chickpea + Mustard (3:1)S4, Chickpea + Mustard (4:1)S5, Chickpea + Mustard (6:2) SE m +CD (P=0.05)Weed management practicesW1, Weedy check controlW2, HW twice at 30 and 60 DASW3, Weed freeW4, Pendimethalin @ 1Kg a.i./ha SE m+ CD (P=0.05)

13.4212.3212.4813.9912.730.70NS

9.8714.0416.2712.060.130.26

13.2512.7514.0914.6812.681.06NS

10.7014.2516.5212.500.120.25

13904.2513771.2513724.5014672.5013606.50

10590.6014976.2017277.6012898.80

13730.5014256.2515084.2515350.2513583.50

11504.4015216.6017556.6013326.20

3.090.003.103.093.100.004NS

2.472.482.482.480.006NS

3.100.003.093.103.100.004NS

2.472.482.482.480.006NS

19.330.0019.3519.3319.350.03NS

15.4515.4915.4815.480.04NS

19.350.0019.3319.3619.360.03NS

15.4515.4915.4915.490.04NS

Table 2. Chickpea equivalent yield (q/ha) and Gross profit (Rs/ha) of chickpea as influenced by intercropping system and weed management practices.

Treatments*

1998-99 1999-2000Chickpea equivalent yield (q/ha)

Gross profit

(Rs/ha)

Chickpea equivalent yield (q/ha)

Gross Profit

(Rs/ha)S1W1 10.462 10862 10.385 10795S1W2 14.035 14540 14.015 14522S1W3 16.365 16896 16.190 16718S1W4 12.833 13319 12.417 12887S2W1 9.240 10462 10.703 12062S2W2 13.507 15051 13.417 14976S2W3 14.983 16663 14.712 16402S2W4 11.558 12909 12.167 13585S3W1 9.592 10285 11.262 12131S3W2 13.815 14752 15.047 16099S3W3 16.240 17294 17.177 18290S3W4 11.720 12567 12.890 13817S4W1 10.698 11282 11.410 12021S4W2 15.198 15944 15.623 16376S4W3 17.583 18367 18.355 19195S4W4 12.465 13097 13.345 13809S5W1 9.350 10062 9.735 10513S5W2 13.658 14594 13.170 14110S5W3 16.165 17168 16.142 17178S5W4 11.735 12602 11.663 12533

* Details of treatments are given in Table 1Sale price of chickpea - Rs. 1000 /qSale price of mustard - Rs. 1100 /q

REFERENCES

A.O.A.C. 1960. Official and tentave methods and analysis association of agricultural chemists, Washington.

ALI,M. 1992. Genotypic compatibility and spatial arrangement in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and India mustard (Brassica juncea) intercropping in North-East plains. Indian J. of Agri. Sc. 62 (4) : 249-253.

ALI,M. 1993. Studies on crop-weed competition in chickpea (Cicer arietinum)/mustard (Brassica juncea) intercropping. Indian Society of Weed Sc. Vol. II. : 39 - 40.

Singh, H.P.; Saxena, M.C. and Sahu, J.P. 1987. Mechanical and herbicidal weed control in chickpea. Indian J. of weed science. 19 : 1-2.

Singh, D.K. and Yadav, D.S. 1992. Production potential and economics of chickpea based intercropping system under rainfed conditions. Indian J. of Agronomy. 37 (3) : 424-429.

Constraints analysis and prioritization through PRA techniques in the agency area of East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh

K SUMAN KALYANI, V KRISHNAMURTHY, C CHANDRA SEKHAR RAO AND N ARUNA KUMARICentral Tobacco Research Institute, Rajahmundry, A.P., India.


ABSTRACT

A socio economic survey was carried out by using PRA techniques to analyze the tribal scenario of East Godavari district. In order to evoke their participation and to open ways in which these closed groups can participate better in assessment of opportunities, needs, priorities and constraints in project design and implementation. The constraints were identified through PRA techniques viz. social map, resource map, agro-ecology map, transect were used in agro-eco system analysis. Ex-post facto research design was used and a sample of 500 tribal families were selected on stratified random sampling procedure from two village panchayats viz. Peddageddada from Rampachodavarm mandal and Vattigadda from Rajavomangi mandal of East Godavari district based on purposive random sampling method. The major problems were identified and the interventions were proposed based on the analysis of PRA techniques.

Keywords: Constraint, PRA.

The tribal population in East Godavari district is concentrated mostly in the agency area covering 559 villages of nine mandals. The tribal communities are very primitive, indigenous and closed groups. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a methodology for interacting with villagers, understanding them and learning from them. It is a method of collecting different kinds of data, identifying and mobilizing intended groups and evoking their participation and opening ways in which intended groups can participate in decision making, project design, implementation and monitoring based on objectives, purposes and resources. It provides supplementary and complementary framework for data collection and analysis in a visual format in participatory development process.

The most prominent tribal communities in the selected villages are Konda Reddies, Koya Doras, Konda Kammaras, Valmikis, Manne Doras, Konda Kapus. The tribes follow primitive methods of agriculture, which is known as ‘Podu cultivation’ and ‘Shifting cultivation’. They clear away the forest lands on hill slopes by cutting and burning. They also depend up on the traditional occupations like Bamboo basket weaving, Mat weaving. They live in huts made up of mud and bamboo walls covered with thatched (Palm, Straw) roofs. They live in colonies ( 10 -20 families) locally called as gudems by constructing their huts very close to each other for protecting from wild animals like bandi sinduga( Cheetah) bear and wolf. They generally select their habitat near water source.


Ex-post facto research design was used and a sample of 500 tribal families were selected through stratified random sampling procedure from two village panchayaths viz. Pedageddada and Vattigadda based on purposive random sampling method.


A socio economic survey was carried out by using PRA techniques to analyze the tribal situation. The PRA techniques viz. social map, resource map, agro-ecology map, transect, mobility map, technology map, livelihood analysis, seasonal analysis, venn diagram, matrix ranking, flow diagram, impact diagram, ITK map, wealth ranking etc. were used in agro-eco system analysis and important among them are discussed below.

Agro-Ecology Map: Agro-ecosystem analysis was carried out for the villages for resource characterization, identification of prevailing systems and practices and constraints / problems. Problems were prioritized and technology interventions were prepared. Budget planning was prepared based on the technology interventions. The following tools were used for generating basic information. Hence, a survey was carried out to analyze the tribal scenario.

Major Crops: The staple food for tribal population is rice followed by minor millets like jowar, sorghum, pearl millet and tapioca. They also raise commercial crops like cotton, tobacco, chillies; pulses like redgram, blackgram, greengram, rajmah, cowpea; oil seeds like groundnut, gingelly; plantation crops like cashew, rubber, coffee and orchards like mango, banana, citrus, pineapple etc.

Crop Calendar & Cropping System: There is no strict calendar as such. But the tribal farmers follow certain series of crops as sequence. Important Cropping systems followed in this area are Paddy - Black gram/ Green gram, Sorghum- Vegetables, Gingelly/ Groudnut- Vegetables, Maize- Tobacco & Fallow Tobacco etc. The vegetables like Beans, Ridge gourd, Banana and tubers like Tapioca and forest tubers are generally used by the tribals.

Climate: Cool winter and summer with moderate temperatures are the characteristic feature of this area. The mean and maximum temperatures range between 24 - 32° C and the minimum between 14 - 24° C, respectively. The average annual rainfall varies from 900- 1400 mm with a mean rainfall of 1150 mm, most of which is received during the South-West monsoon. Evening showers are common in rainy season due to the existence of thick forests. Cloudiness and low light intensity prevail for a number of days during South-West monsoon period. Heavy rains are common in Kharif during the months of August to October. Day length ranges between 9 -11 hours. A high relative humidity of 70 to 80% exists in the atmosphere. High humidity and pleasant winters are characteristic of this area. Number of rainy days is more (around 45 out of 75) here. The temperatures are cool and may range between 15° to 40° C with a minimum temperature ranging between 15° to 20° C during winters and a maximum of 35° to 40° C during summer months.

Soils: The soils are light-textured sandy loams (Alfisols), except small patches of black soils. The soils are very fertile and support a variety of crops. With the mountainous terrain, the soils are subjected to severe erosion during heavy monsoon rains. To avoid soil erosion, horizontal contours are made on the hill tops. Both the soils at Pedageddada and Bandapalle are light soils and sandy loams. Thantikonda panchayath (Vattigadda) has red soils (80 ha) and black soils (114ha). Cheruvu Kommupalem (Bornagudem) panchayath has four soil types i.e. red soils (60ha), sandy loams, black cotton soils(40ha) and saline soils(33ha). The hill slopes are mostly of sandy loams. Contours are made on the hill slopes horizontally to prevent soil erosion. The rain water is allowed to drain out through small channels here and there.

Rainfall: The average annual rainfall varies from 900 to 1400 mm with a mean rainfall of 1300 mm, most of which is received during South-West monsoon (64%). North-East monsoon and summer showers account for 27% and 9%, respectively. The number of rainy days is 42 days. Cloudiness and low intensity prevail for a number of days during South-West monsoon period. Heavy rains are common in Kharif during September-October or cyclones during October, November leading. Cloudiness and low wgight to prevent soil erosion.ack soils (114ha). to floods and inundation of fields with 60-90cm water for 2-5 days (some time extending up to 10-12 days).

Physiography: Majority of the tribal villages have 80% elevated terrains. On the elevated terrains, the tribes grow cotton, vegetables and tobacco by shifting cultivation.

Irrigation: Crops are grown mostly under rain fed conditions. To avoid soil erosion, horizontal contours are made on the hill tops. Excess water from the hill tops/slopes is allowed to drain out through small drainage channels. In addition to rainwater, ponds are also available in the villages. Small canals, borewells and tanks supply water to the

villages. The villages have no proper drainage facilities. The depth of water table is around 80-100 feet. Yeleru reservoir supplies water to the villages covering 20-25 villages.

Resource Map: The resource map shows different kinds of natural resources and its utilization among farmers. The labour resource is high in both the villages as all the farmers contribute for the labour requirement of their village. The cost of the labour extends is Rs.50/- to Rs. 100/- per day. The tribal farmers rear buffaloes, cow, goat and sheep. Animal resource is high with cows, goats followed by sheep, buffaloes and pigs. Green fodders like guinea grass and Para grass are available in plenty on the hill tops. Tree and fuel resources are the assets of the tribal villages. The goat population is high in Vattigadda village followed by cows 70. Apart from those engaged in agriculture, most of them depend on goat rearing, cattle rearing and minor forest produce. Pedageddada village has 180 ha of rain fed light soils (Alfisols), 60 ha of light soils under tanks, 90 ha under canals altogether constituting 330 ha of cultivable area and 5466 ha of total geographical area. The major crops grown are paddy, blackgram, bajra, jowar, Cotton. The vegetables like beans, bottle gourds, ridge gourd, bhendi, tomato and brinjal are also being cultivated. Water resources are canals, tanks and ponds. Vattigadda village has 194 ha of total cultivable land with red soils (80 ha) and black soils (114 ha) under different crops. The main crop is white burley tobacco which constitutes followed by Tapioca, Paddy, Cashew and Cotton.

Minor Forest Produce (MFP): Minor Forest produce have been traditionally sustaining the tribal economies significantly. The tribals collect forest products like roots, fruits, tubers, beedi leaf, mahua flower, honey, gum, tamarind, tannins, dyes, fibres etc. for major requirements like food, shelter, fuel, fibre and medicines. They earn a meager income by selling these to traders and government co-operatives. The commonly available MFP include Honey (Stick Honey, Ball Honey, Borra Honey, Ant-Hole Honey, Screen Honey), Tamarind(Tamarindus indica), Amla, Forest tubers (Amorphophallus campanulatus), Tapioca (Manihot utilissima) for food purpose. They use Mushti (Strychnos nuxvomica), Gachakayalu, Indugapicca, Chillaginja, Nallacheedi Picca, Musilikaya (Curculigo orchiodes), Karakkaya (Terminalia chebula), Naramamidi Bark (Polyalthca longifolia), Mahua (Bassia latifolia) Pongamia (Pongamia pinnata) Pepper (Piper nigrum) etc. for medicinal purpose. Sisal (Agave sisalana), Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) are being used for fibre purpose where as Vippa (Bassia latifolia), Jeelugu (Ceylon piassava) are used for brew purpose. Sirimanu, Tangedu (Cassia auriculata), Bamboo(Bambusa vulgaris, Teak (Tectonagrandis), Eucalyptus(Eucalyptus globules); Palm (Borassus flabellifer), Vegisa (Indian kino) etc. are used for fuel and agricultural implements. Shikakai (Acacia concinna), Soap Nuts (Sapirdus trifoliatus), Hill-brooms (Kondachipurlu), Gum Karaya (Stercuilla urens), Puthika Sticks (Holoptelea integrifolia), Tendu Leaves (Diospyros melanoxylon), Adda Leaves etc. are used for other economic purpose.

Fig. – 1 : Agro-ecology & Resource Map

Fig.- 2: Social Map Fig.- 3: Social Map

Social Map: The social map is a symbolic representation of a social structure to understand and to simplify the location, social stratification and the availability of other social facilities in the context of village socio economic conditions. A transect was made in and around the villages viz. Pedageddada and Vattigadda starting from one end to another. viz. Schools, Hospital, Post-office, Bank, Village panchayat office, Youth club, Primary Health Center (PHC) and Temples. The map has attracted the attention of women folk, as it is colourful. All the tribal families are engaged in occupations viz. fishing, agriculture, horticulture and primitive hunting. Most of them are landless labourers with small holdings of 0.25 to 1.0 acre. Pedageddada village is situated 5-6 km away from Rampachodavaram Mandal. Smt.V.Lakshmi & M.Venkata Ramana have volunteered the group to draw and locate various social institutions Pedageddada. Social map of Pedageddada constitutes PHC, Bank, Girijan Co-operative Credit (GCC) Stores, Community hall, Primary School and 4 bore wells and one temple. Transport facilities are good with pucca roads. Drinking water facility was provided by Sri Satya Sai Trust through a water tank with a capacity of 500 lts. Pedageddada village has a total population of 844 representing from 221 households. Thatched houses are predominant in the village with 30 pucca houses. There are 15 Self Help Groups (SHG) s, two Vana Samrakshana Samithis (VSS)s and one water users association. Vattigadda village is situated in the jurisdiction of Thantikonda panchayat. The village is located 5 km away from Jeddangi towards Rajavommangi mandal. The social map of Vattigadda village constitutes Mandal Praja Parishad (MPP) School, Post-office, Bank, Temple and 4 bore wells. Transport facilities are good with pucca roads. Drinking water facility was provided by Sri Satya Sai Trust through a water tank with a capacity of 500 lts. Village has a total population of 1046 representing 260 households. Thatched houses are predominant in the village with fifty pucca houses. Village organizations viz. two Rytu mitra groups, 1 water users association, one Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS) and 7 Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

Identified Problems Through PRA Techniques :

Low productivity and low net returns in cereals (Rice, Jowar, Maize) pulses (Blackgram, Greengram, Cow pea) and tubers (Tapioca)Lack of awareness and knowledge about high yielding varieties (cereals and pulses) and the latest technical know-how in crop production.Lack of employment during lean period ( March to July months)Under/ non-utilization of natural resources like Minor Forest Produce (MFP). Low income from alternative sources of livelihood Low egg productivity in local chicksPoor health and nutritional status in women and childrenOccupational health hazards and drudgery in agro-based activities Based on the problems identified among the selected villages in tribal area, the need based, location specific agro-based interventions and enterprising interventions were identified for the upliftment of the tribals.

Selected Agro-based Interventions:

Package of practices in cereals, pulses, millets and tobaccoSoil test based fertilizer application.Introduction of indigenous, high yielding backyard poultry, sheep and goattery Introduction of green manuring and vermicompost technologies. Drudgery reduction by introduction of agricultural implementsNutritional security through back yard kitchen gardening

Interventions through Micro enterprises and homestead units

Training and skill development in the proposed micro enterprises viz. adda leaf plate making, tamarind processing, bamboo products making and burley seedling production. Homestead units viz. Natural dyes, Tannins & gums unit, Herbal products unit, garment making and value addition.Value-addition in minor forest produces. Introduction of floriculture - Firecracker plants- Crossandra infundibuliformis (Kanakambaram) in tribal backyards.Development of marketing avenues to the finished products.The proposed interventions will be carried out in the selected villages for the employment generation and sustenance of tribal families.Need based vocational training programs which are technologically sound and economically productive help the tribal youth to sustain themselves through self employment and making them self-reliant over a period of time. The increased living standard will ensure the quality of health, education and employment leading towards empowerment. The proposed interventions are intended to bring desirable and qualitative change in the living system of the targeted group.The productivity level of the agro based cropping system will be enhanced by dealing the local agro-based problems effectively. Adoption of appropriate technologies for on-farm value-addition of agricultural by-products and wastes will result in greater economic dividen.

Evaluation of fungicides for management of downy mildew of isabgol caused by Pseudoperonospora plantaginis in Rajasthan

R K YADAV, JEEWA RAM* AND M P SHARMADepartment of Plant Pathology, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur- 313001, *KVK, (SKRAU)

Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, IndiaEmail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The isabgoal (Plantago ovata Forsk.) is an important medicinal crop and it is grown in arid or semi region of Rajasthan. Annually a major production become suffered due to Pseudoperonospora plantaginis, causes Downy mildew of isabgol and results in a considerable loss in yield. The fungicides were tested to prevent the Downey mildew disease of isabgoal. The efficacy of 6 fungicides i.e Apron 35 SD, Ridomil MZ, Fosetyl Al, Carbendazim,Mancozeb and Blitox were evaluated at 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 ppm concentration against zoosporangial germination. Minimum zoosporangial germination was recorded in Apron35 SD (4.81%) followed by Ridomil MZ-72 WP, Fosetyl Al and Mancozeb. In the field trials, the systemic infection in different treatment ranged from 4.47 to 10.33 per cent and non-systemic infection ranged from 48.67 to 60.67 per centin both the years . Three seed dressers ot four doses(0.5,1.0,1.5 and 2 %) of each were evaluated, Apron35 SD (2g per kg seed) proved most effective in reducing infection as compaired to control 691kg/ha. Seed yield in different treatment varied from 730 to 820 kg per ha in both the years.

Key words: Pseudoperonospora plantaginis, fungicides, isabgol, downy mildew

Isabgol (Plantago ovata Forsk) is the main source of seed and husk for use in medicines. India commands nearly monopoly in production and export of the seed and husk to the world market, which brings unmatched perspectives to the cultivation of this important medicinal crop. More than 90 per cent of the total Indian produce is exported all over the World. In Rajasthan the crop was cultivated in 81538 ha area with annual production of 41721 tonnes and the productivity of 512 kg /ha (Annonymous 2004-05). Downy mildew is reported to be caused by Peronospora alta (Rathore, 1996) and Pseudoperonospora plantaginis (Sharma and Pushpendra, 1997) in western and southern parts of Rajasthan respectively. In field, the downy mildew affected plants produce systemic and non-systemic symptoms. The disease causes extensive damage to the crop and makes the cultivation of isabgol crop unprofitable At present resistant varieties are not available against this disease.. The present study was therefore, made to examine relative efficacy of different fungicides against P. plantaginis in vitro and in planta conditions.


In vitro evaluation:, Freshly harvested sporangia of P. plantaginis were collected in water from systemically infected plants. Systematic and non systemic fungicides viz Apron 35 SD, Ridomil MZ-72 WP, Fosetyl Al, Bavistin, Mancozeb and Blitox were evaluated in vitro against the P. plantaginis These fungicides were prepared in double concentrations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 ppm and their effect on zoosporangial germination was studied by slide germination method having three replications for each treatment. The slides were placed in Petriplates lined with moist blotting papers. The Petri dishes were incubated at 25 ± 1 C for 24 h and slides were examined under microscope for counting total germinated sporangia and percentage of inhibition of germination was calculated.

In Field evaluation: The field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years i.e. 2001-02 & 2002-03.The seed of GI -2 variety collected from diseased plants in the previous season were sown in triplicate plots each of 4 x3 m size with crop geometry of 30 x10 cm. The oosporic powers collected in previous year was applied at 6 g m-1 row prior to sowing to ensure appreance of 50 days after sowing with conidial suspension of @ 1x 10 5 conidia /ml. Seed of treatment of three fungicides were Apron SD, Carbendazim and Mancozeb at four levels I e 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 gm used and separate control without fungicides served as control was also maintained .Each treatment was replicated thrice 30 and 45 DAS , five randomly selected plants from each replication were used todetermineseedyield,estimate systemic and non systemic infection. Five randomly selected plants from each replication were collected separately. Five-day-old seedlings were whorl inoculated for three consecutive days. Numbers of systemically infected plants were recoded 30 and 45 days after sowing. Per cent disease incidence of systemically infected plants was calculated by counting number of diseased plants and the total number of plants in the pots. Percents disease intensity for non systemic infection was recorded 30 and 45 days after sowing following the 0-5 scale (Rathore and Pathak 2001).


The mean sporangial germination in different fungicides varied from 4.81 to 27.85 per cent as against 57.00 % in control (Table-1). Apron 35 SD, Ridomil MZ-WP and Fosetyl Al were effectively inhibited sporangial germination at (50 ppm) concentration. Mancozeb and Blitox also completely inhibited sporangial germination at 200 ppm concentration Apron 35 SD, Ridomil MZ-72 WP, Fosetyl Al, Mancozeb and Blitox complletly inhibit the myceial growth of the P alta even at 200 ppm while in case of


carbendazim could not check the growth of pathogen as reorted earliar by Rathore and Pathak 2004.Spraying of different fungicides had no significance bearing on reduction of per cent systemic infection. Apron 35 SD (2g per kg seed) as seed treatment was found most effective to lowest the systemic infection of downy mildew as followed by doses of Apron 35 SD i.e .05,1.0 and 1.5 gm / kg of seed as compared to Carbendazim and Mancozeb at any concentration (Table-2). The seed yield in this treatment was 820 kg per ha in the year 2001-02 and 825 kg per ha in the year 2002-03. It was also observed that Apron 35 SD provided protection to isabgol seedling from foliar infection for 30 days, where as, Mancozeb and Bavistin could not provide protection to seedlings. Spraying of Apron 35 SD proved most effective and significantly superior over all other treatment exhibiting maximum values of different parameters of seed yield. Several researchworkers have

succeeded in managing downey mildew of various host plants with the use of different of fungicides including Metalaxyl. Desai and Desai (1969) reported that two spray of aureofungin @ 15 g / ha per spray effectively controlled Peronospora plantaginis on blond psyllium. Rathore and Pathak (2002) reported that seed treatment with chemicals enhanced vigour of blond psyllium plants. In the present study we recorded improvement in seed yield. Foliar sprays of chemicals persisted in plants for longer period and could protect the crop from secondary infection but were effectively only in preventing non systemic (locals) infection. Rathore and Pathak (2001) have also made similar observation. Several workers have succeeded in controlling downy mildew of different host plants with the use of different fungicides including metalaxyl ( Hartill, 1982; Rathore et al.,1986; Georgy et al.,1986; Dunleavey, 1987; Jesperson and Sulton, 1987 & Mir et al.,1987 ).

Table 1. Effect of different concentrations of fungicides on zoosporangial germination of Pseudoperonospora plantaginis

Fungicides Per cent germination at concentration (ppm)5 10 25 50 100 200 Mean

Apron 35 SD 16.10 9.70 3.10 0.0. 0.0 0.0 4.81

Ridomil MZ-72 WP 20.70 11.70 5.30 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.20

Fosetyl Al 25.50 13.10 6.40 0.0 0.0 0.0 7.50

Bavistin 37.00 31.30 29.00 25.77 22.07 21.97 27.85

Mancozeb 31.80 26.00 12.60 8.17 5.27 0.0 13.97

Blitox 40.40 27.70 18.70 11.63 6.50 0.0 17.48

Control 51.00 52.40 54.10 55.87 57.47 57.87 54.78

SEm. ± 1.391 1.394 1.591 1.341 1.437 1.363

CD (P=0.05) 4.285 4.294 4.903 4.133 4.429 4.199

Table 2: Effect of seed treatment on downy mildew of Isabgol under field conditions

Fungicides 2001-02 2002-03Dose(gkg-1

seed)

DI (%)*(Syst

infection)

DI (%)(non-syst infection)

Seed yield(kg ha-1)

DI%)(Syst

infection)

DI (%)(non-syst infection)

Seed yield(kg ha-1)

Apron35 SD 0.5 6.77 55.58) 761 6.08 54.37 765Apro 35 SD 1.0 5.80 53.00 775 4.87 52.30 781

Apro 35 SD 1.5 5.67 51.20 800 4.78 50.27 805Apro 35 SD 2.0 5.50 49.67 820 4.47 48.67 825Mancozeb 0.5 7.80) 57.00 734 6.77 55.9 740Mancozeb 1.0 7.00 54.67 748 6.40 53.70 755Mancozeb 1.5 6.80 52.00 765 5.77 52.14) 775Mancozeb 2.0 6.00 51.17 782 5.00 51.03 795Carbendazim 50 0.5 10.33 60.67 730 9.37 59.23 735Carbendazim 50 1.0 9.50 60.00 748 8.53 58.97 750Carbendazim 50 1.5 8.00 57.93 755 6.97 56.73 762Carbendazim 50 2.0 7.50 56.00 771 6.50) 55.07 778Control - 18.00 64.50 675 17.07 62.50 681SEm. ± 0.380 0.836 5.291 0.307 0.742 6.599CD (P=0.05) 1.110 2.441 15.444 0.895 2.167 19.260DI = Disease incidence *Average of three replication

REFERENCES

Annonomous, 2005-06. Vital Agriculture Statistics. Directorate of Agriculture, Jaipur Rajasthan. pp 112.

Desai, M.V. and D.B. Desai. 1969. Control of downy mildew of Isabgol by aureofungin. Hindustan Antibiot. Bull. 11: 254-257.

Dunleavey, J.M. 1987. Yield reduction in soybean caused by downy mildew. Plant Disease. 71: 1112-1114.

Georgy, N.I., I.A. Radwan, H.A. Mohammed and A.E. Shahabi . 1986. Chemical control of downy mildew and purple leaf blotch of onion in Egypt. Agric. Res. 61: 25-41.

Hartill, W.F.T. 1982. Control of downy mildew of Brassica seedling and lettuce with systemic fungicides. New Zealand J. of Experimental Agriculture. 10: 69-72.

Jesperson, G.D. and J.C. Sulton. 1987. Evaluation of a forecaster for downy mildew of onion (Allium cepa L.). Crop Protection. 6: 95-103.

Mir, N.M., A.K. Dhar, M.A. Khan, G.H. Dar and M.V. Zargar . 1987. Screening of fungicides for field control downy mildew

(Peronospora destructor) on onion. Indian J. Mycol. Pl. Pathol. 17: 321-322

Rathore, R.S., S. Mathur and K. Mathur. 1986. Control of secondary infection of opium downy mildew induced by Peronospora arborescens by metalaxyl. Summa Phytopathologica.12: 202-206.

Rathore, B S 1996. Economic management of downy mildew of Isabgol through chemicals. Plant Disease Research, 11: 90-92

Rathore, B S and R.S. Rathore, 1996. Downy mildew of Isabgol in Rajasthan. PKV Research J. 20: 107.

Rathore B S and Pathak VN. 2001. Management of downy mildew of blond psyllium through seed treatment –cum foliar spray. Indian Phytopath 54 :409-412

Rathore B S and Pathak VN. 2002. Effect of seed treatment on downy mildew of blond psyllium.J Mycol Pl Pathol 32:35-37

Sharma, M P and Pushpendra. 1997. A new pathogen causing downy mildew of Isabgol (Plantago ovataForsk.).J. Mycol. Pl. Pathol. 28: 74.

Yield gap analysis of black gram production through frontline demonstration

SWAPNIL DUBEY, SARVESH TRIPATHY, PRADYUMN SINGH, RAKESH KUMAR SHARMAKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Raisen, M.P., India.


ABSTRACT

Blackgram is and important food legume widely consume in India. It also plays an important role in sustainable agriculture enriching the soil through biological nitrogen fixation. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Raisen (M.P.) during the period from 2007-08 to 2009-10 conducted a total 36 frontline demonstration of blackgram crop. The highest seed yield (9.89 q ha-1) was recorded in the year 2009-10. In FLD, it was 46.51% more over the farmers practice (6.75 q ha -1). Average extension gap was recorded 2.53 q ha-1 and average technology index was recorded 24.36 percent. The technology gap was ranged between 2.11 q ha-1 to 3.57 q ha-1. The productivity gain under FLD over farmer’s practice created greater awareness and motivated the other farmer’s to adopt appropriate production technology of the crop.

Keywords: Black gram, yield gap, technology gap.

Black gram (Vigna mungo L.) is the most important pulse crop in India, covering an area of 2434 lac hectare with total production of 14 million tones. The average productivity is 432 kg ha-1. (Anonymous, 2008). The crop is resistant to adverse climatic conditions and improves the soil fertility by fixing atmosphere nitrogen in soil. It has been reported that the crop produce equivalent to 22.10 kg of N/ha.

The pulse “black gram” play important role in Indian diet. It contains about 20% protein, which is almost three times that of cereal and other minerals and vitamins. Raisen district occupies 5000 ha of land with the average productivity of 357 kg ha-1 of black gram. In pulse crops there are a number of diseases, insect and pest, which cause heavy losses resulting in poor production.

Though several resistant / tolerant varieties have been developed by research scientist. The spread of such variety in the farmers’ field is very limited. Keeping in this view the present study was carried out to find out the yield

gap analysis of black gram production through front line demonstration in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh.

METERIALS AND METHODS

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Raisen (M.P.) conducted front line demonstrations on black gram during the period 2007-08 to 2009-10 in villages of Sanchi and Gairatganj block. A total 36 farmers were covered under this programme. The demonstration of improved technology was taken in area of 0.4 ha was covered in 3 years for demonstration of recommended improved practices of Blackgram. To compare with flds, a control plot was maintained at each location. Details of technologies demonstrated have been given in table 1. In general, soils of the area under sandy loam and medium in fertility status. The yield data were collected from both the fld plots and control plots and their technology gap, extension gap and the technology index were worked out (Samui et al 2000) as given below.

Extension gap = Demonstration yield – Farmers yield Technology gap = Potential yield – Demonstration yield

(Potential yield – Demonstration yield) X 100Technology index =

Potential yield

Regular visit by the KVK scientists to demonstration field were made to guide the farmers. These visits were also utilized to collect feed back information for further improvement in research and extension programme. The critical input in the form of quality seed, balanced fertilizers etc. were supplied to the farmers by the KVK. Data were collected from the FLDs plots and analyzed with the suitable statistical tools to compare the yield of fld plots and control plots.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The results obtained during three year presented in table 2. The results revealed that the highest yield in FLD plots and farmer’s plots was 9.89 q ha-1 and 6.75 q ha-1

respectively. The yield of black gram under demonstration ranged between 8.43 q ha-1 to 9.89 q ha-1 over observation period. The results clearly indicated that due to knowledge and adoption of appropriate production technology, the yield of black gram could be increased by 26.76%, 43.01% and 46.51% over the yield obtained under farmers practices. The above finding are in line with the findings of Singh (2002). The highest extension gap which ranged from 1.78 q ha -1 to 3.14 q ha-1 under the study. Average extension gap was 2.53 q ha-1, which emphasized the need to educate the farmers through various extension means like FLD higher for adoption of improved agricultural technologies. The technology gap, the difference between potential yield and yield of demonstration plots were range between 2.11 q ha -

1to 3.57 q ha-1. On an average technology gap under 3 year FLD programme was 2.92 q ha-1. The technology gap

observed may be attributed dissimilarity in the soil fertility status, agricultural practices and local climatic conditions. The technology index shows the feasibility of evolved technology at the farmer’s field. The lower value of technology more is the feasibility of the technology demonstrated (Sagar and Chandra 2004). As such reduction of technology index from 29.75% (2007-08) to 17.58% (2009-10) exhibited the feasibility of technology demonstrated. The FLD produced a significant positive result and provided the research an opportunity to demonstrate the productivity potential and profitability of the improved technology under real farm situation, which they have been advocating for a long time. This could circumvent some of the constraints in the existing transfer of technology system in the district. Similar findings were reported by Kirar et al.,(2005).

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that the front line demonstration conducted on improved technologies of black gram at farmer’s fields of Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh showed that the farmers could increase black gram production significantly. In demonstration the integration of improved production technology of black gram performed better than control plots. It improves the productivity by 38.68 percent. The productivity gain under FLD over farmer’s practice created awareness and motivated the other farmers to adopt appropriate production technology of black gram in the district.

Table 1 : Particulars showing the details of black gram growing under FLD and existing practices.

Particulars Demonstration practices Farmer’s practices

Variety JU-86 LocalSeed rate 20 Kg ha-1 30 Kg ha-1

Sowing method Line sowing (30 cm) Line sowing (22.5 cm)

Fertilizer dose 20:60:20 (N:P:K) ha-1 50 Kg ha-1 (DAP)

Weedicide Imizathapyre 1 Lt ha-1 Hand weeding

Plant Protection Need based insecticide and fungicide spray One spray of insecticide

Table 2 : Exploitable productivity, extension gap, technology gap and technology index of Blackgram as grown under FLD’s and existing package of practices.

Year Area No. of Demo

Yield q ha-1 % increase in yield over FP

Extension gap q ha-1

Technology gap q ha-1 Technology index

Highest Lowest Average FP

2007-08 5 ha 12 9.84 7.42 8.43 6.65 26.96 1.78 3.57 29.752008-09 5 ha 12 10.85 7.85 8.91 6.23 43.01 2.68 3.09 25.75

2009-10 5 ha 12 11.12 8.23 9.89 6.75 46.51 3.14 2.11 17.58

Mean 15 ha 36 10.60 7.83 9.07 6.54 38.76 2.53 2.92 24.36

REFERENCES

Anonymous, 2008. Evaluation Agricultural statistics at glance, http://agricoop.nic.in

Kirar, B. S., Mahajan, S.K., Nshine, R., Awasthi, H.K. and Shukla, R.K., 2005. Impact of technological practices on the productivity of Soybean in Frontline demonstration. Ind. Res. J. of Ext. Edu. 5(1):15-17.

Sagar, R. L. and Ganesh Chandra, 2004. Front line demonstration on seasame in West Bengal. Agricultural Extension Review 16 (2): 7-10.

Samui, S.K., Maitra, S., Roy, D. K., Mandal, A. K., Saha, D, 2000. Evaluation front line demonstration on groundnut. J. of the Indian Society Costal Agricultural Research, 18(2): 180-183.

Singh, P. K., 2002. Impact of participation in planning on adoption of new technology through FLD. MANAGE Extension Research Review July-Dec-45-48.

Integrated pest and disease management through organic farming approaches in fenugreek

L K CHHATA*, JEEVA RAM**, Q G QURESHI * AND P L MALIWAL****Dryland Farming Research Station Arjia, Bhilwara, **KVK (SKRAU) Sriganganagar, ***ARS, Udaipur, ***DEE, MPUAT,

Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India.Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Field trials were conducted at Dryland Farming Research Station Arjia, Bhilwara during Rabi season from 2007 to 2009 for the management of wilt and powdery mildew diseases along with aphid and weevil intensity on fenugreek through soil amendments with neemcake, seed treatment with Trichoderma, foliar spray of neem formulation (Azaderachtin @2ml/lit.), foliar spray of neem seed karnel extract @ 5% and actinomycetes based formulation under disease inoculation conditions. The module comparing soil application of neemcake + seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 kg/ha + Foliar spray of neem formulation (Azadirachtin) found effective for organic pest and disease management module for fenugreek. Minimum incidence of root rot 5.73 and 9.53 were recorded under this treatment while aphid infestation was also found low (136.87). Powdery mildew was also observed at minimum level i.e. 21.45 and 26.78 % at 70 and 100 DAS respectively.

Key words: Fenugreek, Fusarium oxysporium, organic amendment, Aphid, alfalfa weevil.

Fenugreek is not only one of the important spices grown in Rajasthan but also an important leafy vegetable during winter season. Wilt of fenugreek induced by F. oxysporium Schlecht and powdery mildew caused by Erysiphae polygoni one some of the important diseases resulting heavy losses. Initially the fungus was isolated from locally collected plants sold as leafy vegetable in the local market. It is a soil born pathogen and is very difficult to control because of its continuous persistence and multiplication in the soil. Although number of chemicals have been suggested for its control due to there adverse effect to ecosystem, management of these disease and insect through some organic method were tried.


The trial was conducted with five treatments including control in a field using four replications and individual plot size of 24 m2. Neem cake @ 2 q/ha and FYM @ 100q/ha were added to each plot 10 days before sowing. Inoculums of F. oxysporium was multiplied on sorghum grain medium and 10 days old culture was added to each row at the time of sowing. Sowing was done in the last week of November every year. To get maximum disease level the inoculums was added twice. The first symptoms appeared in the month of January showing dropping of the plants. Infected plants start drying and finally die. The root of infected plant looks light brown to dark brown in color. Symptoms of powdery mildew appeared in month of February. White floury patches were found on leaves stems

and pods. Symptoms start with white powdery growth on leaves which may coalesce and over the white leaf with the white powdery growth of the fungus. Aphids are small insects found in large number of on the aerial part of the plant. They suck the plant sap and make plants weak. Fenugrek has earlier been reported to be attacked by different species of aphids, viz. Aphis craccivara (Brar and Kawar 1994) Acyrthosiphon pisum ( Dadhich et al. 1989) A. craccivora is reported to cause seed yield loses to the extent of 60 to 68 percent (Sharma and Kalara, 1999). Similarly another insect (Hypera sp.) attack on fenugreek crop commonly called “alfalfa weevil” initiated in the first week of February and remained till the middle of March. Extensive feeding by this pest resulted in numerous holes on the leaves rendering the top canopy of the crop a meshed appearance.


Pooling of two years data revealed that the different organic pest/disease management module effectively controlled pest and disease and increases the fenugreek yield. The module comprising soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha+ seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8g/kg + foliar spray of neem formulation (Azadirachtin) @ 5ml/lit at 45, 60 and 90 DAS found effective for rest organic pest and disease management module for fenugreek. This treatment showed minimum incidence of root rot (5.73 and 9.53 %) at 70 and 100 DAS respectively (Table 1).

Table1: Effect of different modules on wilt/root rot, powdery mildew disease and fenugreek yield during 2007 & 2008 (Mean)


Treatments

Mean infestation of wilt/root rot

(%) at

Mean infection of powdery mildew

(%) at

YieldMea

n

Net return over

control Rs/ha.*

C:B ratio

2007 200870 DAS

100 DAS

70 DAS

100 DAS

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 g/kg + foliar spray of neem formulation (Azadirachtin @ 2 ml/lit.) at 60, 75 and 90 DAS

5.73(13.75

)

9.53(17.96

)

21.45(27.56)

26.78(31.11)

10.72 12.28 11.50 12005 1:3.14

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma at 8 gm/kg + foliar spray of NSKE @ 5% at 60, 75 and 90 DAS

7.42(15.75

)

11.45(19.77

)

27.59(31.70)

31.84(34.32) 9.16 10.21 9.68 6430 1:1.87

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 gm/kg + foliar spray of NSKE @ 5% at 60 DAS + Actinomycetes based formulation

8.59(17.00

)

11.19(19.52

)

25.99(30.64)

29.00(33.07) 9.83 11.61 10.72 9619 1:2.61

Seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 g/kg + foliar spray of NSKE at 60 DAS + Azadirachtin at 75 and 90 DAS

9.66(17.59

)

12.38(20.57

)

25.36(30.21)

31.86(34.33) 8.43 10.48 9.45 5726 1:5.21

Control (untreated check) 14.24(22.14

)

17.77(24.91

)

32.09(34.49)

38.74(37.77) 7.24 7.93 7.58

S.Em ± - - - - 0.35 0.41 -C.D. (P= 0.5) - - - - 1.07 1.26 -

(Figures in the parenthesis are angular transformed value)* Net return from control Rs. 23210/-

Table 2 : Effect of modules on aphid intensity and weevil on fenugreek yield during 2007 and 2008 (Mean)

Treatments

Av. no. of aphids per twigs (10 cm) mean of

2007-2008 at

Av. percent infestation of

weevil mean of 2007-2008 at

Seed yield q/ha

Mean seed yield q/ha

Net return over

control Rs/ha.*

*

C:B ratio

70 DAS

85 DAS

100 DAS 85 DAS 100

DAS 2007 2008

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha+seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 g/kg + foliar spray of neem formulation (Azadirachtin @ 2 ml/lit.) at 60, 75 & 90 DAS

44.12(6.25)

74.12(8.62)

136.87(23.39

)

9.50(18.05)

*

14.31(22.21

)

10.72

12.29 11.50 12005 1:3.1

4

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma at 8 gm/kg + foliar spray of NSKE @ 5% at 60, 75 and 90 DAS

75.12(8.67)

119.12(10.91

)

251.25(15.85

)

7.69(15.97)

12.80(20.94

)9.16 10.2

1 9.68 6430 1:1.87

Soil application of neem cake @ 2 q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 gm/kg + foliar spray of NSKE @ 5% at 60 DAS + Actinomycetes based formulation

56.37(7.51)

90.87(9.55)

200.87(14.15

)

6.10(14.18)

9.40(17.81

)9.83 11.6

1 10.72 9619 1:2.61

Seed treatment with Trichoderma @ 8 g/kg + foliar spray of NSKE at 60 DAS + Azadirachtin at 75 and 90 DAS 77.62

(8.80)

134.12(11.49

)

258.25(15.99

)

8.38(16.75)

13.70(21.71

)8.43 10.4

8 9.45 5726 1:5.21

Control (untreated check) 105.75(10.29

)

244.75(15.51

)

485.50(21.91

)

11.09(19.44)

17.86(24.99

)7.24 7.93 7.58

S.Em ± 0.94 0.69 0.35 0.41C.D. (P= 0.5) 2.88 2.13 1.07 1.26

Figures in the parenthesis are transformed x+0.5 values.* Figures in parentheses are angular transformed values.** Net return from control Rs. 23210/-

Above treatment also effectively controlled Aphid and alfalfa weevil and showed minimum aphid population (136.87) at 100 DAS while maximum aphid population (485.50) and minimum seed yield (7.58 q/ha) was recorded in control (Table 2). The minimum infestation (9.40%) of alfalfa weevil (Hypera sp.) at 100 DAS was recorded with the module comprising of soil treatment of neem cake @ 2q/ha + seed treatment with Trichoderma 8 g/ha + foliar spray of NSKE @ 5% at 60 DAS + Actinomycetes based formulation at 75 and 90 DAS where as in control the maximum infestation (17.86%) was recorded (Table 2). Yield of fenugreek seed in both years found significantly

superior in above treatments with pooled yield was 11.50 q/ha over check (7.58 q/ha). Two years experiment on effect of soil amendment on wilt disease of fenugreek showed that use of neem cake @ 2 q/ha gave maximum reduction in disease incidence that led to the highest yield (11.50q/ha). This study indicate that organic amendment of soil by adding neem cake was found effective in reducing wilt disease incidence and increasing the yield in fenugreek. Many root pathogens have been successfully controlled by ploughing organic materials in the soil (Mehrotra, 1976, Ghaffar 1993, Chakreborty and Purkyastha 1984, Tu 1978 and Malajckuk et al. 1984) According to them addition of fresh organic

material controlled the growth of pathogenic soil organism’s viz. M. phaseolina, R. solani and Fusarium spp by producing either a toxic metabolite or parasitizing hyphae of pathogenic fungi or by lying them- suppression of wilt symptoms in fenugreek may be attributed by many causes. The application of neem cake to the field increased the multiplication of aerobic microorganisms. These microorganisms might have fixed the available nitrogen and utilized it for decomposition of organic matter. Desai and Kulkarni (2001) reported that the sclerotial germination of Macrophomia phaseolina was inhibited by neem cake. In this way they might have created the scarcity of nitrogen for germination and penetration of chlamydospores of the pathogen and in turn suppressed the disease expression. The

use of bioagents (Trichoderma) are able to stimulate growth of plants but suppress the pathogenic expression in leguminous crop (Azcon, 1989) especially of F.solani, F. oxysporium and Ascochyta pisi in pea (Wang Kaun Chang et al., 1977). Increased aerobic activity of microorganism increased the released of CO2, which in turn inhibits the growth of pathogen and helps to build up the crop health. These microorganisms also release some enzymes, which help to improve the crop health and check the growth of pathogenic fungi (Anonymous, 2002).

Acknowledgement: Authors are thankful to Director of Research, MPUAT Udaipur for providing facilities.

REFERENCES

Anonymous, 2002. Organic Farming, Publication from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 3-4.

Azcon, B. 1989. Soil Biol. Bio Chem. 21: 539-644.

Brar, K.S. and Kanwar, J.S. 1994. Field responce of fenugreek germplasm to Aphis craccivora (Koch.) J. Insect Sci, 7(2): 211-212.

Chakrabrty, U. and P.P. Purkayastha. 1984. Can J. Plant Pathol. 8: 140-146.

Dadhich, S.R. , Kumawat, K.C., Jain, P.C. and Sharma, J.K. 1989. Studies on varietal tolerance to fenugreek (Ttigonella foenum-graecum L) to aphids and its management through insecticides. First National Seminar on Seed Spices, October. 2-5, 9, Jaipur pp 43-44.

Desai S.A. and Kulharni S.. 2001. Effect of neem extracts and products on the growth and sclerotia formation of Macrophomia phaseolina (Tassi) Gold J.Pl.Pathol. 19: 100-102.

Ghaffar, A. 1993 Rhizobia as biocontrol organisms. Rept. Deptt. Botany, Univer. Karachi, Pakistan.

Malajckak, N. 1984. Trans Br. Mycol Soc. 82-491-500.

Mehrotra R.S. and D.P. Twari 1976. Ann Microbiol. (Inst. Pasteur) 127 (A) 415-421.

Sharma, S.S. and Kalra, V.K. 1999, Assessment of seed yield losses caused by Aphis craccivora Koch in fenugreek Forage Research, (In press).

Wang Kaun Chang, Zhang Zanyshan, Chenjian Ming, Fan Zhong Ding and Nia BAO Shan. 1977. Ningxia J. Agri. Forestry Sci. Tech. China 5: 1-5.

An economic study of plant nursery business in Udaipur, Rajasthan

RUCHIRA SHUKLAInstitute of Agribusiness Management (IABM), Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat, India


ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted in Udaipur districts during 2005-2006 to assess the socio-economic status of plant nursery business. A total of 20 private plant nurseries was selected for the study. The study revealed that 50% of the nursery owners had primary level of education and 60% owners performed their business on their own land. More than 55% owners had upto 5 years of experience in nursery business. This business has vast potentials of generating employment and income of the owners. The yearly net returns per ha nursery was Rs. 145226.5. The rate of returns over full-cost was found to be 1.44. Non-availability of improved seeds/seedlings was the main constraint in nurseries.

Key words: Plant nursery, Economic analysis, Udaipur.

India is an agrarian society with about 65 per cent of its population engaged in agricultural production. The agricultural sector provides food, employment, foreign exchange as well as raw materials for the nation’s agro-allied industries among other benefits. In order to meet the nutritional demand of increasing population of the country, huge amount of fruits and vegetables need to be produced. The government has, therefore, given special emphasis for planting different fruit trees and medicinal plants over the country. In this situation, improved variety of fruit and medicinal saplings/seedlings are very essential for distribution among the farmers and other enthusiastic people. A huge number of private plant nurseries has been established in different parts of the country and are playing an important role for successful implementation of tree plantation as well as forestation programme in the country. Unfortunately, no study has been conducted for this plant nursery management or nursery business. Therefore, detail information about the plant nursery business would help the researchers as well as policy makers for the improvement of the business. Nevertheless, the findings of the study will encourage more entrepreneurs to invest in setting plant nursery. Therefore, the present study has been undertaken in order to: know the socio-economic conditions of private plant nursery owners;

Find out the income and employment potentials of plant nursery business;

Identify the socio-economic constraints to plant nursery business.


The study was conducted in Udaipur city and its nearby areas of Rajasthan where the plant nurseries has been established. The sample plant nurseries were selected with consultation of the concerned personnel of the nursery. A total of 20 private plant nursery owners were purposively selected for the study. Both horticulture and forest nurseries are operated by private entrepreneurs. The data were collected through survey method by pre-tested interview schedules during January-February 2005-2006. The collected data were edited, summarized, tabulated, and

analyzed to fulfill the objectives of the study. Tabular method was used in analyzing the collected data for the study. Land use cost was calculated on the basis of per year rental value of land. Relative profitability of plant nursery business was examined on the basis of gross margin and net return analysis. Gross return was calculated by multiplying number of seedlings with market price of the seedling. Total variable cost refers to all variable costs including the imputed value of family supplied inputs. Gross margins were calculated by deducting the total variable cost from the gross return. Net return was calculated by deducting total cost from the return. Weighted scores were calculated against each individual problem faced by the respondents using the following formula for ranking the severity of the nursery business problems.

Weighted Score = Σ Si Where, Si indicates the score given by the respondent for the

ith problem, and i = 1, 2, 3.....n


Socio-economic profile of private nursery owners The socio-economic characteristics of the nursery

owners revealed that the average family size was 6.5 which was more or less similar to the national average of persons per family of India. The adult male, female, and children constituted 55.38%, 33.84%, and 10.76% of total family members, respectively. On the average, 50% of the plant nursery owners had primary level of education, 40% secondary, and the rest owners had above secondary level of education (10%). About 50% of the respondents mentioned that their principal and sole occupation was nursery business and 46% respondents depended on nursery business along with other agricultural activities (Table 1). 55% of the nursery owners reported that their experience on nursery business was five years, while 30% reported 6-10 years. Only 15% of the respondents were experienced by more than 10 years. In the case of ownership pattern of nursery land,50% nursery owners started business on their own lands, 30% on leased land and only 10% nursery owners mentioned both own plus leased land. The incomes of the nursery owners come from various sources. It was found that the main sources of income of the 83%, 9%, and 7% of the

respondents were plant nursery, agricultural activities and privet service, respectively.

Table 1. Socio-economic profiles of the plant nursery owners

CharacteristicsFamily size (no./farm)

Adult male

Adult female

Children (Below 13 yrs)

6.5 (100)

3.6 (55.38%)

2.2 (33.84)

0.7 (10.76%)

Education level (%)

Primary

Secondary

Above secondary

--

50

40

10

Occupation (%)

Nursery (sole)

Nursery plus other agril. Activities

Service

Other

--

50

46

03

01

Source of income (%)

Nursery (sole)

Nursery plus other agril. Activities

Service

Other

--

83.00

09

07

01

Length of nursery business (%)

Upto 5 years

6 to 10 years

Above 10 years

--

55

30

15

Ownership of nursery land (%)

Own

Lease

Own plus lease

--

60

30

10

The present findings conferms the work of Segun et al (2008) who reported that plant nursery business was managed by youth and few adults.They also reported that majority of the respondents have tertiory education having resenable formal educational background that could enable them introduce improvements into plant nursery business. Majority of the respondents have an average experinece of 5 years implies that the plant nursery operators in the study area can be considred to be quite knowledeble on the operations and constraints of plant nursery operations. Respondents could therefore appreciate any improved technology introduced to them.

Land distribution pattern of sample plant nurseries

The average area per plant nursery was found to be 0.193 ha, which covered 25% of the total cultivated land. This finding agree with the Iluyonade et al. (1997) that about ninety per cent of ornamental plant production in Nigeria is operated in small land size. The nurseries in the study areas produce different types of saplings/seedlings and cutting of fruits, forest trees, and flowers. The names of the fruits, flowers, ornamentals, and forest plants produced in different

sample nurseries are given in Table-2 and the prices of saplings are given in Table-2.

Table 2. Land distribution pattern of private plant nursery owners

Types of land Area (ha/farm)

Owned cultivated land 0.720

Homestead land 0.069

Fallow --

Rente in 0.149

Total cultivated land 0.796

Land under plant nursery 0.193 (24%)

Input use pattern of different plant nurseries

The number of labourers required for private nursery management was estimated to be 2601 man-days/ha/year. The shares of family and hired labour were 40.37% and 59.63%, respectively. These nursery owners used 25000 kg cowdung and 600 kg oilcake as manure, and 650 kg urea, 1200 kg TSP, and 375 kg MOP as fertilizers per ha nursery (Table 3). The fairly good literacy level of the respondents could affect their choice of inputs and the utilization of existing inputs and also their willingness to adopt improved technologies (Segun et al., 2008)

Table 3. Input use pattern and cost of different categories of plant nursery

Item

Particulars

Quantity Value Approx. percentage of total cost

Human labour (Man days)

Family

Hired

2601

1050 (40.37)

1551 (59.63)

117045.00

47250.00

69795.00

35.10

Seed/ seedling

Owned

Purchased

--

--

-

99534.80

32295.4

67239.4

29.85

Manure (Kg.)

Cow dung

Oil cake

25600

25000

600

7250.00

3750.00

3500.00

2.17

Chemical fertilizers (Kg.)Urea

TSP

MOP

2225

650

1200

375

14337.00

2470.00

9780.00

2087.00

4.30

Cost of soil -- 7685.80 2.30

Cost of earthen pots -- 28778.00 8.63

Irrigation charges -- 9218.40 2.76

Cost of pesticides -- 4576.90 1.37

Intercultural operation capital

-- 17403.00 5.21

Land use cost -- 12468.70 3.73

Equipment cost -- 1958.60 0.64

Total cost -- -- --

Item

Particulars

Quantity Value Approx. percentage of total cost

Cash cost basis

Full cost basis

--

--

216712.21

333403.40

65.00

--

Cost of plant nursery business

The variable cost of plant nursery included the cost of human labour, seeds/seedlings, organic manures, chemical fertilizers, soil, earthen pot, polythene, irrigation, insecticides, and interest on operating capital. On the other hand, the fixed cost included cost of family labour, cost of land use, and depreciation of tools and equipment. The total cost of plant nursery business was Rs. 333403.40 per ha on full-cost and Rs. 216712.21 on cash-cost basis. The cost of human labour was the highest cost item accounting for 35.10% of the total cost followed by the cost of seeds/seedlings i.e. 29.85% (Table 3). Segun et al.,(2008) also reported that majority of the plant nursery operators employed hired labour for their nursery operations. Further, they also reported that majority of the nursery operators used manures such as compost, animal dung and poultry droppings for their plant nurseries and only few used the chemical fertilizers like NPK.

Table 4. Costs and returns of different categories of plant nursery

Items Amount

Total cost (Rs/ha)-

Full cost basis

Cash cost basis

--

334182.00

218716.80

Total return (Rs/ha)-

Fruit’s saplings

Flowers and ornamentals

Wood and forest plants

--

211758.60

135849.30

131800.70

Net return (Rs/ha)-

Full cost basis

Cash cost basis

--

145266.50

260691.50

Rate of return (BC ratio)-

Full cost basis

Cash cost basis

--

1.44

2.20

Profitability of plant nursery business

The income of plant nursery owners came from selling of saplings/seedlings of fruits, flowers/ornamentals and wood/forest plants. The nursery owners in the study areas received Rs. 145266 and Rs. 260691.70 per ha as net return on full-cost and cash-cost basis, respectively. The highest return was received from the sale of sapling of fruit/ornemantal plants followed by forest and wood plants (Table 4). The rate of return (BCR) on full-cost and cash-

cost basis was 1.44 and 2.20, respectively, indicating that the private plant nursery business was a profitable venture. The present findings was supported by the work of Segun et al. (2008) who also reported that plant nursery business is a profitable business.

Problems faced by plant nursery owners

The respondents were asked to give their opinion regarding the problems of plant nursery business. In this respect, respondents expressed more than one opinion which was ranked according to the importance of problems (Table 5). The study revealed that non-availability of improved seed/seedling in the study areas was the crucial problem for plant nurseries. The second most important problem faced by all nursery owners was low price of sapling and seedling. The other problems of nursery business were damage of seedling, lack of efficient labour, attack of insect and diseases, lack of technical know-how, inadequate irrigation and credit facilities. The present study was partely supported by Segun et al. (2008) by quoting availability of quality planting material as the major constraint in plant nursery business which was followed by lack of adequate fund, pest and disease problem and poor marketing.

Table 5. Constraints of different categories of plant nursery

Constraints Rank value

Lack of adequate fund 5

Inadequate supply of improved seed and seedling

1

Lack of technical know-how 6Low price of sapling and seedling 2Lack of efficient labour 4Damage of sapling and seedling 3Infestation of insects and diseases 5Lack of irrigation facilities 7Lack of credit facilities 8

The findings of the study reveal that the level of education and experience regarding nursery business are quite satisfactory. Besides, the nursery business is found to be a profitable business in the study area. All the nurseries generate a substantial number of employment and income for the owners. The findings of the study also reveal that various socio-economic problems, to some extent, hamper the nursery business in the study area.

General people are highly benefiting by getting sapling of ornamentals, fruit trees from different plant nurseries and are contributing, to some extent, to the ecological balance of the region by planting of these saplings. Therefore, government should release adequate fund for the plant nursery so that private nursery owners can also receive improved saplings of different trees from government nurseries. Besides, government should provide training to the private nursery owners.

REFERENCES

Iluyonade, O.N. and Oladapo, M.O. 1997. Trend analysis of plantain/Banana production in Nigeria (1980-1994). In : Adejoro, M.A. and Aiyelaagbe, I.O. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 15 th annual conference of the Horticultural Society of Nigeria.

Segum, F.B., Olaniyi, A.M., Rahji, M.A. and Ademola, J.J. 2008. Viability and resource use in ornamental plants nursery business in Nigeria.Europ. J. Socal Sc., 6 (4): 19-28.

Effect of thio-urea on yield and economics of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) varieties under normal and late sown conditions

L R BALAI AND G L KESHWA Department of Agronomy SKN College of Agriculture, (SKRAU) Jobner, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Email:[email protected]

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2003-04 and 2004-05 to study the effect of thiourea on yield and economics of coriander varieties under normal and late sown conditions. The crop sown at normal sowing time (last week of October) produced significantly higher growth attributes, yield attributes, seed and straw yield and net returns of coriander as compared to late sown. Variety RCr-435 gave significantly higher seed and straw yield and net returns over variety RCr-41. The highest seed yield (14.2 q ha-1), straw yield and net returns (Rs 29,519 ha-1) obtained observed under two foliar sprays of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages was significantly higher over one foliar spray of 500 ppm at vegetative stage, seed soaking with 500 and 1000 ppm thiourea and water sprayed control.

Key words: Coriander, Thiourea, Seed yield, Economics

Coriander is one of the widely grown condiment crops in tropical countries including India. It is an established fact that a crop when sown at optimum time, is able to exploit the environmental factors most favourably. In north India especially in Rajasthan, temperature start rising by February onwards, coinciding the time of late flowering and grain filling stage coupled with soil moisture stress which lead to low productivity of coriander. Delay in sowing of coriander due to any reason, reduces the crop yield drastically. It is largely assumed that the rise in temperature during terminal stage of coriander is the major cause of reduction in seed yield under late sown conditions. Use of some chemicals like thiourea has been reported to improve the dry matter partitioning and subsequently enhance the productivity of crops and mitigate the problem of late sowing to some extent. Application of thiourea especially under late sown condition may enhance photosynthetic efficiency with greater translocation and partitioning of metabolites towards reproductive sink, which ultimately leads to greater seed yield (Yadav, 2005). Varieties RCr-435 and RCr-41 are the suitable for normal conditions and also cover a large area of Rajasthan. It has been reported that the productivity has come to stagnate with prevailing management practices. Therefore, it was felt necessary to look for the use of chemicals like thiourea to break the yield stagnation of these two important varieties and its differential effect on yield under normal and late sown condition.


A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2003-04 and 2004-05 at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner (Jaipur) on loamy sand soil having pH-8.31, ECe-1.25 dSm-1, organic carbon-0.18 % and available N, P and K 140, 7.18 and 159.9 kg ha-1, respectively. The rainfall of the region varies between 400-500 mm, most of which is received during July to September. The experiment consisted of two sowing dates (normal and late sown i.e. last of October and second week of November), two varieties (RCr-41 and RCr-435) and seven thiourea treatments (water sprayed control, seed soaking with 500 ppm thiourea, seed soaking with 1000 ppm thiourea, foliar of 500 ppm thiourea at vegetative stage, foliar spray of 500 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages, foliar spray of 1000 ppm at vegetative stage and foliar spray of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages), making 28 treatment combinations were replicated three times in split plot design, keeping dates of sowing and varieties in main plots and thiourea treatments in sub-plots. Coriander seed were sown in lines 30 cm apart, keeping 12 kg ha-1 seed rate. A uniform dose of 60 kg N and 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 through urea and DAP was given. A basal dose of 30 kg N ha-1 and full dose of phosphorus was drilled about 5-7 cm deep through at sowing. Remaining dose of nitrogen through urea was applied in two equal splits with irrigation. Seed of coriander were soaked over night in 500 and 1000 ppm thiourea in seed soaking treatments.


Growth attributes Data (Table 1) revealed that normal sown crop

attained significantly more plant height, number of branches and dry matter accumulation per plant at 60, 90 DAS and at harvest over late sown crop during both the years of study and in pooled mean basis. A perusal of data showed that coriander variety RCr-41 represented significantly higher plant height at all the growth stages during both the years and pooled mean basis. The coriander variety RCr-435 recorded significantly higher number of branches and dry matter per plant at all the stages during both the years and pooled data, as compared to RCr-41. Foliar spray of 1000 ppm thiourea twice at vegetative and flowering stages significantly enhanced the plant height number of branches per plant and dry matter accumulation over rest of the treatments during both the years and in pooled mean at 90 DAS and at harvest. similarly, one spray of 1000 ppm being at par with two sprays of 500 ppm thiourea significantly increased the plant height, number of branches per plant and dry matter accumulation per plant as compared to one foliar sprays of 500 ppm thiourea and seed soaking treatments. The increase in crop duration as well as overall growth and vigour of the crop by normal sowing seems to be on account of exposure of plants to much favourable climatic conditions. While under late sowing, prevalence of low temperature at early stage and high temperature at terminal phase of the crop might have adversely (forced maturity) affected the growth of each developing structure Hornok (1976) also observed that low temperature at the time of emergence caused slow germination of coriander. Both the varieties were grown under identical agronomic or management practices and environmental conditions, the observed variation in overall growth of varieties seems to be due to their genetic milieu. (Anonymous, 1998). The favourable effect of thiourea on growth of plants might be due to on account of improved photosynthetic efficiency. The involvement of –SH group in phloem for sucrose transport was also noted by Giaquinta (1976).

Table 1: Effect of dates of sowing, varieties and thiourea on plant height, branches per plant and dry matter per plant (pooled mean)Treatments Plant height (cm) Branches per plant Dry matter accumulation (g)

60 DAS 90 DAS Harvest 60 DAS 90 DAS Harvest 60 DAS 90 DAS HarvestA. Dates of sowing

Normal (D1) 8.45 34.5 91.8 2.44 4.19 5.96 0.97 7.44 11.69Late (D2) 6.53 27.5 77.7 1.87 3.07 4.31 0.90 5.97 8.63SEm + 0.10 0.33 0.96 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.08 0.10CD (P = 0.05) 0.31 1.02 2.95 0.08 0.12 0.18 0.03 0.25 0.31B. Varieties

RCr-41 (V1) 8.46 33.7 92.8 2.08 3.44 4.68 0.86 6.08 9.14RCr-435 (V2) 6.52 28.3 76.7 2.25 3.81 5.60 1.01 7.32 11.17SEm + 0.10 0.33 0.96 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.08 0.10CD (P = 0.05) 0.31 1.02 2.95 0.08 0.12 0.18 0.03 0.25 0.31C. Thiourea

Water spray (control) (TU0) 7.41 26.9 75.0 2.13 3.18 4.63 0.92 5.92 8.74Seed soaking in 500 ppm (TU1) 7.63 28.8 81.0 2.22 3.46 4.95 0.95 6.50 9.38Seed soaking in 1000 ppm (TU2) 7.71 29.6 82.3 2.26 3.48 5.08 0.97 6.53 9.69Spray of 500 ppm at V (TU3) 7.41 31.1 85.1 2.15 3.60 5.13 0.92 6.60 10.31Spray of 500 ppm at V+F (TU4) 7.40 32.6 87.6 2.14 3.73 5.20 0.94 6.68 10.80Spray of 1000 ppm at V (TU5) 7.42 33.1 88.9 2.13 3.83 5.30 0.92 7.09 10.82Spray of 1000 ppm at V+F (TU6) 7.44 35.1 93.4 2.15 4.10 5.68 0.93 7.62 11.38SEm + 0.13 0.40 1.09 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.01 0.13 0.13CD (P = 0.05) NS 1.20 3.05 NS 0.18 0.22 NS 0.36 0.36V= Vegetative stage, F=Flowering stage

NS = Non significant

Yield and yield attributes

The data (Table 2) showed that normal sown crop produced significantly higher number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per umbel, seed yield and straw yield as compared to late sown and on pooled mean basis.

Coriander variety RCr-435 recorded significantly higher number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per umbel, seed yield and straw yield over RCr-41 during both the years and on pooled mean basis. The highest number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per umbel, seed yield (14.2 q ha-1) and straw yield (23.9 q ha-1) recorded under two foliar sprays of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages was found significantly superior to rest of the thiourea treatments and control. Similarly, foliar spray of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative stage, being at par with two sprays of 500 ppm at vegetative and flowering stages significantly increased higher seed yield as compared to one

foliar spray of 500 ppm, seed soaking with 500 and 1000 ppm thiourea on pooled mean basis. This might be due to favourable environmental conditions available to the crop during its initial growth, flowering and fruiting stages. The possible reason for setting of low yield attributes in delayed sowing might be due to in sufficient time for vegetative growth as the plant entered in the reproductive phase at a faster rate. These results are in conformity with the findings of Baswana et al. (1989), Bhati (1991) and Khoja and Gupta (2004) in coriander. Thus, thiourea with its sulphydiyl group not only favoured the green photosynthetic surface but have also improved the activity of starch synthetare and hence, the effective filling of seeds Giaquanta (1976) reported that the bioregulatory effect of thiourea was chiefly through mobilization of dry matter and translocation of photosynthates to sink which ultimately improved the seed yield of coriander..

Table 2:Effect of dates of sowing, varieties and thiourea on yield and yield attributes and net return of coriander (pooled mean)

Treatments Umbels per plant

Umbellets per umbel

Seeds per umbel

Seed yield (q ha-1)

Straw yield (q ha-1) Net return

A. Dates of sowing

Normal (D1) 24.2 5.41 23.0 13.8 22.3 29324Late (D2) 22.6 5.15 20.9 12.0 20.8 24010CD (P = 0.05) 0.60 0.11 0.48 0.38 0.60 654B. Varieties

RCr-41 (V1) 21.9 5.16 21.5 12.2 20.8 24535RCr-435 (V2) 24.9 5.40 22.4 13.6 22.2 28799CD (P = 0.05) 0.60 0.11 0.48 0.38 0.60 654C. Thiourea

Water spray (control) (TU0) 20.7 4.61 19.0 11.4 19.0 22494Seed soaking in 500 ppm (TU1) 21.8 5.00 20.2 12.2 20.1 25239Seed soaking in 1000 ppm (TU2) 22.1 5.17 21.2 12.6 20.5 26172Spray of 500 ppm at V (TU3) 23.1 5.31 22.1 13.0 21.7 27083Spray of 500 ppm at V+F (TU4) 24.5 5.39 23.3 13.4 22.8 27804Spray of 1000 ppm at V (TU5) 25.3 5.57 23.7 13.6 22.8 28357Spray of 1000 ppm at V+F (TU6) 26.3 5.91 24.2 14.2 23.9 29519CD (P = 0.05) 0.70 0.17 0.72 0.41 0.71 868V= Vegetative stage, F=Flowering stage

Table 3 Combined effect of thiourea and sowing dates on seed yield (q/ha) (pooled mean)

Treatments TU0 TU1 TU2 TU3 TU4 TU5 TU6D1 12.4 13.4 13.7 14.2 14.5 14.0 14.5D2 10.3 11.1 11.4 11.9 12.4 13.1 14.0

CD (P=0.05)TU at same level of D 0.58D at same level or different level of TU 1.24

A critical examination of the data in Table 3 revealed that interactive effect of thiourea and sowing dates was found significant on seed yield. Foliar application of different thiourea treatments significantly improved the seed yield at individual sowing date over control. Foliar spray of 1000 ppm thiourea twice at vegetative and flowering stages at normal sowing date (TU6D1) represented an increase of 16.9 per cent over water sprayed control under same sowing date (TU0D1) as against 35.9 per cent by TU6D2 ( two foliar spray of 1000 ppm at vegetative and flowering at late sowing) over water sprayed control under late sowing (TU6D2). It clearly indicates that the magnitude of increase in seed yield was more under late sown condition as compared to normal sowing due to foliar spray of thiourea. Foliar application of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages at normal sowing time (TU6D1), being at par with TU3D1, TU4D1 and TU5D1 produced the maximum seed yield (14.5 q ha-1) and proved significantly

superior to all other treatment combinations of thiourea and sowing dates.

Net returns

Data in Table 2 reveled that the normal sown crop significantly increased the net returns (Rs 29324 ha-1) over late sowing during both the years and in pooled mean, indicating an increase of Rs 5314 ha-1 on pooled basis. Variety RCr-435 recorded significantly higher net returns (Rs 28799 ha-1) over RCr-41 and represented an increase of (Rs 4264 ha-1) pooled mean basis. Application of thiourea had a profound effect on net returns wherein foliar spray of 1000 ppm thiourea at vegetative and flowering stages significantly increased the net returns and proved significantly superior to rest of the thiourea treatments and water sprayed control.

REFERENCES

Anonymous, 1998. Annual Report, 1997-98. All Indian Co-ordinated Research Project on Spices. S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner.

Baswana, K.S., Pandita, M.L. and Sharma, S.S. 1989. Response of coriander to dates of planting and row spacing. Indian J. of Agronomy 34 (3) : 355-357.

Bhati, D.S. 1991. Effect of sowing date, row spacing and nitrogen on growth, yield and quality of coriander Coriandrum sativum L.). Ph. D. Thesis, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner.

Giaquinta, R.T. 1976. Evidence of phloem loading from apoplast: Chemical modification of membrane sulphydryl group. Plant Physiology 58 (5) : 872-875.

Hornok, L. 1976. The effect of sowing dates on the yield and essential oil content of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.). Jerba hungarica 15 (1) : 55-62.

Khoja, J.R. and Gupta, A.K. 2004. Effect of sowing date and sources of nitrogen on yield attributes and yield of coriander. (In) Abstracts of National Seminar on New Perspectives in Commercial Cultivation, Processing and Marketing of Seed Spices and Medicinal Plants, held during 25-26 March, 2004, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner (Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner).

Yadav, L.R. 2005. Effect of bioregulators on productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori and Paol) varieties under normal and late sown conditions. Ph.D. Thesis, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner.

Agricultural technologies: Impact on labour employment and wages in green revolution belt of India

NIRMAL KUMAR, K S SUHAG, JAGDISH KUMAR, PREM CHAND AND RAM SINGHDepartment of Agricultural Economics, CCS HAU, Hisar, Haryana, India.


ABSTRACT

The rapid modernization of agriculture and the introduction of new technologies such as those that characterized the Green Revolution, farm mechanization, etc. have had a differential impact on rural population, particularly in agriculturally advanced states of India like Punjab and Haryana. Agricultural technology in India appears to have had mixed impact on farm income, labour use patter, employment, wages etc. The present study workouts the impact of improved farm technology on agricultural labour, wages and employment in Haryana. The results of study show that the machinery labour displaces the human labour and bullock labour by inducing improved farm technology. Family labour employment was displaced by hired agricultural labourers on progressive over non-progressive farms. It was also found that that high labour requirement in peak operation periods tends to increase the level of wage rates of hired labour as compared to slack period on all sizes of land holdings of both types of farms i.e. progressive and non-progressive farms. The low employment in slack period as compared to peak puts a downward pressure on wages. Still there existed a wide gap between the wage rates actually paid to the casual labourers and minimum wage rate (Rs. 95.55) announced by the government during the period under study and there is need to strengthen the implementation part of this act by the government as well as to persuade and convince the people to obey the act.

During the 1960’s, the principal agricultural technology available to developing countries was known as green revolution. This ‘package of technologies’ consisted of new varieties of seeds to be adopted in conjunction with fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, farm machinery etc. the resulting increase in crop yields often implied increments in income par capita as well as an increase in food self-sufficiency. One could thus argue that the successful application of green revolution technologies may have resulted in the improvement in the lives of the population in developing countries. However, if the technological innovations in agriculture were labour displacing, implying lower labour demand in the production process, then it did not always follow that population was made better off by economic growth.

In India, majority of rural households have small holdings or landless and forming is only a marginal source of income. Most of these households are bottom of the rural income scale. Their income depends on condition in the labour market that is duration of employment of wage rate. The new technology would affect the agricultural labour market by changing the labour intensity of cultivation, the productivity of labour, which in tern would influence the wage rate. When agriculture in a predominantly agrarian country starts developing rapidly with replacing traditional agricultural methods by an improved technology there is bound to be considerable impact on employment as well as wages. Employment opportunities in agriculture due to some of the technologies like irrigation & fertiliser band technologies could have increased but at the same time, the extensive farm mechanization may have adverse impact on labour employment opportunities, wages in advance status like Haryana. In this background, the present study works out the impact of farm technology on agricultural labour

employment, and wages. The second part of the paper deals with me theology used followed by Results & discussion, and conclusion in third & fourth sections, respectively.


The Haryana state was divided into two main agro-climatic zones, viz. (i) Western zone and (ii) Eastern zone. From each zone, Sirsa and karnal districts were selected purposively on the basis of maximum number of agricultural labourers, further one tehsil from each selected district was also chosen on the same pattern. Three villages were selected randomly from two tehsils i.e. Sirsa and Karnal. All farmers of selected villages were classified into progressive and non- progressive farmers. The progressive farmers were categorized considering atleast 80 % sown area irrigated by mode of tubewell/sprinkler, under HYVs, using chemical fertilizer and pesticide, etc. The rest of the farmers were kept in the category of non-progressive farmers. The farmers were further divided into three groups on the basis of size of their operational land holdings with the help of cumulative cube root square method. A sample of 40 progressive / non- progressive farmers under the different size groups were drown randomly from each selected village in proportion of total number of farmers. Thus, in all 240 farmers were selected finally for this study. To study the impact of farm technology on pattern and extent of agricultural labour in different farm activities, wages and employment etc. simple form of mathematical and statistical analysis as percentages, averages and changes in caste, education, family size, annual income of labourer’s family, labour hours applied in different


farm activities, wages (in money terms) and employment (in man days equivalent) in each farm activity on progressive over non-progressive farms were worked out by applying budgeting technique and were interpreted accordingly in a suitable form.


Overall average wage rates of labours on different sized on progressive over non-progressive farms in western and eastern zones are shown in Tables 1 and 2 depicts changes in wage rates in western and eastern zones. The positive changes in average wage rates of casual labourers on progressive over non-progressive farms of small category in western zone were 8.15, 8.18 and 9.28 per cent for casual male, female and child labourers respectively. The highest positive male wage rate was found in transportation (10.36%) followed by interculture (9.52%) and harvesting (8.75%) respectively. In female wage rate highest positive change was in picking (10.09%) followed by harvesting (8.53%) and intercultural activities (.8.25%) respectively. The highest positive change in child wage rate was found in manuring followed by harvesting and intercultural operations by 14.21, 9.11 and 9.02 per cent, respectively on progressive over non-progressive farms as indicated by Table 1. On medium size of land holdings, the change in wage rates of permanent male labourers was 4.00 per cent. In case of casual hired labourers, the changes in average wage rates were 6.12, 3.84 and 2.90 per cent for male, female and child labourers, respectively. The highest positive change in wage rate of casual male labourers was found in interculture followed by picking and harvesting activities by 10.18, 9.41 and 6.79 per cent, respectively. The highest positive change in wages of casual female labourer was found in threshing (6.90%), picking (6.24%) and winnowing (5.68%). The highest change in wage rates of casual child labourers was found in sowing followed by manuring and picking by 7.97, 6.37 and 6.29 per cent, respectively. Whereas negative change (-0.19) per cent was only found in winnowing activity on progressive over non-progressive farms. On large

farms, the change in wage rates of permanent male labour was 1.88 per cent. In case casual hired labourers, changes in average wage rates were 3.57, 4.52 and 6.87 per cent in male, female and child labourers, respectively. The highest increase in wages of casual male labourers was found in threshing followed by intercultural and picking by 5.47, 5.05 and 5.00 per cent, respectively whereas decrease (-1.32 per cent) in wage rate was found in planking activity only. In casual female wage rate the highest positive change was found in winnowing (10.43%) followed by har vesting (6.24%)and picking (6.12%)operations, respectively. The highest change in wage rate of casual child labourers was found in picking followed by irrigation and intercultural activities by 12.77, 11.88 and 10.64 per cent, respectively. Table 2 reveals the changes in wage rates in eastern zone. The positive change in average wage rates of casual labourers on progressive over non-progressive farms of small category were 8.05,8.44 and 7.62 per cent of casual male, female and child labourers, respectively. Permanent child labours in medium category farms were 8.64 on progressive overnon-progressivefarms where as per manent male labour sinlarge category were1.4 per cent. On medium farms the changes in average wage rates were 5.55, 3.70 and 1.49 per cent for male, female and child labourers, respectively whereas on large farms the figures were 3.53, 4.26 and 6.41 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. Positive trends were found for all the activities except transplanting activity on medium farms for female and child labour on progressive over non-progressive farms. Same trend was found for all the activities on small, medium and large farms of western zone. This may be due to induction of new technology. The average change in wages of casual male labour was in decreasing order as size of land holdings were increasing in both the zones. The change in wages of casual female is also showing a decreasing trend as size of land holding were increasing except in large holdings in both the zones. Hence improved farm technology push up the wage of agricultural labourers on the one hand and fill up the gap in wages of labourers of progressive and traditional farms, on the other hand, as size of land holding increases.

Table 1: Over all Average Wage Rates of Labourers on Different Sized Progressive Over Non-Progressive Farms in Western Zone

(Rs./day)Farm

OperationsSmall Farms Medium Farms Large Farms

Permanent Casual Permanent Casual Permanent CasualM F C M F C M F C M F C M F C M F C

Manuring - - - 6.38(8.04)

3.67(6.50)

4.40(14.21

)

2.74(4.00)

-*

5.08(6.11)

3.22(5.27

)

2.31(6.37

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 3.52(3.98

)

0.62(0.97)

2.51(6.69)

Picking - - - 6.42(7.66)

5.92(10.09

)

2.67(7.90)

2.74(4.00)

-*

8.28(9.41)

3.96(6.24

)

2.40(6.29

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 4.78(5.00

)

4.20(6.12)

5.27(12.77)

Pre-sowing irrigation

- - - - - - 2.74(4.00)

-* * * *

1.37(1.88

)

- -* * *

Ploughing - - - 3.23(3.25)

- - 2.74(4.00)

-*

4.11(4.70)

-*

1.37(1.88

)

- -*

- -

Planking - - -*

- - 2.74(4.00)

-*

4.40(5.07)

- 0.87(2.36

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - -1.23(-

1.32)

- 2.43(6.66)

Plot-making - - -* *

- 2.74(4.00)

-*

-* *

1.37(1.88

)

- - ** *

Farm Operations

Small Farms Medium Farms Large FarmsPermanent Casual Permanent Casual Permanent CasualM F C M F C M F C M F C M F C M F C

Fertilizer application

- - -*

- - 2.74(4.00)

-* * * *

1.37(1.88

)

- - 2.45(2.60

)*

1.37(3.48)

Pesticide application

- - -*

- - 2.74(4.00)

-*

- - - 1.37(1.88

)

- - - - -

Sowing - - - 5.35(6.60)

- - 2.74(4.00)

-*

5.04(5.75)

- 2.93(7.97

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 4.69(4.91

)* *

Interculture - - - 7.66(9.58)

4.80(8.25)

3.04(9.02)

2.74(4.00)

-*

8.59(10.18

)

3.18(4.96

)*

1.37(1.88

)

- - 4.89(5.05

)

3.95(5.85)

4.33(10.64

)Irrigation - - -

*-

*2.74

(4.00)-

* * * *1.37(1.88

)

- - 2.89(3.04

)

2.26(3.44)

4.49(11.88

)Harvesting - - - 1.18

(8.75)5.00

(8.53)3.04

(9.11)2.74

(4.00)-

*6.08

(6.79)3.31(5.10

)

1.03(2.58

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 4.33(4.44

)

4.32(6.24)

2.58(5.99)

Threshing - - - 6.03(7.42)

2.73(4.75)

1.69(5.15)

2.74(4.00)

-*

5.50(6.27)

4.29(6.90

)

0.43(1.14

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 5.18(5.47

)

2.42(3.73)

1.38(3.44)

Winnowing - - - -* *

2.74(4.00)

-*

4.59(5.27)

3.49(5.68

)

-0.07(-0.19)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 3.37(3.50

)

6.55(10.43

)

3.22(8.69)

Transportation - - - 8.03(10.36

)

-*

2.74(4.00)

-* * * *

1.37(1.88

)

- - 4.63(4.83

)

3.37(5.24)

2.52(6.45)

Other activities - - - - -*

2.74(4.00)

-* * * *

1.37(1.88

)

- -* * *

Average - - - 6.62(8.15)

4.71(8.18)

2.38(7.28)

2.74(4.00)

-*

5.33(6.12)

2.42(3.84

)

1.08(2.90

)

1.37(1.88

)

- - 3.38(3.57

)

2.97(4.52)

2.68(6.87)

Note: M- Man, F- Female, C- Child. Figures in parenthesis are the percentage changes in average wage rates on progressive over non-progressive farms. * Can not be calculated because hired labour was absent either on progressive or non- progressive farms.

Table 2 : Over all in Average Wage Rates of Labourers on Different Sized Progressive Over Non-Progressive Farms in Eastern Zone

(Rs/day)Farm

OperationsSmall Farms Medium Farms Large Farms

Permanent Casual Permanent Casual Permanent CasualM F C M F C M F C M F C M F C M F C

Manuring - - - 6.82(8.05)

3.91(6.48)

4.68(14.16

)*

- 2.71(8.64

)

5.41(6.09)

2.87(4.37

)

2.47((6.38

)

1.07(1.42

)

- - 3.76(3.99

)

0.67(0.98)

2.68(6.70)

Transplanting - - - 6.29(6.90)

7.42(12.11

)

3.87(10.73

)*

- 2.71(8.64

)

6.57(6.87)

0.49(-0.57)

-0.49(-

1.14)

1.07(1.42

)

- - 4.70(4.57

)

4.63(6.26)

2.70(5.83)

Pre-sowing irrigation

- - - - - -*

- 2.71(8.64

)* * *

1.07(1.42

)

- -* * *

Ploughing - - - 3.47(3.88)

- -*

-*

4.38(4.70)

-*

1.07(1.42

)

- -*

- -

Planking - - -*

- -*

-*

4.71(5.08)

- 0.94(2.40)

1.07(1.42

)

- - -1.31(-

1.32)

- 2.59(6.65)

Plot-making - - -* *

-*

- -* * * *

- -* * *

Fertilizer application

- - -* -

-*

- 2.71(8.64

)* * * *

- - 2.61(2.60

)*

2.36(5.62)

Pesticide application

- - -*

- -*

- - - - -*

- - - - -

Sowing - - - 5.72(6.61)

- -*

- - 5.39(5.76)

- 1.64(3.96)

1.07(1.42

)

- - 5.01(4.91

)* *

Interculture - - - 8.18(9.59)

5.12(8.24)

3.24(9.02) *

- 2.71(8.64

)

9.17(10.18

)

3.39(4.96

)

1.96(4.74) *

- - 5.22(5.05

)

4.22(5.87)

4.92(11.33

)Irrigation - - -

*-

* *- 2.71

(8.64)

* * *1.07(1.42

)

- - 3.08(3.03

)

2.42(3.40)

5.62(13.94

)Harvesting - - - 7.66 5.34 3.24 - 2.71 6.49 3.54 1.10 1.07 - - 4.62 4.50 2.76

(8.75) (8.54) (9.09) * (8.64)

(6.79) (5.11)

(2.59) (1.42)

(4.44)

(6.09) (6.01)

Threshing - - - 6.42(7.40)

2.90(4.73)

1.80(5.14) *

-*

0.87(0.93)

4.57(6.89

)

1.60(4.07)

1.07(1.42

)

- - 5.53(5.48

)

2.58(3.72)

1.93(4.50)

Winnowing - - - - -* *

- 2.71(8.64

)

4.90(5.28)

4.38(6.75

)

-0.09(-

0.23)

- - - 3.06(2.98

)

6.99(10.42

)

3.44(8.70)

Transportation - - - 8.87(10.38

)

-* *

-* * * *

1.07(1.42

)

- - 4.95(4.84

)

1.46(2.12))

2.69(6.45)

Other activities - - - - -* *

- 2.71(8.64

)* * * *

- -* * *

Average - - - 6.99(8.05)

5.17(8.44)

2.26(7.62) *

- 2.71(8.64

)

5.16(5.55)

2.48(3.70

)

0.60(1.49)

1.07(1.42

)

- - 3.57(3.53

)

2.99(4.26)

2.69(6.41)

Note: M- Man, F- Female, C- Child. Figures in parenthesis are the percentage changes in average wage rates on progressive over non-progressive farms. * Can not be calculated because hired labour was absent either on progressive or non- progressive farms.

Table 3 : Change in Labour Employment Due to Technology in Different Types of Farms in Western Zone

(Day’s ha-1) Size

GroupsChange in Human labour Change in Bullock labour Change in Machinery labour Change in

Total Employmen

t

Family Permanent Casual Total Owned Hired Total Owned Hired Total

Small -9.77(-9.71)

--

6.24(120.90)

-3.53(-3.33)

-5.98(-77.85)

-1.96(-

100.00)

-7.94(-

82.36)

7.82(96.54)

0.95(86.36)

8.84(95.98)

-2.63(-2.12)

Medium

-24.90(-25.91)

2.62(178.27)

2.32(15.67)

-19.96(-

17.76)

-1.34(-65.82)

--

-1.34(-

65.82)

11.49(98.50)

-0.99(-58.82)

10.50(78.64)

-10.80(-8.45)

Large -33.61(-38.46)

3.57(80.49)

3.47(12.37)

-26.95(-

23.06)

0.08(7.64)

--

0.08(7.64)

10.34(72.49)

-1.03(-

100.00)

9.34(60.87)

-17.69(-13.20)

Over all -22.76(-24.04)

3.10(104.89)

4.01(25.93)

-16.81(-

15.05)

-24.13(-67.60)

-1.96(-

100.00)

-3.10(-

72.62)

9.88(87.32)

-0.35(-28.15)

9.56(75.68)

-10.37(-8.04)

Note: Figures in parenthesis are the percentage changes in progressive farms over non-progressive farms. Total employment includes human, bullock and machinery labour.

Change in employment due to farm technology

Table 3 shows the change in labour employment due to technology in western zone. The over all change in total employment was –8.04 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. Due to farm technology all sizes of land holdings have a negative change in employment as 2.12, 8.45 and 13.20 per cent, respectively on small, medium and large holdings. The over all human and bullock labour days were replaced by 15.05 and 72.62 per cent, respectively. Whereas machinery labour was substituted by 75.68 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. Family labour was replaced at increasing rate as size of land holdings increased. Permanent labour employment was highly increased (178.27%) on medium farms followed by large farms (80.49%). Total human labour was replaced by 3.33, 17.76 and 23.06 per cent on small, medium and large holdings, respectively. Hired bullock labour was replaced by 100.00 per cent on small farms. The owned bullock labour was replaced by 67.60 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. The total machinery labour employment was increased by 95.98, 78.64 and 60.87 per cent, respectively on small, medium and large holdings on progressive over non-progressive farms. The hired

machinery labour replaced by 58.82 and 100.00 per cent on medium and large holdings, whereas it increased by 86.36 per cent on small farms after adoption of new technology. Owned machinery labour has positive change on all sizes of land holdings. Table 4. Presented change in employment due to farm technology in eastern zone. The overall change in total employment was –9.75 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. Due to farm technology, all sizes of land holdings have a negative change in employment as 2.93, 6.48 and 19.00 per cent, respectively on small, medium and large holdings. The overall human and bullock labour days were replaced by 15.72 and 84.39 per cent, respectively.

Whereas machinery labour was substituted by 68.52 per cent on progressive over non-progressive farms. Family labour was replaced at increasing rate as size of land holdings increased. Permanent labour employment was highly increased (167.20%) on medium farms followed by large farms (80.89%). Casual labour employment decreased as size of land holdings increased on progressive over non-progressive farms.

Table 4: Change in Labour Employment Due to Technology in Different Types of Farms in Eastern Zone (Day’s ha-1)

Size Groups

Change in Human labour Change in Bullock labour Change in Machinery labour

Change in Total

Employment

Family Permanent Casual Total Owned Hired Total Owned Hired Total

Small -10.82(-9.83)

--

7.34(123.57)

-3.40(-2.99)

-8.06(-95.75)

-2.16(-100.00)

-10.59(-99.61)

8.64(97.21)

1.04(85.87)

9.67(95.79)

-4.33(-2.93)

Medium

-27.46(-26.13)

2.82(167.20)

4.13(25.43)

-20.49(-16.66)

-1.50(-67.06)

- -1.50(-67.06)

12.60(98.57)

0.34(18.22)

12.94(88.36)

-9.05(-6.48)

Large -41.16(-41.38)

3.93(80.89)

3.15(11.60)

-34.38(-26.00)

0.05(4.89)

- 0.05(4.89)

12.01(76.90)

-1.13(-

100.00)

10.88(64.97)

-28.51(-19.00)

Over all -26.48(-25.29)

3.38(103.17)

4.87(29.64)

-19.42(-15.72)

-3.17(-81.41)

-2.16(-100.00)

-4.01(-84.39)

9.40(75.58)

0.83(58.70)

9.48(68.52)

-13.96(-9.75)

Note: Figures in parenthesis are the percentage changes in progressive farms over non-progressive farms. Total employment includes human, bullock and machinery labour.

Total human labour was replaced by 2.99, 16.66 and 26.00 per cent on small, medium and large holdings, respectively. Hired bullock labour was replaced by 100.00 per cent on small farms. The total machinery labour employment was increased by 95.79, 88.36 and 64.97 per cent, respectively on small, medium and large holdings on progressive over non-progressive farms. The hired machinery labour replaced by 100.00 per cent on large holdings, whereas it increased by 85.87 and 18.22 per cent on small and medium farms, respectively. Owned machinery labour has positive change on all sizes of land holdings. To sum up, it could be concluded that machinery labour replaced the human and bullock labour on all sizes of land holdings after induction of new technology. Family labour employment was replaced by hired casual, permanent labour on progressive over non-progressive farms.

Employment situation and wage rates of hired labour

Table 5 presents the employment situation and wage rates of hired human labour in peak and slack periods on different

sizes of land holdings in western zone. The over all hired human labour on progressive farms was 12.57 and 6.31 days per hectare respectively in peak and slack periods of operations compared to 11.23 and 3.74 days per hectare on non-progressive farms respectively. The overall change in hired human labour was 99.20 per cent on progressive in contrast to 200.27 per cent on non-progressive farms. The highest positive change in hired human labour was 929.70 per cent on small farms in peak over slack periods. The days per hectare of hired labour were in increasing order as size of land holdings increases on both progressive and non-progressive farms except small category on progressive farms. The overall wages of hired labourers on progressive farms were Rs. 68.23 and Rs. 65.91 respectively in peak and slack periods of operations compared to Rs. 67.28 and Rs. 61.92 respectively on non-progressive farms. The overall change in wage rates of hired labourers was 3.52 per cent of progressive in contrast to 8.66 per cent on non-progressive farms. The wage rates were highly increased in peak over slack periods by 5.50 and 9.63 per cent on large progressive and non-progressive from respectively.

Table 5 : Employment Situation and Wage Rates of Hired Labourers on Progressive and Non-Progressive Farms in Western Zone

(Labour in day’s ha-1 and Wages in Rs. per day)

Category of Farms Peak Period Slack Period Change in peak over slack periodHired Labour Wage Rates Hired Labour Wage Rates Hired Labour Wage Rates

Progressive FarmsSmall 10.40 66.40 1.01 65.24 9.39 (929.70) 1.16 (1.78)

Medium 9.36 66.52 7.74 64.45 1.62 (20.93) 2.07 (3.21)Large 17.95 71.77 10.18 68.03 7.77 (76.33) 3.74 (5.50)

Over all 12.57 68.23 6.31 65.91 6.26 (99.20) 2.32 (3.52)Non-Progressive Farms

Small 4.36 62.40 0.80 58.52 3.56 (445.00) 3.88 (6.63)Medium 11.42 67.60 3.37 61.70 8.05 (238.87) 5.90 (9.56)

Large 17.92 71.85 7.05 65.54 10.87 (154.84) 6.31 (9.63)Over all 11.23 67.28 3.74 61.92 7.79 (200.27) 5.36 (8.66)

Note: Peak period operation includes: Picking, ploughing, sowing, intercultural, irrigation, harvesting activities and rest of the farm operations are included in slack period

Table 6 : Employment Situation and Wage Rates of Hired Labourers on Progressive and Non-Progressive Farms in Eastern Zone

(Labour in day’s ha-1 and Wages in Rs. Per day)Category of Farms Peak Period Slack Period Change in peak over slack period

Hired Labour Wage Rates Hired Labour Wage Rates Hired Labour Wage RatesProgressive Farms

Small 12.19 70.94 1.11 69.64 11.08 (998.20) 1.30 (1.87)Medium 11.62 72.75 8.75 68.24 2.87 (32.80) 4.51 (6.61)

Large 19.19 76.74 11.15 72.25 8.04 (72.10) 4.49 (6.22)Over all 14.33 73.48 7.00 70.04 7.33 (104.70) 3.44 (4.91)

Non-Progressive FarmsSmall 5.07 66.51 0.88 62.47 4.19 (476.14) 4.04 (6.47)

Medium 12.53 70.21 3.71 65.73 8.82 (237.73) 4.48 (6.81)Large 19.46 77.07 7.74 69.96 11.72 (151.14) 11.02 (15.75)

Over all 12.35 71.26 4.11 66.05 8.24 (200.48) 5.21 (7.89)Note: Peak period operation includes: Transplanting, ploughing, sowing, interculture, irrigation, harvesting activities and rest of the farm operations are

included in slack period. Figures in parenthesis indicate the percentage changes in peak over slack periods. Wage rates are the averages of wages of male, female and child in peak /slack periods.

Table 6. Shows an employment level and wage rates of hired human labour in peak and slack periods on different sizes of land holdings in eastern zone. The overall hired human labour on progressive farms was 14.33 and 7.00 days per hectare respectively in peak and slack periods of

operations compared to 12.35 and 4.11 days per hectare on non-progressive farms, respectively. The overall change in hired human labour was 104.70 per cent on progressive in contrast to 200.48 per cent on non-progressive farms. The highest positive change in hired human labour was 998.20

per cent on small farms peak over slack periods. The overall wages of hired labourers on progressive farms were Rs. 73.48 and Rs. 70.04 respectively in peak and slack periods of operations compared to Rs. 71.26 and Rs. 66.05 respectively on non-progressive farms. The overall change in wage rates of hired labourers was 4.91 per cent on progressive farms in contrast to 7.89 per cent on non-progressive farms. The wage rates were highly increased in peak over slack periods by 6.61 per cent in medium progressive farms and 15.75 per cent on large non-progressive farms, respectively. Hence, it can be inferred that high labour requirement in peak operation period tends to increased the level of wage rates of hired labour as compared to slack periods on all sizes of land holdings of both types of farms. But the overall changes in hired labour and wage rates are low on progressive farms compared to non-progressive farms because the hired labour requirement and wages are very low in slack period of non-progressive farms compared to progressive farms. In case of change in pattern of employment, machinery labour displaces the human labour and bullock labour by inducing improve farm technology. Family labour employment was displaced by hired agricultural labourers on progressive over non-progressive farms. It can also be inferred that high labour requirement in peak operation periods tends to increase the level of wage rates of hired labour as compared to slack period on all sizes of land holdings of both types of farms. The low employment in slack period as compared to peak puts a downward pressure on wages.

CONCLUSION

In eastern zone too the machinery labour has mainly replaced the bullock labour by 84.39 per cent and human

labour by 15.72 per cent. In human labour the replacement was mainly of family labour (-25.29%) which has been substituted mainly by hired labour (66.40%) due to the improved farm technology thus, widening the scope of labour market. Progressive farms were found paying more wage rates (Rs. 67.07) to the agricultural labourers than the non-progressive ones (Rs. 64.60) in western zone. Similarly, in eastern zone progressive farms were paying more wage rates (Rs. 71.76%) to the agricultural labourers than the non-progressive ones (Rs. 68.65). The total human labour on progressive farms was less as compared to non-progressive farms in both the zones indicating more use of machinery labour. In peak period high wage rates (Rs. 68.23) were paid to the agricultural labourers than in the slack period (Rs. 65.91) in western zone and in eastern zone too high wage rates (Rs. 73.48) were paid in peak period than in the slack period (Rs. 70.04) indicating positive relationship between labour demand and wage rates. Still there exist a wide gap between the wage rates actually paid to the casual labourers and minimum wage rate (Rs. 95.55) announced by the government. Despite of the minimum wage act which came into force in 1948, there existed a wide gap between the wage rates actually paid and the minimum wage rate (Rs. 95.55) announced by the government, there is need to strengthen the implementation part of this act by the government as well as to persuade and convince the people to obey the act.

REFERENCES

Hanchate A D and Ramaswamy KV 1997. New agricultural technology, timeliness and wages for labour. A –Longitudinal study of rural wages in India. Applied Econ. Latters. 4 (4) : 267-270.

Manshahia R, Gupta AK and Jindal BR 2003. Socio-economic and psychological problems of married working women in the Sangrur district of Punjab – An analysis. J. Agril. Develop. and Policy. 15 (2) : 115-121.

Raju VT 1976. Impact of new farm technology on human labour employment. Indian J. Indus. Relations. 11 (4) : 493-510.

Singh K 1972. The impact of new agricultural technology on agricultural wage rates and employment in the IADP Districts. Indian J. Agril. Econ. 24 (4) : 223-277.

Singh T and Sharma VK 2004. Employment of farm resources in Punjab Agriculture. Productivity 45 (1) : 140-144.

Role of NGO in knowledge and economic improvement of farmers

K GHADEI* AND G C MISHRA**Department of Extension Education, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,U.P., India


ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to analyse and asses the contributions of an NGO named Ramakrishna Ashram for the development of farmers. The information regarding the NGO intervention on occupation, employment, income and growth in Agriculture of the farmers was collected in a three point scale i.e. frequently, occasionally and never assigning scores 2, 1, and 0 respectively. The change in farmers has been compared with control group through simple score analysis. Attempt has been made to classify the farmers on the basis of economic improvement. The significance of the change has been tested through‘t’ test. Similar findings have been observed by Lewis (1993) where he revealed that NGOs were bringing the home – stead – based - income - generation - successful activities like poultry rearing, paddy husking and vegetable gardening to bring the people into the main stream development in Bangladesh. Ghosh and Pandey (2001) observed that farmers who were exposed to training of NGO-(KVK) had higher productivity of rice, higher cropping intensity and higher net income

Key words: NGO, Farmers, Economy, Communication, occupation, employment, income

Once regarded with suspicion, NGOs have now gained a large measure of legitimacy and credibility in the world. Keeping the emerging role of NGOs in Extension services in view, a research work was designed entitled as “Role of NGO in Extension services: An Appraisal of Ramakrishna Ashram, Kalahandi, India. The objectives of the study were to study the socio-personal characteristics of the farmers, attitude of the farmers towards the extension services offered by the NGO, knowledge gained by the farmers on rice cultivation through training imparted by the NGO, impact of NGO on economic status of the farmers, trickledown effect of community information in the area of study, pattern of extension services offered by the NGO and the constraints encountered by the NGO and the beneficiaries in the imparting and getting extension services. Kalahandi District of India is still ridden with illiteracy, poverty, and malnourishment and under development. Large scale governmental efforts coupled with private extension service form lead NGOs like Ramakrishna Ashram etc. are in full- swing yet, the developmental achievements in terms of quality of living of the poor tribal has to be achieved through parallel efforts.


The study was conducted using Expost- facto research design. The district of Kalahandi in Orissa state was selected purposively for the present study because it’s most backwardness, poverty and dominance of tribal population. The district consists of 13 community development (CD) Blocks, out of which, Ramakrishna Ashram was working in 4 CD blocks only. Mandanpur Rampur block was selected purposively out of these 4 blocks for its remote location from district head quarter. A sample of 12 villages were selected randomly form 23 villages where the Ashram is incorporating maximum services for the tribal groups under study. A list of 220 farmers from the 12 sample villages were selected for study who have received training &

exposure from the Ashram in the yester years. Stratified random sampling was followed all throughout.

The ultimate aim of extension service is to bring change in the standard of living pattern specifically in occupation, income, employment, and ancillary aspects. The improvement in the three aspects in rural area is normally assessed through change in area in different crops, change of inputs, production, cropping pattern, cropping intensity and irrigation.

In the present study an attempt has been made to find out the change in economy status of farmers covered by Rama Krishna Ashram. The term ‘economy ‘is operationalized as the degree to which there is change in occupational growth mostly in the field of agriculture, annual income and employment opportunity round the year. These three components together considered to be the determinants of economy of the sample under study. These three criteria were considered in consultation with local expert, farmers and NGO personnel. The change was measured in terms of increase, decrease and constant assigning 2, 0, 1 scores respectively against the prepared statements for analysis.


Improvement in occupational growth

The occupation of farmers in Kalahandi District of Orissa is farming and mostly land based enterprises. parameters like increased area under high yielding rice, pulses, vegetables and oil seeds were taken to consideration to have more income from the occupation .The analysis has been made basing on mean score on each concerned item to see the economic development of the farmers.The table


1.92

1.45

1.94

1.63

2.01

1.55

1.97

1.64

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

MEAN SCORE

Rice Pulses Vegetable Oil seeds

CHANGE IN PRODUCTION LEVEL

EXPERIMENT GROUP CONTROL GROUP

below shows the change in area under different crops after intervention of Rama Krishna Ashram.

Table 1. Change in area of cultivation

Change in area Experiment Group(mean score)

Control Group (mean score)

Difference in percentage

Area under improved rice

1.84 1.54 16.30

Area under pulse 1.60 1.45 9.37Area under Vegetable

1.90 1.40 33.15

Area under oil seed

1.98 1.81 8.58

Average 1.83 1.55 16.85

The table 1. reveals that there has been significant increase in area under oil seed, vegetable and improved rice so far as experimental group was concerned. The sample under control group is reported to have increased area under oil seed crop and rice where as area under pulses and vegetable has not been increased. Both the groups differ up to 16.85 so for as the occupational growth is concerned.

Input use

Expansion of area and adoption of new technology were characterised by more use of inputs like seeds, fertiliser and implements. The obtained information under score analysis revealed the following result.Table 2.Change in input use

Change in input use Experiment Group(mean score)



Improved seed of rice 1.98 1.59 19.69Improved pulses 1.40 1.22 9.91Improved vegetables 1.87 1.54 17.64Oil seeds 1.86 1.37 26.34Fertiliser and FYM use 1.70 1.49 12.35Implements 1.85 1.45 21.62Average 1.77 1.49 17.93

An examination of above table no 2 reveals that the farmers of experimental group have increased input use in case of seed in rice, vegetables and implements while neglected the use of improved seeds for pulse and use of fertilisers use in general. The difference between two groups on the above specific criteria is 17.93 %. This shows that the farmers of experimental group are more aware about use of inputs

Production Level

The level of production is the measurement of achievement in the field of agriculture. While determining the change in production and productivity level of production of the crops like rice, pulses, vegetables and oil seeds, the following result were obtained.

Table 3. Change in production

Change in production

Experiment Group



(mean score)Rice 1.92 1.45 24.47Pulses 1.94 1.63 15.97Vegetable 2.01 1.55 22.88Oil seeds 1.97 1.64 16.75Average 1.91 1.57 20.02

The above table depicts that comparatively more change is in case of experimental group than the control the group in rice, pulses, vegetables and oil seeds. The experimental group farmers have increased their production of vegetables and oil seeds whereas, pulses and rice are lacking behind. The difference between the two groups was observed up to 20.02. However the production levels of the specific area are not much encouraging (Fig 1).

Fig. 1 Change in production

Cropping Pattern and infrastructure

Irrigation is most essential factor for rice cultivation which influences the cropping pattern and cropping intensity. The analysis was done in terms of increase, decrease and constant of the variables.

Table 4 Change in Cropping Pattern and infrastructure

Change in Cropping pattern and infrastructure

Experiment Group(mean score)



Irrigation facilities* 1.93 1.63 15.54Cropping pattern 1.50 1.27 15.33Cropping intensity 1.90 1.67 12.10Average 1.77 1.51 14.32*Irrigation is included under infrastructure keeping in view of its expansion through different means of irrigation.

Looking at the table above it is ascertained that irrigation and cropping intensity has increased whereas cropping pattern has not changed much. The results of the control group farmers are also show same trend .The cropping pattern in both the cases were not increased much. The difference in between two groups is observed up to 14.32 percent only.

Income and Employment

The economic status has been operationalised in two aspects i.e. annual income and

employment throughout year. It was hypothesized that the farmers seeking help from NGO have increased their income and farm employment. The results in this connection are given in the table below:

Table 5. Change in Income and Employment

Change in Income and Employment

Experiment Group(mean score)



Income 1.98 1.59 19.69Employment 2.26 1.36 39.82

The above table no. 5 indicates that annual income per family head is more in case of experimental group than control group with a difference of 19.69. Equally in case of employment experimental group score is higher than control group with a difference of 39.82 percent. It shows that overall income and employment increased significantly in case of experimental group due to intervention of Ram Krishna Ashram. This finding is in conformity with the study of Kumar (2004) and Purusottam (2005).

It is therefore, inferred that the Ramakrishna Ashram and its extension service have brought significant change in economic status and employment in the experimental group under study.

Economy Index to measure the improvement in economy

An attempt also was made to prepare the index on each respondent taking the total scores obtained and maximum obtainable score. Then the respondents were classified on the basis of mean and standard deviation.

Table 6. Distribution of respondents on the basis of improvement in economic conditionCategory Frequency

Exp. Group GroupHigh 38(34.55) 25(22.73)Medium 44(40.00) 68 (61.82)Low 28 (25.45) 17 (15.45)Total 110 (100) 110 (100)Figures in parentheses indicate percentage. Mean 51.25, SD 3.97 Ex. group, Mean 40.38, SD 5.09 Control group

From the table 6. it is evident that the distribution of respondents both in control and experimental group follows a normal pattern. In experimental group 34.55 % farmers were found to be in high, 40.00% medium and 25.45 percent in low as against the control group where 22.73 % high, 61.82 % medium and only 15.45 percent were in low economic status. This was observation was similar with the findings of Dubey (2005).

Fig -2: Distribution of respondent on basis of improvement in economic condition

Table7. Overall differences in improvement in economy of the farmers

Category Mean Difference T value of mean differenceExp. group 51.25 10.87 9.21**

Control group 40.38**Significant at 0.01 percent level of probability.

A look at the table above indicates that there is difference between Experimental group and control group to a significant level with respect to improvement in economy after the intervention of NGO, the Ramakrishna Ashram. The beneficiaries were exposed to training, filed visit and demonstration programmes of Ramakrishna Ashram. Due to this exposure and intervention of the Ashram their economy has been improved as compared to control group. This finding is in conformity with the findings of Shah (1993), Ghosh (2001), Kumar (2004). So the null hypothesis(HO4) ) stating that there was no improvement in economic condition was rejected and the alternative hypothesis(HA4 )that there is improvement in economic condition of the respondents after the intervention of NGO was accepted

REFERENCES

Dubey, A. K. Srivastava .J.P 2005. Impact of KVK on socio economic status and knowledge of trainees in Allahabad district of India . ABSTRACTs National seminar on Green evergreen: challenges to Extension Education, Organised by ISEE at Division of Agricultural Extension, IARI, New Delhi. Pp -9-10

Ghosh P. Pandey, K.N. 2000. Role of NGOs in transfer of Technology: an Appaisal of Dibyayan KVK, Ranchi, An unpublished Ph.D. thesis Submitted to Department of Extension Education, I.Ag, Sciences, BHU, Varanasi

Kumar, P. 2005. Rural development: collaboration of GOs & NGOs, Kuruskhetra, a monthly developmental journal published from department of information and broad casting, Government of India.

Lewis D. J. 1993. Bangaledesh rural Agricultural co-operative. Non governmental organization and the state in Asia, pp:49-56.53No-10, August 2005 pp 38.

Purusottam 2005. Appropriate Technology for Employment Generation in Agro-industries. Kurushetra 53 (10):10-12

Distribution of responent on basis of improvement in economic condition

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Response of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) varieties to fertility levels and growth regulators on productivity, profitability and quality

R.C. BAIRWA AND M.K. KAUSHIKDepartment of Agronomy, MPUA&T, Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India.


ABSTRACT

Filed experiment was conducted for two consecutive rabi season of the years 2004-05 and 2005-06, to find out the individual effect of varieties (Rmt-1, and Rmt-303), fertility levels (control, 10 kg N + 20 kg P2O5 /ha, 20 kg N + 40 kg P2O5 /ha and 30 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 /ha) and growth regulators (water spray, ethephon 100 ppm and NAA 20 ppm) were studied on yield, protein content and monetary returns of fenugreek. The variety Rmt -303 gave significantly higher mean seed yield by 11.69, 30.94 and 15.90 per cent (17.39,18.03 and 17.46 q/ha), protein content by 10.06, 19.98 and 1.62 per cent (21.27, 18.52 and 20.73 per cent) over control. With application of 30 kg N+60 kg P 2O5 /ha, growth regulator NAA 20 ppm respectively and variety Rmt-303 gave significantly higher mean seed yield 18.03 q/ha, 17.46 q/ha and 17.39 q/ha respectively. Protein content by 19.98, 1.62 and 10.06 per cent over control, (18.52, 20.735 and 21.275%), respectively. Net monetary returns and B:C ratio significantly affected by varieties, fertility levels and growth regulators during both the years. Higher mean net returns (Rs.21727.00 /ha) and B:C ratio (2.16) were recorded with variety Rmt-303 which were 17.56 and 17.39 per cent higher over control, respectively. On mean basis maximum net returns (Rs.22348.50 /ha) and BC ratio (2.17) were recorded with 20 kg + 40 kg P 2O5 /ha which was 36.36 and 23.29 per cent higher over control, respectively. In case of growth regulators, application of NAA 200 ppm gave maximum mean net returns (Rs.22403.50) and B:C ratio (2.335) by 23.02 and 20.67 per cent higher over control, respectively.

Key words: Fenugreek, quality, fertility levels, growth regulators, productivity, profitability.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-greacum L.) is an important leguminous multipurpose crop mainly grown in winter (rabi) season and it’s every part is utilized as leafy vegetables, fodder, and condiments (Khiriya and Singh,2003) and also have great export potential to foreign country. Rajasthan occupies a prime position in production of seed spices mainly fenugreek. It occupies 1.07 lakh ha area with an annual production of 1.28 lakh tones (Vital statistics 2002-03) and average productivity was only 1190 kg/ha. There is a wide gap between existent productivity and potential productivity (2500 kg/ha) due to restricted supply of inorganic fertilizers and cultivated mainly in P deficient soils of western parts (ie. Sikar, Nagaur, Churu and Jhanghunu) districts of Rajasthan.

To bridge the gap through use of balanced inorganic fertilizers, growth regulators with improved genotype leads to increase the crop productivity upto it’s potential levels. Integration of inorganic fertilizers like nitrogen and phosphorus are important to increase the productivity of crop. Application of growth regulators like ethepon and naphthalene acetic acid (NNA) induce higher physiological efficiency including photosynthetic ability of plants ultimately leads to better growth and yield of fenugreek without substantial increase in the cost of production. Therefore, present investigation was carried out to the study the effect of inorganic fertilizers and growth

regulators on fenugreek varieties on growth, yield attributes, yield and quality.


Field experiment was conducted during two consecutive rabi seasons of 2004-05 and 2005-06 at instructional farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur. The treatment combinations comprising two varieties (Rmt-1 and Rmt-303) and four levels of fertility (control, 10 kg N +20 kg P2O5, 20 kg N +40 kg P2O5 and 30 kg N +60 kg P2O5 / ha) in main plot and three levels of growth regulators (control or water spray, ethephon 100 ppm and NAA 20 ppm) in sub plot were evaluated in split plot design with three replications. The soil of experimental field was clay loam in texture having pH 8.20 and low in available nitrogen (267 kg/ha), medium in available phosphorus (24 kg/ha) and potassium (210 kg/ha). Fenugreek seed was sown on 9th November in 2004 and 12th

November in 2005 at a spacing of 10 cm x 30 cm (intra row and inter row spacing) and harvested 1st April,2005 and 3rd

April, 2006, respectively. The climate of this zone is typically same arid and subtropical characterized by mid winters and moderate summers associated with relatively high humidity during July to September. The mean annual rainfall is 637 mm which mostly received from southwest monsoon during last week of June to September.

Full dose of nitrogen and phosphorous were drilled at 4-5 cm below of the seed at the time of sowing was given

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through Diammonium phosphate (DAP) and remaining dose of nitrogen was supplied through Urea. Foliar spray of ethephon 100 ppm and NAA 20 ppm was done at pre flowering stage using 600 liters water/ha. The standard procedures were adopted for computation of yield/ha and protein content in seed. Economics of different treatments were worked out in terms of net returns/ha and cost of the treatments.


Effect of varieties:

Significant increase in seed yield due to adoption of variety Rmt-303 by 11.73 and 11.65 (mean) per cent higher over variety Rmt-1 during 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively. Marked increases in seed yield appear to be resultant of remarkable improvement in different yield attributing components which was brought due to mutation in variety Rmt-303 (Annual Report, 2002). These results are in close conformity with the result reported by (Meena2001).

Protein content of seeds significantly increased due to variety Rmt-303 by 7.49 and 6.45 per cent higher over variety Rmt-1 during 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively (Table1.). Under optimum conditions, quality parameters of grain are largely determined by the genetic make up of variety. Since nitrogen is a constituent of amino acids a basic unit of protein while phosphorus increases protein content indirectly as it is required in two processes of

protein synthesis viz., activation of amino acid and fermentation of carbon in an RNA of polypeptide releasing factors (Lehninger, 1990).

Significant influence in net returns and B C ratio due to adoption of varieties. On mean basis, maximum net returns (Rs.21727.00 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.16) was recorded in variety Rmt-303 by 17.55 and 17.39 per cent higher over variety Rmt-1, respectively(Table.1).

Table 1: Effect of varieties, fertility levels and growth regulators on seed yield, protein content, net returns and B:C ratio(pooled data).

TreatmentSeed yield (q/ha) Protein content (%) Net returns (Rs/ ha) B:C ratio

Varieties

Rmt-1 15.57 19.89 18482.50 1.84

Rmt-303 17.39 21.27 21727.00 2.16

CD (P = 0.05) 0.197 0.521 841.135 0.097

SEm± 0.064 0.171 277.32 0.031

Fertility levels (N :P2O5 kg/ha)

Control 13.77 18.52 16153.50 1.76

10 : 20 16.21 20.18 19786.00 2.02

20 : 40 17.89 21.40 22348.50 2.17

30 : 60 18.03 22.22 22313.00 2.06

CD (P = 0.05) 0.877 0.738 1392.248 0.137

SEm± 0.289 0.243 459.028 0.045

Growth regulators

Control (water spray) 15.03 20.40 18211.50 1.93

Ethephon (100 ppm) 16.94 20.60 19699.00 1.73

NAA (20 ppm) 17.46 20.73 22403.50 2.33

CD (P = 0.05) 0.697 NS 1696.489 0.111

SEm± 0.251 -- 612.229 0.040

Table 2. Combined effect of fertility levels and growth regulators on seed yield, net returns (pooled data)72


Growth regulatorsSeed yield (q / ha) Net returns (Rs / ha)Fertility level (N : P2O5 kg / ha) Fertility level (N : P2O5 kg / ha)Control 10:20 20:40 30:60 Control 10:20 20:40 30:60

Control (water spray) 13.41 15.24 15.61 15.90 16262.50 18747.00 18924.00 18837.00Ethephon (100 ppm) 13.78 16.39 18.77 18.83 14945.00 18851.00 22654.00 22346.50N A A (20 ppm) 14.14 17.04 19.32 19.38 17277.50 21760.50 25467.50 25109.50CD (P = 0.05) 1.606* 1.641** 2577.85* 2626.06**SEm± 0.529* 0.592** 849.92* 947.69*** CD for fertility levels means at same level of growth regulators means** CD for growth regulators means at same level of fertility levels means

Effect of fertility levels:

Application of combined fertilizer dose of 30 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 /ha resulted in significant increased in grain yield but at par with 20 kg N + 40 kg P2O5 /ha. Per cent increased in seed yield by 30 kg N+60 kg P2O5 /ha was 30.39 and 31.19 higher over control, during 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively. Application of 30 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 /ha resulted significant increased in protein content by 19.63 and 20.32 per cent over control, during 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively. Increase in per cent protein content of seed with the increasing fertilizer dose seem to be an account of greater availability of N, as it is actively involved in the synthesis of protein and phosphorus improve nitrogen use efficiency by plant. This contention is in concurrence with the findings of Meena (2002) and Purbey (2004). Significant influence of net returns and B:C ratio due to application of 20 kg N + 45 kg P2O5 /ha. On mean basis, maximum net returns (Rs.22348.50) and BC ratio (2.17) was recorded in 20 kg N+ 40 kg P2O5 /ha by 38.35 and 23.29 per cent over control, respectively.

Effect of growth regulators:

Foliar spray of NAA significantly increased seed yield by 16.19 and 16.13 per cent over control during 2004-05 2005-06, respectively but at par with ethephon. Increased seed yield due to its unique role of delaying senescence process, reducing flowers and fruit drop and higher fertility

rate on reproductive organ the excretion of favourable balance of exogenous hormone. These findings close accordance with the finding of Medhi and Borbora (2002). Foliar spray of plant of growth regulators did not significantly influenced protein content of seed during both the years. Significant influence in net returns and B:C ratio due to spray of NAA. On mean basis, maximum net returns (Rs.22205.00) and B: C ratio (2.33) was recorded in NAA spray by 23.02 and 20.73 percent over control respectively.

Interaction:

Combined application of plant growth regulators and fertility levels gave significant seed yield (Table2.). Spray of NAA 20 ppm in combination with application of 30 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 gave significantly higher seed yield 19.43 and 19.32 q/ha during years 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively. Combined effects of application of plant growth regulators and fertility levels on protein content were found non significant. Net returns in fenugreek also significantly influenced due to combined application of plant growth regulators and fertility levels during both the years (Table 2). Application of NAA 20 ppm in combination with 20 kg N + 40 kg P2O5 gave maximum net returns of Rs.25213 and 25722 /ha during years 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively. These results are in close conformity with the findings of Meghwanshi (1992) who also observed significant interaction between fertility levels and plant growth regulators.

REFERENCES

Lehninger, A.L. 1990. Principles of Biochemistry. CBS Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, pp.392-596.

Khiriya, K.D. and Singh, B.P. 2003. Effect of phosphorus and farm yard manure on yield attributes and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium uptake of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L ). Indian journal of Agronomy 48 (1):62-65

Medhi, A.K. and Borbora, T.K. 2002. Effect of growth regulators on the dry matter production, flower and pod setting of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Research on Crops, 3:119-122.

Meena R.P. 2002. Effect of phosphorus, sulphur and phosphate solubilizing bacteria on the productivity of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) Ph.D. Thesis, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner.

Meghwashi, J.C. 1992. Response of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.] to nitrogen and hosphorus levels in combination with bactin inoculation and plant growth regulator. M.Sc. Thesis, RAU, Bikaner.

Purbey, S.K. 2004. Effect of Bio-inoculants and bio-regulators on growth, yield and quality of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) cv. Rmt-1. Ph.D. Thesis. RCA, MPUAT, Udaipur.

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Effect of phosphorus and bio-fertilizers on nutrient content and its uptake by mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal

SANTOSH KUMAR, M L REAGER AND B L PAREEKDepartment of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.


ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of four levels of phosphorus and four levels of bio-fertilizers. The results showed that application of phosphorus significantly increased nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents by seed and straw and total NPK uptake by mothbean up to 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 over lower doses. Dual inoculation of Rhizobium + phosphate solubilizing bacteria significantly improved the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents of seed and straw, total NPK uptake by plant, seed and straw yields over no inoculation and single inoculation either with Rhizobium or PSB (have at par with each other) increased the nutrient contents and their uptake of mothbean over no inoculation.

Key words : Nutrient content, nutrient uptake, mothbean, phosphorus, bio-fertilizer, Rhizobium, PSB

Mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal] known as kidneybean, aconitebean and dewgram in different linguistic zones of India indicating its wide social acceptance and adaptation. In ecological terms, it is placed as an annual legume of dry and warm habitats and is characterized as one of the most drought hardy annual legume in arid region adapted to low (200-300 mm) and erratic rainfall situation and atmospheric temperature heighting to more than 40 °C. Mothbean is known for higher proportion of albumin and glutamin fractions of protein. It is also a good source of amino acids particularly lysine and leucine and certain vitamin, like carotene (Sudarsan et al., 2001). Green pods are delicious source of vegetables and dry seed of mothbean is used for a number of delicious confectionary items, which are commonly used as daily snacks. India accounts for 11.5 mt of pulses production from an area of 21.7 m ha as against 1.27 mt. production from an area of 1.06 m ha in Rajasthan during 2002. Phosphorus deficiency is a major constraint usually the key factor for poor yield of pulses production in rainfed agriculture system in semi-arid zone particular in the lower –rainfall environments. Phosphorus application to pulses not only benefit that particular crop and increase its yield but also favourable effect to the soil nitrogen content for succeeding non-legume crop (Ganeshammurthy et al., 2003).

The role of bio-fertilizers in agricultural production assures special significance, particularly in the present context of very high cost of chemical fertilizers. The bacterial strains, which are capable of fixing atmospheric

nitrogen or convert in soluble phosphate in the soil into form available to plants. Phosphate solubilizing microorganism plays a major role in solubilization and uptake of native applied soils phosphorus.


The experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, Bikaner during Kharif 2003. The soil of the experimental field was loamy sand and low organic matter. The soil pH was 8.2.It was low in organic carbon (0.09 %), available nitrogen (62.85 kg ha-1) and available phosphorus (12.02 kg ha-1) and medium in potassium (129.70 kg ha-1).

The treatments comprised four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1) and four levels of bio-fertilizers (control, Rhizobium, PSB and Rhizobium + PSB) were laid out in factorial RBD with three replications. A uniform dose of 20 kg N ha-1 through urea and phosphorus as per treatments through single super phosphate were applied at the time of sowing by “Pora method”. Bio-fertilizers were applied as per treatments through seed treatment by Rhizobium (MT-20 strain), PSB (Basillus plimixa) and Rhizobium+ PSB. At first seeds were treated with Rhizobium and then by PSB with the help of jaggary solution. The mothbean variety RMO – 257 was sown in rows spaced at 30 cm apart through ‘Kera’ methos on July 2003 using 15 kg seed ha-1.


Effect of phosphorus

Application of graded doses of phosphorus significantly increased the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents in seed and straw up to 40 kg P2O5 ha-1

over lower doses and control. Further increase in phosphorus level up to 60 kg ha-1 had no significant effect on nutrient

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contents of mothbean (Table 1). It might be due to improved nutrient status in the root zone as well as in the plant system. Such results have been reported by Mishra (2003).

Increasing levels of applied phosphorus up to 40 kg ha-1 significantly increased the seed and straw yields and total uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of mothbean over control and lower doses. Further, increase in

phosphorus up to 60 kg ha-1 results have no any significant improvement in nutrient improvement in nutrient uptake by plant (Table 2). Increased seed and straw yields of mothbean with concomitant increase in their phosphorus content seemed to be responsible for increased uptake of nutrient by the crop due phosphorus fertilization. Similar increase in nutrient uptake were also observed by Bhadoria et al. (1997) in clusterbean.

Table 1: Effect of phosphorus and bio-fertilizers on NPK contents of seed and straw of mothbean

Treatments Nitrogen (%) Phosphorus (%) Potassium (%)Seed Straw Seed Straw Seed Straw

Phosphorus (kg ha-1 )0 3.313 0.996 0.535 0.247 0.288 0.77420 3.541 1.164 0.567 0.279 0.319 0.85940 3.663 1.317 0.592 0.293 0.347 0.90860 3.687 1.406 0.598 0.301 0.351 0.911SEm± 0.0401 0.0332 0.0075 0.0032 0.0042 0.0112CD at 5 % 0.1159 0.0959 0.0216 0.0094 0.0121 0.0324Bio-fertilizers Control 3.279 0.921 0.533 0.246 0.281 0.739Rhzobium 3.565 1.303 0.568 0.277 0.326 0.885PSB 3.541 1.212 0.579 0.286 0.329 0.892Rhzobium + PSB 3.819 1.447 0.612 0.311 0.369 0.936SEm± 0.0401 0.0332 0.0075 0.0032 0.0042 0.0112CD (P= 0.05) 0.1159 0.0959 0.0216 0.0094 0.0121 0.0324PSB = Phosphate solubilizing bacteria

Table 2. Effect of phosphorus and bio-fertilizers on total N, P and K uptake and seed and straw yields of mothbean

Treatments Total nutrient uptake (kg ha-1) Yield (q ha-1)

Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Seed Straw

Phosphorus (kg ha-1)0 31.97 6.35 12.66 5.31 14.20

20 45.51 8.79 16.38 7.50 16.28

40 57.04 10.64 19.33 9.18 17.78

60 59.82 11.02 19.68 9.36 18.00

SEm± 1.478 0.295 0.494 0.272 0.517

CD (P= 0.05) 4.269 0.852 1.426 0.786 1.493

Bio-fertilizers Control 33.46 6.79 12.12 6.27 14.01

Rhzobium 50.06 9.14 17.41 7.92 16.75

PSB 48.17 9.32 17.28 7.98 16.43

Rhzobium + PSB 62.65 11.55 21.24 9.18 19.07

SEm± 1.478 0.295 0.494 0.272 0.517

CD (P= 0.05) 4.269 0.852 1.426 0.786 1.493

PSB = Phosphate solubilizing bacteria

Effect of Bio-fertilizersDual application of Rhziboium + phosphate

solubilizing bacteria (Rhziboium + PSB) as well as single inoculation with either Rhziboium or PSB significantly increased the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents in seed and straw of mothbean over no inoculation. Seed inoculation with Rhziboium + PSB recorded significant

higher NPK contents in seed and straw as compared to single inoculation either Rhziboium or PSB (Table 1). Significant improvement in nutrient content by the crop under the influence of microbial inoculation appears to be an account of improvement in nutritional environment and higher nodulation. This might have resulted in improving nutritional status of the soil, thus having a favourable effect on

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development of root system. Similar results were also reported in black gram by Singh and Sharma (2001).

Dual inoculation with Rhizobium + PSB significantly increased the seed and straw yields and total uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of mothbean over control and single inoculation either Rhizobium or PSB. Inoculation with Rhizobium which were statistically non

significant with PSB improved, the seed and straw yield and total uptake of NPK of mothbean over control (Table 2). Significant improvement in nutrient uptake by the overall improvement in crop growth yield and nutrient status of plants ultimately led to accumulation of higher nutrient. Similar findings have also been reported by Tomar et al. (2003).

REFERENCES

Bhadoria, R.B.S., Tomar, R.A.S., Khan, H. and Sharma, M.K. 1997. Effect of phosphorus and sulphur on yield and quality of clusterbean (Cymopsis tetragonoloba). Indian J. Agron., 42 (1) : 131.-134.

Ganeshamurthy, A.N., Rao, Shirnivasa, C.H, Singh, K.K. and Ali Massod, 2003. Management of phosphorus for higher productivity in different agro-climatic regions of India. Fertilizer news, 48 (5): 23-41.

Mishra, S.K. 2003. Effect of Rhizobium inoculation, nitrogen and phosphorus on root nodulation, protein production and nutrient uptake in cowpea (Vigna sinensis Savi). Ann Agric Res.New Series 24 (1) : 139-144.

Singh, D.D. and Shrma, A. 2001.Response of black gram (Phaseolus mungo) to phosphorus fertilization and Rhizobium inoculation in the hill soils of Assam. Ann. Agri. Res. 22 : 151-153.

Tomar, A., Kumar, N., Pareek, R.P. and Chandra, R. 2003. Residual effect of black gram inoculated with Rhizobium, VAM and PSB on succeeding wheat crop. Indian J Pulses Res. 16 (2) : 141-143.

Sudarsanm Y., Kakard, R.K. and Sharma, R,C. 2001. Mothbean nutritional quality. Mothbean in India. 11 : 147-155.

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Re-orienting extension for development

SEEMA JASUJA*, ARCHANA RAJ SINGH** D.S. BHATI* AND I M KHAN****KVK, Sriganganagar and **College of Home Science, SKRAU, Bikaner, *** SKN College of Agriculture, Jobner, Jaipur,

Rajasthan, India.Email: [email protected]

Globalization has triggered fundamental changes in social, ecomomic and political systems of many nations of the world. Emerging opportunities and challenges pose task of different perspective, where in extension needs to reorient and revialize itself to strengthen the nation's initiative for its prosperity. Besides the fulfillment of avowed objectives to wipe the tears of the poorest of poor, it has to prepare the people to withstand the pressures of WTO and globalize economy. At this juncture extension has to play a crucial and responsible role in propelling the society towards sustainable development with stability and equality.

Recorienting extension to help people to help themselves with capacity building among the farming community required a thorough analytical review of the existing philosophy and approach to extension. The main objectives of extension is competency development among farmers and farm women including farm youths and not mere transfer of technology. To develop an extension strategy to meet this and we need to review what has happened, document the experiences and the missing links and take proactive efforts. Our efforts need to be focused on building development competencies among the farming community to empower and enable them to contrubute to overall development.

Before discussing about strategies, let us know a little bit about "What is strategy"? Strategy is a planned design to attack or tackle a problem or related problem concerning an individual or organization for achieving targeted goal within a specific time. The strategy is the style of action within a system. It is like the beat of drummer which sets the pace for all the activities of the system. A strategy demands meticulous planning and exercise, which has ultimate mission of "do or die" but it has differential nature. It has to be recorient from time to time according to changing circumstances to meet the current trends. Same thing applies in case of extension, present strategies had lost their competency to chalk out the path of growth and development. Earlier beliefs and modes of extension are found to be grossly inadequate in the present context of competitive world, particularly when a number of events are simultaneously taking place including new technology explosion, demand for enhanced production and producitivity, issue of equity and uneven development and issues of sustainability and enhanced profitability. This has called for reorientation in our approach to extension to cope up with the present competive scenario otherwise the profession of extension may loose its relevance.

India's extension system is the largest in the world but its normal task of transferring and disseminating appropriate technologies is not sufficient for strengthening

the farming community. Extension agencies, services and workers will need to exercise an more proactive and participatory role for dissemination of latest technologies to the farming community. In this background, this paper suggests some renovating strategies for strengthening the extension system because there is need to develop cost effective and sustainable extension system to facilitate the farming community towards achieving prosperity. (Kumbhare, 2003)

After reviewing various experiences of extension, and related literature, here are some strategies, suggested for reoienting extension towards its empowerment and developoment.

Participatory Research and Extension in Partnership (PREP)

In Order to increase the efficiency, relevance of research and extension for farmers, a participatory system should be initiated. The aim is to lessen the distance between the farmers, the research and the industries to that the effort of research are accurately directed to solving that what really the farmer's problem are and not just what researchers perccive them to be. The basic tenant of participatory approach is that the extensionists and the reserchers no longer see themselves as teachers but become partner in the process of development. Thus, broadening the base of participation, a partnership deed is formed among the researchers, the extensions is, the development agencies, the industries and the farmers (REDIF) in which dialogues and negotiations. This increases the capacity of the farmers to assess and analyze the constraints they face, makeuse of the resources they have, utilize the available resources.

Earlier, linkage between the farmers and the researchers has been the extension service to carry farmer's problem to the resarchers and return with the solution. For variety of reasons. this has not worked well. While extension workers were not trained in problem solving approach, the researchers did not make joint diagnosis of the problems with the farmers and often misunderstand the rationale for technology development, upgradation and refinement. Development agencies and industrial houses were alienated from the mainstream of this technology propelled development process.

In practical terms, this means all the five pivots (REDIF) need to work together by way of contributing their respective part. For example, researcher should supply the technology, farmer should spare his land and labour, industrial should make financial commitment, development

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agent should offer logistic suport and extension should act as facilitator in managing research in farmer's field. This sort of experimenting should continue until jointly a definite goal is achieved. This is what has been the Motto of "PREP" system "work together, grow together and learn together from each other". (Verma, 2003).

Strengthening Research - Extension Linkage

The extension system must feed the research worker information about the constraints farmers have experineced in adopting research recommendations and the research system much have the capacity and the readiness to respond with problem specific recommendation. There is a need to maintain liaison with research so as to translate field problems into researchable question. Thus the research extension linkages should be strengthened. On farm testing to determine technology adaptation and farmers rection is a key step in which joint research extension involvement is critical. The extension system should consist of a strong organizational frame, having well-directed research extension education methodologies for effective implimantation (Roy and Jha).

Total Development through Extension

The broad based extension approach essentially emphasized the total development of environment in which a farm family resides and works. The total development of a situation is the accumulation of efforts in different directions that suppot living condition. A farmer in the village is not only concerned with different branches of specialization in scicence but also concerned with food cloth, health, education, environment, exposure to outside world, and future planning. The present context of extension approach definitely does not have sufficient scope to accommodate these aspects to bring changes. The total development includes value system, social stability, psychological backup and spiritual living. The present extension projects aiming at crop production can hardly encompass these non-material cultures. As our experience reveals, the sum total of effects in a social change to consider these aspects to which our extension system is to be geared up. (Singh and Kaur, 2003).

Mobilizing Human Resources

The basic problem of the country is that our human resources have not been fully exploited and are underdeveloped, Hence, the first task must be to build up its human capital by improving the education and skills and thus the mental and physical health of their men, women and children. The training and reorientation of the development functionaries to the new values are requirements, prioritizing problem areas and identifying key areas of action are very imperative for human resources development (Roy and Jha, 2001)

Globalization Strategies (Singh and Kaur, 2003)

The farmers should be trained to make them aware of GATT and its implcation.

Reorienting present extension system to suit the small farmers.

Training farmers in agro processing. Strengthening of infrastructure viz., transportation,

communication, storage, processing, packing and marketing etc.

Emphasize Information TechnologyInformation technology has been geard up by the

advent of efficient and effective technology innoviations. The new information tools and techniques can play a great role to develop extension especially by the way of effective media. There is need to harness IT for better efficiency of extension. Hopefully, every extension worker and farmer would welcome the technological advancements like expert system multi-media, satellite communication etc to enjoy the benefit. (Devraj et al, 2001)

The KVK's and various line departments need to be connected with world wide information network. The extension functionaries should also be trained in the area of information technology.

Involvement of Farmers in Setting Extension Agenda

Farmer's representaion as major stakeholder should be ensured in all decision making bodies of public and private extension services in planning and implementation of extension programme. The bottom-up approach would be helpful to identify and solve the location specific needs of regions, disadvantaged areas and target grous. (Kumbhare, 2003)

Nerkar et. al. (1999) experienced an innovative approach by involving the farmers actively in an extension programme. It was found that participating farmers initiation in putting their porblem was increased, they become sold, their need for seed, soil and water testing was aroused, rate of adoption increased and a significant impact on the neighhours was also seen.

Strengtening the Linkage through Mass Media

In view of large number of unreached rural population, it is of paramount importance that the extension systems needs to embard upon the distance education and harvesting the toold of information technology viz, television, radio, vidio programme, etc. The aim should be to reach the unreached particularly the farm women and youth. In this direction, the SAUs and ICAR institutes have the responsibility of providing leadersihp to these target groups throght KVK's, FTC's and distance education prograeem. (Katteppa, 1999).

One Window ApprochFarmers have to deal with different phenomena at a

time viz., agriculture and live stock development. Both sector wants equal weightage, In this way, is difficult for farmer to avail extension services and offerings is that they used to run at different counters for different services. In this development initiative, availability of all the production inputs is ensured under one roof at one place. One window approach for extension services, is a "must" proposition. For this purpose, a centre should be located at such a central

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place so that at least five villages could get easy access to it. (Verma. 2003)

As measure of enrichinng the extension service concept like broad basing and farming systems are now being advanced. But they happen to be limited in their scope since they cover only the combnination of enterprises and not resource management on the farm. In this context the whole farm approach is a far more comprehensive strategy. (Kattepa, 1999)

Promotion of Demand Driven and Farmer Accountability Extension.

A demand driven exiension system is to be created indstead of sypply driven by providing farmers with the access to linkage mechanism through which they would be provided all relevant information to help them to articulate their problems and needs related to agrriculture and allied aspects.

Appreciating Traditional Knowledge System (TKS)The extension agent is no longer seen as the expert,

the indigenous technical knowledge of farmers are recognized as major source. (Kumbhare, 2003)

Kumar et. al. (2003) found that farmers traditional knowledge system (TKS) are to appreciated, offered place in planing and designing research and documented in depth. TKS could be validated and perfected on station and extrapolated to other farming situation in the identified recommendation domain.

Implementation of programme through Functional Group

All the development programmes in the field should be planned and implemented thrhough farmer users groups to improve the feedback system, such as Self Help Group (SHGs), Farmers Interest Group (FIGs), Community Association (CAs) and other type of farmers organizations.

Promotion of Farmer to Farmer ExtensionDue to lack of resources or other factors extension

workers cann’t reach each and every farmer. The dissemination process should also be carried out through farmers. (Kumbhare, 2003)

Organization of Training ProgrammesTraining is an important component to enhance

skill, knowledge and attitude. The training programme should be system based and sustainable technologies oriented. For building technical cometency, among farmers specialized need based and skill oriented trainings should be organized. There should be proper follow-up of the programme to get continuity in the development process.

Widening Exposure Frame of FarmersA group of farmers should be exposed to the other

technologically developed areas so that can casily see the innovative agricultural practices, on principle of seeing in believing. For exposure of farmers to new technologies regular visits should be organized at the newly extablished ATIC centres. To promote better interaction between farmers and scientists, "Farmer Scientitst Interface" should be organized at appopriate levels. " Technology Centres" should be established at the village level services of scientists and researchers be made available at the centre for on-the soot solution of the agricultural and related problems.

REFERENCES

Dwivedi, Chaturvedi, S.K. and Khare, A.P. 2001, Information technology and Agricultural Extension, Agriculture Extension Review. 13(5); 3-6

Katteppa, Y. 1999. Agricultural Extension System-Emerging Challenges. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 34 (3-4); 71-73

Kumar, S, Sah, U and Pal, P.P. 2003. Technology Development and Delivery for the North Eastern Region, Kurukshetra. 51(7); 29-33.

Kumbhare, N.V. 2003. Extension Strategies for Empowerment of Farming Community. Paper presented in National Seminar on Extension Strategy for Promoting Development Initiatives among Farming Community (June 18-20,2003) at IARI, New Delhi.

Nerkar, Y.S., Sawat, G.K. and Khat, B.B. 1999. Out of University Discussion on Farmers Field : An Innovative Approach for TOT Ind. Journal of Extension Education 35 (1-2); 43-46

Roy, S. and Jha, S.K. 2001. Extension till year 2000 versus Emerging Issues, Agriculture Extension Review. 13(5); 23-27.

Singh, D. and Kaur, R. 2003. An Appraisal of TRansfer of Technology Experiences. Paper persented in National Seminar on Extension Strategy for Promoting Initiatives amonng Farming Community. (June 18-20, 2003) at IARI, New Delhi.

Verma, O.S. 2003. Extension Strategy for Promoting Development Initiatives. Paper presented in National Seminar on Extension Strategy for Promoting Devlopment Initiatives among Farming Community (June 18-20, 2003) at IARI, New Delhi.

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ICT mediated agricultural extension: a survey of leading models and best practices

ADITYA AND BASAVAPRABHU JIRLIDepartment of Extension Education, Institute of Agricultural Sciences,Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

In the past few years, the usefulness of Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) – especially internet and cell phone to bridge the gap between scientific know-how and field level do-how is felt by developmental agencies throughout the world. Few technological revolutions have such a wide ranging transformation in our daily lives such as in the field of agriculture, healthcare, education, defence and so on. The ICTs are beginning to transform the way agricultural extension is being implemented. The ICT mediated extension systems are acting as key agents for changing agrarian situation and farmers’ lives by improving access to information and sharing of knowledge. There is an urgent need to study such systems for sustainability, scalability and identification of best practices for rural transformation. This report is a survey of some of leading ICT initiatives in agriculture such as eSagu, aAqua, RTBI’s agriculture initiative, agropedia and the Digital Green. The eSagu aims at improving the farm productivity by delivering high quality personalized (farm specific) agro-expert advice in a timely manner to each farmer at the farmer’s doorstep. The aAqua is an online expert Question and Answer community forum, developed for delivering information to the grass-roots. The overall aim of RTBI’s agriculture initiative is to identify, design, develop and pilot, rural inclusive businesses that will enable the rural development process. The agropedia is a digital knowledge repository for learning and sharing information with an open platform related to Indian agriculture where the content is semantically catalogued and is easy to find. The “Digital Green” enables the dissemination of targeted agricultural information to small and marginal farmers using digital video technology.

Chronological order of the ICT initiatives in India

It will be interesting to list the ICT initiatives in India on the basis of the year of implementation. This will give a vivid picture of the existing state of the initiative under Indian conditions and also pave the path for further scalability on a pan-India basis.

Survey on leading ICT models in India

A study on the major ICT for Agriculture initiative in India is conducted so as to know regarding the usage and future course of action of the projects on the livelihoods of farmers. The various major projects studied are the eSagu project in Hyderabad, the RTBI initiative of IIT-Madras and the aAQUA project in Maharashtra state. A study of other initiatives like the agropedia, Digital Green was also made

to get acquainted with the proper working and functioning of the ICT for Agriculture backbone in India. These are described in detail in the following paragraphs.

The ESAGU system

In view of technology/extension gaps in Indian agriculture and to exploit ICT revolution, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, A.P., India developed the eSagu model of extension system and implemented it for the cotton crop in three villages of Oorugonda, Gudeppad and Oglapur in Andhra Pradesh covering 749 farmers and 1041 farms during 2004-05 crop season. eSagu is a tool for IT-based personalized Agro-Advisory system. (“Sagu” means cultivation in Telugu language.). It aims at improving the farm productivity by delivering high quality personalized (farm-specific) agro-expert advice in a timely manner to each farm at the farmer’s door-steps without the need arising for the farmer to ask the question. The advice is provided on regular basis (typically once a week) from sowing to harvesting which reduces the cost of cultivation and increases the farm productivity as well as quality of agri-commodities. In eSagu, the developments in IT such as (database, internet, and digital photography) are extended to improve the performance of agricultural extension services. It offers next generation agricultural extension tool and supplements and integrates into the existing agricultural extension system. This chapter deals with the system architecture and operation, effects, future plans and comments on the system.

System architecture and operation

In eSagu, rather than visiting the crop in person, the agricultural scientist delivers the expert advice by getting the crop status in the form of digital photographs and other information. The description eSagu is as follows: The Farmers are the end users of the system and can be illiterate. A Coordinator is an educated and experienced farmer who can be found in the village. Agricultural Experts possess a university degree in agriculture and are qualified to provide expert advice. Agricultural Information System is a computer based information system that contains all the related information. Communication System is a mechanism to transmit information between farms to agricultural experts and vice versa. If enough bandwidth is unavailable, information is transmitted through courier service. However, the advice text can be transmitted through dial-up Internet connection.

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Chronological order of the ICT initiatives in India

ICT Initiative Year Coverage Implementing Agency 1.Akashganga 1996 Western parts of India(Gujarat & Maharashtra) Private2.Deccan development society 1996 Medak district of A.P NGO

3.Community radio-Deccan development society 1998 Andhra Pradesh NGO4.Information village centres of MSSRF 1998 Tamil Nadu Private5.Warana Wired Villages Project 1998 Kohlapur and Sangli district,Warana nagar

around Maharashtra Government

6.Swayam Krishi Sangam(SKS)Microfinance 1998 Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya

Private

7.Kudumbhashree 1999 99 Panchayats and 58 Muncipalities of Kerala Government8.Online Integrated Computerised Systems(OICS):Sumul Dairy

1999 12 district unions, Gujarat Private

9.Pravara Village IT Project(PRAGATI) 1999 Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra Government10.Village Information Kiosks,A.P 2000-

2003Andhra Pradesh Private

11.AGMARKNET 2000 All India Government12.ITC e-choupal 2000 M.P,Haryana,Uttarakhand,U.P,Karnataka,A.P,

Bihar,Mah.,Raj.,KeralaPrivate

13.Agriwatch portal 2001 All India Private14.ASHA 2001 Assam farmers Government15.Chalao Ho Gaon Mein 2001 Palamu district, Jharkhand NGO16.Tara Haat-TARA Nirman Kendras 2001 Raj.,U.P,M.P,Haryana, Bihar,Punjab Private17.Muruggappa Groups,EID Parry 2001 Tamil Nadu Private18.Society for Andhra Pradesh Network(SAPNET) 2002 Some districts of Andhra Pradesh Private19.Swajaldhara 2002 11 Districts of Uttarakhand Government20.Dristee Foundation 2002 Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan Private21.AGRISNET(Agriculture Informatics and Information Network)

2002 State and District department of Agriculture Government

22.Aaqua 2003 All India Government23.Computer on wheels 2003 Private24.DACNET 2003 All India Government25.Digital Mandi 2003 All India Government26.e-Krishi vipanan 2003 Some districts of Andhra Pradesh Government26.Grasso PCO Project 2003 Some districts of West Bengal Government27.Interlingua web 2003 All India Government28.Jagriti e-seva 2003 Punjab Government29.Kisan Kerala 2003 Around Kochi in Kerala Government30.Jamshedji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity

2003 Puducherri Private

31.RASI(Rural Access to Services through Internet) 2003` Kanchipuram, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu

NGO

32.Tata Kisan Kendra 2003 Uttar Pradesh, Haryana &Punjab Private35.VASAT Project 2003 Villages of Mahboobnagar district,A.P Private36.Wireless Internet Post Office 2003 All India Government37.Rural Knowledge Centre(RKC) 2004 Private38.Village Resource Centre(VRCs) 2004 Villages of Tamil Nadu Government39.Gender Resource Centre(GRC) 2004 All India Government40.e-Sagu 2004 Andhra Pradesh Private41.i-shakti 2004 Some districts of A.P Private42.Kisan call centres 2004 All India Government43.e-Krishi(Agri Business Centres) 2004 Mallapuram District, Kerala Private44.Coil-Net 2005 Raj.,Haryana,Delhi,U.P,Uttarakhand,M.P,Chatt

isgarh Government

45.Kisan Soochna Kendra(KSK) 2005 Uttarakhand Government46.OSCAR Project 2006 All India Private47.Sochna se Samdhan 2006 All India Private48.RTBI 2006 Kanchipuram,Dharmapuri and Erode districts

of Tamil Nadu Government

49.Village Knowledge Centers(IT-BHU) 2007 Uttar Pradesh Government50.Agropedia 2009 All India Government

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The operation of eSagu is as follows. A team of agriculture experts work at the eSagu (main) lab (normally in a city) which is supported by agricultural information system. One small computer centre (few computers and one computer operator) is established for a group of five to six villages. Appropriate numbers of coordinators are selected from the villages. Depending on the crop, each coordinator is assigned with a fixed number of farms. The coordinator collects the registration details of the farms under him including soil data, water resources, and capital availability and sends the information to the main eSagu system. Every day, the coordinator visits a fixed number of farms and takes four to five photographs for each farm. A CD is prepared with the photographs and other information and transported to the main system by a regular parcel service. The Agri-experts, with diverse background (Entomology, Pathology, Agronomy and so on) at the eSagu (main) lab analyse the crop situation with respect to soil, weather and other agronomic practices and prepare a farm specific advice. This advice is downloaded at the village eSagu centre electronically through a dial-up Internet connection. The coordinator collects the advice and delivers it to the concerned farmer. In this way each farm gets the proactive advice at the regular intervals starting from pre-sowing operations to post-harvest precautions.

Usage and Effects of eSagu

The eSagu project has started in 2004. The progress of eSagu project is briefly discussed as follows.

A. Prototype for 1051 cotton farms (2004-05) Development of eSagu has started in March 2004. The eSagu sysem was implemented for 1051 cotton farms. The working of eSagu system was demonstrated. The impact study showed that the farmers got the additional benefit of Rs 3,820/- per acre by saving fertilizers, pesticide sprays and getting extra yield. The cost to benefit ratio was 1:3.

B. Scaled-up experiment on 5000 farms and six crops (2005-06) A scaled-up experiment was implemented for 5000 farms for six crops (cotton, chilies, rice, groundnut, castor and red gram) in 35 villages spread over six districts in Andhra Pradesh. The result was that the farmers got the additional benefit of Rs 3874/- per acre. The cost to benefit ratio was 1:4.

C. Optimizations to eSagu system (2006 onwards) From 2006 onwards, efforts are being made to develop a business model. In parallel, efforts are being made to develop an efficient and robust eSagu system. For this, few eSagu local centres are operationalized through public/private organizations and NGOs. The eSagu service is also thought to be provisioned on a subscription basis. Investigations are going on to enable agricultural experts to improve both quality and efficiency of advice delivery by building tools to provide different kinds of information. Regarding quality aspect, the system has the

challenge to provide all the required information to help agriculture scientist to prepare the high quality expert advice. The quality of advice should be equivalent to that of the advice he/she delivers by physically observing the farm. It has been identified that the agricultural expert should have knowledge of the location-specific problems to deliver the expert advice. Investigations are being carried out by the implementers to develop a location-specific content preparation framework which contains the description of problems and practices in the corresponding agro-eco situatin.To improve the throughput of agricultural expert, the notion of “virtual agricultural expert” is developed. The software tools such as “static advisory content” and “help desk” are developed. In addition, the notion of “dynamic crop visits” is added to make the system more cost-effective. Based on the encouraging results from eSagu project and its benefits to the farming community, an effort is being made by Media Lab Asia to start the Integrated Agri-Service Programme (IASP) to carry out mass delivery of custom solutions (by means of personalized agri services) to farmers at their farm gate by harnessing the power of ICTs. The scope of the services include personalized agro-advisories continuously from seed to harvesting; facilitating availability of high quality inputs at fair prices; enabling financial Institutions to provide agri-credit; facilitate post-harvest management facilities and various marketing channels at the disposal of the farmer. The system will address, at key leverage points, the issues such as producing the best quality output matching market requirements, proper pre-harvest management and post-harvest handling, scientific storage, better market intelligence for improved risk mitigation, value addition and exports. It is possible to further improve the Project if it follows the following recommendations for future course of action. The farmers are sometimes unable to determine properly whether the crops are actually infected or not. In such case, proper judgement regarding the status of the crop cannot be established by the farmer resulting in losses and severe disease infestation. Since, eSagu is a query-less system and provides agro-advice even without the farmer asking a question by following a proactive approach that usually avert problematic situations; a regular visit of the experts and face-to-face interaction is also necessary to maintain authenticity of the recommendations and in order to create greater emphasis but that part is missing in this system. eSagu should be a scalable system which can developed on the available infrastructure and can be made self-sustainable with a nominal service charge. The system should have wide coverage and it should necessarily include other states and district as well. eSagu must aid in the successful implementation of crop insurance scheme by making farm as a unit of insurance. It can help the financial institutions for effective out-reach and efficient loan recovery. eSagu should significantly reduce the lag period between research efforts and field application besides helping in the validation of new technologies. It should have a regular website of the project containing queries and feedback of the various researchers and members of the farming community so that users who have the convenience of the internet can access the information immediately at their home place without asking for it.

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Table 1.1 shows basic information on eSagu implementation between 2004 and 2007 along with the benefits accrued to the farmers of both agriculture and aquaculture.

Particulars Period2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

eSagu (Agriculture)Total number of crops covered 1 32 27Total number of villages 3 39 148Total number of farms 1,051 4,894 2,619Total number of advices 20035 35804 20,757Total number of crop photos 90,944 2,13,817 1,33,830Average monitory benefit/acre (Rs.) 3,820 3,874 2,661Cost : Benefit ratio 1:3 1:4 1:3eSagu (Aquaculture)Total number of farms - 160 200Average monitory benefit/acre (Rs.) - 20, 405 25, 999Cost : Benefit ratio - 1:7 1:8

Table 1.1: Summary of benefits accrued to farmers due to eSagu SOURCE: Dr. P Krishna Reddy, Dr. G V Ramaraju, eSagu: An IT based Personolised Agro Advisory System, www.esgu.in

The Digital Green Project Green Foundation, Bangalore in collaboration with Microsoft Research Labs has developed a new method of agricultural extension in India called as “The Digital Green” initiative in September 2006 making successful extension possible via multimedia presentations and personal demonstrations. It enables the dissemination of targeted agricultural information to small and marginal farmers using Digital Video Technology. Unlike prevailing systems that expect Information and Communication Technology alone to deliver useful knowledge to marginal farmers, Digital Green works with existing people-based extension systems and aim to amplify their effectiveness. In its first intervention, it demonstrated immense potential in improving the lives of small and marginal farmers in a highly cost effective manner. It is a testimony to their efforts and vision that in a four months trial involving 13 villages comprising of almost 1070 households, it was seen to increase the adoption of certain agricultural practices by a factor of six to seven times over classical person-only agricultural extension. It creates enabling environments for communities to adopt new and better behaviours to bring about sustainable change in the quality of life among populations living at the base of social pyramid. This outcome has added a totally new dimension to existing behaviour change communication approaches. Encouraged by such an impressive outcome, Digital Green is now set to apply this approach to select locations in various parts of the developing world. The technology and approach used has also elicited interest in other social domains like public health, education and livelihood. Like farmer field schools, the Digital Green system provides structure to a traditional, informally-trained vocation. The system improves the efficiency of extension programs by delivering targeted content to a wider audience and enabling farmers to better manage their farming operations with reduced field support. This case study deals with the features, principles involved, working and the core values of the project.

System Architecture and Operation The main features of the Digital Green system are: Digital video database for farmers by farmers

Participatory process for content production . Dissemination structure for informal training . Sequence for initiating new communities Diffusion strategy to generate sustained involvement Network of hubs and spokes for scalable content

production and peer-learning

Farmers are motivated to adopt a new practice when they see a fellow villager, living in similar circumstances, experience its benefits. It has demonstrated early success in the popularization of sustainable farming practices in the 12 villages in which the system is currently deployed. At least 5 times more farmers attempted better agricultural practices after integration of the DG system over the NGO's previous efforts. It aims to scale its system to offer relevant agricultural extension services to a much wider population of farmers. The project aims to eventually scale up the system to cover a far greater number of villages and farmers, contributing toward the Millennium Development Goals of sustainable agriculture productivity and food and nutrition security. It is deployed currently in the Karnataka and Tamil-Nadu state borders of India.

“The system includes a digital video database, which is produced by farmers and experts. The content within this repository is of various types, and sequencing enables farmers to progressively become better farmers. Content is produced and distributed over a hub and spokes-based architecture in which farmers are motivated and trained by the recorded experiences of local peers and extension staff. In contrast to traditional extension systems, Digital Green follows two important principles: (1) cost realism, essential to scale the system up to a significant number of villages and farmers; and (2) building systems that solve end-to-end agricultural issues with interactivity that develops relationships between people and content.”

The overall aim of the Project is to raise the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across the developing world through the targeted production and dissemination of agricultural information via participatory video and mediated instruction through grassroots-level partnerships. This work begins by

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http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal1.shtml



http://www.undp.org/mdg/

http://www.undp.org/mdg/

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/results.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/scalability.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/scalability.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/diffusion.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/sequencing.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/distribution.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/production.htm

http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem/dg/database.htm


disseminating targeted agriculture information to small and marginal farmers using a cost-realistic media exchange that is supported by existing, people-based extension systems and local facilitators. The recent techniques in Agricultural Extension like the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) are effectively utilised for this purpose. The unique components of Digital Green are a participatory process for content production, a locally generated digital video database, human-mediated instruction for dissemination and training; and regimented sequencing to initiate a new community. While video provides a point of focus, it is people and social dynamics that ultimately make Digital Green work. Local social networks are tapped to connect farmers with experts; the thrill of appearing on TV motivates farmers, and homophily is exploited to minimize the distance between teacher and learner. The Digital Green system still requires the support of a grassroots-level extension system, but it magnifies its effectiveness by using relevant content and a local presence to connect with farmers on a sustained basis. Indeed, Digital Green was shown to be ten times more effective per dollar spent.

Usage and Effects

Digital Green is a good beginning to overcome the traditional way in which Information and Communication Technologies were used till date. It has found and utilised new avenues for the successful implementation of the agricultural extension activity. Changed and upgraded technology will bring new potential for growth and overall development of the clientele. The participatory method of agricultural extension is the demand of the changing and globalised world. It is the most effective means in which the required technology can be transferred to the farmers not on our desire but on the needs and requirement of the farmers and the rural people concerned. Digital Green is utilising the same it in an efficient way. Advisory services provisioning was selected as first phase of Venture. The two key milestones during this period were that Key Metrics till August 22, 2010 Objective: Increase cost-effectiveness of existing extension systems, Produce locally relevant content, Increase adoption rate

Number of States covered 5 Number of districts 9 Number of blocks 22 Number of operational villages 43 Number of field guides(Video Production) 47 Number of video production training conducted 11 Number of videos produced 387 Number of dissemination training conducted 28The RTBI (Rural Technology and Business Incubator) model

IITM’s Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) is a registered Non- Profit Society, which was born in October, 2006. The overall aim of the society is to identify, design, develop and pilot, rural inclusive businesses that will enable the rural development process. RTBI is a first-off incubator in the sense that it provides a significant research and pre-incubation analysis and study platform for

rural ventures where the business model and rural dynamics is not well understood. RTBI was set up primarily with funding from Infodev and the Department of Science and Technology along with support from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Additionally project partnership and support from IBM, TI and UNDP enabled the establishment.

Main Features

In the pre-incubation space, RTBI started off its plans to work in various venture sectors such as agriculture, vocational training, health, education and financial inclusion. In January 2007, the Agriculture Venture came into existence. The team began meeting various stakeholders in Agriculture. An initial fact-finding trip to Theni District was completed followed up by a market research and analysis exercise. Based on the analysis findings, three thrust areas are identified namely, Provision of advisory services Provision of market linkages Provision of financial linkages The prior work started on the selection of villages and respective kiosk operators for provision of advisory service in Theni District The Incubator is currently involved in supporting entrepreneurs in building ventures to promote livelihoods, education, healthcare, agriculture, connectivity and financial inclusion in India’s rural areas. Needless to say, ICT’s play a crucial role in scaling RTBI’s aims across geographies and in empowering large sections of the underprivileged in India including women.

System Architecture and Operation in Agriculture

The research team was set up in mid January 2007. During the period up to March 2007, the team established its goals and processes. The immediate objectives that were defined were: To create a Village Databank – a database that profiles

villages where RTBI would pilot its initiatives. The profiles would aim to gauge the village’s access to amenities.

To create a Rural Household Databank –to implement a baseline survey capturing socio-economic data of all adults in 500 households each of all RTBI pilot villages.

To support the rural information and analysis requirements of ventures (pre-incubatees) and incubatees of RTBI

The methodology thus decided was: Village Databank – The kiosk operator will be trained to

collect the data for his village from Panchayat officers and village administrative officer

Rural Household Databank - The kiosk operator will be trained to administer the online survey among the respondents in his village.

Need based Venture specific data collection – sample driven and most often contact based.

The initiative of RTBI in the agriculture front is praiseworthy. RTBI has rightly noted that small or medium sized land farmers in the Indian Agriculture mainly face three problems, which are • Disease Risk • Weather Risk • Price Risk

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RTBI continuously endeavours to lower these three categories of risk and effectively leverage technology to enhance productivity.

Usage and Effects

The efficient working and use by the farming community for the purpose of agriculture may be explained under the following groups.

Weather Monitoring Systems

It is seen that the amount of rainfall that a land receives is in a cycle. Once in eight years, rainfall fails and hence creates the weather risk that farmers face. RTBI has built a low-cost weather monitoring station, and with support from the Department of Science and Technology, has been deployed in close to 100 locations in Tamil Nadu and will be deployed in close to 1200 locations in Andhra Pradesh. RTBI aims to work with Personalized Advisory Services that not only provide regional specific (district or state) advice, but also farm-specific advice. It is designing a desk-top soil testing system to enable micro-level data on farms through GPS mapping of individual farms on GIS systems. These include periodic soil conditions, water levels and rainfall at different times. What was grown when and the farm practice employed crop selection, fertilizers, pesticide, disease history etc. This is indeed very useful for the farmers to ward off any uncertainty and risks associated with the production process.

Mobile-based Personalized Advisory Service

Farmer can query any relevant information on his/her mobile. The Computer acts as a call-agent answering questions in multiple Indian languages and also enables carrying out any transaction based on an innovative patented approach. The village Sirunagar close to National Agro-Foundation at Kanchipuram district is having complete computerisation of almost 20 farmers’ database in their systems. When the farmers happen to call the expert for any farm specific advise then the details of the farmers in terms of their age, type of land, major crops cultivated, family background, type of farming practiced, land size and all other specific details gets flashed on the computer screen making the expert easy to respond to the questions without wasting time on knowing the back ground and other details of the farmer. This enables the farmer to have trust in the views expressed by the expert and they are ready to follow the same. The farmers have become more risk-taking due to the timely advice that they get over the phone almost instantly. The phone numbers are toll-free so that farmers do not feel any hesitation in questioning the experts regarding the problems that they face on their land.

Farmers Club

RTBI provides a platform to the farmers of the villages to express their thoughts and ideas every month once or twice depending upon the need and farming season. The farmers analyse their farming practice and difficulties they face with the fellow farmers and the concerned agricultural experts. Also, a progressive farmer is identified in the village that is

given special training and made aware of the new implements and practices. The progressive farmer later disseminates the information to the co-farmers. The farmers are now more interested in cultivating crops other than the traditional crops like rice. Famers now cultivate cash crops such as Ground Nut, Banana, Vegetables like Brinjal, Lady’s finger, Bitter Gourd and so on. The farmers are also made aware regarding various initiatives of the Government for the advancement of the agriculture sectors. Farmers are now interested in availing loans under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme with very low rate of interest which prevents them from the clutches of the money lenders and other non-institutional sources of money supply. The famers are also availing the facility under National Crop Insurance Scheme to insure their crops under vagaries of nature and other causes resulting in the shortfall in the production. The crop insurance cover varies from almost all the crops from cereal crops to cash crops. It is certainly a relief to the farmers who are now able to take risk in the cultivation of crops other than the traditional crops. The farmers get major subsidy on the purchase of farm implements like Power Tiller, Tractors, and Pump-sets and so on which requires a lot of capital. They can also avail loan on the basis of their credit limit under the Kisan Credit Card scheme from banks at lower rates of interest.

Some of the recommendations which is worth mentioning is enumerated below

The initiatives of RTBI are very much localized. Having no paucity of funds, it should be scaled up further but that approach seems to be lacking from the administrative end.

The Project is mainly facing problems of acute labour and manpower shortage. According to the farmers, this is mainly due to social development programmes of the Government like MNREGA which enables the labourers’ easy money with fewer efforts. RTBI should make sure that the farmers do not face such problems during the growing and harvesting season so that their model is successful to a greater scale. Farmers are now hesitant to follow commercial agricultural activities mainly due to this problem. The family work force and the younger generations are not very much interested in agricultural activities and they shift to the cities and towns mainly making it difficult for the interested farmers to pursue their innovative agricultural practices.

The farmers mainly complain that the advice through phones is not very productive. Sometimes, the farmers fail to recognize the disease infestation on their crops. It was better that the agricultural experts devoted some time to personally survey their land on weekly or monthly basis. This will ensure better results from their farming practice.

The whole-hearted initiative in the field of allied branches of agriculture like poultry, horticulture, floriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and so on is not up to the mark. The farmers are still ignorant about the benefits of the allied sectors which are more remunerative and cost-effective than the agriculture sector. RTBI should also concentrate on the same so that the living standard and

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per capita income of the farmers can be scaled up easily. It will also encourage resource intensive farmers to further develop these projects. It will also be able to generate lot of employment opportunities, increasing linkage to cities, creating partnerships among the farmers.

The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) should be diversified so as to include all potential partners and stakeholders in respective categories. The RTBI initiative in the case of SHGs is only seen in the field of tailoring. The SHGs should be further scaled-up to include other exciting areas as well.

The Agropedia portal Agropedia is a digital knowledge repository with the open platform for learning and sharing information related to Indian agriculture. The content is semantically catalogued and easy to find. This agricultural encyclopaedia is being designed as a sub project of the knowledge management initiative of National Agricultural Innovation Project in support of agricultural extension and outreach.

Main Features The primary output is Agropedia (www.agropedia.net) which was conceived and developed by a team of experts at IIT-Kanpur. The Agropedia allows content contribution by any member of the NARS institutions in India or even abroad. It has built-in features and processes that enable contributions to be reviewed or edited and released for publication after a review process is complete. A group of editors and contributors can manage the process of review or validation from across many centres and locations. A wide range of content can be considered and can include multimedia elements such as audio, video or animations besides text and images. Content in Agropedia can be contributed in one of two streams: the Gyandhara is a stream of content that is created, reviewed and published by a community of Experts. Content in Gyandhara is certified. The other stream is the Jangyan which allows practitioners to place relevant and appropriate content in an interaction space, without any certification by experts. In the parlance of today’s KM, the Agropedia allows both explicit (expert-sourced) and tacit (practice-based, more personal) knowledge to be made available for browsing by all the stakeholders.

At this stage, Agropedia focuses on content meant to support extension processes although the technology involved can support educational or research publication processes as well. Standard online tools such as Wikis, Blogs and Discussions Forum applications are available on this platform. It is entirely in the Open Source domain. The team at IIT-Kanpur has enabled the application of the new, cutting-edge technology, called the Semantic Web, in this effort. This technology, first conceived of by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, overcomes many serious limitations on information discovery in today’s web. It proposes a radical set of solutions that involve the knowledge of subject matter specialists in various domains. Such experts generate a codified system for tagging information pieces and this system can be rendered global

much in the way the librarians have been using globally accepted classification schemes. Once available both new and existing digital information pieces can be tagged and the tagged materials can be located more easily and in a way that is sensitive to the context and relationships. The IIT-Kanpur team has built a baseline scheme for crops in general and has codified it with the help of the FAO. The GBPUAT and ICRISAT, both members of this consortium, have developed tagging schemes for nine crops based on institutional expertise. It uses a technology called Concept Maps. They underlie the architecture of Agropedia and thus enable any user to tag a piece of information with just few clicks. It is possible for an editor to change/alter or tag additionally. Once tagged, the information piece is located by a search that looks at codified tags and not at the exact content. The search thus is more at specific concept level than at the non-specific word level.

The application of semantic web techniques in this endeavour is an international first. It is known that agricultural content is scarce globally on the Web and the very small scale occurrence of agricultural topics in the famous Wikipedia in English is a good example: only about 3000 entries among almost 2 million entries there relate to agriculture. With the availability of these new tools and techniques, the makers of Agropedia believe that agricultural community in education, research and extension spheres, in both the private and the public sector, can make lasting contributions. Multi-linguality is not a challenge in Agropedia but adds to its richness. On a trial basis, the Concept maps have been rendered into Hindi and Telugu and more work along these lines is in progress. The open access is a new feature of agropedia which is an online agriculture depository containing conference papers, book chapters, journal articles, full text books and miscellaneous agricultural research documents which are searchable and usable by any potential user with access to the internet. The searching and achieving in open access is totally free for any user. The agropedia has also come up with a new initiative called as Virtual KVK (vKVK) which uses a simple platform that provides facilities like sending SMS, i.e., text messages and voice messages directly to the productive and general category farmers for the services like advisory, alert and private messages regarding new and improved agricultural practices.

System Architecture and Operations

This site provides the option for more specific search on a specific agricultural topic. One can increase his knowledge as well as can share his agricultural information with others. 'Extension Material' includes different types of content, provided or thoroughly checked by the agricultural scientists. Beside this, anyone can create content and share his opinion and experiences through wiki, blogs, forum and online chat. Facilities provided in this site are incorporated by taking into account the requirement of different types of users. Everyone can find and use his favourable way for creation and sharing of agricultural knowledge as the contents are provided through different form.

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Usage and Effects

The users are expected to be extension workers from KVKs and NGOs, agricultural researchers, scientists, experts, academic institutions, organizations, Agricultural Research Stations (ARSs), advanced farmers, traders, retailers, and self-help-group. Anyone with a keen interest in agriculture can access this site, contribute towards it and engage in healthy discussion. IITK works as the provider of technical and architectural wherewithal to develop and host the knowledge management platform, which is the Agropedia. IITB and IIIT-Kerala provide specific agricultural services through specific portlets in the Agropedia user interface. The contents for Agropedia will be provided by the GBPUAT, Pantnagar and UAS, Raichur. They are also the implementing partners. The NAARM and ICRISAT works as the support partners. ICRISAT is the consortium leader and coordinator who work as a channel for communication and overall impact assessment.

Some of the recommendations worth mentioning are enumerated below.

The farmers fail to find topics regarding immediate interest. The website should contain SMS based application as well so as to serve the farmers atleast from Uttar Pradesh and adjoining regions so that they can get information regarding the farming practice and latest practices on a time bound and regular basis in a personalized way.

1. The authenticity of the papers on Agropedia and Openagri platform cannot be maintained. If some user wants to quote it as a REFERENCESS than the exact details is not usually available.

2. There is possibility for copyright violation as the files and research findings get uploaded immediately without any authentication. A proper system and code of conduct is very necessary to make the users aware and restrict any infringements.

3. The agrochat and agrowiki is a nice concept but the chat function will be more productive if they arrange for experts on different aspects at different slots of time so that users actually become interested in the agricultural scenario.

4. The users once registered should be asked to participate in surveys and other feedback processes so as to judge the working of the product and nature of the audience.

THE AQUA (ALMOST ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED) MODEL

aAQUA ('a'lmost 'A'll 'QU'estions 'A'nswered) is an online expert Question & Answer based community forum, developed by Media Labs Asia, KReSIT, IIT Bombay, for delivering information to the grass roots. It is an online, multilingual, multimedia, archived discussion forum accessible using a web browser, allowing members to create, view and manage content in their mother tongue (Hindi, Marathi etc). aAQUA has cyber extended the reach of experts at KVK, Baramati and other partner institutions. It has demonstrated great

potential for local content creation. This chapter deals with the goals set, features, current status and recommendations for further enhancement of the project. In a progressively shrinking global village, the only barrier to widespread dispersal of knowledge is lack of multilingual communication. A large section of the society, particularly the rural populace, does not have access to the huge knowledge base acquired through scientific development through the centuries. There is certainly an urgent need to establish a framework for knowledge exchange between various communities & cultures. aAQUA is an endeavour in this direction. The goals of aAQUA are as following: - To create a multilingual communication framework. To provide a language independent knowledge database. To provide an easy to use interface to accommodate even naive users. To provide easy and fast access to reliable information (both through artificial agents and Human Experts from all over the world) It includes media like voice to text, text to voice, videos, pictures, and images for non-literate or semi-illiterate people.

Main Features

The key enabling features of the project is briefly mentioned below: Use of Multimedia: The system is designed to cater to the needs of rural users to express themselves to each other as well as to the outer world. The inability to articulate their thoughts using the input devices commonly available is overcome by use of images instead of text, building on their rich visual vocabularies to communicate. Users are the consumers as well as producers of the content: aAQUA eases the creation of content i.e., text, images, short audio, video and animations, thus helping the users move from being passive consumers to active content creators. The community has created more than 90% of the current English, Hindi and Marathi content of aAQUA locally. Assistance in creating content for aAQUA is provided by the telecentre/kiosk operator. This takes the technology to users who are unfamiliar to computers and often not literate. They can now experience the Internet as well as participate through it. This is a great motivating factor for people as it showcases the benefits of using a computer in their everyday lives. An end user can select the category and the specific forum with which he/she wants to interact, or from which hr/she wishes to view posts. The user can choose an avatar, either from built-in avatars or upload his/her own avatar (jpg/gif/png). This has been observed to be a very popular feature with the community.

System Architecture and Operation

aAQUA has been in operation since the end of 2003.The repository currently contains questions and answers in the domain of crop and animal diseases and pertains to the hamlet of villages around Pabal in Pune district. This service is further being extended to the rural community in the Rajgurunagar, Shirur and Haveli Talukas of Pune district in Maharashtra state. As on June, 2010, aAQUA had more than 99 threads under the crop diseases, animal

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diseases and others forums consisting of more than 29,910 answered posts. The detailed analysis of aAQUA usage is mentioned in the Table 3.2 and 3.3. The table 1.2

below shows the number of questions replied from various stat

es

Table 1.2: Table showing state and number of questions replied till date( as on 15thJune,2010)STATE NUMBER OF QUESTIONS REPLIED

Maharashtra 7128

Karnataka 1421

Andhra Pradesh 682

Tamil Nadu 615

Uttar Pradesh 582

Uttrakhand 249

Gujarat 196

Madhya Pradesh 181

Not specified states 128

Kerala 124

SOURCE: aAQUA Story, aaqua.org/story.htm [Bahuman 2008]

Table 1.3: Table showing average monthly no. of threads, by section, by user and response times

Number of threads Dec. Jan. Feb. March April May

a.Crop diseases 17 19 5 10 4 7b.Animal diseases 2 2 3 1 2 0

c.Others 9 1 1 2 2 0

Posted by

a.Field engineers 21 15 0 4 7 1

b.Kiosk operators 2 6 5 7 0 6

c.Others 5 1 4 2 1 0

Avg.Response Time(in days) 56 22 32 9 8 2

Max.Response Time(in days) 145 110 85 70 19 4

Min.Response Time(in days) 31 4 8 20 Min. 3 2.5 Hrs.

KVK, Baramati is providing the expert consultation services with experts in the crop and animal diseases domains.

The following table shows the efficiency and work-out of the system consisting of the average monthly number of threads in terms of section, user and response times.

Usage and Effects

The experts at work in the Project are well aware of the following factors which they hope to answer well in the years to come. These are as follows:

Media Labs Asia is working on a tool called agro-explorer, which will enable meaning-based searching of aAQUA queries and content. In future, the farmer would be able to search aAQUA or his problem before posting his question on aAQUA. Another area where Media Labs is putting efforts is enabling mobile wireless devices like the Simputer and mobile phones to access aAQUA which will enable connectivity on the go.

The current sources of information for farmers are fertilizer/ pesticide shops, agricultural officers or other farmers. When a farmer discovers a crop disease, it has already spread to a part of the cultivation. Thus the farmer

needs a solution very urgently. This implies that the response time for aAQUA advice should be 12 hrs-1 business day. aAQUA is working hard in this line to decrease the response time.

Farmers who employ modern techniques of cultivation generally seek information on these. They refer to magazines like Krishi Udyog. Such information if available on aAQUA would evoke interest in the farmers. It will be implemented in the following years.

The following recommendations may be suggested for the proper working and future growth.

Further scaling up would need linking to a greater number of experts from a variety of institutions like agricultural colleges/ universities/ practitioners and so on. It should be ready and take further concrete steps to collaborate with other government and non- governmental institutions.

The efforts for content generation have to be increased. One way is to put the local queries handled by KVK

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experts on aAQUA. Anyways the field engineer at experts’ end is an underutilized resource which should be used by providing proper training to him.

Training the experts to use computers and digital cameras etc themselves, thus reducing the dependence on field engineer.

A key success factor for aAQUA would be the motivation of individual kiosk operators to run the service. This implies having a commercial model for aAQUA.

The operationalization of the project should be on Pan-India basis where every farmer can have a say and may benefit from the process. Custom-made solutions should be provided making use of latest software so that better answers are provided in a personalised way to the farmers.

There should be a strict check on users who advertise their products on the ‘Ask Questions’ page. Such users should be immediately terminated for saving the time and interest of the genuine users.

In some cases, the pesticide chemical to be used is given. However, the name of commercially available pesticide containing that chemical should be given. The solution corresponds to a different stage in the farming cycle, for e.g. which seed variety would be resistant to the pest is given, while the solution to prevent infection is required.

The experts at KVK feel that they are handicapped by absence of knowledge of actual field conditions. If the problems were supplemented by visuals, the expert advice would be much more effective and relevant. Problems should also detail parameters like approximate temperature, humidity/ irrigation, area under infection etc.

CONCLUSION

Information technologies constitute one of the most effective available ways of meeting basic human needs and fulfilling fundamental human rights. Enhancing livelihoods through ICTs is not as straightforward as merely installing the technology, but it is not conceptually complex either. Provided a few relatively simple principles can be followed, it seems likely that widespread agricultural revolution and improving livelihoods of farmers can be achieved with ICTs. The main challenges are not actually in the technology; they lie in the coordination of a disparate set of local and national factors, each of which can spoil efforts if not taken into account. If all the points can be integrated in a holistic manner then it will result in a very efficient model for the overall development of agriculture and progressive extension through ICTs.

REFERENCES

Bhatnagar,S.C and Patel,N.R., 1988,Decentralised Computing for Rural Development,OMEGA,16(2),pp.165-70.

Bhatnagar,Subhash, 2000, Information Technology in Development: Foundation and Key Issues,in, Bhatnagar and Schware,(ed.), Information and Communication Technology in Development:Case studies from India, Sage Publications,New Delhi,pp.17-31.

DAC 2000. Policy Framework for Agricultural Extension, Extension Division, Department of Agriculture and Co-operation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi: Government of India(draft).

Government of India, 1984, Planning Commission, Report of the Working

Group on District Planning, vol.I, May, New Delhi.

Meera,N.Shaik., 2008. ICTs in Agricultural Extension. Ganga Kaveri Publishing House.Varanasi.

Ministry of Agriculture, 1987. Computerization of Rural Development Information, Department of Rural Development,Ministry of Agriculture,New Delhi.

Roy,B., 1991. Rural Uplift:Grass without Roots,Times of India,February 23.

Sanwal,M., 1986. Computer Applications in District Administration, Administrative Training Institute,Nainital.

Shubham,G, 2009. Study of ICT Projects in Rural Development and Poverty Reduction,in,R.K Pandey(ed.)Proceeding of ICARD Seminar 2009.Excel India Publishers,New Delhi,pp.271.

Sulaiman, V.R. and Jha, D., 2000. Determinants of demand for paid farm extension services in India: A discriminant functions approach, Afro-Asian J. of Rural Development 33 (2): 57–67.

Sulaiman, V.R. and van den Ban, A.W., 2000. Reorienting Agricultural Extension Curricula in India, J. of Agricultural Education and Extension 7 (2): 69–78.

Swaminathan, M.S., 1993. (ed.) Information technology: Reaching the unreached. Chennai: Macmillan India.

Zijp, W., 1994. Improving the transfer and use of agricultural information – a guide to Information Technology. Washington DC: World Bank.

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Study on calves management practices in tribal and non-tribal areas of Panchmahals district of Gujarat

B S KHADDA*, KANAK LATA*, J K JADAV*, P KALASH** AND RAJ KUMAR***Krishi Vigyan Kendra Panchmahals, **Central Horticulture Experiment Station (CIAH), Vejalpur-Godhra, Gujarat, India.

[email protected].

ABSTRACT

Results of study with regard to calf management practices followed in tribal and non tribal cattle rears of Panchmahals district revealed that the calves attended care were taken after parturition but the ligation cutting and disinfection of navel cord and deworming practices followed by the farmers were very low and mostly farmers were feeding colostrum to their newly born calf after removal of placenta, only few farmers followed this practice correctly and feed colostrum within two hours of the birth. This may be due to lack of knowledge about scientific calf rearing and awareness how it is important in future

Key wards: Calf management, colostrum, tribal and non-tribal, rear and disinfection

Colostrum feeding to the newly born calf is very essential to provides nutrients to the newly born calf and immunity to against various diseases in his early phase of life. The calves are the future of dairy hard and they should be reared under scientific management practices, but unfortunately calf management is neglected part in this area. Keeping these views in background, attempts were made to examine time and quantity of colostrums feeding and its methods of calf rearing in Tribal and Non-Tribal areas of Panchmahals District of Gujarat.


The present study was undertaken in Panchmahals District of Gujarat state. The agriculture land is rain fed and Livestock husbandry is one of the important sources of livelihood of the tribal people. For data collection, four tehsil from the district, therefore two tehsil (Goghamba and Jambughoda) represent tribal group remaining two tehsil (Godhra and Kalol) non tribal were selected for study. Six village from the each selected tehsil and five cattle and buffalo rearing families from each village were selected randomly. Thus the data for study were collected from a total of 120 household (60 from each group by adopting the proportionate random sampling method (PRSM)). The desired information, on calf management practices were collected to cattle and buffalo rearers by administrating developed questionnaires and also by direct observation in the farmers’ flocks. The collected data were subjected to basic statistical analysis as per Snedecor and Cochran (1989).

RESULT AND DISCUSSIONThe finding regarding calf rearing practices indicated that the all farmers from Tribal and Non-Tribal areas attended calving and takes care of the calves after parturition. The farmers practiced legation cutting and disinfection of the

naval cord 6.67 and 11.67 per cent of tribal and non tribal areas, respectively (Table-1). The low percentage of the navel cord cutting and disinfection is mainly due to lack of knowledge about scientific calf management practices. It was found that 86.67% of tribal and 78.34% of non tribal farmers were feeding colostrum to their newly born calves after removal of placenta. Similar findings have been reported by Dhiman et al (1990) in Hisar district and Sinha et al (2010) in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh, Whereas 8.33 tribal and 13.33 non tribal farmers provide colostrum within 2 to5 hrs of the birth and 5.00 and 8.33 per cent tribal and non tribal farmers followed this practice appropriately, where colostrums feeding was followed within 2 hrs. of the birth. Similar result on colostrum feeding of cattle and buffalo calves under rural, semi rural and urban areas were also reported by Sinha et al (2010), Malik and Nagpal (1999) reported that 40% farmers feed colostrum with in 2 hrs. of birth, while 8.33% farmers provide it within 2 to 4 hrs after birth and remaining 46.67% feed colostrum after separation of placenta. Majority of the tribal (71.67%) and non tribal (78.33%) farmers provide colostrum half quarter to the newly born calf. These results are in agreement with the findings (Dhiman et al 1999, Singh and Singh 2000 and Deoras et al 2004). With aspect to quantity of milk left for calf, the present study indicated that most of the farmers of tribal 76.67% and non tribal 90% left some milk in all quarters for their calf. These observations are in consonance with the finding reported by Dhiman et al (1999), Singh and Singh (2000) and Deoras et al (2004), which clearly indicated that farmers had awareness about the nutritional values of the milk and colostrums required for newly born calf. All the farmers of this region adopted suckling method of calf rearing, whereas not a single farmer practiced weaning system of calf rearing, which is scientific method of calf management. Generally most of the farmers allowed to calves for suckling both time (before and after milking). Parasitic problems are causes for the mortality in calves.

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Table: 1 Calves management practice followed by households (n=120)

Particulars Tribal Area Non Tribal Area

To attend calving/Parturitiona. Yesb. No

60(100)-

60(100)-

Time of colostrums feedinga. With in 2 hoursb. 2-5 hoursc. After removal the placenta

3(5)5(8.33)52(86.67)

5(8.33)8(13.33)47(78.34)

Quantity of colostrumsa. One Quaterb. Half quater

17(28.33)43(71.67)

13(21.67)47(78.33)

Cutting of naval corda. Followedb. Not followed

4(6.67)56(93.33)

7(1167)53(88.33)

Quantity of milk left for calfa. One Quaterb. Some milk in all quaters

14(23.33)46(76.67)

6(10)54(90)

System of calf rearinga. Sucklingb. weaning

60(100)-

60(100)-

Regular deworming of calfa. Practicesb. Not Practices

6(10)54(90)

16(26.67)44(73.33)

Use of ectoparasiticides a. Practicesb. Not Practices

22(36.66)38(63.33)

34(56.67)26(43.33)

Dehorning/disbudding practicesa. Yesb. No

-60(100)

-60(100)

Identification of calfa. Practicesb. Not Practices

-60(100)

-60(100)

Figures in Parenthesis indicate Percentage

In general deworming practices were not followed in this region, because only 10.00 and 26.67 per cent farmers adopted this practice in tribal and non tribal areas of Panchmahals District of Gujarat respectively. These results are in consonance with the findings reported by Honda and Gill (1986) in other hand Deoras et al (2004) reported that none of the farmers in rural areas adopted these practices while urban areas 12% farmers followed this practice. Application of ectoparasiticides by the dairy farmers in tribal

and nontribal areas were recorded 36.67% and 56.67% respectively, mostly farmers in tribal areas used their own ITK (Tobacco mixed with mustard oil). None of the farmers in both tribal and non tribal areas of these belts had any knowledge about dehorning/ disbudding during first few days of birth, whereas Honda and Gill (1986) reported that 43% of the farmers practices dehorning in Ludhiana District of Punjab it may be due to lack of knowledge regarding the importance of dehorning/disbudding among the farmers.

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REFERENCESDeoras Rajiv, Nema, R.K and Mishra, U.K 2004.

Management Practices of Calves in Rajnandagaon District of Chhattisgarh Plain. Indian J. of Animal Sciences 74(1): 91-93.

Dhiman, P.C., Singh Narendra and Yadav, B.L. 1990. a study of dairy cattle and buffalo management practices in adopted and non-adopted village of Hisar district. Indian J. of Animal Production and Management 6(2):84-89

Malik, D.S.and Nagpal, P.K. 1999. Studies on milking and calf rearing management practices of Murrah buffaloes in its home tract of Haryana. Indian J. of Animal Production and Management 15(2):52-54

Singh and Singh 1999. Effect of Socio economic variable on Management of milking practices under different framing system. Indian J. of Animal Production and Management 15(1):31-32

Sinha, R.R.K, Triveni Dutt, Bharat Bhushan Singh, R.R, Singh, M.and Kumar Sanjay 2010. Comparative studies of calf rearing and milking management practices in rural, semi-urban and urban areas of Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh. Indian J. of Animal Sciences 80(5):483-485

Snedecor, G.W.and Cochran, W.G 1989. Statistical methods, 8th edn. IOWA state university press, Ames IOWA PP.503

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Short Communication

Training needs of dairy farming women and constraints faced by rural women:A case study of Gujarat

J B KATHIRIYA, M B VIADIYA AND N D POLARA KVK, Main Dry Farming Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Targhadia, Rajkot-360 003 Gujarat, India.

Dairy farming is one of the important agro based industries for solving the problems of employment and rural poverty. Management of Livestock and milk production has been one of the sectors in India where female work force participation is high. Rural women perform a large part of the work relating to maintenance of livestock, milk production and milk processing. Milk production has been single major activity to provide the income and employment throughout the year to rural households. In order to increase the efficiency of Indian rural women, training in dairy practices is very necessary. It is the function of helping other to acquire and apply knowledge, skill abilities and attitudes which they do not possess but which are needed. It brings continuous improvement in the quality of work performed by the individuals. It is therefore necessary to investigate the areas of training needs of rural women in animal husbandry practices and difficulties faced by them while performing those activities. The investigation was therefore carried out with the following objectives.

Objectives:

To study the areas of training needs of dairy practicing women.

To study the difficulties faced by the rural women in performance of animal husbandry practices.

METERIAL AND METHODS

The study was conducted in three tehsils (Padadhari, Rajkot and Wankaner) of Rajkot district of the Gujarat state. The tehsils were selected on the basis of maximum milk supply in liters / day. Out of three tehsils, 15 Villages which supply milk above 100 litters were purposively selected and from these selected villages 150 farmers engaged in dairy business were randomly selected. The house wife of farmer was considered as respondent for the study. Thus 150 women were selected as respondents for the study. The responses were obtained on three point continuum namely most needed, some what needed and not needed. The score was assigned 3, 2 and 1 respectively. The data were collected by personal interview method.


Training needs of rural women in animal husbandry practices

The training needs of rural women in various animal husbandry practices were categorized in Table-1. Training needs are arranged as per the rank of the need regarding practices.It was seen from the Table 1 that the areas where rural

women expressed training were animal health and disease control precautions (92.00 per cent), animal milk production (88.00 per cent), animal hygiene and management (85.33 per cent), common diseases of milking animals (83.33 per cent) such as vaccination schedule and preparation of silage. These training needs were highly technical and scientific. These are generally looked after by the males, even then, as the involvement in animal husbandry practices of women folk is more, they feel these training needs essential to meet the problems. Similar findings were also reported by Nikhade et al. (2005).It was found that more than seventy per cent respondents required training in the areas of feeding of live stock during pregnancy, treatment of roughages, preparation of silage, preparation of balanced diet and Importance of record keeping. Similar findings were also reported by Sheela et al. (1993). Above forty per cent respondents noted that they needed training in the areas of preparation of hay, animal breeding and care, using chaff cutter for cutting fodder, feeding and care of newly born calves, production of good quality fodder and feeding and care of improved breed and buffaloes(Singh et al., 2005).

Difficulties faced by rural women in performance of animal husbandry practices

For effective role performance the rural women had to face many problems. Their main problems are grouped in Table 2. The Table 2 indicates that more than eighty per cent respondents had the economic problems of high cost of animal feed, high cost of byre construction, high cost of milch animals and high rate of labour charges.Above seventy per cent respondents had difficulties in getting medical aids, getting pure breed of animals and cost of available cattle is very high. More than seventy per cent respondents had lack of technical knowledge about feed fodder and health management, lack of knowledge about silage preparation, lack of infrastructure facilities in the village, lack of artificial insemination facilities at village level and lack of medicinal facilities in the villages. The data showed that non-availability of quality fodder is very crucial in livestock production. Most of the time dry fodder, low in energy and protein, is available for feeding of animals. Poor quality fodder was reported by 70.00 per cent respondents as a factor responsible for lower milk, wool and meat production. Reddy and Subramanium (2002) observed that the deficiency of protein in ration at village level is the main factor responsible for lower milk yield.The findings of the study clearly indicate that the training is essential for less educated women those who are in the profile of low income, small land holding and less participation in different social organization.

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Table 1 : Distribution of the respondents according to their training needs ( n=150 )

Animal husbandry practicesTraining needs Average Rank

Most needed Needed Not Needed Most needed Needed Not NeededAnimal health and disease control precautions 138 (92.00) 10 (6.67) 2 (1.33) 2.76 0.13 0.01 IAnimal milk production 132 (88.0) 15 (10.00) 3 (2.00) 2.64 0.20 0.02 IIAnimal hygiene and management 128 (85.33) 22 (14.67) 0 (0.00) 2.56 0.29 0.00 IIICommon diseases of milking animals 125 (83.33) 20 (13.33) 5 (3.33) 2.5 0.27 0.03 IVFeeding of Live stock during pregnancy 118 (78.67) 25 (16.67) 7 (4.67) 2.36 0.33 0.05 VTreatment of roughages 115 (76.67) 22 (14.67) 13 (8.67) 2.30 0.29 0.09 VIPreparation of Silage 112 (74.67) 28 (18.67) 10 (6.67) 2.24 0.37 0.07 VIIPreparation of balanced diet 110 (73.33) 30 (20.00) 10 (6.67) 2.20 0.40 0.07 VIIIImportance of record keeping 111 (74.00) 20 (13.33) 19 (12.67) 2.22 0.27 0.13 IXPreparation of Hay 102 (68.00) 38 (25.33) 10 (6.67) 2.04 0.51 0.07 XAnimal breeding and care 94 (62.67) 40 (26.67) 16 (10.67) 1.88 0.53 0.11 XIUsing chaff cutter for cutting fodder 86 (57.33) 45 (30.00) 19 (12.67) 1.72 0.60 0.13 XIIProduction of good quality fodder 75 (50.00) 35 (23.33) 40 (26.67) 1.5 0.47 0.27 XIIIFeeding and care of newly born calves 73 (48.67) 42 (28.00) 35 (23.33) 1.46 0.56 0.23 XIVFeeding and care of improved breed of buffaloes 67 (44.67) 38 (25.33) 45 (30.00) 1.34 0.51 0.30 XVAnimal care and management 59 (39.33) 35 (23.33) 56 (37.33) 1.18 0.47 0.37 XVIFeeding of Animals 47 (31.33) 39 (26.00) 64 (42.67) 0.94 0.52 0.43 XVIIPreparation of milk products 42 (28.00) 33 (22.00) 75 (50.00) 0.84 0.44 0.50 XVIIIMilk selling 33 (22.00) 28 (18.67) 89 (59.33) 0.66 0.37 0.59 XIXMilk marketing 28 (18.67) 22 (14.67) 100 (66.67) 0.56 0.29 0.67 XX

Table 2 : Distribution of the respondents according to the difficulties faced in role performance

Problems faced by the respondents Number PercentageA. Economic Problems

High cost of milch animals 132 88.00High cost of animal feed 142 94.67High rate of labour charges 125 83.33High rate of interest on loan 89 59.33High cost of byre construction 128 85.33

B. Supply ProblemsDifficulty in getting pure breed of animals 120 80.00Difficulty in getting medical aids 135 90.00Cost of available cattle is very high 105 70.00Non-availability of quality fodder 105 70.00

C. Marketing Problems

Unavailability of cold storage 75 50.00Lack of transportation facilities from village toCo-operative society

69 46.00Less price of milk 98 65.33Cost of preparation of milk products is high 70 46.67

D. Other ProblemsLack of awareness about scientific knowledge of dairy management 110 73.33Lack of knowledge about silage preparation 120 80.00Lack of technical knowledge about feed fodder and health management 139 92.67Lack of artificial insemination facilities at village level 112 74.67Lack of medicinal facilities in the village 118 78.67Lack of infrastructure facilities in the villages 120 80.00Lack of interest in animal keeping 65 43.33

REFERENCES

Antwal P. N. 1984. A study of the training needs of rural women. M.Sc. Thesis, M.A.U. Parbhani.

Dinesh Kumar and A. K. Singh 1983. Role of women in rural economy. Kurukshetra, 31(7):13-14

Nikhade D. M. and Patki A. 2005. Training needs of rural women and difficulties encountered in performance of animal husbandry practices. International. J. Extn. Edu. 1:77-82

Reddy, R.M. and Subramaniyam, S. 2002. Factors affecting productivity gaps in dairy farming. Agricultural Situation in India 59: 3-8

Sheela B. and B. Sundara Swamy 1993. Training needs of dairy practicing women. Maha. J. of Extn. Edu. 12:345-345

Singh, B., Mondal B.C., Yadav N.D. and Beniwal R.K. 2005. Technological constraints in mixed farming system in bikaner district of Rajasthan:A case study. Annals of arid zone 44(1): 105-108

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Short Communication

Organic farming – Its relevance to the Thar

P PAGARIA, SHOBHANA GUPTA AND R A PAREEK,Krishi Vigyan Kendra (SURE), Barmer, Rajasthan, India.


Green revolution technologies involving greater use of synthetic agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides with adoption of nutrient responsive, high yielding varieties of crops have boosted the production output per hectare in most cases. However, this increase in production has slowed down and in some cases there are indications of decline in productivity and production. Moreover, the success of industrial agriculture and the green revolution in recent decades has often masked significant externalities, affecting natural resources and human health as well as agriculture itself. Increasing consciousness about conservation of environment as well as of health hazards caused by agrochemicals has brought a major shift in consumer pREFERENCESS towards food quality, particularly in the developed countries. Global consumers are increasingly looking forward to organic food that is considered safe and hazard free. The global market for organic agriculture as a holistic food production management system, which promotes and enhances agro ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in pREFERENCESS to the use of off farm inputs, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological and mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfil any specific function within the system.

Organic agriculture: Its relevance to Thar

Farming Only 11 per cent of Barmer district total cultivable area is covered with fertilizers where irrigation facilities are available and in the remaining 89 per cent of arable land, which is mainly rain fed, negligible amount of fertilizers is being used. Farmers in these areas often use organic manure as a source of nutrients that are readily available either in their own farm or in their locality. The major portion of Barmer district provides considerable opportunity for organic farming due to least utilization of chemicals inputs. It is estimated that 1587113 hectare of such land is available for organic production. The report of Task Force on Organic Farming appointed by the Government of India also observed that in major potion, where limited amount of chemicals is used and have low productivity, could be exploited as potential areas for organic agriculture. Arresting the decline of soil organic matter is the most potent weapon in fighting against unabated soil degradation and imperiled sustainability of agriculture Thar regions, particularly these under the influence of arid climate. Application of organic manure is the only option to improve the soil organic carbon for sustenance of soil quality and future agricultural productivity (Report on Task Force on Organic Farming, 2001). It is estimated that mts of agricultural waste is available in the Barmer district every year, but most of it is

not properly used. This implies a theoretical availability of 5 tonnes of organic manure/hectare arable land/year, which is equivalent to about 100 kg NPK/ha/Yr (Chhonkar, P. K., 2003). However, in reality, only a fraction of this is available for actual field application. There are several alternatives for supply of soil nutrients from organic sources like Vermicompost, bio fertilizers etc. Technologies have been developed to produce large quantities of nutrient rich manure/compost. There is no doubt that organic agriculture is in many ways a preferable pattern for developing agriculture, especially in Thar areas.

Nutrient management in organic agriculture

Organic farming systems rely on the management of soil organic matter to enhance the chemical, biological and physical properties of the soil. One of the basic principles of soil fertility management in organic systems is that plant nutrition depends on “biologically derived nutrients” instead of using readily soluble forms of nutrients; less available forms of nutrients such as those in bulky organic materials are used. This requires release of nutrients to the plant via the activity of soil microbes and soil animals. Improved soil biological activity is also known to play a key role in suppressing weeds, pests and diseases (Katyal, J. C. and Tandon, H. L. S.). Animal dung, crop residues, green manure, bio fertilizers and bio-solids from agro-industries and food processing wastes are some of the potential sources of nutrients of organic agriculture. While animal dung has competitive uses as fuel, it is extensively used in the form of farm yard manure. Development of several compost production technologies like vermicomposting, phosphocomposting, N-enriched phosphocomposting etc. improves the quality of composts through enrichment with nutrient bearing minerals and other additives. These manures have the capacity to fulfill nutrient demand of crops adequately and promote the activity of beneficial macro-and micro-flora in the soil (Progress Report, IISS).

Environmental benefits of organic farming

The impact of organic agriculture on natural resources favors interactions within the agro ecosystem that is vital for both agricultural production and nature conservation. Ecological services derived include soil forming and conditioning, soil stabilization, waste recycling, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, predation, pollination and habitats. The environmental costs of conventional agriculture are substantial and the evidence for significant environmental amelioration via conversion to organic agriculture is over whelming (FAO, 2003).

Pest and disease management in organic agriculture

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Pest control in organic farming begins by making sensible choices, such as growing crops that are naturally resistant to diseases and pests, or choosing sowing times that prevent pest and disease outbreaks. Careful management in both time and space of planting not only prevents pests, but also increases population of natural predators that can contribute to the control of insects, disease and weeds. Other methods generally employed for the management of pests and diseases are: improving soil health to resist soil pathogens and promote plant growth: rotating crops; encouraging natural biological agents for control of diseases, insects and weeds; using physical barriers for protection from insects, birds and animals; modifying habitat to encourage pollinators and natural enemies of pests; and using semi-chemicals such as pheromone attractants and trap pests (IFOAM and Eximbank report, 2002). Organic manure is an alternative renewable source of nutrient supply. A large exists between the available potential and utilization of organic wastes. However, it is not possible to meet the

nutrient requirements of crops entirely from organic sources, if 100% cultivable land is converted to organic agriculture. Organic agriculture systems can deliver agronomic and environmental benefits both through structural changes and tactical management of farming systems. The benefits of organic farming are relevant both to developed nations (environmental protection, biodiversity enhancement, reduced energy use and CO2 emission) and to developing countries like India (sustainable resource use, increased crop yields without over-reliance on costly external inputs, environment and biodiversity protection etc.). Organic foods are proved superior in terms of health and safety, but there is no scientific evidence to prove their superiority in terms of taste and nutrition, as most of the studies are often inconclusive. In organic farming systems, pest and disease management strategies are largely preventive rather than reactive. In general, pest and disease incidence is less severe in organic farms compared to conventional farms.

REFERENCES

Subba Rao, I. V., Soil and environmental pollution, 1999. A threat to sustainable agriculture. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 1999, 47, 611-633.

Chhonkar, P. K. Organic farming: Science and belief. R.V. Tamhane, 2005. Memorial lecture delivered at the 68 th Annual Convention of the Indian Society of Soil Science, CSAU&T, Kanpur, 5 November 2005.

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, 2002. IFOAM Basic standards for Organic Production and processing, IFOAM.

All India Coordinated Research Project on Microbiological Decomposition and Recycling of Farm and city wastes. Progress Report, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, India, p. 85.

FAO, Organic Agriculture and the Environment. 2003. Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, 2003.

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DECLARATION

Form IV(See Rule 8)

Statement about ownership and other particular of Journal of Progressive Agriculture

Place of publication : Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

Periodicity of publication : Half Yearly

Printer’s Name : Gopal Printing Press, Ajmer.

Nationality : Indian

Address : M/S Gopal Printing Press, Kesar Ganj, Ajmer (Raj.)

Publisher’s name : Sh. Ram Singh BhatiPresident of Samaj Kalyan Avam Samannvit Vikas Sanstha, Ajmer (Rajasthan)

Address : 316/A, Christian Ganj, Ajmer (Raj.) India

Editor’s name : Dr. D.S. BhatiSecretary of Samaj Kalyan Avam Samannvit Vikas Sanstha, Ajmer (Rajasthan)

Nationality : Indian

Address : 316/A, Christian Ganj, Ajmer (Raj.) India

Name and address of individual who own the newspapers/journal partners and shareholders holding more than 1% of the total capital

Samaj Kalyan Avam Samannvit Vikas Sanstha, Ajmer (Rajasthan) India

.I, Ram Singh Bhati, publisher, printer and owner of this journal hereby declare that particular given are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Sd/-

Dated: 18th Oct. 2010 (Ram Singh Bhati) Dddd1

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