85. Astha, Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection), KVK, Amritsar (Punjab)

86. Balkaran Singh, Subject Matter Specialist (Agronomy), KVK, Mukatsar(Punjab)

87. C D Badgujar, Subhadra, Plot No. 17, 94/1, Suraksha Nagar, Jalgaon (Maharashtra)

88. Deepanjali Deori, Programme Coordinator, KVK, Upper Subangsiri (Assam)

89. Deepjyoti Baruah, Scientist (Fisheries), Assam Agricultural University, Hekra (Assam)

90. Divya Pandey, Subject Matter Specialist (Home Science), KVK,West Kameng, Dirang(Arunachal Pradesh)

91. Gurbir Kaur, Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection), KVK, Sangrur (Punjab)

92. Hiranya Kumar Bhattacharyya, Programme Coordinator,KVK, Romai-Kardoibam,Dibrugarh(Assam)

93. Ishwar Singh, Programme Coordinator, KVK, Jalgaon (Maharashtra)

94. K P Chaudhary, Deputy Director (Instruction) CAU, Imphal (Manipur)

95. Kiran Grover, Senior Extension specialist, Department of Food and Nutrition, PunjabAgricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

96. Madhu Shelly, Subject Matter Specialist (Animal Science), KVK, Mukatsar(Punjab)

97. Manmeet Kaur, Assistant Professor (Extension Education),Department of Extension Education,Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

98. Manoj Sudhakar Talathi ,Programme Coordinator,KVK, Killa-Roha(Raigad), (Maharashtra)

99. Meharban Singh, Senior Extension Specialist ( Soil Science), Department of Soil Science,Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

100. Mridusmita Borthakur, KVK, Chirang (Assam)

101. Navneet Kumar Mishra, Subject Matter Specialist (Agril. Extension),KVK, West Kameng,Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh)

102. Parminder Singh, Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary and Animal HusbandryExtension, GADVASU, Ludhiana (Punjab)

103. Pramod Maruti Mandavkar, Subject Matter Specialist (Agril. Extension),KVK, Killa-

Roha(Raigad), (Maharashtra)

104. Programme Coordinator, KVK, Bandipora(Putushai),(Jammu and Kashmir)

105. Programme Coordinator, KVK, Dooru (Anantnaag)( Jammu and Kashmir)

106. Programme Coordinator, KVK, Kulgam(Pombay),(Jammu and Kashmir)

107. Programme Coordinator, KVK, Kupwara (Wadura Campus), Shopore (Jammu and Kashmir)

108. Rajeev Kumar Raina, Programme Coordinator, KVK,Chamba (Himachal Pradesh)

109. Ranjay Kumar Singh, Programme Coordinator, KVK,Chatra (Jharkhand)

110. Ravindra Kumar, Subject Matter Specialist (Soil Science) KVK, Rampur (Uttar Pradesh)

111. Rekhi Singh, Programme Coordinator, KVK, Shopian ( Jammu and Kashmir)

112. S. Subash Kumar, Scientist (Dairy Extension),NDRI’s Southern Regional Station, Bengaluru(Karnataka)

113. T J Ramesha, Programme Coordinator, KVK,Lower Dibang Valley (Arunachal Pradesh)

114. Vipin Kumar Misra, Subject Matter Specialist (Fisheries), KVK,West Kameng, Dirang(Arunachal Pradesh)

115. Wahengbam Purnima Devi, Subject Matter Specialist (Agronomy), KVK,West Kameng,Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh)

SCIENTISTS JOINED AS LIFE MEMBER OF SOCIETY OF KRISHI VIGYAN

President’s MessageIn India, feeding a huge population was great

challenge post independence. Indian agricultureresponded to the challenge with intensification ofagriculture. Since independence, the country hasmade significant strides in agriculture, to meet thegrowing demands of our growing population.

However, now the sustainable growth inagriculture and its allied sectors is a majorchallenge for Indian agriculture as there is adecline in the productivity of land, labour andwater. Thus the sustainable intensification is newmantra in agriculture. In spite of decliningresources, technologies continue to play a majorrole in achieving sustainable production inagriculture and allied sectors. Technologiesemerging out of research and their disseminationto the farmers with the help of developmentdepartments and infrastructure institutions wouldcontinue to be the major strategy for increasingagricultural production in the country. KVK‘sestablished across the country aims at theassessment, refinement and demonstration oflocation specific technology modules inagriculture and allied enterprises. Thetechnological modules demonstrated by the KVKswould focus on the agriculture prosperity at districtin particular and meeting the future demand offarm products at state and national level. Howeverdocumentation of KVK experiences is need of theday.

I would partly borrow from Frank Smith whosaid “Reading is learned by reading” and say that“writing is learned by writing.” The more youwrite, the better you get. Scientists are in factjudged on their ability to produce and publishpapers. Jobs and research funding in science hingeon the quality and quantity of research papers.The scientific community relies on reading andwriting research papers to communicate and buildupon our results and ideas. Thus, I encourage youall to write and contribute to this journal. Thejournal’s main focus has been to ensure thecontinued prioritization of KVK-initiated research.SKV publishes this journal to serve agriculturalscientists and has made it online atIndianjournals.com.

Congratulations to all those who worked sohard to publish the current issue of Journal of

Krishi Vigyan.Printing of a journal isa tough job, but weintend to be up to thetask and aiming fortimely bringing outthis half yearlypublication. Thanksto the work of ourexecutive council,with the efforts ofoutstanding executivemembers, Society of Krishi Vigyan (SKV) isgetting in good shape.

So, why should you be an SKV member andsupport this society? SKV is devoted to promotingthe discipline of agriculture. This means using allof our resources to provide venues for ourmembers to share their findings— whether inperson, print or online— and to establish importantcontacts to facilitate scientific exchange andcollaboration. Also, at SKV we are trying to bringtogether all the agriculture scientists together andto keep it collegial by establishing camaraderieamong colleagues. So, thank you for yourcontinued support, and please don’t hesitate tolet us know what you think will make us evenbetter.

With best wishes

(M S Gill)

CONTENTSSr. No. Title Page No.

1. Adoption Level of Oilseed Production Technology in Konkan Region ofMaharashtra.Pramod Mandavkar and Manoj Talathi

2. Case Study of Water Saving Through Temporary Water Storage Ponds in VillageVadavathur in Namakkal District.B Mohan, R Sangeetha, S Alagudurai, C Sharmila Bharathi, K Senthilkumar,S Aanand, M Daisy, K Pannerselvam and G Gohila

3. Comparative Profile of Job Card Holders Under NREGA Programme in ImphalWest of Manipur.Daya Ram, K P Chaudhary , K H Stina and Angad Prasad

4. Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers: A Study of Innovative Management Systemin Punjab.R K Kalra, Sanatombi K H and Manmeet Kaur

5. Effect on Planting Time on Growth and Yield of Winter Maize (Zea mays L.) afterHarvesting Rice.Rima Taipodia and A K Shukla

6. Effectiveness of Different Weedicides on Weed Biomass, Nutrient Uptake andYield of Rice.P K Dubey, R K Jha, V P Singh and Sunil Kumar

7. Evaluation of Major Kharif Crops Varieties to Climate Variability in Vertisols ofHadoti Region of Rajasthan.B S Meena And G S Meena

8. Evaluation of Vocational Training Programmes Organized on Mushroom Farming ByKrishi Vigyan Kendra Patiala.Rachna, Rajni Goel and G P S Sodhi

9. Improvement in Fruit Set, Retention, Weight and Yield of Apple Cv. Royal DeliciousThrough Foliar Application of Plant Growth Regulators .Ajay Kumar Banyal, Rajeev Raina and Rajesh Kumar Kaler

10. Indigenous Techniques of Breeding Indian Major Carps Under Confined Conditions.Deepjyoti Baruah

11. Mithun Production and Management System in Papum Pare District of ArunachalPradesh.Tilling Tayo, Taba Heli, Bengia Atul and Nabam Gama

12. On–Farm Evaluation of Management Practices of Rice and Wheat in Sub-MontaneSubtropical Low Hills Zone of Himachal Pradesh.S K Sharma, S C Negi , S K Subehia and S S Rana

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Sr. No. Title Page No.

13. Quality Evaluation of Blended Rice Bran and Mustard Oil.Monika Choudhary and Kiran Grover

14. Relationship Between Buffering Capacity and Chemical Composition of PoultryFeedstuffs.Anuradha Yadav, Parminder Singh and S S Sikka

15. Soil Fertility Status of Rampur District of Uttar Pradesh.Ravindra Kumar, A S Rathi, Laxmikant, N C Tripathi and Pramod Kumar

16. Technological Problems and Training Needs of Dairy Farmers.Manoj Sharma, Gurdeep Singh and Madhu Shelly

17. Use and Availability of Recommended Pesticides in District KapurthalaGurmeet Singh, Gagandeep Kaur, Manoj Sharma, Gurpreet Kaur andGobinder Singh

18. Use of Azola (Azolla pinnata) as Cattle Feed Supplement.G N Mathur, Ramakant Sharma and P C Choudhary

19. Utilization of Navigation Systems to Enhance the Efficiency of Field Workers.Gagan Jyot Kaur, Udit Jain and Jagbir Rehal

20. Yield Gap Analysis in Paddy Based on Method Demonstration on Seed TreatmentTechnique for Control of Bacterial Leaf Blight.Amandeep Kaur, Hardeep S Sabhikhi, Gurpreet Singh, Jaswinder Singh andGurpreet Kaur

Short Communications1. Comparative performance of Serrated Sickle V/S Desi Ordinary Sickle Used by

Rural Farm Women of Junagadh District in Gujarat.Hansa S Patel, Brijendra Singh Rajawat and Minaxi K Bariya.

2. Introduction of Sweet Corn Cv. Sugar 75 Through Front Line Demonstration inTribal Area of Navsari District in Gujarat.K A Shah, B M Tandel and C K Timbadiya

3. Rare case of Foetal ascitis in a kid.H K Bhattacharyya and S Baruah

4. Validation of Wilt Management Technology Through On Farm Trials in ColouredCapsicum.Arti Shukla

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1

Adoption Level of Oilseed Production Technology inKonkan Region of Maharashtra

Pramod Mandavkar* and Manoj Talathi

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Roha, RaigadDr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli-402 116 (Maharashtra)

ABSTRACTThe front line demonstration is the concept evolved by Indian Council of Agricultural

Research with the inception of the Technology Mission on Oilseed during mid-eighties. Underthis programme the technologies are demonstrated for the first time by the scientists themselvesbefore being fed to the main extension system of the state department of agriculture. However,this study regarding adoption level and correlation between various characteristics of oilseedgrowers found that 60.0 per cent respondents were medium adopters. Low adoption level wasfound in small farmer’s category as compared to medium and big farmer’s category. The possiblereason might be low level of scientific orientation and low risk bearing ability of small farmers.Full adoption in case of variety and seed rate was due to simplicity of technology and partialadoption of agronomic practices was due to non-availability of labour, high cost of inputs anduntimely technical guidance. Non adoption of seed treatment and plant protection was due totheir complexity in use. Adoption of oilseed technology by the respondents is significantlyassociated with education, annual income, social participation, experience of oilseed cultivation,extension contact, extension participation and scientific orientation of demonstrator farmers.For achieving higher production, emphasis should be given to conduct off campus trainingprogram and field demonstrations in specific laggard’s blocks about recommended oilseedproduction technology especially on seed treatment and plant protection measures.

Key Words : Oilseed, Demonstrations, Adoption, Correlation.

INTRODUCTIONOilseeds form the second largest agricultural

commodity in India after cereals sharing 14 percent of gross cropped area and accounting fornearly 3 per cent of the gross national productand 10 per cent of value of all agriculturalproducts. The country also occupies a distinctposition in terms of diversity in annual oilseedcrops. The compound growth rates registered fornine oilseeds during 1951 to 2009 in respect ofarea, production and productivity being 1.59, 3.03and 1.42 percent per annum, respectively. India,as the world’s third largest consumer of vegetableoils after China and European Union, has seenper capita consumption increase from about 4 kgper annum to 14 kg per annum in the past fourdecades though much lower than most of thedeveloped countries. The country’s demand forvegetable oils is expected to increase from current

level of 16 MT to 18.3 and 21.8 MT by 2015 and2020, respectively (Damodaran and Hegde, 2010).India rank first in castor, safflower and sesameproduction and the second largest producer ofgroundnut and third in rapeseed and mustardproduction, however it ranks fourth, fifth and tenthin linseed, soya bean and sunflower, respectively.

In Konkan region of Maharashtra, efforts arebeing put in to boost up the oilseed productionand also its productivity. With this in mind a studywas conducted to determine the adoption level ofoilseed growers with respect to selected packageof practices and to find out the relationshipbetween background variables of respondents withtheir adoption level about oilseed productiontechnology.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe present study was conducted in 25

*Corresponding Author’s Email : manoj84048@yahoo.co.in ; mandavkarpm@rediffmail.com

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villages from Konkan region of Maharashtra,where Krishi Vigyan Kendra of respective districthas already done the work of technology transferin oilseed crop production. For selection ofrespondents for this study, a list of front linedemonstration (FLD) farmers was collected fromfour KVKs. By adopting systematic samplingdesign, 250 respondents who had actuallyundertaken the demonstration with control trialwere selected for the study. The data werecollected one year after FLD programme throughpersonal interview technique with the help ofinterview schedule developed for the study.Adoption level of the farmers was measured on athree point continuum, viz., Full, Partial and No.Based on total score the adoption index wasworked out by using formula.

Adoption score of the respondent

Adoption Index (AI) = ———————— x 100

Maximum adoption score

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAdoption level

The adoption level of the farmers wascategorized into low, medium and high categorieson the basis of adoption index (Table 1).Table 1. Distribution of the respondents according to the

adoption index.

Category Adoption index Frequency Percentage

Low Up to 13.77 62 24.8Medium 13.78 to 53.79 150 60.0High 53.80 and above 38 15.2

It was noticed that 60.0 per cent of therespondents were from medium category followedby low (24.8%) category whereas only 15.2 percent farmers were in high adoption category.Overall average adoption index of oilseed growerswas found to be 35.6. The data were furtheranalyzed to know the adoption level of

recommended practices of oilseeds amongdifferent category of farmers (Table 2).

It was evident that the small farmer’s adoptionlevel was lower (51.9%) as compared to mediumand big farmers, while maximum number ofmedium category farmers’ adoption level wasfound 80.2 per cent (Table 2). Also, the bigfarmers’ adoption level was found to the mediumextent i.e. 46.5 per cent followed by high extent(37.2%). Low adoption level in small farmer’scategory might probably be due to low level ofscientific orientation and low risk bearing ability.These finding were in agreement with Jaiswal etal (1987) and Nagraj and Katteppa (2002).

Adoption level of recommended package ofpractices of oilseeds

On perusal of data (Table 3), it was found thatoverall 73.2 per cent farmers adopted therecommended variety/hybrid of oilseed.Regarding use of seed rate 47.2 per cent and 32.8per cent farmers adopted fully and partially,respectively, whereas, 20.0 per cent farmers didnot follow recommended seed rate. Majority(62.0%) of the groundnut growers adopted properseed rate. In case of spacing more than half(59.2%) number of respondents partially adoptedrecommended spacing, while, only 17.6 per centfarmers adopted fully. Thirty eight per centfarmers did not perform seed treatment whereas,35.2 per cent and 26.8 per cent farmers belongedto full and partial adoption category, respectively.Regarding application of farm yard manure 26.0,40.0 and 34.0 per cent of farmers belongs to full,partial and non-adoption category and of fertilizerapplication 32.4 per cent and 47.6 per cent farmersbelongs to full and partial adoption category,respectively.

In case of intercultural operations majority(48.4%) of farmers belongs to partial adoption

Table 2. Adoption level of recommended practices of oilseeds among different category of farmers.

Category of the farmers Adoption level Low Medium High

No. % No. % No. %Small farmers (81) 42 51.9 29 35.8 10 12.3Medium farmers (126) 13 10.3 101 80.2 12 9.5Big farmers (43) 07 11.6 20 46.5 16 37.2Total (250) 62 24.8 150 60.0 38 15.2

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followed by full (31.6%) adoption category. Plantprotection measures were not adopted by (48.4%)farmers and full adoption was only by 19.6 percent farmers. Further, 44.4 per cent and 35.6 per

cent farmers belong to partial and full adoptioncategory regarding weed and water management.In case of harvesting and threshing majority(61.2%) of oilseed growers adopted improvedpractices partially.

Table 3. Adoption level of farmers about recommended package of practices of oilseeds.

S. No. Practices Selected oilseeds

Kharif Summer Niger Sunflower Total oilseedsgroundnut groundnut (N=50) (N=50) (N=250)(N=50) (N=100)Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. ImprovedVariety/Hybrid 42 84.0 87 87.0 30 60.0 24 48.0 183 73.2Full adoption - - - - - - - - - -Partial adoption 08 16.0 13 13.0 20 40.0 26 52.0 67 26.8Non-adoption

2. Seed rateFull adoption 25 50.0 62 62.0 11 22.0 26 52.0 118 47.2Partial adoption 17 34.0 31 31.0 23 46.0 04 08.0 82 32.8Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 07.0 16 32.0 19 40 50 20.0

3. SpacingFull adoption 04 08.0 12 12.0 10 20.0 18 36.0 44 17.6Partial adoption 38 76.0 81 81.0 16 32.0 13 26.0 148 59.2Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 14.0 24 48.0 19 38.0 58 23.2

4. Seed treatmentFull adoption 20 40.0 40 40.0 10 20.0 18 36.0 88 35.2Partial adoption 08 16.0 36 36.0 10 20.0 13 26.0 67 26.8Non-adoption 22 44.0 24 24.0 30 60.0 19 38.0 95 38.0

5. Application of FYMFull adoption 11 22.0 35 35.0 03 06.0 16 32.0 65 26.0Partial adoption 27 54.0 51 51.0 14 28.0 08 16.0 100 40.00Non-adoption 12 24.0 14 14.0 33 66.0 26 52.0 85 34.0

6. Fertilizer applicationFull adoption 14 28.0 44 44.00 09 18.0 14 28.0 81 32.4Partial adoption 28 56.0 49 49.00 25 50.00 07 14.0 119 47.6Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 07.0 16 32.0 19 38.0 50 20.0

7. Intercultural operationsFull adoption 22 44.0 25 25.0 10 20.0 22 44.0 79 31.6Partial adoption 20 40.0 68 68.0 24 48.0 09 18.0 121 48.4Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 07.0 16 32.0 19 38.0 50 20.0

8. Plant protection measuresFull adoption 17 34.0 22 22.0 - - 10 20.0 49 19.6Partial adoption 08 16.0 58 58.0 02 04.0 12 24.0 80 32.0Non-adoption 25 50.0 20 20.0 48 96.0 28 56.0 121 48.4

9. Weed/Water managementFull adoption 20 40.0 40 40.0 15 30.0 14 28.0 89 35.6Partial adoption 22 44.0 53 53.0 19 38.0 17 34.0 111 44.4Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 07.0 16 32.0 19 38.0 50 20.0

10. Harvesting and ThreshingFull adoption 05 10.0 08 08.0 34 38.0 - - 47 18.8Partial adoption 37 74.0 85 85.0 - - 31 31.0 153 61.2Non-adoption 08 16.0 07 07.0 16 32.0 19 19.0 50 20.0

Adoption Level of Oilseed Production Technology

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During data collection it was noted that fulladoption in case of variety and seed rate was dueto simplicity of technology and partial adoptionof agronomic practices was due to non-availabilityof labour, high cost of inputs and untimelytechnical guidance. No adoption of seed treatmentand plant protection was due to their complexityin use.

Relationship between adoption level andvarious characteristics of the farmers

Data presented in Table 4 revealed thatadoption of the oilseed technology by therespondents was significantly associated witheducation, annual income, social participation,experience in oilseed growing, extension contact,extension participation and scientific orientationof demonstrator farmers. It implies that adoptionlevel of the respondents increase with increase intheir education, annual income, socialparticipation, experience in oilseed growing,extension contact, extension participation andscientific orientation. These findings were inagreement with those of Kubde et al (1999).However, size of family of respondents had asignificant but negative relation with the adoptionlevel, while age, land holding and risk orientationdid not show significant association.

All these characteristics having positive andsignificant relationship with adoption level havehelped the farmers to acquire knowledge for betteradoption and exposed to new technologies andtheir urge to know the new things in agriculturewhich have significantly contributed in adoptionof a technology.Table 4: Correlation between selected characteristics of the

respondents and adoption level of oilseed growers.

Sl.No. Variable Correlation coefficient(‘r’ value)

1 Age -0.103NS

2 Education 0.261*3 Family Size -0.108**4 Social Participation 0.144*5 Experience in oilseed growing 0.561**6 Extension Contact 0.302*7 Extension Participation 0.490**8 Scientific orientation 0.256*9 Risk Orientation 0.361NS

10 Land Holding -0.012NS

11 Annual income -0.103NS

*Significant at 5 % level, ** Significant at 1 % level ,NS-Non Significant

CONCLUSIONAdoption level of maximum oilseed growing

farmers was found to be full in case of improvedvarieties and seed rate but was found poor in caseof partially adopted practices like proper spacing,application of farm yard manure, application offertilizer, intercultural operations, weed/watermanagement and harvesting and threshing. Withrespect to seed treatment and plant protectionmeasures majority of demonstrator farmersbelonged to non-adoption category.

The findings of the study had brought certainaction implication for extension agencies/ policymakers regarding the issues related to availability,accessibility and affordability of the farm inputs.Emphasis should be given on off campus trainingand field demonstrations in specific laggard’sblocks about recommended oilseed productiontechnology especially on seed treatment and plantprotection measures. There is need to step upextension efforts to motivate oilseed growers toadopt all the recommended practices. Steps mayalso be taken to overcome the constraints facedby the farmers in the adoption of oilseedproduction technology.

REFERENCESDamodaran T and Hegade D M (2010). Oilseed Situation: A

Statistical Compendium. Directorate of Oilseed Research,Hyderabad. p 486.

Jaiswal D K, Mishra P K and Mishra Anupam (1987). Adoptiongap of recommended wheat technology among the farmers ofBundelkhand region. Maharashtra J Ext Edu 6: 205-06.

Kubde V R, Tekale V S and Bhople R S (1999). Knowledge andadoption of Soybean production technology by farmers.Maharashtra J Ext Edu 18: 185-88.

Nagaraj K H and Katteppa (2002). Adoption of improvedcultivation practices of groundnut by farmers. J Ext Edu 13(1):327-28.

Received on 26-08-2013 Accepted on 19-11-2013

Mandavkar and Talathi

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Case study of Water Saving Through TemporaryWater Storage Ponds in Village Vadavathur in

Namakkal DistrictB Mohan, R Sangeetha, S Alagudurai, C Sharmila Bharathi, K Senthilkumar,

S Aanand, M Daisy, K Pannerselvam and G Gohila

Krishi Vigyan KendraNamakkal - 637 002 (Tamil Nadu)

ABSTRACTVadavathur in Namakkal District is a drought prone village. The annual rainfalls is 400 mm.Farmers pump water from open and bore wells and store it in unlined temporary water storagepond and then irrigate the grown crops. Under the NICRA scheme fourteen temporary storageponds were lined with HDPE 200 GSM UV irradiated plastic sheets. Most of the farm pondswere of the size of 65 ft length, 45 ft breadth and 6 ft depth with water holding capacity of17,550 cu.ft. When water was stored in plastic sheet lined ponds, the seepage loss was minimizedto ½ ft only in 15 d compared to ½ ft of water loss within 3 days in unlined storage ponds.Ground nut pod yield (22 q/ha) increased by 18 per cent as compared to 18q/ha obtained fromfields irrigated from unlined ponds. The increase in yield was due to increased frequency ofirrigation once in 10 d in lined pond compared to once in 15 d in unlined ponds. Similarly theweight of onion bulb was 23-25 g in field irrigated with the lined ponds compared to 9-11 gfrom fields of unlined ponds. This intervention helped in saving water as well as increasing theyield of crops.

Key Words: Water saving, Temporary water storage, Ponds,

INTRODUCTIONWater is essential component in agriculture and

animal husbandry for year round productivity. Theimportance of water has percolated deeply in theminds of farmers especially in drought proneareas, where it is pumped from open and borewells, stored in surface temporary water storageponds for irrigation to the field crops. But manyconstraints like quick drying of open and borewells, interrupted electricity supply, hindersadequate pumping and storage of water andassured productivity. Hence, for effective storageof water in temporary water storage ponds manymethods like, clay lining, plastic lining, stonepitching, concrete flooring, are practiced on aproject base. Among these, one low costtechnology is plastic lining of temporary waterstorage ponds.

Corresponding Author’s Email: namakkalkvk@gmail.com

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study area of Vadavathur village,

Erumapatti block, Namakkal District, Tamil Naduis a drought prone village. The annual rainfall is400 mm; hence this village was selected toimplement the National Initiative on ClimateResilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project during theyear 2010. The site for temporary storage of waterwas the highest elevated area in the farmers’ field.The ponds were dug using excavator and latermanually the stones and weeds were removed.The inner surface of the pond was made smoothas possible, so as to avoid tear to the plastic liningsheets.

The standard size of the pond was 65 ft length,45 ft breadth and six ft depth. Fifteen hours ofJCB excavator was used for deepening the pondand strengthening the bunds @ Rs.650/hr and the

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total cost was Rs.9750/-. The cost of the HDPE200 GSM UV irradiated polythene lining sheetwas Rs.6/sq.ft and for lining a pond of 65 ft x 45ft it amounted to

Rs.17,550/-. The plastic lining sheets werelayed inside the pond first and then broughtoutward to the bunds and fixed with stay rods withthe rings on the edges of the sheet. After layingthe plastic sheets, water was pumped into the pondusing 3 to 5 HP motors. During summer months(February to May) it takes 8 -10 d to fill the pondwith a water holding capacity17,550 cubic feet,whereas during July to September it takes 5 – 8 dand during October to January it takes 3 -5 d tofill the pond, depending on the water table in thebore wells.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe depth of open wells ranged from 60 to

120 ft and bore wells are as deep of 300 to 650 ft.The low discharge from these bore wells and openwells during summer months is inadequate fordirect surface irrigation and hence, the commonpractice is to pump waterfrom bore wells and openwells mostly fitted with 5 HP air compressorpumps. The pumped water is stored in smallsurface storage ponds lined with clay from whereit is pumped through centrifugal pump or takenunder gravity flow to irrigate the fields entailingvery low overall irrigation efficiency.

The soil of Vadavathur village is mostly redand sandy loam. Seepage rate from these soils isquite high and therefore water stored in the surfacestorage ponds was quickly lost. Similarobservation was also reported by Selvi et al(2013). To avoid this problem of excessiveseepage from the storage ponds, lining of thesetemporary storage ponds with HDPE 200 GSMUV irradiated polythene lining sheet wasdemonstrated in 14 farmer’s field in Vadavathurvillage during 2011 to 2013. The pond was dugas per the size requested by farmers. Pond bedand sides were made weed and stone free toprevent any damage to the plastic sheet. The totalcost of the intervention was approximately Rs.30,000 /- since it varied from site to site, whichincluded cost of polythene sheet and pondformation. The water from the open and bore wellswere first pumped into this pond and then taken

by gravity to irrigate the fields. Evaporation andpercolation of water losses were minimized to ½ft only in 15 d. compared to a loss of ½ ft of waterin 3 d in unlined storage pond. Nega and Kimeu(2002) reported that the water exposed to directsunshine, winds are lost by evaporation and theloose soil leads to seepage. It can be minimizedby providing the storage tank with a lined covers.Similar observation was made by Subudhi andSenapati (2013) who reported that the water losswas 326 l/ d in lined pond and 24,000 l/d in un-lined pond.

In the study village, eight farmers cultivatedground nut variety TMV 7 during kharif season.Farmers irrigated the ground nut crop once infifteen days during the year of 2011-2012 usingwater stored in temporary unlined storage pondsand the yield of pod was 18q/ha and haulms 37.5q/ha, whereas when water was stored in plastic linedponds they could irrigate once in 10 d as a resultof which the pod yield (22q/ha) and haulms yield(45q/ha) increased by 18 and 16 per cent,respectively. All the fourteen farmers cultivatedonion using the water stored in temporary plasticlining ponds. Through this intervention moisturestress was avoided due to increased frequency ofirrigation once in 14 d, it resulted in productionof larger size onion bulb clusters from 9-11g to23-25 g and shrinkage loss was minimized.Similar observation was reported by Subudhi etal (2013) where utilization of line pond waterproduced highest tomato yield of 48 q/ha.

During the year 2011-2012 with the waterstored in unlined temporary water storage pondsfarmers were able to cultivate only onion andsorghum, since only 30 per cent area was irrigatedper day. In the same field where temporary waterstorage ponds were lined with plastic sheets,seepage loss was minimized and 40 per cent areawas irrigated per day and farmers cultivated inaddition to onion and sorghum, crops like groundnut and short duration vegetables like snake gourdand ridge gourd.

CONCLUSIONTemporary water storage ponds lined with

plastic sheets were effective storage models in theopen fields. The water seepage was minimized to½ ft only in 15 days. The irrigation interval was

Mohan et al

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reduced from 15 d to 10 d. Through thisintervention moisture stress was avoided in onionand ground nut crops and resulted in round theyear cultivation of crops.

REFERENCESNega H and Kimeu PM (2002). Low-cost methods of rainwater

storage: Results from field trials in Ethiopia and Kenya.RELMA Technical Report Series 28, Nairobi, Kenya. pp 58+ viii.

Water Saving Through Temporary Water Storage Ponds

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Selvi V, Singh D V, Kannan K, Khola O P S and Mohanraj R(2013). Water saving through silpaulin linning of surfacestorage ponds in Ayalur water shed, Tamil Nadu. In:Proceedings of conference on farmers first for conservingsoil and water resources in Southern Region, 12- 16, March,Bangalore, India, pp. 65(Abstr).

Subudhi C R and Senapti S C (2013). Water harvesting throughfarm pond and utilization of conserved water to increaseproductivity and livelihood security in North Eastern ghat ofOdisha. In: Proceedings of conference on farmers first forconserving soil and water resources in Southern Region, 12-16, March, Bangalore, India, pp. 62 (Abstr).

Received on 12-10-2013 Accepted on17-11-2013

Measuring the size of the ponds

Storing the water in lined ponds

Lining the pond with polythene

Storing the water in unlined ponds

8

Comparative Profile of Job Card Holders UnderNREGA Programme in Imphal West of Manipur

Daya Ram, K P Chaudhary, K H Stina and Angad prasad

College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal-795 004 (Manipur)

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted in Imphal West District of Manipur using the ex-post

facto research design. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select the appropriatenumber of the respondents. Total 120 respondents (Job Card Holders) were selected based onproportional random sampling method. The data were collected using structured interviewschedule and then analyzed using appropriate statistical tools namely, frequency, percentage,mean, standard deviation, simple correlation coefficient and multiple regression. It was concludedthat there is a need of sound and sustainable strategy to improve the socio-economic status ofthe job card holders under NREGA through organizing effective and efficient training programmeregarding guidelines of NREGA, its objective, goals, salient features and most importantly aboutthe rights given to the job card holders under NREGA.

Key words: Socio-economic Status, Job Card Holders, National Rural Employment GuaranteeSchem.

INTRODUCTIONThe National Rural Employment Guarantee

Act (NREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihoodsecurity of the people in rural areas by giving theguarantee for hundred days of wage employmentin a financial year to a rural household whoseadult members volunteer to do unskilled manualwork. The objective of the scheme is to createdurable assets and strengthen the livelihoodresource base of the rural poor. The choice ofworks suggested in the Act addresses causes ofchronic situation like drought, deforestation, soilerosion etc., so that the process of employmentgeneration is sustainable. The Act envisages thatthe scheme will lead to a large scale creation oflivelihood assets in rural areas which can have asustainable impact on rural poverty. Upholdingthe rights perspective, the Act clearly defines thefundamental principles and the basic entitlementsof the labourers and workers.

It is the latest form of wage employmentprogramme which offers 100 days of guaranteedemployment to the rural unemployed poor. Theunique feature which distinguishes this schemefrom previous employment programmes is thatthe NREGS is endorsed by a legal guarantee.

Accordingly, NREGS is implemented underNREGA – a law enacted by Indian Parliament. TheNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act wasenacted on August 25, 2005. The scheme hasbeen introduced in 200 districts of the country onFeb 2, 2006 extended to another 130 districts w.e.f.April 1, 2007. From April 2008, the scheme hasbeen extended to all rural districts of India. InManipur, the scheme was launched in Tamenglongdistrict on 13th April 2006 in the first phase,Churachandpur and Chandel were brought underthe Act during the year 2007-2008 and theremaining six districts viz; Thoubal, Bishnupur,Imphal East, Imphal West, Senapati and Ukhruldistricts have been covered during the 2008-2009.

Keeping in view the formulation andimplementation of this Act, a strong need was feltto conduct a study on socio-economiccharacteristics and correlates of awareness of jobcard holders under NREGA scheme in ImphalWest District, Manipur.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe present study was conducted in Imphal

West District of Manipur using the Ex-post factoresearch design. Multi-stage sampling procedure

*Corresponding Author’s Email : d.dram@rediffmail.com

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was adopted to select the appropriate number ofthe respondents. In Imphal-West District, there are2 blocks namely Haorangsabal and Wangoi. Outof two blocks, Wangoi block was selected andfrom 15 Gram Panchayats, 2 Gram Panchayatsnamely Naoriya Pakhanglakpa and Sangaiprouwere selected. 3 villages and 2 villages from eachGram Panchayat were selected randomly. Total

120 respondents (job card holders) were selectedbased on proportional random sampling method.The data were collected using structured interviewschedule. The data collected were then analyzedusing appropriate statistical tools namely,frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviationsimple correlation coefficient and multipleregression.

Table1. Distribution of respondents based on their socio-economic characteristics.

Sr. No. Particulars Category Frequency Percentage

1. Age Young (< 31yr ) 18 15.00Middle (31-51 yr) 82 68.33Old ( > 51 yr) 20 16.67

2. Occupation Agriculture 65 54.17Agriculture and service 00 00.00Service 00 00.00Other occupation 55 45.83

3. Education Illiterate 25 20.83Read only 00 00.00Read and write 00 00.00Primary 14 11.67Middle school 34 28.33High school 33 27.50Graduate 14 11.67

4. Social Participation No participation 60 50.00Member of any organisation 44 36.67Member of > 1 organisation 00 00.00Office bearerParticipation in any community 00 00.00or village work 16 13.33

5 Size of land holding landless 42 35.00marginal 64 53.33small 10 08.33medium 4 03.33large 00 00.00

6. Housing type kutcha 82 68.33semi-pucca 29 24.17pucca 9 07.50

7. Material possession low 18 15.00medium 91 75.83high 11 09.17

8. Family type joint family 37 30.80nuclear family 83 69.20

9. Family size small 22 18.33medium 63 52.50largevery 31 25.83large 4 03.33

10. Annual income(Rs.) low (<10000) 19 15.83medium (10000-20000) 101 84.17high (>20000) 00 00.00

Ram et al

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe data presented in Table 1 shows that

majority of the respondents belonged to the middleaged group (68.3%) followed by old agedcategory (16.7%) and young age category (15.0%)respectively. Out of 120 respondents, 54.2 percent were in agriculture, followed by (45.8%)respondents of other occupation. In case ofeducation 28.3 per cent of the respondents wereeducated up to middle school, followed by thoseup to high school (27.5%) and illiterate (20.8%)and low percentage (11.7%) was seen each forboth primary and graduate level. On furtheranalysis, it was found that majority of therespondents (50%) were in the category of nosocial participation of any organisation, followedby members of one organisation category (36.7%)whereas 13.3 per cent were in the categoryparticipation in any community or village work.In case of size of land holding majority of therespondents (53.3%) belonged to marginalcategory, followed by landless category (35.0%),small category were (8.3%) and medium categorywere (3.3%). 68.3 per cent respondents were inthe kutcha house type followed by semi-puccahouse type (24.2%) and (07.5%) respondents inpucca house respectively. Maximum (75.8%)respondents were having in medium category ofmaterial possession followed by low category(15.0%) and high category (9.2%) respectively.In case of family type majority of respondents(69.2%) belonged to the nuclear family which wasfollowed by joint family (30.8%).Majority ofrespondents (52.5%) were in medium size,followed by (25.8%) large sizes, (18.3%) weresmall and very few (3.3%) were very large familysize, respectively. The data further revealed thatmajority of the respondents (84.1%) were in themedium category of annual income and whichwas followed by low category (15.8%). It wasfound that none of the respondents were in thehigh category of annual income.

The results on correlation coefficient betweensocio-economic characteristics and awareness ofjob card holders under NREGA are presented inthe Table 2. It was observed that the socialparticipation and housing type were positive andsignificantly related with awareness of the job cardholders on NREGA. Age, occupation, education,

size of land holding, material possession, familytype, family size, annual income and opinion onbenefit of NREGA were not significantly relatedwith awareness of the job card holders on NREGA.

The data (Table3) revealed that out of totalindependent variables only one of them i.e. socialparticipation was found positive and significant(P<0.01). This indicates that this variable wasimportant in contributing towards the change inawareness of job card holders. The R2 value(0.403) suggests that 40.3 per cent wascontributed towards the changes in awareness ofjob card holders due to independent variables.Besides the above independent variables the otherindependent variables were also responsible incontributing towards the change of dependentvariable even though they were not significant.Further, the variable whose regression coefficientwas found positive and significant socialparticipation could be term as good predictors of

awareness of job card holders on NREGA.

Table 2. Correlation Coefficient in between independentvariables and dependent Variable.

Sr. No. Independent variables Correlationcoefficient (r)

1. Age -0.129 (NS)2. Occupation 0.042 (NS)3. Education 0.066 (NS)4. Social participation 0.615**5. Size of land holding 0.077 (NS)6. Housing type 0.182*7. Material possession 0.075 (NS)8. Family type 0.008 (NS)9. Family size -0.039 (NS)10. Annual income -0.115 (NS)11. Opinion on benefit of NREGA 0.050 (NS)

** Significant at the 0.01 level * Significant at the 0.05 level NS=Non Significant

CONCLUSIONMajority of the respondents belonged to the

middle aged group (68.3%) followed by old agedcategory (16.7%) and young age category (15.0%)respectively. Out of 120 respondents 54.2 per centwere in agriculture, followed by (45.8%)respondents of other occupation. In case of sizeof land holding majority of the respondents(53.3%) belonged to marginal category, followedby landless category (35.0%), small category were

Profile of Job Card Holders Under NREGA

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(8.3%) and medium category were (3.3%). 68.3per cent respondents were in the kutcha housetype. Maximum (75.8%) respondents were havingin medium category of material possession. In caseof family type majority of respondents (69.2%)belonged to the nuclear family which was followedby joint family (30.8%). It was found that thesocial participation and housing type werepositive and significantly related with awareness

Table 3. Regression analyses of independent variables and dependent variable.

Sl. No. Independent variables Beta Regression Std.error (S.E) ‘t’ valuecoefficient‘b’

1. Age -0.054 -0.079 0.119 -0.665 NS2. Occupation 0.079 0.772 0.818 0.943 NS3. Education -0.062 -0.456 0.644 -0.708NS4. Social participation 0.602 6.779 0.893 7.594**5. Size of land holding 0.044 0.889 1.601 0.555 NS6. Housing type 0.027 0.639 2.324 0.275 NS7. Material possession 0.071 0.578 0.957 0.603 NS8. Family type 0.041 1.288 3.099 0.416 NS9. Family size 0.015 0.286 2.109 0.136 NS10. Annual income -0.081 -1.467 1.574 -0.932 NS11. Opinion on benefit of NREGA 0.071 0.181 0.207 0.874 NS

** Significant at the 0.01 level * Significant at the 0.05 level NS= Non Significant R=0.403 F=6.628

of the job card holders on NREGA. It was thusconcluded that there is a need of sound andsustainable strategy to improve the socio-economic status of the job card holders underNREGA through organizing awareness programmeas well as meaningful training programme and itsobjective, goals, silent features and mostimportantly about the rights given to the job cardholders.

Received on 04-11-2013 Accepted on 20-11-2013

Ram et al

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Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers: A Study ofInnovative Management System in Punjab

R K Kalra*, Sanatombi KH and Manmeet Kaur

Department of Extension EducationPunjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana- 141 004 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTThe study was conducted on potato seed producing group, Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers(POSCON), Jalandhar, operating at state level. A combined questionnaire and interview approachwas used to survey group members. Out of the total 250 members, 40 members were randomlyselected. The study examines the effectiveness and also determines the facilitating and hinderingfactors for effective group functioning. It was found that all functioning characteristics werefound to be effective. The overall Functioning Effectiveness Index (FEI) of the group was morethan 0.70 indicating that the group functioned effectively in terms of selected groupcharacteristics. The major variables such as group goal achievements, group motivation, groupcooperation and participation in group activities had contributed highly for the effectiveperformance of the group. Important facilitating factors for effective functioning of the groupwere increased income, knowledge gain of advanced technical information in potato seedproduction, transparency in functioning and easy availability of loan. The main hindering factorswere inadequate government support for lobbying issues, marketing and policies that favorfarmers.

Key Words:Potato,Seed, Farmers, Confederation,Management system, Punjab

INTRODUCTIONPotato is a starchy, edible tuber that is

cultivated throughout the world and is consumedas a major staple food. After wheat, rice and maize,potato is the most important food crop in the world.It contributes to almost 50 per cent of the totaltuber and root crop production.It is vastlyconsumed as a vegetable and is also used invarious forms such as starch,flour,alcohol, anddextrin and livestock fodder. India is placed 3rd inthe list of major potato producing countries of theworld. The area, production and productivity ofpotato in India is 1,181 (‘000 ha), 28,580 (‘000 t)and 157.8 (q/ha) respectively. In India,the biggestarea under potato cultivation is in Uttar Pradeshcultivating on 527.4 thousand hectare area with aproductivity of 205 q/ha and followed byBihar,West Bengal and Punjab.Punjab state has81.1 thousand hectare area under potatocultivation with a productivity of 246.7 q/ha(Anonymous, 2008).In Punjab, majority of thelarge farmers in Jalandhar district are producing

potato seeds in a large scale. With the self helpinitiatives of the large farmers Confederation ofPotato Seed Farmers (POSCON) was establishedinthe year 2007 to bring together all potato seedproducers in Punjab under one umbrella., Thegroup was registered in 2008 as a society withinthe state and started functioning; it is the onlypotato crop organization affiliated with theGovernment of Punjab. The group’s primaryobjective is to promote, develop, build andpropagate seed potato cultivation in Punjab forthe benefit of seed potato growers in the state byadopting and applying the most advanced andmodern technologies. It aims to produce andmarket the best quality potato seed in order tocompete with the best seed potato growers in theworld. This paper examines the effectiveness ofthe farmer-based self-help group in the state ofPunjab. It shows how the changing nature ofextension in India has influenced the group andexamines the functional characteristics and roleof the group. While highlighting important

*Corresponding Author’s Email : rajinderkaurkalra@yahoo.com

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characteristics of successful groups, it alsodetermines the facilitating and hindering factorsfor effective group functioning.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe potato seed producing group (POSCON),

Jalandhar operating at a state level with 250members was selected for the study.A combinedquestionnaire and interview approach was usedto survey group members. Out of the totalmembers, 40 members were randomly selectedfrom the group. Records of group activities wereexamined and overall information relating to thegroup was procured from executive members ofthe group through personal visits and discussion.The Functioning Characteristic Index wascomputed by using the modified scale developedby Sherin (1998). The index score was calculatedfor each respondent separately and was later usedto calculate the average score of a group for thatfunctional characteristic. The score of each(surveyed) individual member of a self-help group,for the 8 functioning characteristics, were summedto generate the functioning score of that member.The sum of the functioning score of all membersof a group provided the total functioning score.The self-help group functioning effectivenessindex of the group determined the overalleffectiveness of the group.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONTable 1. Average Functioning Index of the selected

Functioning Characteristics of the POSCON groupmembers. (n = 40)

Group Functioning Index Mean Standard MedianDeviation

Group Interaction 0.75 0.12 0.76Group Cooperation 0.80 0.11 0.81Interpersonal Trust 0.74 0.11 0.75Group Decision Making 0.75 0.11 0.75Group Motivation 0.83 0.09 0.83Group Cohesiveness 0.77 0.10 0.78Group Goal Achievement 0.84 0.08 0.85Participation in Group 0.79 0.10 0.80ActivitiesOverall Functioning Index 0.78 0.10 0.79

Functioning and Effectiveness of the GroupThe results (Table 1) revealed that from the

eight functioning characteristics, average indexscore was found to be highest in group goal

achievement (0.84±0.08) followed by groupmotivation (0.83±0.09), group cooperation(0.80±0.11) and participation in group activities(0.79±0.10) and the lowest average index scorewas for interpersonal trust (0.74±0.11). Lowestdeviations were found for group goal achievementand group motivation while deviations wereslightly higher for group cooperation,interpersonal trust, group decision-making andgroup interaction. The average index score rangedfrom 0.74–0.84 which indicates that allfunctioning characteristics in the POSCON groupwere on the higher side and found to be effective.

Facilitating and Hindering FactorsImportant facilitating factors for effective

functioning of the group, as perceived by therespondents, were increased income (100%),knowledge gain of advanced technicalinformation in potato seed production (100%),transparency in functioning (95%), easyavailability of loan (82%), faith in executivemembers and their professional abilities (75%) etc.The main hindering factor indicated by members(57.5%) was inadequate government support forlobbying issues, marketing and policies that favorfarmers .

CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that almost all group

characteristics contributed significantly to theeffective working of the groups. However fourgroup characteristics i.e., group cooperation,group motivation, group goal achievement andparticipation in group activities ranked high in thegroup. Nicholson et al. (2001) noted that mosthuman associations between individuals havingcommon interests, shared outlook, or merelymeeting frequently facilitates development of anemotional bond or liking as well as trust in eachother. Over a period of time, the emotional bondcan become the driving force in therelationship.Group interaction, groupcohesiveness, interpersonal trust and groupdecision making ranked low positions.

Increased income, availability of advancedtechnical information and transparency infunctioning were major facilitating factors forgroup participation. Parida and Sinha (2010)

Kalra et al

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revealed that the performance of self-help groupsdepends upon the awareness of members aboutoverall group objectives as well as the capacityof the group to develop members’ managerial andtechnical skills. Gianatti and Carmody (2007)stated that access to the latest information andresearch allows group members to make the bestpossible decisions for their farming business. Theother facilitating factors that enhanced groupparticipation were increased income, greatersavings and socialization. Economic and socialbenefits were also pointed out as the outcome ofgroup participation by Panda (2009). Thus groupparticipation and increased socio-economicbenefits are both mutually dependent. The groupmembers claimed that besides sustained effortsand hard work linkages with government, NGOsand other institutions are the factors affectingsuccessful functioning of the group. Easy accessto loan was another important factor stated bymembers as the main advantage of being in thegroup. The overall FEI of the group was morethan 0.70 indicating that the group functionedeffectively in terms of selected groupcharacteristics. However, we acknowledge that theabove conclusion is based on the study of only a

single producer group. Although thesesuggestions have a broader perspective,furtherempirical studies would help to strengthen ourarguments and suggestions. A detailed study ofself-help groups from different parts of the countrycould help gain a deeper understanding of thefunctioning of these groups.

REFERENCESAnonymous (2008). Directorate of Economics and statistics.

Ministry of Agriculture, Govt .of India.

Gianatti T M and Carmody P ( 2007). The use of networks toimprove information flows between grower groups andresearch. Field Crops Res 104(1–3): 165–73.

Nicholson C Y, Compeau L D and Sethi R ( 2001). The role ofinterpersonal liking in building trust in long-term channelrelationships. J Acad Mktg Sci 29(1): 3–15.

Panda D K ( 2009). Assessing the impact of participation in womenself-help group based microfinance: Non experimentalevidences from rural households in India. Intl J Rural Manag5(2): 197–215.

Parida P H and Sinha A ( 2010). Performance and sustainabilityof self-help groups in India: A gender perspective. Asian DevRev 27(1): 80–103.

Sherin M J (1998). An analysis of characteristics of women groupsand their role in rural development. M.Sc.Thesis, Departmentof Extension, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, India.

Received on 06-11-2012 Accepted on 06-07-2013

Table 2. Facilitating and Hindering factors affecting the working of POSCON group , Jalandhar .(n=40)

Sr.No. Factors Number of Percentage Ranksrespondents

Facilitating Factors1 Availability of advanced technical knowledge 40 100.0 1.52 Increased income 40 100.0 1.53 Transparency 38 95.0 34 Easy availability of loans 33 82.0 45 Professional executive members 32 75.0 5.56 Faith in executive members 30 75.0 5.57 Strong linkages with government and private agencies 29 72.0 78 Enthusiasm for functioning 28 70.0 89 Honest office secretary 25 62.5 910 Easy to get support from government 24 60.0 1011 Working jointly with problems of potato seed farmers 20 50.0 1112 Socialization 12 30.0 1213 Improved social status 10 25.0 13Hindering Factor

Inadequate government support 23 57.5 1

Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers

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Effect of Planting Time on Growth and Yield ofWinter Maize (Zea mays L.) after Harvesting Rice

Rima Taipodia1* and A K Shukla2

ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Basar, West Siang-791 001 (Arunachal Pradesh)

ABSTRACTA study was conducted to assess the effect of planting time on growth and yield of wintermaize (Zea mays L.) after harvesting rice for two successive winter season at Nyigam village,West Siang District near ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh centreBasar. Two planting time viz 15th and 30th November were tested in three replications. After 90th

day stage of crop growth (120 DAS and maturity) the maize planted on 15th November producedtaller plants, more green leaves, leaf area, leaf area index and dry matter production plant-1.Due to variation in the planting time, almost all the yield attributing characters i.e. cobs plant-1,first and second cobs plot-1 , cob length and girth (cm), kernels row cob-1, kernels row-1, grainscob-1, grain weight (g cob-1 ), test weight (g), first and second cobs grain yield (kg plot-1),shelling percentage, harvest index were affected and showed significant superiority in the cropplanted on 15th Nov. than sown on 25th Nov. Higher grains and stover yields (kg ha-1) were alsoobserved in 15th Nov. planting. In the maize planted on 15th Nov nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P),and potassium (K) content in grain and stover found higher. The uptake of N, P and K by grainand stover as well as total uptake of nutrients by crop was more with 15th Nov planting. However,the available N, P and K content in soil at harvest was more with 30th Nov planting. In the grainof maize crop planted on 15th Nov the grain quality parameters such as protein and carbohydratepercentage were found in higher amount.

Key Words: Planting Time, Winter Maize, Yield

INTRODUCTIONIn India, Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important

cereal crop and ranks third in production after riceand wheat. It is gaining an important position inthe cropping system due to higher yield potential,short growing period, higher food value, forageand feed for livestock, poultry and a cheapersource of raw material for agro-based industry. Ithas greater nutritional value as it contains about72 per cent starch, 10 per cent protein, 4.8 percent oil, 8.5 per cent fiber, 3 per cent sugar and17 per cent ash (Chaudhary, 1983). Requirementof about 305 mt of food grains is anticipated for1.4 billion population of India, and the substantivedemand for individual food grains has beenexpected to about 120 mt for rice, 95 mt for wheat,25 mt for maize and 24-26 mt for pulses by theyear 2025 (Tiwari, 2001).

Yield of maize is significantly affected by dateof sowing. The recommended time of sowing forwinter maize in state is 15th Oct. to 15th Nov. foroptimum production. But usually the planting ofmaize when following the rice crop, is delayed.The information regarding affect of time ofplanting on maize yield in such situation wheremaize is to be grown preceded by rice crop is quitemeager. Keeping the above facts in view, thepresent study was undertaken to find out the effectof planting time on growth and yield of wintermaize (Zea mays L.) after harvesting rice.

MATERIALS AND METHODSDuring the winter season of 2007-08 and

2008-2009, the present investigations werecarried out on maize (Zea mays) hybrid “AllRounder” at Nyigam village, West Siang, NEHRegion. Soil of investigation fields was sandy

1. STO O/O Deputy Commissioner, Dibang Valley, Annini, Arunachal Pradesh2. Prof. Faculty of Science and Computeronics, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, M.P.*Corresponding Author’s Email: rtaipodia@yahoo.com

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loam. The two planting time viz 15th November(D

1) and 30th November (D

2)

were tested. Using

Fisher and Yates random table (Panse and

Sukhatme, 1985) the treatments were allocated toeach plot in three replications. With intra rowspacing at 25 cm, the inter row spacing maintained

Table 1. Effect of planting time on phonological stages, yield and yield attributes of winter maize

Parameters Year D1

D2

SEM± CD (p=0.05)

Plant height at harvest (cm) 2007-08 236.54 229.28 1.89 5.972008-09 230.34 218.36 0.89 2.80

Number of green leaves plant-1 (120 DAS) 2007-08 8.77 7.07 0.06 0.202008-09 8.63 6.79 0.10 0.32

Leaf area index 2007-08 3.47 3.11 0.03 0.092008-09 3.44 3.06 0.02 0.06

Dry matter accumulation (g plant-1) at harvest 2007-08 293.48 265.12 3.35 10.552008-09 284.10 259.19 3.53 11.13

Days to 50% tasseling 2007-08 110.50 105.13 0.69 2.182008-09 108.47 102.57 0.51 1.61

Days to 50% silking 2007-08 116.24 110.80 0.45 1.432008-09 113.42 108.17 0.23 0.73

Days to 50% maturity 2007-08 136.23 128.30 0.45 1.432008-09 132.19 125.03 0.48 1.52

Barren plant plot-1 2007-08 5.38 09.45 0.13 0.412008-09 6.35 09.74 0.20 0.63

Crop lodging (No. of plant plot-1) 2007-08 1.10 1.40 0.21 NS2008-09 1.10 1.36 0.12 NS

Cobs plant-1 2007-08 0.92 0.86 0.01 0.022008-09 0.91 0.84 0.003 0.01

First cobs plot-1 2007-08 57.02 52.76 0.40 1.252008-09 54.84 51.66 0.23 0.74

Second cobs plot-1 2007-08 2.26 1.99 0.06 0.192008-09 2.56 1.56 0.05 0.19

Cob length (cm.) 2007-08 14.89 14.11 0.18 0.582008-09 14.76 14.16 0.20 NS

Cob girth (cm.) 2007-08 11.35 10.77 0.14 0.452008-09 11.18 10.69 0.16 0.50

Kernel rows cob-1 2007-08 13.50 13.21 0.11 NS2008-09 13.44 13.18 0.10 NS

Grains cob-1 2007-08 443.09 398.37 4.82 15.172008-09 432.47 392.04 4.31 13.57

Test weight (g.) 2007-08 244.63 234.78 2.74 8.622008-09 240.44 232.96 1.83 5.78

Grain weight cob-1 (g) 2007-08 109.61 94.19 1.65 5.202008-09 104.91 91.77 1.31 4.14

First cobs grain yield (kg plot-1) 2007-08 5.53 4.23 0.08 0.252008-09 5.02 3.99 0.08 0.25

Second cobs grain yield (kg plot-1) 2007-08 0.26 0.20 0.005 0.0162008-09 0.29 0.15 0.01 0.02

Shelling percentage 2007-08 77.85 75.75 0.26 0.812008-09 77.73 75.60 0.26 0.81

Grain yield (kg ha-1) 2007-08 6671 5334 82 2602008-09 6194 5050 75 237

Stover Yield (kg ha-1) 2007-08 10554 9424 168 5292008-09 9835 8945 145 456

Harvest index in % (HI) 2007-08 37.61 35.03 0.27 0.852008-09 37.51 34.99 0.26 0.83

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was 60 cm to maintain optimum plant stand(66,600 ha-1). The observations on growth andyield characteristics of the crop were recorded byusing the standard procedures. The data thusobtained was subjected to statistical analysis for‘Analysis of Variance’ (Cochron and Cox, 1992).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. Effect of planting time on growth and developmental characters

The crop responded absolutely to planting timein respect to growth parameters but the differenceswere non-significant. The values of all growthparameters like plant height, green leaves, leafarea, leaf area index and dry matter productionper plant recorded higher in crop planted on 15th

Nov. than 30th Nov. Regarding number of days to50 per cent silking, maturity and barren plants plot-

1 , the effect of 15th November planting time foundsignificant over the 30th Nov. planting. (Table 1)

As compared to 30th November planting timethe values of almost all the yield attributes as wellas grain and stover yields were recordedmaximum in 15th November planting time.

2. Effect of planting time on nutrient content and its uptake and available nutrient in soil

Maximum content of N, P and K content ingrain and stover, as well as their uptake by grain,stover and total uptake by crop were recordedmaximum with 15th November planting time.However, the available N, P and K content in soil

Table 2: Effect of planting time on nutrient content of grain and soil after harvest of winter maize

Parameters Year D1

D2

SE SEm± CD (p=0.05)

N Grain content (%) 2007-08 1.63 1.61 0.01 0.03

2008-09 1.63 1.60 0.01 0.02

N Stover content (%) 2007-08 0.45 0.44 0.01 0.022008-09 0.45 0.44 0.004 0.013

P Grain content (%) 2007-08 0.34 0.33 0.01 0.02

2008-09 0.32 0.30 0.005 0.015

P Stover content (%) 2007-08 0.20 0.19 0.004 0.01

2008-09 0.19 0.18 0.003 0.009

K Grain content (%) 2007-08 0.42 0.41 0.01 0.02

2008-09 0.41 0.40 0.005 0.017

K Stover content (%) 2007-08 1.64 1.62 0.01 0.02

2008-09 1.65 1.64 0.005 0.015

Grain Protein (%) 2007-08 10.50 9.98 0.06 0.18

2008-09 10.47 9.92 0.04 0.14

Grain Carbohydrate (%) 2007-08 65.85 64.49 0.29 0.90

2008-09 65.98 64.64 0.28 0.88

Nitrogen uptake by grain and stover (kg ha-1) 2007-08 164.87 128.53 2.54 7.97

2008-09 152.30 120.72 2.15 6.77

Phosphorus uptake by grain and stover (kg ha-1) 2007-08 49.77 37.21 0.76 2.40

2008-09 43.99 32.90 0.70 2.21

Potassium uptake by grain and stover (kg ha-1) 2007-08 208.93 176.62 3.28 10.34

2008-09 193.54 169.25 2.82 8.88

Available N (kg ha-1) after crop harvest 2007-08 212.19 213.02 0.65 NS

2008-09 213.58 214.51 0.65 NS

Available P (kg ha-1) after crop harvest 2007-08 16.58 16.87 0.22 NS

2008-09 16.62 16.94 0.25 NSAvailable K (kg ha-1) after crop harvest 2007-08 183.88 184.15 1.40 NS

2008-09 84.75 85.30 1.23 NS

Effect of planting time on growth and yield of winter maize

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 15-18

18

at crop harvest was the more in maize sown on30th Nov. planting time (Table 2). Thecarbohydrate and protein content of grain wasmore in 15th Nov. planted maize as compared to30th Nov. planting (Table 2).

CONCLUSIONTo maximize the yield of winter maize, the

15th November planting time found best in ricebased cropping system under agro-ecologicalregion of Basar. Maximum grain and stover yieldswere obtained when the crop was planted on 15th

Nov. and thus can be considered be as the

optimum time to plant winter maize under theprevailing agro ecological situations.

REFERENCESChaudhary A R (1983). Maize in Pakistan, Punjab Agri. Res.

Coordination Board, Univ. Agric., Faisalabad.

Cochron W G and Cox G M (1992). Experimental Designs. (2nd

Ed). John Wiley and Sons, Singapore. Pp53-58.

Panse V G and Sukhatme P V (1985). Statistical methods foragricultural workers. ICAR Publication, New Delhi-12. pp.336-340.

Tiwari K N (2001). Phosphorus need of Indian soils and crops.Better Crops Intl 15(2): 6-10.

Received on 28-06-2013 Accepted on 21-10-2013

Taipodia and Shukla

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 15-18

19

Effectiveness of Different Weedicides on WeedBiomass, Nutrient Uptake and Yield of Rice

P K Dubey, R K Jha*, V P Singh and Sunil Kumar

Department of Agronomy G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar- 263 145(Uttaranchal)

ABSTRACTAn experiment was conducted to find out the effectiveness of different herbicides on weedbiomass, nutrient uptake and yield of rice. Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT was found to be superior than all the other herbicidestested. Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha followed by Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./haapplied at 3 DAT gave slightly lower grain yield of 4.70t./ha. Among the herbicides, the lowestgrain yield (3.66 t./ha) was obtained from Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.020 kg a.i./ha appliedat 8 DAT, however, all the herbicides were significantly superior to the non weeded control.The lowest weed dry matter was found in Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT which was significantly lower than treatment receivingPyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.025 kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT. The uptake of NPK by theplants followed almost the similar pattern.

Key Words: Rice, Weedicides, Nutrient uptake

INTRODUCTION Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most widely

grown crop in a wide variety of climatic and landsituations and is attacked by a large number ofinsect- pests, diseases and weeds. The weeds aloneaccount for more than 33 per cent of yield loss bydifferent pests taken together (Kulshrestha andPawar, 1992) and this extent of loss may go up to51 per cent (Nyarko and De Datta, 1991). In rice,weed management through repeated cultural andmechanical methods has been found to be veryeffective as compared to the chemical methods(Sarkar, 2001) but due to scarcity of labourespecially in the large and intensive farmingsystems, the manual weeding becomes quiteexpensive and time consuming. The uneven anderratic distribution of rainfall compels the farmersand the farm labours to be engaged in timelycompletion of transplanting operation than to beengaged in manual weed control but by that time,there might be a severe yield loss. The herbicidesnot only save time and money but also allowcoverage of more area in short period of time(Nyarko and De Datta, 1991).

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe experiment was conducted in the crop

research centre of GBPUA and T, Pantnagar duringtwo kharif seasons. The soil of the experimentalplot was alluvial silty clay loam, rich in organicmatter, phosphorus and potassium and low inavailable nitrogen. Nine treatments comprising ofButchlor (Machete) 50EC @ 1.5 kg a.i./ha appliedat 3 DAT (T

1), Butchlor (MON 46996) 90EC @

1.5 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T2), Fentrazamide

50 WC @ 0.105 ai/ha applied at 4 DAT (T3),

Fentrazamide 50 WP @ 0.120 a.i./ha applied at 4DAT (T

4), Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.020

kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT (T5), Pyrazosulfuron-

ethyl 5 WP @ 0.025 kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT(T

6), Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus

Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3DAT (T

7), Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha

followed by Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./haapplied at 3 DAT (T

8) and Non-weeded control

(T9) were tried in Randomized Block Design with

4 replications. The herbicides were applied insolution form @ 1000 lt. of water per ha with thehelp of Maruti Foot sprayer fitted with flat fan

*Corresponding Author’s Email : kvksaran@yahoo.co.in

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 19-22

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 19-22

20

nozzle. Full recommended dose of phosphorus(60 kg/ha) and potassium (40 kg/ha) along withhalf recommended dose of nitrogen was appliedas basal. The remaining quantity of N was topdressed in two equal splits (i.e.1/4th of total) attillering and (i.e.1/4th of total) at 5-7 days beforepanicle initiation stage. Rice variety Jaya wastransplanted at 20 cm × 20 cm distance. A thinfilm of water (2-3 cm) was maintained duringinitial stage of crop growth and then about 5 cmof water was maintained up to milk dough stage.The total rainfall during the growing season was1356.6 cm during first year and 1389.4 cm duringsecond year which was slightly lesser than normalrainfall (1400 mm). The distribution of rainfall wasuneven and hence irrigations were done as andwhen needed. The Relative Humidity varied from72 to 93 per cent at 7 A.M and from 41 to 86 percent in the afternoon (at 2 P.M.). All the culturaloperations were conducted as per recommendedagronomic practices. Toxicity ratings (0-10 scale)were recorded on 10th and 20th DAT as per theprocedures outlined in the All India CoordinatedRice Agronomy Trials DRR-2002 i.e. 0 – Notoxicity, 10 – 100% killing of the plant). The dataon weed population and nutrient uptake by weedswere analyzed after doing log

e (X+1)

transformation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAs evident from Table 1, the highest grain

yield (4.84 t/ha) was obtained in the treatmentreceiving Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plusButachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3DAT (T

7), however this treatment was found to be

at par with Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./hafollowed by Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./haapplied at 3 DAT (T

8), Butchlor (MON 46996)

90EC @ 1.5 kg ai/ha applied at 3 DAT (T2),

Fentrazamide 50 WC @ 0.105 ai/ha applied at 4DAT (T

3) and Fentrazamide 50 WP @ 0.120 ai/ha

applied at 4 DAT (T4). Amongst the herbicides,

the lowest grain yield was obtained inPyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.020 kg a.i./haapplied at 8 DAT (T

5), however, all the herbicides

were found to be statistically superior to theuntreated control. In untreated control, there wasalmost 54 per cent reduction in grain yield overthe highest grain yield. This was in confirmationwith the findings of Shetty and Gill (1974) andReddy (1988). The straw yield followed the similartrend.

The toxicity effects of the herbicides wereobserved only in the treatment receiving Almix20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC@ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

7) with a

toxicity rating of 3 (Table 2). All other herbicides

Table 1. Yield and Yield attributes of rice (cv. Jaya) as affected by chemical, mechanical and IWM methods (Average of twoyears)

Treatment Plant No. of No. of Total Filled Percent 1000 Grain Straw Grain/Height shoots/ panicles spikelets spikelets unfill grain yield yield Straw(cm) m2 /m2 (000)/ /panicle spikelets weight (t/ha) (t/ha) ratio

m2

Butachlor 50EC 93 208 208 22 88 26.5 27.0 3.7 4.74 0.75@ 1.5 kg ai/haTwo hand weeding 103 241 241 27 104 22.5 29.0 5.71 5.99 0.93at 20 and 40 DATwithout herbicideButachlor 50EC @ 101 202 220 18.6 94 30.6 29.0 5.69 5.65 0.701.5 kg ai/ha plusone hand weedingIntegrated Weed 95 326 326 36.9 98 23.8 29.2 5.92 6.20 0.99management

T5Non-weeded control 97 165 165 15.5 66 43.4 29.3 2.24 3.20 0.70

S.Em.± 2.0 13.9 13.9 2.14 7.2 3.8 0.94 0.35 0.57 0.92

C.D at 5% NS 40.0 40 6.2 21.0 10.6 NS 1.00 1.60 NS

C.V. (%) 4.0 13.1 13.1 19.10 15.2 22.6 6.6 16.60 21.20 20.20

Dubey et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 19-22

21

were found to be non-toxic with a toxicity ratingof only 1. Even this combination of herbicideshad only a slight toxicity when applied at 20 DATwith a Toxicity Rating of 2.

The highest N-upake by the crop (96.5 kg/ha) was under the treatment Almix 20 WP @ 0.004kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

7). Butachlor 50 EC @

0.938 kg a.i./ha followed by Almix 20 WP @0.004 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

8) observed

slightly lesser N-uptake (94.3 kg/ha). The lowestN-uptake by the crop (60.7 kg/ha) was in thetreatment Fentrazamide 50 WP @ 0.120 ai/haapplied at 4 DAT (T

4) lower except the untreated

control (46.7 kg/ha). The P-uptake by the cropwas highest (35.0 kg/ha) in the treatment receivingAlmix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

7)

closely followed by Butchlor (Machete) 50EC @1.5 kg ai/ha applied at 3 DAT (T

1). The lowest P-

uptake (21.8 kg/ha) was in Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl5 WP @ 0.025 kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT (T

6)

except the control (14.7 kg/ha). The highest K-uptake by the crop (82.1 kg/ha) was found againin the treatment receiving Almix 20 WP @ 0.004kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

7) and the lowest K-uptake

(66.8 kg/ha) was found in the Fentrazamide 50WP @ 0.120 ai/ha applied at 4 DAT (T

4) except

the control (33.7 kg/ha). The nutrient uptake bythe weeds was found to be directly related withweed population and inversely related with grainyield. Almost similar results were observed by Rajuand Reddy (1986) and Reddy (1988).

As evident from that data presented in Table3, the lowest number of weeds at 30 DAT (2.76/m2) was observed in the treatment receiving Almix20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC@ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT (T

7). Slightly

higher but statistically at par (2.86/m2) weeds werefound in Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./hafollowed by Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./haapplied at 3 DAT (T

8). These two treatments

observed significantly lower weed population thanall other treatments. The lower weed densities wasprobably responsible for increased number ofpanicles/m2 thereby increasing the yield. Thisconfirms the findings of Sarkar (2001) and Singh(2002). The highest number of weeds at 30 DAT(42/m2) was observed in the treatment receivingFentrazamide 50 WP @ 0.120 ai/ha applied at 4DAT (T

4) and Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.020

kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT (T5) except the

untreated control (58/m2), however, at 60 DAT thehighest number of weeds (32/m2) was in thetreatment Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.025 kga.i./ha applied at 8 DAT (T

6) except the control

(44/m2).

Table 2. Effect of different herbicides on Toxicity, Nutrient uptake and Yield of Rice (Average of two years)

Tr. No. Treatments Rate Time Crop Yield (t/ha) Nutrient Uptake by(kg ai/ha) (DAT) Toxicity plant (kg/ha)

Score10 20 Grain Straw N P K

DAT DAT

T1

Butchlor (Machete) 50EC 1.5 3 1 1 3.7 4.74 93.1 34.7 77.4T

2Butchlor (MON 46996) 90EC 1.5 3 1 1 4.12 4.48 87.2 33.5 74.2

T3

Fentrazamide 50 WC 0.105 4 1 1 4.40 5.53 64.7 28.5 70.3T

4Fentrazamide 50 WP 0.120 4 1 1 4.06 4.67 60.7 26.6 66.8

T5

Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP 0.020 8 1 1 3.66 5.54 73.9 25.4 73.5T

6Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP 0.025 8 1 1 3.75 4.50 73.7 21.8 67.1

T7

Almix 20 WP plus Butachlor 0.004 3 3 2 4.84 5.28 96.5 35.0 82.1(Machete) 50 EC 0.938

T8

Butachlor 50 EC followed 0.938 3 1 1 4.70 4.86 94.3 34.5 79.3by Almix 20 WP 0.004

T9

Non-weeded control - - 1 1 2.24 3.22 46.7 14.7 33.7S.Em.± 0.35 0.57 6.60 2.26 6.95C.D at 5% 1.00 1.60 19.0 6.5 20.0C.V. (%) 16.60 21.20 14.60 14.71 18.14

Effectiveness of Different Weedicides on Rice

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 19-22

22

CONCLUSIONIt is concluded from the above study that

highest grain yield (4.84 t/ha), N-uptake (96.5 kg/ha), P- uptake (35.0 kg/ha), K- uptake (82.1 kg/ha) by the crop and the lowest number of weedsat 30 DAT was recorded in the treatment whereAlmix 20 WP @0.0004 kg a.i. /ha plus Butachlor50 EC @0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT. It wasclosely followed by Butachlor 50 EC @0.938 kga.i. /ha.

REFERENCESKulshrestha G and Pawar B S (1992). Resource management for

sustainable crop production. Indian Soc Agron pp 339-343.

Nyarko A K and De Datta S K (1991). A Hand Book for weedcontrol in rice, IRRI, Los Banos, Languna, Philippines, p. 1-75.

Table 3. Weed Biomass as affected by different herbicides and Nutrient uptake by weeds (Average of two years)

Tr. No. Treatments Rate Time Total Total Nutrient Uptake by(kg ai/ha) (DAT) No. of Weed weeds (kg/ha) at 60

weeds/m2 DryMatter

30 60 (g/m2) N P KDAT DAT

T1

Butchlor (Machete) 50EC 1.5 3 3.44 3.13 5.02 2.22 1.10 1.86(31) (23) (170) (8.5) (2.0) (7.80)

T2

Butchlor (MON 46996) 90EC 1.5 3 3.54 3.21 5.04 2.23 1.20 1.85(34) (24) (189) (8.8) (2.4) (8.20)

T3

Fentrazamide 50 WC 0.105 4 3.71 3.22 5.20 2.73 1.57 2.56(40) (25) (155) (17.2) (3.8) (12.20)

T4

Fentrazamide 50 WP 0.120 4 3.70 3.23 5.16 2.78 1.28 2.51(42) (25) (191) (15.3) (3.2) (11.5)

T5

Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP 0.020 8 3.56 3.20 5.10 3.10 1.81 2.84(42) (26) (168) (24.4) (5.1) (18.5)

T6

Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP 0.025 8 3.47 3.45 5.32 3.11 1.76 2.93(35) (32) (206) (21.6) (4.8) (17.8)

T7

Almix 20 WP plus Butachlor 0.004 3 2.76 2.68 4.70 2.17 0.83 2.07(Machete) 50 EC 0.938 3 (18) (14) (109) (8.2) (1.3) (7.4)

T8

Butachlor 50 EC followed by 0.938 3 2.86 2.86 4.80 2.23 1.0 2.20Almix 20 WP 0.004 3 (18) (17) (131) (8.7) (1.8) (8.5)

T9

Non-weeded control - - 4.10 3.80 5.80 3.79 2.44 3.75(58) (44) (328) (48.3) (10.5) (41.4)

S.Em.± 0.20 0.14 0.20 0.21 0.12 0.27C.D at 5% 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.80C.V. (%) 12.20 9.25 8.9 18.41 20.44 25.42

Note: Figure in the parenthesis are original values

Raju R A and Reddy M N (1986). Protecting the world’s ricecrops. Agri Inf Dev Bull 8(2): 17-18.

Reddy R K L (1988). Weed control studies in rice. M Sc(Agronomy) thesis, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture andTechnology, Pantnagar, pp 40-52.

Sarkar N C (2001).Studies on chemical weed control in transplantedrice (Oryza sativa L.). M Sc (Agronomy) thesis, G.B. PantUniversity of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, pp 108-112.

Shetty S V R and Gill H S (1974). Critical period of crop weedcompetition in rice. Indian J Weed Sci 6(2):101-107.

Singh D (2002). Integrated weed management in transplanted rice(Oryza sativa L.). Thesis, Ph.D. G.B. Pant University ofAgriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, pp 160-172.

Received on 21-10-2013 Accepted on 18-11-2013

Dubey et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 19-22

23

Evaluation of Major Kharif Crop Varieties ToClimate Variability in Vertisols of Hadoti Region of

RajasthanB S Meena and G S Meena

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kota Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan)

ABSTRACTDemonstrations of improved technologies along with existing technologies were conducted atfarmer’s field during kharif 2011. The soils of selected demonstration plots were clay loamwith medium in available nitrogen and phosphorus and high in available potassium. Shortduration or drought resistant crop varieties of soybean (JS 9560, JS 9305 and RKS 24) andmaize (PEHM 2), drought tolerant varieties of black gram (KU 963 and PU 31) and high watertolerant variety of sesamum (Ujjawal) were demonstrated at farmer’s field along with their localcheck varieties. All the recommended cultivation practices were followed to raise the crop.Results revealed that the soybean variety JS 95-60 took minimum number of days for attainingmaturity whereas variety JS 9305 took 13 days more to increase its yield by 0.70 q/ha from thevariety JS 9560. The short duration maize variety (PEHM 2) performed better with 11.6 percent increase in yield over the check variety. The drought tolerant black gram variety provedbetter for recording 35 per cent increase in yield over the check variety. The sesamum variety(Ujjawal) proved better for high rainfall situation with almost double the yield over the checkvariety. Selection of improved varieties for extreme weather conditions will help the farmers tocope with such extremes and taking good yields for better returns over the existing technologies.

Key Words: Demonstration , Kharif crops, Maize, Sesamum, Black gram,Soybean.

INTRODUCTIONThe climate change impacts on agriculture are

being witnessed all over the world, but India ismore vulnerable in view of the huge populationdependent on agriculture, excessive pressure onnatural resources and poor coping mechanisms.Enhancing productivity of major kharif cropstherefore, is critical for ensuring food security forall, particularly the resource poor small andmarginal farmers who would be affected most.Some factors responsible for low productivity ofkharif crops under rain fed conditions are,availability of long duration varieties,unawareness about high yielding varieties,scattering rainfall and early withdrawal ofmonsoon. Farmers of the area are facing theproblem of failure of sown crop and long durationvarieties are not performing well in that situation.

At the same time, there is a scope to improve theresilience of agriculture by application of exitingknowledge and technologies at the farmers’ fieldas a holistic package. This study was conductedto enhance the resilience of crops to climaticvariability and climate change throughdevelopment and using improved production andrisk management technologies under rain fedcondition of south-east Rajasthan.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA set of demonstrations was conducted during

kharif 2011 in selected village Choma Kot of Kotadistrict of Rajasthan under National Initiative onClimate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project todevelop improved technologies through shortterm research and also demonstrate the existingtechnologies at farmers’ fields for enhancing the

*Corresponding Author’s Email : bhawanidamaria@gmail.com

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 23-25

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 23-25

24

resilience. The soils of the village fields were clayloam, heavy textured with pH ranging from 8.32to 8.53, medium in available nitrogen (145-160Kg/ha), phosphorus (23-34 Kg/ha) and high inavailable potassium (345-434 Kg/ ha). Theaverage annual rainfall received during cropseason was about 965 mm. Introducing of shortduration crop varieties of soybean (JS 9560 andJS 9305) and maize (PEHM 2), introduction ofdrought tolerant new variety of black gram (KU963 and PU 31) and introduction of new varietyof sesamum in high rainfall situation i.e. Ujjawalwere demonstrated at farmers’ field. The existingvarieties viz. JS 335, Navjot, T 9 and Pratap Til C50 were used for soybean, maize, black gram andsesamum, respectively. Crops were sown in firstweek of July, 2011. Technology was demonstratedon 0.4 ha. area of each farmer. All therecommended cultural operations to raise the cropwere followed as and when required. Crops wereharvested manually in last week of September tofirst week of October, 2011. A net plot area of 25m2 from each demonstration was harvested forseed yield as measurable indicator of output andeconomics were workout and compared withfarmers’ practices.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAmong the three soybean varieties, the variety

JS 9560 took minimum number of days inattaining maturity (82 days) in comparison tofarmers’ practice (103 days) which attributed totheir genetic characteristics. It matured 18, 20 and23 days early from JS 335, RKS 24 and JS 9305,respectively (Table 1). The variety RKS 24 tookthe highest number of days (105 d) for attainingmaturity, whose yield was more affected due toearly withdrawn of monsoon (IInd week ofSeptember). The maize variety JS 9560 gave themaximum yield of 21.3 q/ha, with an averageyield of 17.5 q/ha) where as variety JS 9305recorded the highest average yield (18.2 q/ha),gross return (Rs 36,400/ha) with benefit cost ratio(2.52) closely followed by JS 9560 indemonstration as compared to check (JS 335).Increase in yield was 19.7, 16. 7 and 1.3 per cent,respectively under demonstrations over JS 335 andgave Rs 6,000/-, 4,600/- and 200/-ha additionalreturns to farmers. Average yield of maize varietyPEHM 2 under demonstrations was 25.1 q/ha,

whereas it was 22.5 q/ha under check (Navjot).The increase in yield was 11.6 per cent underdemonstrations, and it gave additional returns ofRs 2,340/-ha over farmers’ practice. Choudharyand Singh (2010) also noted similar finding inmaize. Black gram variety PU 31 gave an averageyield of 10.4 q/ha, with gross returns of Rs 34,320/-ha. and benefit cost ratio of 2.68, whereas varietyKU 963 gave an average yield of 10.2 q/ha withgross returns of 33,660/-ha and benefit cost ratioof 2.63. Black gram varieties PU 31 and KU 963gave 35.0 and 30.8 per cent higher yield underdemonstrations over farmers’ practice. Similarfinding in black gram were reported by Sheoranet al (2010). Under excessive rainfall andcontinuous cloudy weather conditions, newvariety of sesamum Ujjawal proved better andgave an average yield of 6.5 q/ha, which was 97per cent higher with benefit cost ratio (3.0) andthe additional net return (Rs 16,000/-ha) overcheck (3.2 q/ha). Low yield of check variety(pratap til C 50) was recorded in Vertisols of thisregion due to excessive rainfall and continuouscloudy weather condition and high incidence ofdiseases. These short duration varieties offerscertain advantages like faster growing habit, earlycrop maturity by 15-19 days, less waterrequirement, mitigate early withdrawn monsooneffect, often higher yield, low production cost andmore profit. Meena and Tomar (2010) and Meenaet al (2012) also reported the similar findings.

CONCLUSIONOn the basis of results, it was concluded that

the output of these technology will help the districtand regional farmers prone to extreme weathercondition like drought, excessive rainfall, and dryspell etc. to cope with such extremes and alsoprovide higher yield and benefit under climatevariability in Vertisols of Hadoti region, Rajasthan.

REFERENCESChoudhary J and Dilip Singh (2010). Influence of intercropping

and weed management in pop corn (Zea mays) under SouthRajasthan agro-climatic conditions. In: Proceeding of XIXNational Symposium on Resource Management ApproachesTowards Livelihood Security” 2-4 December, 2010Bengaluru,Karnataka.

Meena B S and Tomar S S (2010). Productivity and profitabilityof soybean (Glysine max.) varieties at farmers’ field in rainfedcondition. In: Proceeding of XIX National Symposium onResource Management Approaches Towards Livelihood

Meena and Meena

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 23-25

25

Security” 2-4, December, 2010 Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Meena B S ,Goyal M C, Baldevram and Suwalka R L (2012).Evaluation of soybean+ maize intercropping systems onfarmers’ field in rainfed condition.

3rd International Agronomy

Congress, 2012 held at IARI, New Delhi. Nov. 26-30, 2012,Vol 2:432-433.

Sheoran P, Sardana V, Singh, S and Bharat Bhushan (2010). Bio-economic evaluation of rainfed maize(Zea maize) –basesdintercropping systems with blackgram(Vigna mungo) underdifferent spatial arrangements. Indian J Agril Sci 80 (3): 242-3.

Received on 10-11-2013 Accepted on 23-11-2013

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Evaluation of Kharif Crop Varieties to Climate Variability

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 23-25

26

Evaluation of Vocational Training Programmesorganized on Mushroom Farming by Krishi Vigyan

Kendra PatialaRachna, Rajni Goel* and GPS Sodhi

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala, 147 001(Punjab)

ABSTRACTTraining programme is generally conducted with a goal that the participants after being trainedwill translate the acquired knowledge and skill into action. One hundred and forty six traineeswere imparted training on mushroom farming by conducting 7 vocational training programmes.In order to evaluate these training programmes, the present study was undertaken to assess thegain in knowledge of the participants, adoption status of the enterprise and suggestions fromthe ex-trainees of the mushroom to enhance the entrepreneurship in mushroom farming. It wasfound that a maximum adoption of 40.9 per cent was observed during the year 2008-09. Amongthe various practices of mushroom cultivation, maximum knowledge gain (52.2%) was observedin compost preparation. Aspect of diseases and pest management was least understood by theparticipants (23.4%) followed by variety/cultivation method (37.3%). Hence, it was concludedthat more emphasis needs be given to these practices during future training courses. Thecharacteristics of the participants’ viz. Education level, farming experience and extension mediacontact had positive influence on the knowledge gain of the participants. As perceived by 100mushroom growers, availability of quality spawn (62.0%), insurance of crop (53.0%) andreducing the cost of inputs (45.0%) were three major suggestions for successful developmentof mushroom entrepreneurship in Punjab.

Key Words: Mushroom farming, Evaluation, Training, Krishi Vigyan Kendra

INTRODUCTIONWith the increasing pressure on land for more

production per unit area through adoption ofmodern technologies and use of capital inputs,marginal and small farmers are unable to keeppace with the rapid technological advances in cropproduction. Therefore, extension endeavours aredirected towards net income increase fromagricultural and allied activities. To augment thefarmers’ income, different vocational trainings arebeing conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendras of thePunjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhianaespecially for the youth. Mushroom farming canplay a significant role to eradicate malnutrition,alleviate poverty and create employmentopportunity for educated unemployed youth. Inthis context, there is a wide spread agreement

among agricultural scientists to the importance ofadoption of mushroom farming as subsidiaryoccupation in rural areas. Krishi Vigyan Kendra,

Patiala is imparting trainings in mushroomcultivation to the farmers, farm women and ruralyouth. During 2005-06 to 2009-10, seven suchvocational training programmes of 5 days durationwere organized regarding mushroom farming inwhich 146 farmers participated. In order toevaluate the outcome of these trainingprogrammes, a study was conducted to assess thesocio economic profile of the trainee, gain inknowledge, adoption status of the enterprise andto get suggestions from the ex-trainees forenhancing the entrepreneurship in mushroomfarming among the rural farmers of the district.

Corresponding author’s E-mail: rajni04@rediffmail.com

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 26-29

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 26-29

27

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted in the district Patiala.

A performa was developed comprising generalinformation, background of participants such asage, education, occupation, landholding etc.Seven vocational training courses on mushroomfarming were organized at KVK, Patiala duringthe years 2005 to 2010 in which a total of 146farmers were trained. Out of these, 59 farmerswere contacted personally to know whether theyhad set up the enterprise or not after gettingtraining. To study the gain in knowledge, a simpleevaluation performa consisting of 35 questions(five questions for each practice) was distributedamong 59 trainees before and after training. Onemark was assigned for each correct answer andzero for every incorrect answer. Thus, 5 markswere given for each practice and total attainablescore for each practice came out to be 59X5=295marks. Hence, gain in knowledge was calculatedfrom the difference of scores obtained in pre andpost knowledge test of the trainees.

The dependant variable of this study was gainin knowledge of participants. The followingcharacteristics were selected as independentvariables namely age, education, family type,membership of society, farming experience andextension media contact. The relationship wasfurther explored between each of the selectedcharacteristics of participants (independentvariables) and their knowledge gain regardingmushroom cultivation (dependent variable).Furthermore, a sample of 100 mushroom growerswas selected proportionately to collect the dataregarding suggestions to boost the mushroomentrepreneurship through structured schedule bypersonal interview with the respondents. The datawas tabulated and analyzed using frequency andpercentage.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic profileThe data (Table 1) showed that maximum

number of the respondents belong to middle agegroup (54.2 %), having education up to middle(30.0%) and matriculation (20.0%). The traineeswere predominantly from rural background. Morethan 50 per cent of the respondents engaged infarming belonged to joint family. The subsidiary

occupation of mushroom farming attractedpersons from farming background as the inputsrequired for its cultivation are readily available attheir farms e.g. wheat straw (Turi) and fertilizersetc. Only 20.3 per cent of the respondents weremembers of cooperative society which showstheir low social participation. Thirty two per centfarmers each belonged to marginal and landlesscategory. It was noticed that the percentage ofsmall holding farmers (<1 ha.) increased from 19.2per cent in 1980-81 to 34.4 per cent during 2003-04 (Anonymous, 2003). As mushroom farmingenterprise does not require arable land so therespondents from marginal land holding andlandless category wanted to adopt this enterpriseto augment their family income.

Adoption statusThe maximum adoption of 40.9 per cent was

observed during 2008-09 and minimum adoption34.0 per cent during 2007-08 (Table 2). Thepercentage of non-adopters was on higher side(65.9 %) probably due to the fact that small scalemushroom farming is a seasonal activity. Anotherreason for higher rate of non-adoption could bethat the farmers do not acquire trainings beforestarting any enterprise. Similar results were alsoreported by Singh et al (2010).

Gain in KnowledgePre-training score of various practices ranged

from 6.8 per cent in case of diseases and pestmanagement to 28.8 per cent in case of fillingand spawning. Post-training score of variouspractices ranged from 30.2 per cent in case ofdiseases and pest management to 71.9 per cent(in case of filling and spawning). Pre trainingknowledge score was not at all satisfactory for allthe aspects of training programme. However, theknowledge score after training was quitesatisfactory among the participants in all aspectsof the training programme except diseases andpest management and variety/cultivation methodwhere the gain in knowledge was 23.4 and 37.3percent, respectively. These two aspects were leastunderstood by the participants. So, more emphasisneeds be given to these practices during trainingcourses. Relationship between participants’characteristics and their knowledge gain

Rachna et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 26-29

28

Table 1. Socio economic profile of the respondents (n= 59)

S. No. Variables Frequency Percentage

1. AgeYoung (18-25) 16 27.1Middle (25-45) 32 54.2Old (above 45) 11 18.6

2. EducationIlliterate 3 5.0Primary 7 11.8Middle 18 30.5Matriculate 15 25.4Higher secondary 12 20.3Graduation and above 4 6.7

3. OccupationFarming 32 54.2Others (service, business and labour) 27 45.7

4. Family typeNucleus 21 35.6Joint 38 64.4

5. Members of a society/organization 12 20.3

6. Farm sizeLandless 19 32.2Marginal (< 1 ha) 19 32.2Small (1-2 ha) 16 27.1Semi medium (2-4 ha) 5 8.5Medium (4-10 ha) 0 0Large (> 10 ha) 0 0

Table 2. Adoption status of vocational trainings .

Year No. of vocational No. of Adopters Non adopters Percentagetrainings conducted participants adoption (%)

2005-06 1 22 8 14 36.42006-07 1 18 7 11 38.92007-08 2 47 16 31 34.02008-09 2 44 18 26 40.92009-10 1 15 6 9 40.0

Table 3. Gain in knowledge about different practices of mushroom cultivation.

(n= 59)

Technology Score points Score points Gain in pointsobtained before obtained after

training training

Variety and Cultivation method 70 (23.7) 180 (61.0) 110(37.3)Compost preparation 45(15.3) 199(67.5) 154(52.2)Filling& spawning 85(28.8) 212(71.9) 127(43.0)Casing 40(13.6) 179(60.7) 139(47.1)Crop management 33(11.2) 166(56.3) 133(45.1)Diseases & pest control 20(6.8) 89(30.2) 69(23.4)Food value & value addition 75(25.4) 210(71.2) 135(45.8)

Figures in parenthesis are percentage value

Evaluation of vocational training programme

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 26-29

29

Farmers score differently due to their variedpersonal, socio-economic or psycho-physicalcharacteristics. Hence, the nature of relationshipbetween participants’ characteristics and theirknowledge gain was assessed by correlation co-efficient (Table 4). Three of the selectedcharacteristics of the participants out of six viz.education (r= 0.57), farming experience (r= 0.62)and extension media contact (r= 0.57) showedsignificant positive correlation with theknowledge gain of participants. The positive andsignificant correlation indicate that the participantswith higher level of education, more farmingexperience and extension media contact had betterknowledge gain. An interesting finding was thatthe age of the respondents showed non-significantrelationship (r = -0.02) with knowledge gain ofthe participants which lead to the fact thatknowledge gain of the participants was notaffected by the age of the participants. Similarly,family type (r= -0.21) and membership of society(r= 0.09) also showed non- significant relationshipwith knowledge gain of the participants. Theabove findings were in conformity with thefindings of Jahan et al (2010).

Suggestions given by the farmersThe results showed that supply of quality and

certified spawn, insurance of crop and reducingcost of input were the three major suggestions asmore than 45.0 percent of the respondents viewedthat without such components mushroomentrepreneurship cannot be boosted up. Similarresults were reported by Mishra (2008). Thereshould be some government policy for seedcertification in mushroom farming as in field crops.Beside these suggestions, 41.0 percent of therespondents felt that regular visits of extensionworkers to the mushroom farms of the farmerscan improve the output of the farm and 36.0percent of respondents suggested that availabilityof the facilities for storage, preservation and valueaddition of the mushrooms will give renewedimpetus to the mushroom cultivation occupation.

CONCLUSIONThe above findings clearly indicate that

conductance of the trainings will provide muchneeded guidance to the trainees. Mushroomgrowing enterprise does not require additionalarable land, thus farmers with small and marginalland holdings can augment their dwindling farmincome.

REFERENCESAnonymous (2003). Sustaining productivity of rice-wheat

cropping system and its potential alternative. Annual report,Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Jahan N, Moonmoon M and Shah, M M I (2010). Grower’sresponse to mushroom cultivation technologies disseminatedby mushroom development project. J Agric Soc Sci 6: 96-100.

Mishra, S (2008). Entrepreneurship development for farm womenthrough mushroom cultivation. Oryza 45 (1): 68- 71.

Singh K, Peshin R and Saini S K (2010). Evaluation of theagricultural vocational training programmes conducted by theKrishi Vigyan Kendras (Farm Science Centres) in IndianPunjab. J Agril Rural Dev tropics and subtropics. 111 (2):65-77.

Table 4. Correlation between knowledge gain of theparticipants and their selected characteristics.

Characteristics Correlation coefficient (r)

Age -0.02*Education 0.57Family Type -0.21*Membership of society 0.09*Farming experience 0.62Extension media contact 0.57

*Non significant at p<0.05 level of significance

Table 5. Suggestions given by the respondents.

Suggestion Frequency Ranking

Certified spawn 62 IInsurance of crop 53 IIReducing cost input 45 IIIRegular field visit 41 IVStorage, preservation and 36 V value additionPractical demonstration 30 VITraining on advanced 20 VIIcultivation methods

Rachna et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 26-29

Received on 16-07-2013 Accepted on 16-11-2013

30

Improvement in Fruit Set, Retention, Weight andYield of Apple Cv. Royal Delicious Through Foliar

Application of Plant Growth RegulatorsAjay Kumar Banyal*, Rajeev Raina and Rajesh Kumar Kaler**

Krishi Vigyan Kendra Saru, Chamba-176 310 (Himachal Pradesh)

ABSTRACTThis investigation was carried out during 2012 and 2013 seasons on 15 years old Royal Deliciousapple trees grafted on seedling rootstock grown in a private orchard at Chamba district ofHimachal Pradesh to study the effect of different plant growth regulators on fruit set, fruitretention, fruit drop, fruit weight and yield. The data revealed that foliar application of Sitofex(CPPU) at 10 mm fruit size resulted in higher fruit set, fruit retention and lower fruit droppercentages, and also produced maximum fruit weight and fruit yield in comparison to othertreatments under study. Based on this study, apple growers of the chamba district are advised tospray their apple orchards with Sitofex (CPPU) at 10 mm fruit size for producing maximumyield and improving fruit quality, especially fruit weight.

Key Words: CPPU, Royal Delicious Apple.

INTRODUCTIONIn Chamba district, apple is being grown

mainly in all the blocks, except Bhatiyat, followedby walnut and stone fruits. The apple orchardsare mainly located in Churah, Bharmaur, Chambaand Pangi tehsil and Salooni sub-tehsil, whereDelicious varieties of Red, Royal and Golden etc.are mostly grown. However, average productivitylevel of apple in the district is too low (less thanone mt /ha.).

Major problems in the apple cultivation in thisregion are high percentage of fruit drop and veryless proportion of marketable sized fruits. Produce,mostly constitutes undersized and unmarketableapple fruits and farmers did not get good pricesfor their produce in the market. Under suchcircumstances, the role of plant growth substancesfor enhancing fruit set, yield and fruit qualityparticularly the fruit size/fruit weight has becomemost important these days. It has beendocumented that final fruit size depends on manyfactors, viz., the number of cell present at fruit

*Corresponding Author Email: ajaybanyal_pom@yahoo.co.in** Litchi Mango Research Station, Nagrota Bagwan, Kangra, HP

set, rate of cell division that occur subsequentlyand the extent to which these cells expand.Therefore, early fruit cell division is normallyinfluenced by the natural growth hormones,especially cytokinins. Sitofex (CPPU) is a newplant growth regulator which has strongcytokinins like activity by inducing fruit growthat low rates Nickell (1986). El-Sabagh (2002) inapple; Flaishman et al (2001) and Guireguis et al(2003) in pear have reported the beneficial effectsof using CPPU in reducing fruit drop andincreasing productivity as well as improving fruitsize.

The apple growers of the district are usingmainly boric acid at petal fall for improving thefruit set, retention and yield of apple orchards.However, the awareness about the use of otherplant growth regulators viz., CPPU and Biozymefor improving yield is not known to them.Therefore, the present studies were conducted atfarmer’s field with the objective to study thepossible effects of different concentrations of

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 30-32

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 30-32

31

CPPU at different stages and other treatments inimproving the productivity and quality of fruits.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe research trials were conducted in the

private orchards at four locations in Chambadistrict during the years 2012 and 2013. Theuniform looking trees of 15 years age of thecultivar Royal Delicious raised on seedlingrootstocks and spaced at 6 x 6 m apart wereselected for this study. Each treatment wasreplicated five times. The different treatmentswere T

1; Foliar application of Boric acid @ 0.1%

at Petal fall;T2 Foliar application of Sitofex (CPPU)

@ 7.0 ppm at Petal fall; T3

Foliar application ofSitofex (CPPU) @ 5.0 ppm at 10 mm fruit sizeand T

4 Foliar application of biozyme @ 2.0 ml/

litre at petal fall.

Parameters studiedFruit set

Counting of all fruits was done 20 d after petalfall and the following formula was used todetermine the fruit set and expressed in percent.

100clustersflower ofNumber

set fruits ofNumber (%)set Fruit x

The total numbers of fruits retained on thetagged branches were counted at the time ofharvest and the percentage of fruit retained wascalculated on the basis of total number of fruits atthe time of fruit set.

100setfruit ofNumber

harvest as fruits ofNumber (%)retention Fruit x

Percent fruit dropPercent fruit drop was worked out by

subtracting per cent fruit retention from 100 andaverage was worked out.

Fruit weight:Samples of ten fruits from each replicate were

taken at random at harvest time (September 8th

and September 9th) in 2012 and 2013 seasons,when fruits of the control attained maturity todetermine fruit weight (g).

Fruit yieldAt the time of harvest, all the fruits from each

replication were weighed on top pan balance andproduction was expressed quintal / hectare.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fruit SetAs evident from the data presented in Table 1

the different plant growth regulators had nosignificant effect on fruit set in apple during boththe years. However, maximum fruit set (16.6 and17.5 %) was recorded with foliar application ofBoric acid @ 0.1% at Petal fall (T

1) during both

the years, whereas, treatment T3

registeredminimum per cent fruit set of 15.7 and 16.1 percent in the year 2012 and 2013, respectively. Theprobable reason for the higher fruit set in T

1

(farmer’s practice) might be the fact that boronplays an important role in pollen production,germination and pollen tube growth in fruit trees.

Fruit RetentionThe effect of different plant growth regulators

on fruit retention was found to be significantduring both years. Maximum fruit retention (25.7and 26.2 %) was found with foliar application ofSitofex (CPPU) @ 5.0 ppm (T

3) and minimum

(10.2 and 11.3 %) was observed with T1 (Control),

during both years when fruit is 10 mm in size.However, maximum fruit retention observed inthe treatment T

3, which was significantly higher

than T2, T

4, and T

1 treatments. These results were

in accordance with those obtained by El-Sabagh(2002) on apple trees and Guirguis et al (2003)on pear trees. They indicated that syntheticCytokinins have a significant role in increasingfruit set which was probably due to the ability ofcytokinins to mobilize assimilate to the area ofapplication and responsible for increase fruit setand final fruit retention.

Fruit DropIt was noticed that fruit drop significantly

reduced with the foliar application of Sitofex(CPPU) @ 5.0 ppm at 10 mm fruit size (T

3) and

application of Sitofex (CPPU) @ 7.0 ppm at Petalfall (T

2) (Table 1). Foliar application of Sitofex

(CPPU) at 10 mm fruit size, after fruit set recordedlowest (74.3 and 73.8 % during 2012 and 2013,respectively) fruit drop than other treatmentsduring both years. Regarding the effect of CPPU

Banyal et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 30-32

32

concentrations, it was clear that all concentrationsreduced the percent fruit drop when comparedwith the T

1 (farmer practice), which recorded the

maximum percent fruit drop. The obtainedreduction in fruit drop as a result of Sitofexapplication might be due to the role of cytokininsin increasing fruit set.

Fruit WeightThe data (Table 1) revealed that the highest

values of fruit weight (g) were obtained fromspraying Sitofex (CPPU) @ 5.0 ppm at 10 mmfruit size (T

3) followed by application of Sitofex

(CPPU) @ 7.0 ppm at Petal fall (T2). The positive

effect of the Sitofex (CPPU) application was alsonoticed by El-Sabagh (2002) on “Anna” appletrees. Fruit size is frequently increasedcommercially by reducing crop load usingchemical or hand thinning but in the present study,it increased fruit size and reduced the fruit drop.Therefore, the increase in fruit size could beattributed directly to the CPPU effects. Exogenousapplication of CPPU acts early cell division in thefruit let and also on subsequent growth. Thus, thefruit becomes bigger in size due to the efficient ofcells, the building blocks of fruit mass and alsobecause the cells have been able to attract somuch water, minerals and carbohydrates thatenable the fruit to expand to large size (Kano,2003). Similar results were also reported byFlaishman et al (2001) on pear and El-Sabagh(2002) on apple.

Fruit YieldThe data presented (Table 1) showed that fruit

yield (q./ha) were influenced by the Sitofex(CPPU) application. The treatment T

3 obtained

highest fruit yield (82.3 and 87.2 q/ha) duringboth years followed by T

2 which also recorded

significantly higher fruit yield in comparison to

farmer Practice (T1) and Biozyme (T

4). With

respect to the effect of Sitofex concentrations, thedata exhibited that, both Sitofex concentrationssignificantly increased tree fruit yield as comparedto the control (T

1) which produced the minimum

yield. This increment in yield was attributed toSitofex (CPPU) application effect in increasingfruit size and weight. These findings are inagreement with those obtained by Fawzi andHafez (2004) on grapevines who reported that,Sitofex application significantly increased the totalyield.

CONCLUSIONIt is concluded that spraying Royal Delicious

apple trees with Sitofex (CPPU) @ 5.0 ppm at 10mm fruit size was found to be the best treatmentdue to the fact that it not only produced maximumfruit yield but also improved fruit qualityparticularly fruit weight, fruit retention andreduced the fruit drop in apple.

REFERENCESEl-Sabagh A S (2002). Effect of Sitofex (CPPU) on “Anna” apple

fruit set and some fruit characteristics. Alex J Agri Res 47(3):85-92.

Fawzi M I F and Omaima M Hafez (2004). Effect of somegrowth regulators on yield and fruit quality of Perlette grapes.Annals Agri Sci Ain Shams Univ, Cairo, 49(2): 671-86.

Flaishman M A, Shargal A and Stern R A (2001). The syntheticsytokinin CPPU increased fruit size and yield of “Spadona”and “Costia” pear (Pyrus communis L.). J Hort Sci & Biotech76: 145-149.

Guirguis N S, Eman S Attala and Ali M M (2003). Effect ofSitofex (CPPU) on fruit set, fruit quality of Le Conte pearcultivar. Annals of Agri Sci Moshtohor 41(1): 271-282.

Kano Y (2003). Effect of GA and CPPU treatments on cell sizeand types of sugars accumulated in Japanese pear fruit. J HortSci & Biotech 78(3): 331-334.

Nickell L G (1986). The effects of N (2-chloro-4pyridyl)-N-pheylurea at the 3-chloro-benzyl ester of decomba on thegrowth and sugar content of grapes. Acta Hort 179: 805-806.

Received on 31-10-2013 Accepted on 16-11-2013

Table 1. Effect of foliar application of plant growth regulators on fruit set, retention, drop, weight and yield of apple cultivarRoyal Delicious.

Treatments Fruit set(%) Fruit retention (%) Fruit drop (%) Fruit weight(g) Yield(q/ha)

2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013

T-1

16.6 17.5 10.2 11.3 90.8 88.7 187 181 21.4 18.7T-

216.2 17.1 22.3 23.4 77.7 76.6 223 227 69.4 71.3

T-3

15.7 16.1 25.7 26.2 74.3 73.8 239 246 82.3 87.2T-

416.4 16.9 12.6 13.7 84.6 86.3 202 205 22.9 24.3

CD0.05

NS NS 1.9 2.1 2.1 2.3 NS NS 4.3 4.7

Improvement in fruit set of apple through Plant Growth Regulators

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 30-32

33

Indigenous Techniques of Breeding Indian MajorCarps Under Confined Conditions

Deepjyoti Baruah

Livestock Research Station, Hekra Assam Agricultural University, Kamrup -781 127 (Assam)

ABSTRACTBreeding and hatching of Indian Major Carps under confined conditions are being practiced ontraditional ways since a long time by the fishers of rural Assam. A survey conducted in thelower stretch of river Brahmaputra revealed that breeding and spawning of Indian Major Carps(IMC) under confined water conditions has been made possible by simulating artificial riverineenvironment to brood fishes using locally available devices and indigenous techniques by therural fish farmers. The cost of operation was found to be lower than the regular methods ofbreeding carps in hatcheries. Fertilization rate of eggs released during breeding was successfulwith 70 to 80 per cent survivability. The breeding technique was found to be simple, handy andfarmer friendly and can be executed in remote and furlong areas for a ready availability of fishseeds.

Key Words: Breeding confined water, IMC, Indigenous.

INTRODUCTIONIndian Major Carps (IMC) comes under fishes

which do not ordinarily spawn in confined orstagnant water bodies such as ponds, lakes etc.but breed in natural water bodies as in rivers,wetlands, paddy fields and other low lying areas.Environmental factors such as light, temperature,water condition play an important role instimulating the fish for reproduction (Rath, 2008).Major carps usually spawn in inundated terrainsof rivers and streams during rainy season. Thisspawning site is advantageous for its survival andpropagation where the fresh flood kills allterrestrial fauna and flora therein and their decaycauses the growth of micro flora and micro faunaon which the fry and fingerlings feeds (Padhi andMandal, 1994). Moreover, the water in theinundated terrains is warm and rich in oxygenwhich is essential for rapid embryonicdevelopment and hatching (Thomas, 2003). Onthe other hand, the fish seeds collected fromnatural spawning grounds is scanty and does notfulfill the annual requirement for inlandaquaculture in the country (Ayyappan, 2011).

Corresponding Author’s Email: deep_baruah@rediffmail.com

Henceforth, efforts have been paved to artificiallybreed the IMCs in hatcheries such as Chinese Eco-hatcheries, Portable carp hatcheries, Glass jarhatchery etc. but in all the cases it has beenobserved that the cost of operation in thehatcheries is quite high. In the present study, aneffort was made to investigate indigenoustechniques practiced by the rural mass forproducing carp seeds in their backyard ponds andculture tanks by simulating a similar environmentrequired for carp breeding with an involvementof negligible investment.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA survey was carried out by a team of students

undergoing Bachelor of Fisheries Science (BFSc)during their tenure of Fisheries Work ExperienceProgramme (FWEP) at Livestock Research Station,Assam Agricultural University, Hekra, Kamrup,Assam. The survey was carried out in 6 villagesviz., Chaplai, Dhanbori, Laoduba of Goalparadistrict and Hekra, Mondira, Malibari of Kamrupdistricts. Data were collected from the fish breedersof the villages by personal interview, farm visit

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 33-35

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 33-35

34

and practical demonstration. Quantity andfertilization rate of eggs was measured byvolumetric or gravimetric method.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

i. Brood stock managementFor breeding of fish and seed production,

mature and healthy brood stock weighing 2 to 4kg are utilized. In the survey, it was found thatthe fish breeders procure the brood fishes fromnatural resources such as rivers, streams,wetlwnds and from recognized fish pond ownersduring months of March and April. The broodfishes are conditioned in hapas in confined water(pond) before being injected with hormones. Incase of brooders collected from culture ponds, itis desired that yearlings of required species ofcarps are collected from natural ground or fromfarm reared stock. These yearlings are stocked inbrood stock ponds for a year or two with properhusbandry practices and bred for seed production.As a preliminary management practice, broodstock ponds are prepared by eradicating aquaticweeds, predatory and weed-fishes and harmfulinsects. Lime is applied according to the pH ofthe water (Table 1).Table 1. Dose of lime applied as per pH of water

pH of water Dose (kg/ha)

4.0-4.5 700 – 10004.5-5.5 500 – 7005.5-6.5 250 – 5006.5-7.5 200 – 250

Organic manure and inorganic fertilizers areadded to pond to obtain the desired level ofplankton. Stocking density is maintained @ 900to 1100 kg/ha and 1/5th of the water of the pondis replenished at least once in a month. Fish rationprovided to the brood fishes consists of groundnutoil cake 70 kg., rice bran 28 kg., common salt 1.5kg., vitamin C 10g. and vitamin E 3g. Feedingwas done @ 3-4% of the body weight once everyday.

(ii) Setting of hapaTwo types of hapa are usually used during

breeding of fish in confined water which areexplained as follows;

a) Breeding hapa: A breeding hapa is arectangular shaped structure made up of finemesh mosquito net cloth or nylon net. Thesize of the breeding hapa used by the breedersmeasures 6.5 x 3.5 x 1 m to 4.0 x 1.5 x 0.9 m.However, size of hapa is set according to thesize and number of brood fish. All the fourcorners on upper and lower sides of the hapaare stitched with laces so that the net can betied to four bamboo poles fixed in the watercolumn at both upper and bottom ends. Thehapa is installed in a fully stretched conditionin the water column and care is taken so thatthe upper surface is raised at least 30 to 40cm above the water level whereas the lowersurface does not touch the muddy bottom.The upper surface of the hapa is provided withan opening to keep and remove the broodfishes during breeding operation and forcollection of eggs afterwards.

b) Hatching hapa: It is a double chamberedrectangular shaped enclosure. The outer hapais made of bolting cloth (0.5 mm mesh size)and the inner hapa is made of mosquito netcloth or nylon cloth (2.0-2.5 mm mesh size).The hapa are installed in water by means offour bamboo poles as described for breedinghapa.

(iii) Pump set and uses: A pump set of capacity 2HP or above is installed on a suitableembankment or near the net with the help ofa bamboo rack or poles. The pump sets arerun by diesel and kerosene oil in areas whereelectricity supply is poor. Care was to be takenso that lesser noise is produced by the pumpsets to avoid failure of the breedingprogramme. The pump sets helps to releasewater into the pond at a desired speed forsimulating an artificial riverine situation forcarrying out the breeding programme underconfined water.

(iv) Breeding methodology: Mature and healthymale and female brood fish at a stockingdensity of 2-4 kg/m3 are put together in theratio of 2:1 respectively in breeding hapa inthe afternoon hours. A riverine environmentis simulated by generating a mild water currentwith the help of water pump. Shower is

Baruah

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35

provided in the hapas to simulate rain. In theevening hours, water current is stopped andhormone is administered, while shower iscontinued. Generally, fresh pituitary glandsare collected by the breeders from other maturefishes from various sources and an extract isprepared for administration. Females areinjected with pituitary gland extract @ 2-3mg/kg body weight as the first dose and 10-12mg/kg of body weight as second dose after 5to 6 hrs. of administration of first dose. Halfnumbers of the males were injected with onedose of pituitary gland extract @ 4-6 mg/kgbody weight at the time when second dose isinjected to females. The pituitary gland extractis injected either by intramuscular orintraperitoneal method. The water current isrestarted with the help of the pump sets. Waterspeed is maintained at around 0.1-0.2 m/sec.The spawning of each female is completedwithin 1.0 to 1.5 hrs. of initiation. Water flowand shower are stopped after the spawning isover. Brood fish are collected and releasedback into the brood stock pond. Fertilized eggsare collected in early morning hours andtransferred to the hatching hapa. Normally forIMC optimum temperature is 28 to 30oC andincubation period is 14 to 20 hrs. Water currentwith speed of 0.01 to 0.02 m/sec is generated.Direction of water current is changed bychanging the direction of water inflow. Thesurvivability rate of the spawn is about 70 to80 per cent. After 70 to 72 hrs. of incubation,the spawn is transferred to earthen nurseriesand is reared for 15 to 20 d. till they becomefry. The small fries are transported by vendorsto different sites as per demand of the localentrepreneurs and farmers.

CONCLUSIONConstruction of a regular type circular carp

hatchery for IMC breeding and hatching is a major

constraint in rural areas due to its high cost ofconstruction, higher water budget andmaintenance. Hapa breeding method is cheaperamounting for Rs. 10000/- to 15000/- per seasonand construction of a circular hatchery accountsfor Rs. 6 to 8 lakh. Hapas can be installed at anysuitable area and is portable whereas a circularhatchery cannot be dismantled. Moreover waterbudget in hapa breeding is maintained by reusingthe same pond water which is utilized for breeding,hatching and stocking. Usage of water pump hasseveral advantages as it creates an unpollutedenvironment for the brood fish, mild water currentsimulating riverine system for fishes to exhibitbetter courtship behaviour with higher spawningefficiency. An improvement in the indigenoushapa breeding technique can produce quality seedswith better survivability rate. This method can bepracticed at farmer’s site at low cost andminimizing the difficulty in seed transportation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe author convey sincere thanks to the Chief

Scientist of Livestock Research Station, Mondira,Hekra for rendering help and support and thestudents from College of Fisheries in all the wayfor conducting the research and to make thenecessary arrangements. The author is alsothankful to the farmers and fish breeders of thesurveyed villages for providing the necessaryinformation during the research.

REFERENCESAyyappan S ( 2011). Handbook of fisheries and aquaculture,

Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Pp: 590-640.

Padhi J K and MandaI R K (1994). Improper fish breedingpractices and their impact on aquaculture and fish biodiversity.Curr Sci. 66: 624-626.

Rath R K ( 2008). Fresh water Aquaculture, Scientific PublishingHouse, Jodhpur.

Thomas P C (2003). Breeding and seed production of fin fish andshell fish, Daya Publishing House, New Delhi. Pp: 1-122.

Received on 30-09-2013 Accepted on 15-11-2013

Techniques of breeding Indian major carps

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36

Mithun Production and Management System inPapum Pare District of Arunachal Pradesh

Tilling Tayo*, Taba Heli, Bengia Atul and Nabam Gama

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Papum Pare, Karsingsa-791 123 (Arunachal Pradesh)

ABSTRACTPresent study was carried out in three villages viz., Mani, Midpu and Chiputa, in 2011. It wasfound that all the farmers (100%) followed free range system of rearing, natural random matingsystem, zero-input feeding system and salt as medium to keep close contact with the Mithun.Less than 1 per cent farmers trained their Mithun to come near by their house timely by makingsound and offer bunch of hay or grass along with salt. Majority of the farmers (69%) said ageat first calving was 36 months and 64 per cent of the respondents said inter calving period was13 months and 91 per cent of them had breeding bull. Deworming, ectoparasitic control andantibiotics were used by 9 , 21 and 12 per cent farmers, respectively and only 25 per centfarmers vaccinated the Mithun against the foot and mouth disease. Weaning was done at 20months of age by following natural method and male calves were never castrated. Sixty nineper cent of the respondents paid proper attention to the pregnant Mithun whereas 81 per centfarmers sell the animal at the time of adversity.

Key words: Mithun, Production, Management, Salt hunger, Tribal community.

INTRODUCTIONMithun (Bos frontails) is one of the oldest

domesticated animals known to the tribes ofArunachal, many a time mithun has been referredand quoted in folk lore of tribal community.Arunachal Pradesh has the highest Mithunpopulation in India followed by Nagaland,Manipur and Mizoram. Mithun population densityaccounts highest in Papum Pare district of the state.So, there is a great potential for mithun productionbut barely any attempt has been made to recordsystematically and analyze the mithun productionand management system, practiced by the farmers,in-spite of much deeply rooted in the socioeconomic and religious importance of the Mithun,Therefore, the present study was undertaken tounderstand the prevailing production andmanagement system followed by the farmers inPapum Pare district.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was carried out in Papum Pare

districts of Arunachal Pradesh, during 2011-12 inDoimukh block. Three villages namely Mani,

*Corresponding Author’s Email: tilling.tayo@gmail.com

Cheputa and Midpu were selected to carry out thisstudy. Total number of Mithun in the three villageswas 433 (73 male, 198 female, 75 calf, 87 heifer)and from each selected village, twenty five Mithunfarmers were selected randomly to make a samplesize of 75 respondents. An uniform questionnairewas prepared on five different aspects of rearing,breeding, feeding, health care, and general careand management practices through interview andself-observation methods (fortnightly), theinformation was recorded. The respondent’sanswers and reasons for following certain practiceswere also recorded in each individualquestionnaire sheet. The data were analyzed withthe help of frequencies and percentages.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Rearing practicesThe prevailing rearing system followed by

Mithun farmers (100%) is a “free range system”(Fig. No.1) where, the Mithuns are let-loose freelyin the jungle, except during health problems andintroduction of Mithun to new area. Another

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37

method known as tethering method, (Fig. No. 2)is followed for few days or months until the healthof animal is stable or adapted to newly introducedarea. Other method of rearing Mithun is notfeasible at farmer’s level because of its grazinghabit and physical movement activity which needslarger area to keep them healthy and encounterharsh environment condition of hilly area. Oninterrogations, majority of farmers said thatMithun reared under free range system arehealthier as compare to other system of rearing.However, wild beast– viz. wild dogs, tigers andleopards are main menace in free range system.Almost all farmers (99%) said that Mithun rearedin tethering method are more susceptible to healthproblem and disease condition, apart from extracare and repeated changing of grazing area timeto time, which is laborious and tedious job (Table1).

knew the AI method of breeding. Majority (69%)of the farmers said age at first calving was 36months. A greater majority (64%) of therespondents said inter calving period of 13 monthsand 91 per cent of them in the study area wererearing breeding bull. Rearing mithun bull isconsidered to be prestigious and reflection ofwealth within the farming community. Whereas 9per cent of the farmers did not rear breeding bull,they sold or exchanged the male calf for femalecalf on economic point of view with the conceptthat female mithun will calve after attaining sexualmaturity.

Feeding practicesIt is one of the most important aspects of

livestock farming as it account for 65-80 per centof total cost of production. However, Mithun isreared under zero input system by all the farmers.Basically Mithun thrives on the forages, treefodders, shrubs, herbs and other naturalvegetations. It prefers to browse and move aroundthe forest in search of selective forages (Das et al,2008). The commonly green grasses or fodderavailable in the forest are Saccharum spontaneum(thatch grass), Carex crusiata, Thysoleunamaxima (phool jaru), Seteria pamifolia (arunagrass), Moniliera curculiodes, Phryniumpubinerve, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii(bamboo),Musa paradisiacal, Boemeria species,Clerodendron kolebrokianu, Ficus semicaudata,Spondias pinnata, Bauhinia purpurea (Kanchan)and Bauhinia verigatea etc. With no addition ofconcentrate diet in their ration except for littleamount of slat they offered to the mithun onweekly basis while tracking their Mithun in forest.This system of feeding practices are followed by99 per cent of the farmers, because it is

Breeding practicesBreeding age of mithun was reported to be

24 to 30 months for female and 48 to 54 monthsfor male, all the farmers (100%) follow naturalservice through random mating. Artificialinsemination (AI) on mithun was unknown tothem except for the cattle, 25 percent of farmers

Fig. No. 1 Free range

Fig. No. 2. Tethering system

Fig. No. 3. Salt Feeding system

Tayo et al

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Table 1. Production and management practices followed by the farmers.

Sl. No. Name of the practice Frequency percentage (%)

A. Rearing practicesIntensive 0 0Semi-intensive 0 0Free range 75 100

B Breeding practicesb.1 Age at first calving:

36 Months 52 6940 Months 23 31

b.2 Calving interval13 Months 48 6415 Months 27 36

b.3 Rearing of bull for breeding purpose: Reared 68 91 Not reared 07 09

b.4 Service of Mithun:Natural service with bull 75 100Artificial insemination 0 0

C Feeding practicesc.1 Method of feeding

Semi-range 01 01Free-range 74 99Stall 0 0

c.2 Types of ration used:Roughage (Natural fodder) 75 100Roughage with concentrate 0 0

c.3 Feeds additives:Salt used 75 100Salt not used 0 0

D Health care practicesd.1 Use of antibiotic:

Used 09 12Not used 66 88

d.2 Vaccination:Practiced 19 25Not practiced 56 75

d.3 FMD vaccineCause abortion 5 7Cause death 8 11Protection against FMD 62 82

d.4 Deworming:Used 12 09Not used 63 91

d.5 Use of ectoparasitic drugs:Used 16 21Not used 59 79

E General Care and Management Practicese.1 Weaning:

Practiced 0 0Not Practiced (Naturally) 75 100

Mithun production and management system

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39

e.2 Castration of Male calf:Practiced 0 0Not Practiced 75 100

e.3 Special care to pregnant mithunTaken 70 93Not taken 05 07

e.4 Special care to Mithun after calvingTaken 73 97Not taken 02 03

economically feasible and no extra labour isrequired for collecting feed and fodder. In contraryto this feeding practices very few farmers (<1%)in addition to free grazing system train their mithunto come near by their house timely by makingnoise or ringing bell periodically and offer bunchof hay or grass along with salt (Fig. No.3). It wasrevealed that mithun have an extra salt hungerbehavior, so every farmer (100%) used salt as asource to remain close contact with their mithun.Similar finding was observed by (Prakash et al,2007).

Health care practicesThe most prevalent diseases of Mithun in the

study area were diarrhea, ectoparasitic infestationlike ticks, mites, leaches, biting flies and foot andmouth disease (FMD). Similar findings wereobserved by (Tayo et al, 2013). Routine de-worming and use of ectoparasites control werefollowed by 9 and 21 percent farmers, respectivelyand only few (12%) farmers used antibiotics(oxytetracycline) during the outbreak of anydisease to mitigate further spread of disease. Fewfarmers (25%) vaccinated Mithun against FMDthrough the animal health camp conducted by thestate department from time to time. Nevertheless,majority of the farmers (82%) said FMDvaccination had successfully prevented theoccurrence of FMD in endemic area and mithunhad developed immunity against the disease.

It was observed that animal health coverageprogramme like routine de-worming, vaccinationand timely attending of common bacterial, viraldiseases, parasitic infestation and other traumaticinjury of animal is not practically feasible due toremoteness and hilly terrain topography of mithundwelling area in different pocket of ArunachalPradesh. This result in heavy morbidity andmortality (Sharma, 2010) at the time of any out-break of disease.

General care and management practicesThe study revealed that 100 per cent calves

are weaned naturally at the age of 20 months undernatural conditions. Castration of male calf wasnever practiced in Mithun except for cattle whichare reared for drought purpose. All the farmersknew that castrated animal becomes docile and itcan be easily targeted by the wild beast which is apredisposing factor and not suitable for thesurvival of Mithun in the forest. Ninty three percent respondents paid proper attention to theirpregnant animal and 97 per cent took special careafter calving. The reason cited by the farmers wasthat the pregnant mithun need to be traced oncein two days especially during last trimester so thatimmediately after parturition the calf ears can benotched as an identification mark. As such thereis no established marketing system for Mithun.However, majority of the farmers (81%) sell theirMithun at the time of rundown when all most allthe savings are exhausted so mithun is alsoconsidered as automated teller machine (ATM)among farming community (Panor, 2010). Thepricing system is based on general appearance ofbody conformation and horn size is taken as unitto ascertain the age of Mithun. Mature male Mithunis more costly as compared to female Mithun ofsame age but conversely calves are cheaper thanheifers because mature Mithun looks moremajestic due to its beautiful longer horn andmasculine appearance, as well as higher meatproduction per animal and its meat is mostpreferable meat in tribal community as comparedto any other livestock meat.

Some of the notable constraints in Mithunproduction in prevailing raring system areownership dispute, crop raid, wild beast, parasiticinfestation, viral and bacterial disease (Tayo et al,2013).

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40

CONCLUSIONMithun management and production system

can be greatly improved without much change intraditional practices by little intervention throughscientific method on health issue viz. regulardeworming, vaccination and nutritionalmanagement of pregnant mithun especiallysodium chloride ,which is present in very low levelin soil as well as fodder of hilly area.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTAuthors are thankful to the Sir Ratan Tata

Trust (SRTT) for providing all the facilities to carryout the studies under the project “ Mithunconservation and it habitats through communityparticipation”.

REFERENCESDas K C, Prakash B and Rajkhowa C (2008). Nutrition and

Feeding of Mithun (Bos frontalis) in Hill Livestock FarmingSystem. Indian J Anim Nutr 25: 1-10.

Panor J (2010). Mithun: The ATM. Biological Park, Itanagar.http://arunachalnews.com/mithun-the-atm.html.

Prakash B, Das K C, Dhali A, Rathore S S, Meck A, SangthamM, Walling I, and Rajkhowa C (2007). Estimation of macroandmicro-minerals in some the important foliages ofMedziphema area. Annual Report. National Research Centreon Mithun (ICAR), Jharnapani, Medziphema, Nagaland.

Sharma A K (2010). Foot and Mouth Disease in livestock- Combatand Management (Seminar, Itanagar). http://www.worldvet.org/node/7270.

Tayo T, Heli T, Atul B and Gama N (2013). Mithun Husbandry- Issues and Strategies in Papum Pare District of ArunachalPradesh. J Krishi Vigyan 1(2): 56-59.

Received on 08-10-2013 Accepted on 17-11-2013

Mithun production and management system

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41

On–Farm Evaluation of Management Practices ofRice and Wheat in Sub-Montane Subtropical Low

Hills Zone of Himachal PradeshS K Sharma, S C Negi , S K Subehia and S S Rana

Department of Agronomy, Forages and GMCSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur -176 062 ( Himachal Pradesh)

ABSTRACT An on-farm experiment was conducted in sub-montane and low hills sub-tropical zone ofHimachal Pradesh to study the impact of application of recommended dose of nutrients and fullpackage of practices as against farmers’ practice in rice-wheat cropping sequence under irrigatedconditions. The treatments were evaluated at eight locations for three consecutive croppingseasons of 2004-05 to 2006--07. Results of the study revealed that single intervention of applyingrecommended fertilizer nutrients over the existing farmer’s practice increased the overall grainyields of rice and wheat by about 23 and 32 per cent, respectively. The application of fullrecommended package of practices further increased rice and wheat yields by about 9 and 17per cent whereas rice equivalent yield and net returns by about 42 and 51 per cent over thefarmer’s practice.

Key Words: Rice-wheat, Cropping sequence, Nutrients.

INTRODUCTIONIn India rice-wheat is the most prevalent

cropping system. In Himachal Pradesh, this systemhas sustained over years but now the productivityof both the crops have stagnated and factorproductivity is declining year after year becausethere is great difference in actual and achievableyield. This is due to use of low yielding traditionalvarieties, imbalance and inadequate use offertilizers, sub-optimal plant stand and heavyweed infestation particularly in rice, use ofinadequate irrigation and improper plantprotection measures. Apart from this, lack ofknowledge about the non-monetary inputs is themajor constraint which influences the productivitylevel. As the system is very exhaustive, there isgreater drain on the native soil fertilityemphasizing balanced application of nutrients tosustain the productivity. The cultivation ofimproved varieties, timely and proper control ofweeds, insect pests and diseases are essential forsustaining the yields. It is therefore, necessary todemonstrate the effect of proper nutrient

management and recommended package for rice-wheat system on the farmers’ fields. Keeping inview these considerations, present study wasundertaken at farmer’s fields to demonstrateappropriate production technology for increasingproductivity of rice and wheat.

MATERIALS AND METHODSField experiment on cultivators’ fields was

conducted for three years (2004-05 to 2006-07)at Nakroh and Katohar centres of district Una andChannaur and Adhwani centres of district Kangra.Eight locations; two at each centre in both thedistricts were selected. The soils of theexperimental locations were inceptisols havingsoil texture loamy sand to silty clay loam with pHslightly acidic to neutral, medium to high inorganic carbon, available N and P and medium inavailable K contents. The total rainfall receivedwas 1043.9 mm, 744.7mm and 1106.5 mm during2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively, withmaximum and minimum temperatures rangingfrom 19.0-39.2 C and 4.6-30.8 C, respectively.

*Corresponding Author’s Email : s.suresh0061@gmail.com

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42

Rice variety Kasturi Basmati and wheat varietiesPBW-343 and HPW-184 were sown during theperiod under study. The different treatments were:

T1: Farmer’s practice (application of FYM @

5t/ha, N @ 40 per cent of recommended dose ofN, no criteria of seedling age and seed rate,method of sowing, plant protection measures andinappropriate weed control measures withoutconsidering critical stage),

T 2: Recommended dose of nutrients (90 Kg

N and 40 Kg P2O

5 and 40 Kg K

2O/ha in rice, 120

Kg N, 60 Kg P2O

5 and 30 Kg K

2O in wheat and

other practices as in farmer’s practice).

T3: Full recommended package of practices

(100% NPK, transplanting of seeding at properstage with proper method and spacing, irrigationat proper stage, herbicidal weed control andproper plant protection measures).

One trial was laid out at each location. Yieldswere harvested from net plot. Economics of thetreatments was computed based upon prevalentprices. The statistical analysis of the data wasperformed in randomized block designconsidering locations as replication.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Crop yieldThe data (Table 1) revealed that application

of recommended fertilizer nutrients to the farmer’spractice resulted in significantly higher grain andstraw yields of rice and wheat over farmer’spractice alone, in both the farming situationsduring all the years of investigation. Singleintervention of applying recommended fertilizernutrients in the existing farmer’s practice increasedthe grain yield of rice and wheat by about 34,18and 18 per cent, and 35, 30 and 33 per cent,respectively, during 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively. Such a response to recommendedapplication of nutrients clearly depicts that in stateslike Himachal Pradesh, productivity of these cropscan be substantially boosted up by applyingbalanced nutrient doses.

Yields further increased by adopting fullpackage of practices in both the farming situations.Based on the overall mean, the magnitude ofincrease in rice and wheat yields owing to the

application of recommended package of practicesover full NPK was 8, 9 and10 per cent, and 16,11 and 13 per cent during 2004-05, 2005-06 and2006-07, respectively. Such a response to appliednutrients and improved cultivation practices canbe expected in the farmers’ fields. Balancedapplication of nutrients and improved cultivationpractices have been reported to be essential forsustained productivity (Prasad et al, 2002, Rinwaet al, 2003 and Sharma et al, 2011).

Rice equivalent yieldOwing to increased rice and wheat yields, the

system productivity as expressed in terms of riceequivalent yield was significantly higher underrecommended application of fertilizer nutrientsover the farmer’s practice alone in both thefarming situations (Table 2). Rice equivalent yieldfurther increased with the adoption of fullpackage. On an average, the recommendedpackage of practices increased rice equivalentyield by about 50, 39 and 38 per cent over thefarmer’s practice and about 12, 11and 11 per centover recommended application of nutrients during2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 , respectively.

Net ReturnsThe higher yields following the application

of recommended fertilizers to the farmer’s practiceand full recommended package of practicesfetched increased gross and net returns in boththe farming situations. On an average, therecommended technology package ( T

3 ) recorded

79, 46 and 43 per cent higher net returns overfarmer’s practice and 13, 10 and 12 per cent highernet returns over recommended application ofnutrients, during 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe findings of the present investigation

conclusively inferred that for feeding the growingpopulation, farmers should go for recommendedpackage of practices in rice-wheat croppingsystem without any compromise. Resource poorand marginal farmers who can not afford to applythe full package, they should at least apply therecommended dose of nutrients to sustain yieldsand fetch higher returns.

Sharma et al

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43

Tab

le 2

.E

ffec

t of t

reat

men

ts o

n ri

ce e

quiv

alen

t yie

ld a

nd e

cono

mic

s in

ric

e-w

heat

cro

ppin

g se

quen

ce.

Trea

tmen

tR

ice

equi

vale

nt y

ield

(kg

ha-1)

Gro

ss R

etur

nsN

et R

etur

ns

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

Una

(4

loca

tion

s)

Farm

ers’

pra

ctic

e52

9757

5445

1451

8838

512

4207

574

483

5169

017

949

2151

352

086

3051

6

Rec

omm

ende

d nu

trie

nts

7489

7646

5714

6950

5436

256

277

9513

868

592

3067

132

586

6884

744

035

Rec

omm

ende

d pa

ckag

e82

0283

9762

9776

3260

369

6172

510

4681

7559

133

961

3531

775

608

4829

5

LSD

(P=0

.05)

600

500

341

4236

3412

5694

4236

3412

5694

Kan

gra

(4lo

catio

ns)

Farm

ers’

pra

ctic

e45

2267

8337

5150

1933

963

5043

063

478

4929

013

401

2986

840

951

2807

3

Rec

omm

ende

d nu

trie

nts

5723

8078

4538

6113

4279

959

659

7694

659

801

1910

935

968

5066

535

248

Rec

omm

ende

d pa

ckag

e65

6189

5951

3068

8348

575

6631

187

237

6737

422

167

3990

358

164

4007

8

LSD

(P=0

.05)

385

536

207

2068

4065

3809

2068

4065

3809

Tabl

e 1.

Eff

ect o

f tre

atm

ents

on

yiel

ds o

f ric

e an

d w

heat

in r

ice-

whe

at c

ropp

ing

sequ

ence

.

Trea

tmen

tR

ice

Whe

at

G

rain

(kg

ha-1)

Str

aw (k

g ha

-1)

Gra

in (k

g ha

-1)

Str

aw (k

g ha

-1)

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

04-0

505

-06

06-0

7M

ean

Una

(4

loca

tion

s)

Farm

ers’

pra

ctic

e23

6727

9328

0126

5429

3536

0238

5534

6425

5825

0531

9827

5432

2034

1439

1435

16

Rec

omm

ende

d nu

trie

nts

3636

3290

3465

3463

4608

4142

4713

4488

3363

3686

4199

3749

4282

5041

5213

4845

Rec

omm

ende

d pa

ckag

e38

6236

0237

9937

5449

2347

2851

4549

3237

8940

5746

6241

6951

6654

0756

9154

21

LSD

(P=0

.05)

266

164

349

364

350

434

308

334

301

489

449

322

Kan

gra

(4lo

catio

ns)

Farm

ers’

pra

ctic

e22

7217

8921

7020

7736

3927

2234

2632

6219

6442

2629

5230

4727

2752

0139

0439

44

Rec

omm

ende

d nu

trie

nts

2571

2102

2417

2363

4077

3160

3688

3642

2751

5057

3961

3923

3623

6034

4860

4839

Rec

omm

ende

d pa

ckag

e28

1222

9626

8825

9840

6231

0539

6037

0932

7356

3645

5744

8842

1369

6557

3256

36

LSD

(P=0

.05)

170

140

9630

8N

S14

826

843

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842

7

Management practices of rice and wheat in sub-montane zone

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REFERENCESPrasad R, Sharma S N, Singh S and Shivay Y S (2002). Relative

productivity, profitability and NPK removal from soil by somerice based cropping systems. J Sustainable Agri 19(3): 31-37

Rinwa R S, Gupta S C, Mundra M C and Singh B P (2003).Impact on production of predominant cropping systems with

different inputs management in Haryana. Crop Res 25(3):468-471

Sharma S K, Rana S S, Subehia S K, Negi S C and SharmaSanjay (2011). Impact of improved practices in comparisonwith farmer’s practice on the productivity of maize-wheatsystem in rainfed areas of sub-montane low hills of HimachalPradesh. Himachal J Agri Res 37(2):157-164

Received on 21-08-2013 Accepted on 10-11-2013

Sharma et al

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Quality Evaluation of Blended Rice bran andMustard oil

Monika Choudhary* and Kiran Grover

Department of Food and Nutrition Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana –141 004 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTRice bran oil (RBO) is nutritionally superior non-conventional vegetable oil and mustard oil(MO) is traditional oil widely used in domestic cooking in rural India. So, the present study wasdesigned to develop a healthier and stable blend of RBO and MO. Therefore, RBO was blendedwith MO in two ratios i.e. 80:20 and 70:30. These blends were analyzed for fatty acidcomposition, physiochemical properties, oxidative stability, and antioxidant activity.Consequently, RBO+MO in the ratio of 80:20 contained 16.9 percent SFA, 32.9 percent MUFAand 50.8 percent PUFA whereas the percentage of SFA, MUFA and PUFA present in RBO+MO(70:30) was 15.2, 25.6 and 59.2 respectively. RBO+MO in the ratio of 70:30 showed adequatesmoke point (188°C), frying temperature (180°C) and had low acid value (0.28 mg KOH/g)and saponification value (224.0 mg KOH/g) as well as a low percentage of free fatty acids(0.14%). In terms of oxidative stability and antioxidant activity, RBO+MO (70:30) showedleast percent increase (33.9 %) in peroxide formation after 28 days of incubation period andalso had highest radical scavenging activity (57.5 %) whereas the highest content of total naturalantioxidants (2291.3 mg/kg) was present in RBO+MO (80:20). A significant (pd”0.05) differencewas found in all the quality parameters of vegetable oils and it was concluded that RBO+MO inthe ratio of 70:30 was an ideal blend in terms of overall quality parameters.

Key Words: Rice bran oil, Mustard oil, Fatty acid composition, Oxidative stability, Antioxidantactivity.

INTRODUCTIONA good quality vegetable oil must be low in

saturated fat, linolenic acid, and has good flavor,high oxidative stability and should be trans fatfree (Venkattakumar and Padmaiah, 2010). Ricebran oil (RBO), a non-traditional vegetable oilmeets these requirements due to its uniquenutritional characteristics. RBO has high levels ofphytosterols, gamma-oryzanol, tocotrienols aswell as tocopherols and it extends the shelf - lifeof snack foods (Ramesh and Murughan, 2008).As India imports considerable quantity of edibleoil, use of domestic rice bran oil can help in importsubstitution, thus saving valuable foreignexchange. However, proper promotion of this non-traditional oil as health oil, remains the mostimportant factor in increasing its acceptability as

a cooking oil among the masses.

Mustard is the second most important edibleoilseed sharing 27.8 per cent in the India’s oilseedeconomy. In India, 82 per cent of rural consumersuse mustard oil (MO) as their staple edible oil,with monthly consumption varying between 2-4liters per family. The Indian cultivars of mustard,due to high content of erucic acid andglucosinolates, have limited preference ininternational market. Though the nutritionaladvantages of mustard oil available in India outdomany other edible oils (lowest amount of harmfulsaturated fatty acids, and contains two essentialfatty acids linoleic and linolenic), the presence oferucic acid and glucosinolates are considered tobe undesirable. Hence, blending can be a feasibletechnique to reduce the amount of erucic acid.

*Corresponding Author’s Email: moni0986@gmail.com

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Both rice bran oil and mustard oil are lessexpensive edible oils and RBO has also beenscientifically proved best for blending. Hence, thepresent work was designed to develop a stableand healthier blend of a non-traditional (RBO) andtraditional (MO) at reduced cost.

MATERIALS AND METHODSRefined rice bran oil (RBO) and mustard oil

(MO) were purchased from local market. All theanalytical and gas chromatography gradechemicals and solvents used were supplied byHimedia (Mumbai, India).

Preparation of blendsA 100 ml mixture of RBO and MO was placed

in duplicate in 250-ml beakers and was mixed byusing a mechanical stirrer at 180 rpm for 15 minto prepare blends of RBO and MO. The blend wasprepared in two ratios i.e., 80:20 and 70:30(Bhatnagar et al, 2009). These blends wereanalyzed for physiochemical properties, fatty acidcomposition, oxidative stability, naturalantioxidants and radical scavenging activity.

Fatty acid composition by gas chromatography(GC): Oil samples were analysed for their fattyacid composition by gas chromatography usingfatty acid methyl esters (FAME) preparation(Appleqvist, 1968). FAMEs were analysed on agas chromatograph (Varian CP 3800, USA),equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID)and a fused silica capillary column (50 m x 0.25mm i.d.), coated with CP-SIL 88 as the stationaryphase. The oven temperature was programmed at200 °C for 13 min. The injector and FID were at250 °C. A reference standard FAME mix (SupelcoInc.) was analyzed under the same operatingconditions to determine the peak identity. TheFAMEs were expressed as relative areapercentage.

Physicochemical properties: Smoke point andfrying temperature were determined according tothe AOCS Method Cc 9a-48 (1990). Viscosity ofvegetable oil was recorded with the help ofviscometer (Patent no: 688/del/85). Peroxidevalue, iodine value, saponification value, acidvalue and free fatty acids of the vegetable oilswere determined by using AOAC (2000) methods.

Oxidative stability: Samples were placed in

beakers (50- ml) capacity and incubated at 37°Cand 55 per cent RH in a lab incubator to study theoxidative stability of the blends over a period of4 weeks (28 days). Samples were withdrawn atweekly intervals and analysed for their peroxidevalue (PV). The PV is a titration measure of allperoxides and lipid oxidation products that willoxidize the potassium iodide under operatingconditions. Five grams of the oil sample waspoured into a 250 ml flask. Thirty millilitres ofglacial acetic acid/chloroform (3:2, v/v) solutionswere added and stirred. A stopper was insertedand the flask was shaken for 1 min and left for 5min in the dark at 15–25 oC. Thirty millilitres ofdistilled water was added, and the librated iodinewas titrated with 0.01 N Na

2S

2O

3, using starch as

indicator. The PV was calculated following theAOCS (2003) method.

Antioxidant activity: To analyze antioxidantactivity of blend, natural antioxidants (oryzanol,á-tocopherol equivalent) and radical scavengingactivity (RSA) towards DPPH radicals weredetermined.

Natural antioxidants: The alpha tocopherolequivalent was determined by Emmerie Engelassay modified by Baker and Frank (1988). Threestoppered centrifuge tubes were taken and labelledas standard, sample, and blank. To these labelledtubes, 0.5 ml of DL-á-Tocopherol acetate(standard), 0.5 ml of blended oil (sample) and0.5 ml of distilled water (blank) were addedrespectively. In each centrifuge tube, 0.5ml ofethanol and 0.5ml of xylene were added. All thethree stoppered centrifuge tubes were mixed andcentrifuged for 15min. In other three cleanstoppered tubes, 0.5ml of each xylene layer wastransferred. To this 0.5ml of dipyridyl reagent wasadded and 0.5 ml of this mixture was pipetted intospectrophotometer cuvettes (Systronics UV-VIS-108, Bangalore, India) and the absorbance ofsample and standard against the blank was readat 460 nm. To the blank, standard and sample,0.33 ml of ferric chloride reagent was added andmixed for 30 seconds. After 1.5 minutes of theaddition, zero setting was done at 520 nm andabsorbance of the sample and standard againstthe blank was read. The alpha tocopherolequivalent was calculated by using this formula:

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Alpha tocopherol equivalent (mg%) = [alphatocopherol in standard (mg %) x {sample OD

520 –

(0.29 x sample OD460

)}/standard OD520

]

Oryzanol content of blended oil wasdetermined by a spectrophotometric method(Gopal et. al. 2006) by dissolving 0.01 ml of thesample in 10 ml of hexane and reading theabsorbance at 314 nm in a 1-cm cell (SystronicsUV-VIS-108 spectrophotometer, Bangalore,India). The oryzanol content was calculated byusing the formula:

[(A/W) X (100/358.9)]

Where A is the absorbance of the sample, Wis the weight of the sample in gram/100 ml, 358.9is specific extinction coefficient for oryzanol.

Radical Scavenging Activity (RSA) toward DPPHRadicals: DPPH radical scavenging activity wasmeasured using the method described by Erastoet al (2007) and Miraliakbari and Shahidi (2008).This assay is based on the determination of theconcentration of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) methanolic solution, after adding theantioxidants. DPPH concentration is reduced bythe existence of an antioxidant at 515 nm and theabsorption gradually disappears with time. A 0.1mM methanolic solution of DPPH was prepared.The oil samples (1 ml after tenfold dilution) wereplaced in test tubes and a 2-ml aliquot of DPPHmethanolic solution was added and the mixturewas vortexed for 20 s at ambient temperature.Against a blank of pure methanol without DPPH,the decrease in absorption at 515 nm wasmeasured in 1-cm quartz cells after 1, 30, and 60min of mixing, using a spectrophotometer(Systronics UV-VIS-108, Bangalore, India). RSAtoward DPPH radicals was estimated from thedifferences in absorbance of methanolic DPPHsolution with or without sample (control) and theinhibition percent was calculated using thefollowing equation:

% inhibition = [(absorbance of control -absorbance of test sample)/absorbance of control]X 100

Statistical analysis: All the determinations werecarried out in triplicate and the results wereexpressed as mean ± standard error. One wayanalysis of variance (ANOVA) and their statistical

significance (pd”0.05) was ascertained using acomputer programme package (CPCS1).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fatty acid compositionFatty acid composition of RBO and its blends

is given in Table 1. The total amount of SFA,MUFA and PUFA present in RBO was 15.4, 38.0and 46.6 percent respectively. RBO+MO in theratio of 80:20 contained 16.9 percent SFA, 32.9percent MUFA and 50.8 percent PUFA whereaspercentage of SFA, MUFA and PUFA present inRBO+MO (70:30) was 15.2, 25.6 and 59.2respectively. Oleic content of RBO+MO (32.3 %)in the ratio of 80:20 was higher than RBO+MO(25.6%) in the ratio of 70:30. The percentage ofoleic acid in both ratios was lower than RBO(38.0%). Oleic acid had been described to reducethe cardiovascular risk by reducing blood lipids,mainly cholesterol (Lopez-Huertas, 2010). Theamount of linoleic acid in RBO+MO (45.2%) inthe ratio of 70:30 was higher than RBO+MO(39.1%) in the ratio of 80:20 but the percentageof linoleic acid in both ratios was lower than RBO(46.6%). A significant (pd”0.05) difference wasfound in MUFA and PUFA content of vegetableoils. The World Health Organization (2008) hasrecommended the fatty acid ratio of vegetable oilto be 1:1.5:1. The results showed that blendingchanged the fatty acid ratio of RBO i.e. 1:2.5:3 to1:1.9:3 (80:20) and 1:1.7:3.9 (70:30) in the blendRBO+MO.

Physical propertiesThe data on physical properties of RBO and

its blends are given in Table 2. The smoke pointis the temperature at which a fat or oil produces acontinuous wisp of smoke when heated. Resultsshowed that smoke point of RBO was 242°Cwhereas RBO+MO showed lower value of smokepoint i.e. 200°C and 188°C in the ratio of 80:20and 70:30 respectively. This does not meet thestandard requirement for frying oils which shouldhave a smoke point above 200°C (AOCS, 2003).But according to the opinion of the Working Groupof Regional Food Chemistry Experts and theGerman Federal Public Health Department of1991, the smoke point of a cooking oil must be atleast 170 °C and must not differ from the

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temperature of the fresh oil by more than 50 °Cso that the oil can still be classified as usable.Frying temperature of RBO was observed to be174°C whereas this value was higher for RBO+MO(70:30) i.e. 180°C. Frying temperature ofRBO+MO in the ratio of 80:20 was 177°C. Asignificant (pd”0.05) difference was observed infrying temperature of vegetable oils but still thefrying temperature was within the range (150-190°C) suggested by Choe and Min (2007). Withrespect to viscosity, RBO had the highest (40 CST)value followed by RBO+MO (38 CST) in the ratioof 80:20 and RBO+MO (37 CST) in the ratio of70:30 respectively.

Chemical properties The data on chemical properties of RBO and

its blends are given in Table 2. Peroxide value isa useful indicator of the early stages of rancidityoccurring under mild condition and it is a measureof the primary lipid oxidation products. So, greaterthe peroxide value, the more will be the rate ofoxidation in the oil (Atinafu and Bedemo, 2011).It was found that RBO had lowest peroxide valuei.e., 0.62 meq /Kg whereas RBO+MO in the ratioof 80:20 and 70:30 had higher peroxide valuesi.e., 1.33 and 1.73 meq /Kg respectively. Still theperoxide values of blended oils were in agreementwith the maximum Codex standard peroxide value(10 meq O

2/Kg) for vegetable oil deterioration.

Iodine value is an index of the unsaturation, whichis the most important analytical characteristic ofoil (Otunola et al, 2009). Iodine value ofRBO+MO in the ratio of 80:20 and 70:30 wasrecorded to be 114.7 g and 115.1 g respectivelywhich were higher than the iodine value of singleoil i.e. 102.0 g (RBO). The greater the degree ofunsaturation (or high IV), the more rapid the oiltends to be oxidized, particularly during deep-fatfrying (Alireza et al, 2010). Although the highestiodine value was observed in RBO+MO, theprotective role of the natural antioxidants inducedby the presence of rice bran oil (i.e., oryzanol,alpha-tocopherol equivalent) resulted in a lowervalue of iodine value (Gopal et al, 2005).

Acid value is a measure of the free fatty acidsin oil. Acceptable levels for all oil samples shouldbe below 0.6 mg KOH/g (measured in potassiumhydroxide per gram) (AOCS, 2003). Acid value

of RBO+MO in the ratio of 80:20 and 70:30 wasrecorded to be 0.37 and 0.28 mg KOH/grespectively whereas the acid value of RBO was0.42 mg KOH/g. Free fatty acids occur in fats asa result of enzymatic hydrolysis by lipases, metalions acting as free radicals or at an elevation oftemperature (Gulla and Waghray, 2011). Thepercentage of free fatty acids was found to behighest in RBO+MO (80:20) i.e. 0.19. Thepercentage of free fatty acids in the RBO was lowerthan percentage of free fatty acids present inRBO+MO (80:20) and RBO+MO (70:30).Saponification value is an indication of themolecular weights of triglycerides in oil(Muhammad et al, 2011). The highestsaponification value was found in RBO+MO(80:20) i.e. 285.6 mg KOH/g as compared to theother oils. Similar findings were reported byNasirullah et al, (2012). There was significantdifference (p<0.05) among the vegetable oils interms of chemical properties.

Oxidative stabilityOxidative stability of oil can be improved by

modification of fatty acid composition andaddition of antioxidants to the oil. The oxidativestability of single and blended oils is given in Table- 3. A significant (pd”0.05) difference was foundin peroxide value of all vegetable oils after 28days. It was observed that peroxide formation inRBO increased by 52.2 percent whereas RBO+MOin the ratio of 80:20 and 70:30 showed increasein peroxide formation by 39.3 and 33.9 percentrespectively after 28 days. So, blends in both ratiosshowed least percent increase in peroxideformation as compared to single oil. Highestpercent increase in peroxide formation in RBOcould be due to presence of PUFA as given inTable 1. Recent studies reported that oxidativestability was inversely proportional to PUFAcontent of vegetable oil (Bhatnagar et al, 2009).There was a significant (pd”0.05) steady increasein PV of rice bran oil blends, but this increasewas seen to be the least. The nutritionalcontribution of the three minor components oftocopherol, tocotrienols and ã-oryzanol in ricebran oil blends may have conferred this greateroxidative stability (Gulla and Waghray, 2011).

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Antioxidant activity The term “total natural antioxidants”

collectively refers to total alpha tocopherolequivalent and oryzanol content in vegetable oils.Results showed that the amount of total naturalantioxidants present in RBO, RBO+MO (80:20)and RBO+MO (70:30) was 2968.3, 2459.6 and2449.3 mg/kg respectively (Table 4). Bycomparing both ratios, it was found that RBO+MOin the ratio of 70:30 had highest (57.5%) RSAtowards DPPH radicals (Fig. 1). This could be dueto the presence of natural antioxidants i.e. oryzanol(2272.7 mg/Kg) and alpha tocopherol equivalent(176.6 mg/Kg). In vegetable oils alpha-tocopherolinhibits the effects of singlet oxygen duringsensitized photoxidation (Min and Boff, 2002).Scientific studies reported that higher the alphatocopherol and oryzanol content, the higher theDPPH scavenging activity would be (Malik et al,2011; Vorarat et al, 2010). Interestingly, RSAtowards DPPH radicals was found on the higherside in the ratio of 70:30 whereas the amount oftotal natural antioxidants was more in the ratio of80:20. A significant (pd”0.05) difference wasfound in RSA of all vegetable oils.

CONCLUSIONBy comparing both ratios, it was found that

fatty acid ratio of RBO+MO (70:30) i.e. 1:1.7:3.9were close to the recommendations given byWHO. In terms of physicochemical propertiesRBO+MO in the ratio of 70:30 showed adequatesmoke point (188°C), frying temperature (180°C)and had low acid value (0.28 mg KOH/g) andsaponification value (224.0 mg KOH/g) as wellas low percentage of free fatty acids (0.14%). Interms of oxidative stability and antioxidant activity,RBO+MO (70:30) showed least percent increase(33.9 %) in peroxide formation after 28 days ofincubation period and also had highest radicalscavenging activity (57.5 %) whereas the highestcontent of total natural antioxidants (2291.3 mg/kg) was present in RBO+MO (80:20). Hence, thepresent study revealed that blending of non-traditional oil (RBO) with traditional oil (MO) inthe ratio of 70:30 to obtain stable and healthierblended oil can be done as it also reduces thedemand and cost of traditional oils.

REFERENCESAlireza S, Tan C P, Hamed M and Che Man Y B (2010). Effect of

frying process on fatty acid composition and iodine value ofselected vegetable oils and their blends. Int Food Res J 17:295-302.

AOAC (2000). Oils and Fats. In Official Methods of Analysis ofAOAC International. (Ed. William, H), AOAC International,Maryland, USA. Pp: 1-69.

AOCS (1990). Official Methods and Recommended Practices ofthe American Oil Chemists’ Society. AOCS Press, Champaign,Illinois.

AOCS (2003). Sampling and Analysis of Commercial Fats andOils. AOCS Official Method Cd 8-53 Surplus Peroxide ValueAcetic Acid–Chloroform Method Definition, New York, USA,AOCS Cold Spring Harbour.

Appleqvist L Å (1968). Rapid methods of lipid extraction andfatty acid ester preparation for seed and leaf tissue with specialremarks on preventing the accumulation of lipid contaminants.Ark. Kenci. 28: 351-370.

Atinafu D G and Bedemo B (2011). Estimation of total free fattyacid and cholesterol content in some commercial edible oils inEthiopia, Bahir DAR. J Cereals Oilseeds 2: 71-76.

Baker H and Frank O (1988). Determination of serum hysicrol.In: Varley’s Practical clinical Biochemistry. (Ed. Gowenlock,AH), 902.

Bhatnagar S A, Kumar K P, Hemavathy J and Krishna G A(2009). Fatty acid composition, oxidative stability and radicalscavenging activity of vegetable oil blends with coconut oil. JAmer Oil Chem Soc 86: 991-999.

Choe E and Min D B (2007). Chemistry of deep-fat frying oils. JFood Sci 72: 77-86.

Erasto P, Grierson D S and Afolayan A J (2007). Evaluation ofantioxidant activity and the fatty acid profile of the leaves ofVernonia amygdalina growing in South Africa. Food Chem104: 636–42.

Gopal K A G, Hemakumar K H and Khatoon S (2006). Study onthe composition of rice bran oil and its higher free fatty acisvalue. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 83: 117-20.

Gopal K A G, Khatoon S and Babylatha R (2005). Fryingperformance of processed rice bran oils. J Food Lipids 12: 1-11.

Gulla S and Waghray K (2011). Effect of storage on physic-chemical characteristics and fatty acid composition of selectedoil blends. J Life Sci 3: 35-46.

Lopez-Huertas E (2010. Health effects of oleic acid and longchain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) enriched milks. Areview of intervention studies. Pharmacol Res 61: 200-7.

Malik A, Kushnoor A and Saini V (2011). In vitro antioxidantproperties of Scopoletin. J. Chem Pharma Res 3: 659-665.

Min D B and Boff J M (2002). Chemistry and Reaction ofSinglet Oxygen in Foods. Compr Rev Food Sci F 1: 58-72.

Miraliakbari H and Shahidi F (2008). Antioxidant activity of minorcomponents of tree nut oils. Food Chem. 111: 421–427.

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Muhammad N, Bamishaiye E, Bamishaiye O, Usman L, SalawuM, Nafiu M. and Oloyede O (2011). Physicochemicalproperties and fatty acid composition of cyperus esculentus(Tiger Nut) Tuber Oil. Biores Bull 5: 51-54.

Nasirullah Ankaiah K N, Krishnamurthy M N, Nagaraja K V(2011). Quality characteristics of edible vegetable oil blends.J Amer Oil Chem Soc 68: 446-447.

Otunola A G, Adebayo G B and Olufemi O G (2009). Evaluationof some physicochemical parameters of selected brands ofvegetable oils sold in Ilorin metropolis. Intl J Phys Sci 4: 327-329.

Table 1. Fatty acid composition of vegetable oils.

Fatty acid (%) RBO(100%) RBO+MO(80:20) RBO+MO(70:30) CDÏ%

Palmitic acid (C16:0) 14.5±0.8 16.4±0.6 14.9±0.9 NSStearic acid (C18:0) 0.9±0.3 0.5±0.2 0.3±0.1 NSOleic acid (C18:1) 38.0±1.3 32.3±0.6 25.6±0.8 2.7Linoleic acid (C18:2) 46.6±1.0 39.1±1.2 45.2±0.3 2.1Linolenic acid (C18:3) ND 8.6±0.4 9.8±0.9 -Arachidic acid (C20:0) ND 3.1±0.3 4.2±0.9 -SFA % 15.4±1.0 16.9±0.4 15.2±0.8 NSMUFA % 38.0±1.3 32.3±0.6 25.6±0.8 2.5PUFA % 46.6±1.0 50.8±1.1 59.2±0.3 2.2SFA:MUFA:PUFA 1:2.5:3.0 1:1.9:3.0 1:1.7:3.9 -

Values are expressed as mean ±SE,Ï%= Significant 5% , ND- Not detected, NS-Non significant, RBO rice bran oil, MO Mustard oil

Ramesh P and Murughan M (2008). Edible oil consumption inIndia. Asia and Middle East Food Trade J 3: 8-9.

Venkattakumar R and Padmaiah M (2010). Adoption Behaviourof Oilseed Growers in India. Indian Res J Ext Edu 10: 75-83.

Vorarat S, Managit C, Iamthanakul L, Soparat W and Kamkaen N(2010). Examination of antioxidant activity and developmentof rice bran oil and gamma- Oryzanol microemulsion. J HealthRes 24: 67-72.

WHO (2008). Interim Summary of Conclusions and DietaryRecommendations on Total Fat & Fatty Acids. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Fats and Fatty Acids in HumanNutrition, WHO, Geneva. Pp: 1-14.

Table 2. Physicochemical properties of vegetable oils.

Physical Properties RBO(100%) RBO+MO(80:20) RBO+MO(70:30) CDÏ%

Smoke point (°C) 242±0.0 200±0.3 188±0.6 0.5Frying temperature (°C) 174±0.3 177±0.2 180±0.2 0.4Viscosity (CST) 40±0.1 38±0.3 37±0.3 NSChemical Properties RBO(100%) RBO+MO(80:20) RBO+MO(70:30) CDÏ%

Peroxide value (meq/Kg) 0.62±0.1 1.33±0.1 1.73±0.1 2.2Iodine value (g) 102±0.1 114.7±0.1 115.1±0.1 1.5Acid value (mg KOH/g) 0.24±0.1 0.37±0.1 0.28±0.0 0.8Free fatty acids (%) 0.12±0.1 0.19±0.0 0.14±0.0 0.3Saponification value (mg KOH/g) 199.7±0.9 285.6±0.0 224.0±0.0 0.2

Values are expressed as mean ±SE,Ï% = Significant 5% , NS-Non significant, RBO rice bran oil, MO Mustard oil

Table 3. Peroxide values (meq/Kg) of vegetable oils for oxidative stability after weekly interval.

Peroxide value

Sample 0 7 days 14 days 21 days 28 days

RBO (100%) 0.62±0.07 0.72±0.07 0.98±0.10 1.55±1.85 3.24±0.22RBO+MO (80:20) 1.33±0.12 1.52±0.07 2.09±0.26 3.09±0.26 5.09±0.47RBO+MO (70:30) 1.73±0.09 1.93±0.07 2.53±0.28 3.59±0.09 5.43±0.33CDÏ% 2.8 NS NS 0.9 2.3

Percent increase in peroxide value

Sample 7 days 14 days 21 days 28 days

RBO (100%) 13.9 26.5 36.8 52.2RBO+MO (80:20) 12.3 27.3 32.4 39.3RBO+MO (70:30) 10.3 23.7 29.4 33.9

Values are expressed as mean ±SE,Ï% = Significant 5% , NS-Non significant, RBO rice bran oil, MO Mustard oil

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Fig. 1. DPPH radical scavenging activity of vegetable oils. CD value between time intervals (0, 30, 60 minutes)- 0.5 (pde0.05), CD value between vegetable oils- 0.3 (pde0.05)

Table 4. Total natural antioxidants and DPPH radical scavenging activity of vegetable oils.

Sample Oryzanol (mg/kg) Alpha tocopherol Total naturalequivalent (mg/kg) antioxidants (mg/kg)

RBO (100%) 2803.0±1.8 165.3±1.1 2968.3±1.9RBO+MO (80:20) 2291.3±1.9 168.3±0.3 2459.6±1.4RBO+MO (70:30) 2272.7±1.2 176.6±0.2 2449.3±1.3CDÏ% 1.4 0.5 0.9

Values are expressed as mean ±SE,Ï% = Significant 5% , NS-Non significant, RBO rice bran oil, MO Mustard oil

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Received on 14-07-2013 Accepted on 15-11-2013

52

Relationship Between Buffering Capacity andChemical Composition of Poultry Feedstuffs

Anuradha Yadav, Parminder Singh* and S S Sikka

Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary ScienceGuru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana -141 004 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTFive samples each of maize, deoiled rice bran, rice polish, wheat bran, soybean meal, limestoneand dicalcium phosphate were collected from various sources and their proximate analysis wasdone. Each sample was grinded and suspended in distilled water and shaken with magneticstirrer. The pH was recorded using a magnetic stirrer and the amount of 0.1 M HCl required toreduce the pH of the sample to 5 was measured as its B-value. pH and B-value were comparedwith the crude protein and ash content of the sample. The results showed that ingredients withhigh protein content had high B-value. B-value for lime stone and dicalcium phosphate werethe highest. Knowing the B-value of the ingredients the B-value of the diet can be calculated.

Key words: pH, Buffering capacity, feeds, feed stuffs

INTRODUCTIONThe concept of manipulating stomach acidity

by adding acid to feeds or using feeds of low acid-binding or buffering capacity has been around fora long time and addition of organic acids to broilerfeeds is a common practice. However, there is littleinformation on the buffering capacity (B-value)of ingredients that are used in formulation ofcomplete feeds. Buffer action of any solution isits capacity to resist change in its pH when acidor alkaline solution is added to it. Bufferingcapacity is the amount of 0.1 M HCl required toreach a pH of 5( Bolduan et al,1988).

Poultry diets usually have high alkalinitycharacteristics .Vegetable proteins and calciumcarbonate in feeds have a strong buffer. The useof diets characterized by such a high buffercapacity can compromise the intestine capabilityto keep an acidity level that can support growthand in some cases, maintain beneficial intestinalmicro flora. Many harmful bacterial species havegrowth around pH 7, whereas useful bacterialspecies such as Lactobacillus and Enterococcushave their best growth at pH around 6. Poultryintestinal tract acidification allows modulation ofthe intestinal bacterial flora in a positive and natural

way and, at the same time, it works against themultiplication of that bacterial flora that besidesbeing harmful and dangerous for the animal healthcan represent a problem of legal nature connectedto the feed stuffs health.

In proventriculus, gastric juice is secreted.This lowers pH in between 2.0 to 4.0. A lowgastric pH is important to activate pepsin frompepsinogen, which digests protein. Fermentationof undigested protein by microbes leads toformation of toxic biogenic amines. Low gastricpH controls bacterial population. In the acidenvironment, pathogenic bacteria such as E.coliand Klebsiella species as well as bacteroidsdiminish. Beneficial bacteria, such as Bifido andLactobacilli species are more tolerant towards lowpH values. In young animals, capacity to secretegastric juice is limited. High B-value may poseproblems of multiplication of pathogenic bacteria.The recommended B-value for poultry is about1-10 for first 10 days of age and 10-20 for 11-30days age (Makknick, 2001). It may not be possibleto reduce B-value of feed sufficient low. Keepingin view the present study was undertaken tomeasure the Buffering capacity of feedscommonly fed to poultry.

*Corresponding Author’s Email : pschawla@sify.com

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MATERIALS AND METHODSFive samples each of maize, deoiled rice bran,

rice polish, wheat bran and soybean meal werecollected and analysed for proximate principles(AOAC, 1990). pH of each sample was measuredby suspending 10 g of fully grinded feedingredient in 100 ml of distilled and deionisedwater and stirred continuously with a magneticstirrer. Digital pH meter was used for recordingthe pH. Initial pH of the feed sample was recordedand then titration was done using 0.1M HCl tillthe pH of 5 obtained. Initial pH and all furtherreadings were taken after equilibrium of 3 minutes.

B-value of each sample was calculated as theamount of 0.1 M HCl required for lowering thepH of a feed to a pH of 5. Feed and ingredientswith a pH less than 5 were titrated as above butagainst 0.1 M NaOH until pH 5 was obtained. B-values in these cases were given negative values.The data of proximate principles, ph and B-valueswas subjected to statistical analysis (Snedecor andCocharan, 1989). Mean differences werecompared by using Duncan Multiple Test(Duncan, 1955).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAfter procurement of 5 samples each of maize,

deoiled rice bran, rice polish, wheat bran,dicalcium phosphate and limestone, all of themwere analysed by the standard methods of AOAC(1990). pH and B value of the samples werestudied simultaneously to know that they arecorrelated or not. By knowing the B-value ofingredients B-value of the diet can be formulated.

Variation in the proximate compositionIn maize, all the proximate parameters differed

significantly (P<0.05) with different samples. Theaverage protein value of maize was 9.26±0.26with pH of 6.94±0.02 and B-value of 2.95±0.53.The dry matter of deoiled rice bran variedsignificantly (P<0.05) with in samples but thecrude protein content did not differ significantly.The crude fibre of sample 1 (13.87%) was morethan all other samples but the ether extract wassignificantly less (Pd”0.05).The pH value of allthe samples had a mean range of 5.47 to 5.60 butdiffered significantly(Pd”0.05) from each other.Similarly, the B-value of rice polish rangedbetween 5.55 for sample 1 and 5.85 for sample 2

which also differed significantly (Pd”0.05) fromeach other. The data regarding wheat branindicated that crude protein, crude fiber, etherextract, total ash, pH and B-values of samplesshowed wide variation and differed significantly(Pd”0.05) among themselves. In soybean meal,crude protein , pH and B-values differedsignificantly (Pd”0.05) from sample to sample. pHand B-value of various samples of DCP andlimestone powder differed significantly (Pd”0.05)from each other. The data indicated that theaverage pH and B-value of DCP was less than thelimestone powder.

Correlation of pH and B-values with crudeprotein and ash contents

Crude protein and B-value of all the feedingredients had significant correlation. Thehighest correlation was obtained for soybeanfollowed by maize and wheat bran (Table 3). ThepH and crude protein for maize and wheat branhad significant correlation of 0.65. Crude proteinand pH for soybean meal had non significantrelationship between them. Ash and pH showed acorrelation of -0.85 for soybean meal. CorrelationCoefficient between ash and pH of rice polish wasthough positive but non significant (0.46), withash and B-value the correlation was negative (-0.17). Crude protein and B-value ereresignificantly correlated (0.64). Crude protein andpH did not gave positive correlation (0.34)

Initial pH and B-value for the various feedingredients were similar to that obtained byRiverdin (2002) and Jasitis et al (1987). Cerealshad lower pH as compared to the legumes andminerals had alkaline pH (Bolduan, 1988). Ashhad basic effect, some ingredients showed positivecorrelation between ash and B-value but the resultswere non consistent for all ingredients.

Among all the proximate parameters crudeprotein was the best predictor of the pH and B-value which means ingredients with high proteincontent (pulses) have high pH and B-value ascompared to the cereals. Protein content bestexplained the variation in B-value of feedstuffswas also found by Riverdin (2002).

A higher crude protein content generallyincreased the pH and B-value of the feed due tothe buffering ability of the amino groups. The

Yadav et al

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amount of fiber also contributes to feed B-value(Burney et al, 1983). This applies to the by-products’ of the cereals like wheat bran and ricepolish. The higher B-value of these feeds ascompared with other energy feeds, was in partdue to their high fiber content. The B-value ofindividual mineral additives depended on whetherthe sample was a carbonate or phosphatecompound and also whether it was monobasic,dibasic or tribasic. The carbonates and dibasic ortribasic mineral additives were generally foundto have higher B-value than phosphates or themore acid mineral additives.

CONCLUSIONThe present study revealed that cereals had

lower pH as compared to the legumes and mineralshad alkaline pH. The cereals by products havehigher B-values due to the increased fibre content.Protein, among all the proximate parameters is thebest indicator of B-value. Minerals also show high

Table 1. Percent chemical composition and B-value of feed ingredients.

Parameter Maize Deoiled Rice bran Rice Polish Soybean Meal Wheat Bran

Dry matter 88.64±0.36 91.03±0.21 90.07±0.22 89.98±0.08 89.16±0.36Crude protein 9.26±0.26 12.96±0.20 13.19±0.24 45.67±0.92 16.16±0.25Crude fiber 2.32±0.08 13.01±0.32 8.76±0.46 5.67±0.89 11.20±0.14Ether extract 3.80±0.20 1.21±0.10 3.60±0.18 1.89±0.67 4.03±0.09Ash 1.90±0.14 3.41±0.01 1.61±0.01 6.12±0.34 5.74±0.18pH 6.94±0.02 5.56±0.03 6.63±0.01 6.79±0.91 6.75±0.01B-value 2.93±0.53 5.66±0.02 14.26±0.01 22.00±0.81 11.28±0.04

Table 2. pH and B-value of dicalcium phosphate and lime stone powder.

Dicalcium Phosphate Lime stone powder

Sample pH B-value pH B-value

1 7.10±.02a 242±.01a 9.28±.01a 1710±.00a

2 7.23±.04b 241±.01a 9.48±.01c 1720±.03a

3 7.24± .01b 245±.07b 9.52±.02d 1725±.01b

4 7.31±.09c 243±.01a 9.42±.01b 1730±.02d

5 7.25±.03b 240±.02a 9.40±.01b 1728±.01d

Average 7.28±0.91 240±0.79 9.38±0.02 1720±1.02

Means with different superscripts in a row differ significantly at (P<0.05)

Table 3. Correlation of pH and B-values with crude protein and ash content of different ingredients.

Ingredient pH B-value

Crude protein Ash Crude protein Ash

Maize 0 .65* -0.50 0.88* -0.39Deoiled rice bran 0.45 -0.39 0.67* 0.34Rice polish 0.34 0.46 0.64* -0.17Soybean 0.38 -0.85 0.97* -0.48Wheat bran 0.65 -05.02 0.88* -0.396

*Shows significant correlationB-values. If the B-values of ingredients are knownthe B-value of the diet can be formulated favouringproper digestion and growth performance.

REFERENCESAOAC (1990). Official methods of analysis. 12thedn. Bottom of Form

Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Washington, DC.

Bolduan G, Jung H, Schnabel E and Schneider R (1988). Recentadvances in the nutrition of weaner pigs. Pig News andInformation. 9: 381-85.

Burney M I, Van Soest P J and Chase L E (1983). Cation exchangecapacity and buffering capacity of neutral-detergent fibers. JSci Food Agri 34: 910.

Duncan D B (1955). Multiple ranges and multiple E test. Biometric. 11: 1-42

Jasitis D K, Wohlt J E and Evans J L (1987). Influence of feedion content on buffering capacity of ruminant feedstuffs invitro. J Dairy Sci 70:1391–1403

Reverdin S (2002). Characterization of feedstuffs for ruminantsusing some physical parameters. Ani Feed Sci Tech 86:53–69

Snedecor G W and Cocharan W G (1989). Statistical Methods 8th

Ed. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

Received on 12-11-2013 Accepted on 21-11-2013

Buffering capacity and chemical composition of poultry feedstuffs

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Soil Fertility Status of Rampur District ofUttar Pradesh

Ravindra Kumar, A.S.Rathi, Laxmikant, N.C. Tripathi and Pramod Kumar

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Rampur- 244 901(Uttar Pradesh)

ABSTRACTWithin a soil, nutrient variability exists depending upon the hydrological properties of the soiland cropping system. In the present study 209 soil samples were collected from 21 grampanchayats and were analysed. The soil samples were collected from rice-wheat croppingsequence. Analysis of soil samples revealed that 82 per cent samples were medium in organicmatter content, 100 per cent soil samples were deficient in available nitrogen, while 92 per centP and 100 per cent K samples were in medium range respectively. Among the micronutrientstested copper and iron were in sufficient range while manganese and zinc were deficient in soil.

Key Words: Soil fertility, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Organic matter, Micronutrients, Analysis

INTRODUCTIONThe soil fertility is one of the important factors

controlling yields of the crops. Soilcharacterization in relation to fertility status of soilof an area is an important aspect for sustainableagriculture production. Due to use of imbalancedand inadequate fertilizers, the response ofchemical fertilizer has declined tremendouslyunder intensive agriculture. Recent diagnosticsurvey indicates that in many areas, farmers usehigher than recommended dose of fertilizers,especially nitrogenous fertilizer to maintain thecrop productivity at optimum levels attainedearlier. This is an indication of decline in factorproductivity.

Under irrigated ecosystem, nutrientreplenishment through fertilizers and manuresremain far below than the crop removal, thuscausing the mining of native nutrient reserves. Asa result, the deficiencies are so intense and severethat visual symptoms are often observed in majorcrops. The crop productivity is becoming stagnantand therefore in order to give a boost, use ofbalanced inorganic fertilizers, organic source ofnutrients such as farm yard manure, compost,green manure, crop residue incorporation, use ofindustrial waste and bio-fertilizer has becomeinevitable. However, variation in the nutrientssupply is a natural phenomenon and varies at

different locations depending upon thehydrological properties of the soil and thecropping system followed in that area. Hence,different locations require different managementpractices to sustain crop productivity and for this,complete information about the nutrient status isimportant. Therefore, the present study wasundertaken to assess the nutrient status of soils ofRampur district of Uttar Pradesh.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe district Rampur is located between 79°05'

E and latitude 28°48' N. It is surrounded by districtUdham Singh Nagar in north, Bareilly in east,Moradabad in west and Badaun in south. Theheight from sea level is 190.2 m. in north and166.4 m. in south. The study area covers MilakTehsil of Rampur district. Soil samples of 0-15cm depth were collected from 209 sites covering21 gram panchayats. Collected soil samples wereair dried under shade, crushed gently with awooden roller and passed through 2.0 mm sieveto obtain a uniform representative sample.Samples were properly labeled with the aluminumtag and stored in polythene bags for analysis .Theprocessed soil samples were analyzed by standardmethods for pH and electrical conductivity (1:2soil water suspensions), organic carbon (Walkleyand Black, 1934), available nitrogen (Subbiah and

*Corresponding Author’s Email : ravindradrsoil@rediffmail.com

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Asija, 1956), available phosphorus (Olsen etal,1954), available potassium (Jackson, 1973) andavailable micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu) afterextracted by diethylene triamine penta acetic acid(DTPA) solution (0.005M) DTPA + 0.01M CaCl

2

+0.1M triethanolamine, pH 7.3 as outlined byLindsay and Norvell (1978).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe soil samples were collected from the

villages where rice-wheat cropping system wasfollowed. Farmers usually apply N @ 150-200kg ha-1 along with P @ 40-50 kg ha-1 and K @ 40kg ha-1. Zinc application in rice was done by allthe farmers and compost application was done by45 per cent of farmers, while green manuring waspracticed by 12 per cent farmers and bio fertilizersuse was not prevalent. 84 per cent of the farmersreported increase in fertilizers use to harvest sameamount of crop.

Chemical PropertiesIt was observed that soil pH varied from 7.2

to 8.2 with an average of 7.8. According to

classification of soil reaction, 23 samples werenormal (7.2 to 7.3), 49 samples were mildlyalkaline (pH 7.4 to 7.8) and 123 samples weremoderately alkaline (7.9 to 8.2). The minimumvalue of pH 7.2 was observed in Durgapur andMaximum value of pH 8.2 was observed inNangla Udai, Nipanya and Kamrudeen Nagarvillages (Table 1). The relatively high pH of soilsmight be due to the presence of high degree ofbase saturation. The electrical conductivity of thesoil varied from 0.190to 0.545dSm-1.

Organic Matter Content The organic carbon content of the soil varied

from 3.4 to 6.8 g kg-1 soil. The organic carboncontent was low (<0.50%) in 1.8 %, medium (0.5to 0.75%) in 82 % soil samples (Table1). Hightemperature and more tillage practice in the soilincreases the rate of oxidation of organic matterresulting reduction of organic carbon content.

Available N, P and K ContentThe available N content varied from 155.58

to 252.79 kg ha-1 with an average value of 220.09

Table 1: Soil properties (weighted mean) of Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Sr.No. Name of village No of pH EC OC Available Available Availablesamples (dSm-1) (g kg-1) N (kg ha-1) P

2O

5 (kg ha-1) K

2O (kg ha-1)

collected

1 Duganpur 15 7.2 0.357 5.6 190.46 28.16 187.392 Narkhera 7 7.9 0.376 5.4 217.92 32.86 198.043 Naglaudai 6 8.2 0.388 6.8 252.79 42.84 237.904 Nankar 15 8.0 0.215 5.2 207.76 45.31 238.265 Pagamberpur 13 7.9 0.366 6.4 245.34 35.40 223.126 Brijpur 12 7.8 0.416 5.3 216.16 31.16 205.987 Sayeednagar 15 8.0 0.436 6.3 240.42 40.83 241.528 Nipanya 8 8.2 0.241 5.5 221.09 38.88 178.109 Jadopur 15 8.0 0.290 6.6 232.60 43.87 220.6210 Kamrudeen Nagar 15 8.2 0.396 6.6 247.88 51.61 263.7011 Shankarpur 10 7.8 0.340 4.8 207.21 27.34 200.7612 Niyamatnagar 15 8.0 0.339 4.5 189.80 34.80 171.6913 Maghhra Brijpur 6 7.8 0.421 3.4 155.58 25.09 168.5114 Maghhra 11 7.9 0.455 6.5 248.36 40.78 198.1015 Dhamora 8 7.4 0.292 5.5 223.25 29.79 220.2716 Haraiya 8 7.3 0.190 5.7 222.90 39.98 218.0617 Himmatganj 5 8.1 0.257 6.2 234.45 36.25 267.6018 Imratpur 5 8.0 0.424 5.1 209.15 40.23 226.219 Kamora 7 7.8 0.374 6.3 243.07 46.21 207.3020 Daniyapur 6 7.4 0.545 5.4 213.54 38.33 193.9321 Mankara 7 7.6 0.440 4.6 202.17 27.7 209.67

Mean 7.8 0.359 5.6 220.09 37.02 213.22

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Table 2: DTPA- extractable micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) status of soil in district Rampur.

S.No. Name of village No of samples collected Cu(mg kg-1) Fe(mg kg-1) Mn(mg kg-1) Zn(mg kg-1)

1 Duganpur 15 0.835 16.925 3.550 1.5622 Narkhera 7 0.854 10.783 2.669 1.6313 Naglaudai 6 0.265 8.536 3.526 0.8204 Nankar 15 0.871 13.645 5.524 1.7025 Pagamberpur 13 0.932 6.155 3.139 1.9236 Brijpur 12 0.879 6.235 4.153 0.8247 Sayeednagar 15 0.753 8.572 5.501 0.5348 Nipanya 8 1.027 3.212 1.926 0.7749 Jadopur 15 1.321 4.810 2.961 0.83110 Kamrudeen Nagar 15 2.422 5.639 2.255 1.63911 Shankarpur 10 2.033 8.211 3.997 1.31412 Niyamatnagar 15 1.712 4.839 3.217 0.67313 Maghhra Brijpur 6 0.873 7.620 2.843 0.64514 Maghhra 11 1.373 3.739 1.701 0.75615 Dhamora 8 1.223 11.269 5.191 0.42316 Haraiya 8 0.620 6.383 2.667 0.85417 Himmatganj 5 1.531 4.035 5.160 0.60518 Imratpur 5 1.168 4.544 4.617 0.88519 Kamora 7 0.913 5.619 2.957 1.07920 Daniyapur 6 0.793 4.985 2.562 0.58521 Mankara 7 2.041 10.592 8.351 1.735

Range 0.265-2.422 3.212-16.925 1.701-8.351 0.423-1.923

kg ha-1. All soil samples were found to be low(<250 N kg ha-1) in available N. Recommendationof 150 kg N/ha each to rice and wheat has beensuggested to the farmers along with applicationof organic material and green manuring becausemost of the soil nitrogen is in organic form. Theavailable P content varied from 25.09 to 51.61 P

2

O5 kg ha-1 with a mean value of 37.02 P

2O

5 kg ha-

1. Ninty two per cent soil samples were found tobe in medium (20 to 50 P

2O

5 kg ha-1) and 8 per

cent in high (>50 P2 O

5 kg ha-1) category of

available phosphorus. In soil more than 50 percent of phosphorous is present in organic form,so maintenance of soil organic matter byapplication of organic materials has beensuggested to farmers. The status of available K inthe soil ranged from 168.5 to 267.6 K

2O kg ha-1

with an average value of 213.2 K2O kg ha-1. All

samples were medium (125 to 300 K2O kg ha-1)

in K content (Table1).

MicronutrientsThe DTPA extractable copper in the surface

soil (0-15cm) of 21 gram panchayat varied from0.265 to 2.422 mg kg-1 soil. All the observedvalues were well above the critical limit of 0.20

mg kg-1. Iron content varied from 3.212 to 16.925mg kg-1 and the critical limit for iron is 4.5 mg kg-

1 soil. The DTPA- extractable manganese insurface soil of 12 gram panchayat was found tobe deficient in available manganese and variedfrom 1.701 to 8.351 mg kg-1 while the critical limitof available manganese in soil is 1.0 mg kg-

1.Hence application of Mn as manganese sulphate@ 5kg/ha as basal dose has been recommendedto the farmers.

The available Zn in surface soil (0-15 cm)ranged from 0.423 to 1.923mg kg-1 . Accordingto critical limit 0.6 mg kg-1, all the surface soilsamples with the exception of Sayeednagar,Dhamora and Daniyapur villages, were sufficientin available Zn content (Table 2).

CONCLUSIONThe study of soil samples revealed that the

soil of Milak Tehsil of Rampur District did notfollow a particular pattern due to variation inmanagement practices. Nutrient status regardingto the available macro and micro nutrient insurface soil indicated that soils are low in availablenitrogen and medium in available phosphorus andpotassium. Soils were deficient in micronutrient

Soil fertility status of Rampur district

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such as zinc and manganese, normal to slightlyalkaline in reaction and low to medium in organiccarbon content.

REFERENCESLindsay W L and Norvell W A (1978). Development of DTPA

soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and coper. Soil Sci SocAmer J 42: 421-428

Olsen S R, Cole C V, Watanabe F S and Deen L A (1954). Estimationof available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodiumbicarbonate. USDA CIRC. 939.Unied State Dept. of Ag.Wasignton.D.C.

Subbiah B V and Asija G L (1956). A rapid procedure for thedetermination of available nitrogen in soil. Curr Sci 25: 259-260.

Walkley A J and Black I A (1934). Estimation of soil organiccarbon by the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci 37: 29-38.

Received on 23-09-2013 Accepted on 13-11-2013

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Technological Problems and Training Needs ofDairy Farmers

Manoj Sharma*, Gurdeep Singh# and Madhu Shelly##

Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kapurthala-144 620 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTA survey was conducted to assess the present status of dairying in Kapurthala district. For this,3 blocks namely Kapurthala, Sultanpur and Dhilwan were selected. From each block, a clusterof 10 villages (10 dairy farmers from each Village) was selected. It was evident that majority ofdairy farmers were either land less or small and medium. On the other hand only 8 per centfarmers who were possessing land more than 10 ha. kept dairy animals which show that largefarmers gave more attention to crop production than the dairy farming. Similarly, it was observedthat 44.5 and 48.8 per cent of population was keeping up to 5 and 15 animals, respectively.Only 4.3 per cent farmers possessed between 16 to 25 animals and a very small population(2.4%) was possessing more than 25 animals. This showed that very few farmers were practicingdairy business on commercial scale (2.4%) and majority of farmers (93.3%) were having up to15 animals. Further, it was also noticed that dairy farmers (74.9%) were possessing cows withdaily milk yield varying from 4 to 10 l./d and 85.8 per cent of farmers were keeping buffaloeswith daily milk yield ranging between 2 to 8 l./d. Major problems of the small dairy farmerswere cow dung management while for semi commercial and commercial farmers mastitis wasthe major problem. Training in the area of feed management was the top priority for domesticand semi commercial farmers.

Key Words: Technological Problems, Training, Needs, Dairy farmers,

INTRODUCTIONIn India, the extension efforts have been

largely taken up by the state departments ofagriculture and allied departments, stateagricultural universities. Till date, 635 KVKs havebeen set up at district head quarters all over Indiafor providing different services to the farmers, farmwomen and rural youth. Dairying is a secure pathand future of our rural development and it cancontribute substantially to farmer’s income(Gangasagare and Karanjkar, 2009) but in orderto improve the economic condition of dairyfarmers, it is of utmost importance to know theirprevailing status which will help in identifying themajor technological problems being faced by themin dairy farming. High milk production can beachieved by providing good health andcomfortable environment. Similarly, balanced feed

is also prerequisite for improved milk production(NRC, 1989). It has been noted that few dairyfarmers are supplementing mineral mixture incompounded feed leading to mineral deficiencyand thus low productivity and reproduction indairy animals (Garg et al, 2000). Thus, it wasimperative to know the current scenario of dairyfarming in the district. In this context, a surveywas conducted to assess the present status of dairyfarmers with regard to land holding, type ofanimals kept, total milk produced and tounderstand major bottlenecks in expanding thedairy entrepreneurship.

MATERIALS AND METHODSFor assessing the current scenario of dairy

farming in district Kapurthala three blocks namelySultanpur, Kapurthala and Dhilwan were selected.

#Assistant Professor (Ext. Education), KVK, Mansa;##Assistant Professor (Animal Science), KVK, Mukatsar*Corresponding Author’s Email: drmanojsh1@gmail.com

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From each block, a cluster of 10 villages wereselected. Thus, a random sample of 300 dairyfarmers was selected (10 dairy farmers from eachvillage). The data were collected with the help ofquestionnaire through personnel interview. Thedata thus collected had been analysed byfrequencies, percentages and ranking.

Preparation of questionnaireA questionnaire was prepared to know the

different levels of dairy farming, land holding ofdairy farmers, milk production of cows andbuffaloes, problems and training needs of dairyfarmers. Based on the scale of dairy occupationfarmers were classified into three categories.

Categories of dairy farmers:Dairy farmers were categorized into three

categories viz: domestic, semi commercial andcommercial based on the number of kept by themand milk produced.

Domestic : Farmers having dairy unit size of 5animals or less to meet the milk need of family.

Semi commercial : Having 6 to 25 number ofdairy animals and selling surplus quantity of milkto supplement their farm income.

Commercial : Farmers having more than 25animals and dairying was main occupation wereclassified under this category.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Number of animals kept by dairy farmersIn order to know technical problems in the

dairy herd, it was necessary to know number ofanimals kept. It was found that 44.5 and 48.8 percent farmers were keeping up to 5 and 15 animals,respectively. Only 4.3 per cent farmers possessedbetween 16 to 25 animals and a very smallpopulation (2.4%) was possessing more than 25animals. The data showed that very few farmerswere practicing dairy business on commercialscale and majority of farmers (93.3%) were havingup to 15 animals. Since these farmers werekeeping milch animals for meeting out their dailyhome consumption and not for commercialpurpose. This may be one of the reasons that they

were not making proper use of scientificinformation available with the research institutes.Further, it was found that 29.2 per cent had dairyfor domestic purpose only. Almost seventy percent (68.40 %) of farmers had semi commercialdairy farms and only 2.4 per cent of farmers hadfully commercial dairy farms (Table 1).Table 1. Classification of dairy farmers according to number

of animals kept and scale of marketing.

Sr. No. Different categories Per cent ofof Farmers Dairy farmers

1. Domestic 29.202. Semi commercial 68.403. Commercial 02.40

Milk yieldThe data (Table 2) showed that 26.2, 25.2 and

23.5 per cent of dairy farmers were keeping cowsyielding milk between 4 to 6 l./d, 6 to 8 l./d and 8to 10 l./d, respectively. In addition to this, only0.8% farmers were possessing cows yielding milkbetween 14 to18 l./d and 13.9 per cent farmerswere with cows with a daily milk yield of 2 to 4 l./d .It was thus evident that majority of dairy farmers(74.9%) were possessing cows with daily milkyield varying from 4 to 10 lt./d. Hence, there is agreat scope in enhancing the milk yield in crossbred cows kept by 74.9 per cent farmers byeducating them in scientific rearing of livestock.Regarding buffaloes, it was observed that 28.1,33.3 and 24.4 per cent of farmers were keepingbuffaloes yielding milk between 2 to 4 l., 4 to 6 l.and 6 to 8 l./d, respectively. Only about 9.0 percent farmers were with buffaloes yielding milkbetween 8 to 10 l./d. Therefore, it can be seenthat 85.8 per cent of farmers keeping buffaloeswith daily milk yield ranging between 2 to 8 l/d(Table 3). Further, in spite of low milk yieldobtained from buffaloes than cross bred cows,farmers of the area were keen to possess buffaloes.The main reasons for keeping buffaloes werehigher milk fat content (>7.0%), comparative morehardiness, can thrive well on low grade roughagesand easy to maintain than a cross bred cow. Hence,farmers were required to learn more about feedand feeding practices of the dairy animals besidesdisease prevention and housing management.

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Table 2. Frequency of farmers keeping cows based on milk yield and number of animals.

Milk Yield (Lt) Number of cows Per cent farmers

Up to 5 6-15 16-25 Above 25

Upto2 2 2 - - 1.72-4 16 16 - - 13.94-6 14 34 12 26.26-8 18 36 - 4 25.28-10 10 28 12 4 23.510-12 - 4 8 4 7.012-14 2 2 - - 1.714-16 - 1 - - 0.416-18 - 1 - - 0.4

Table 3. Frequency of farmers keeping buffaloes based on milk yield and number of animals

Milk Yield (Lt) Number of buffaloes Per cent farmers

Up to 5 6-15 16-25 Above 25

Upto2 6 2 - - 03.02-4 42 34 - - 28.14-6 36 46 4 4 33.36-8 20 38 8 - 24.48-10 6 16 - 2 08.910-12 - 4 - - 01.612-14 - 2 - - 00.714-16 - - - - -16-18 - - - - -

Land holding of dairy farmersThe data collected through questionnaire were

used to classify dairy farmers into landless,marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha), small (1-2 ha),semi medium (2-4 ha), medium (4-10 ha) and large(10 ha or more). It was observed that only 8.5 percent farmers possessed more than 10 ha landwhereas 18.3 per cent were landless, 6.1per centmarginal, 20.1 per cent small, 22.0 per cent semi-medium, and 25.0 per cent medium (Table 4).

From this observation it was evident thatmajority of dairy farmers were either land less orsmall and medium. On the other hand only 8 percent farmers who were possessing land more than10 ha kept dairy animals which show that largefarmers gave more weightage to crop productionthan the dairy. The main reason could be labourintensive entrepreneur. Moreover, throughout theyear, owner will have be there in the dairy unitotherwise there may be mortality among animalsor reduced production. On the other hand, smalland medium farmers can pay more attention toget more profit from animals as they possess small

holdings. The very interesting feature of this studywas that 18.3per cent farmers were landless andstill they were keeping animals. The probablereason is that they can produce and sell milk inorder to earn their livelihood.Table 4. Land holding of dairy farmers.

Land holding Dairy farmers(per cent)

Landless 18.3Marginal (less than 1 ha) 06.1Small (1-2 ha) 20.1Semi medium (2-4 ha) 22.0Medium (4-10 ha) 25.0Large (10 ha and above) 08.5

Technological problemsTotal numbers of dairy farms were classified

on the basis of selling of milk in the open market.It was observed that 29.2 per cent farmers havingdomestic dairy only, whereas, 68.4 per centpopulation was running dairy business on semicommercial basis, i.e. they were selling surplusmilk after meeting out their daily requirements.However, very small percentages (2.4 %) wererunning on commercial basis. Hence, there is a

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need to put maximum efforts to make thesedomestic and semi commercial into full fledgedcommercial dairy units.Table 5. Analysis of problems of different category of dairy

farmers.

S. No.Problem Ranking of problem by dairy farmers

Domestic Semi Comm-comm- ercialercial

1. Anoestrus 4.0 2.0 3.02. Cow dung management 1.0 9.0 8.53. Feed availability 3.0 4.0 8.54. Green fodder availability 2.0 7.0 5.05. Indigestion 8.0 6.0 7.06. Marketing problems - 5.0 4.07. Mastitis 6.0 1.0 1.08. Repeat breeders 5.0 3.0 2.09. Wheat straw availability 7.0 8.0 6.0

The problems being faced by these threecategories of dairy farmers were also different.The landless laborers who were keeping animalsreported that the disposal of the fresh cow dungwas the major problem as they were not possessingland, whereas, this was not a problem for thosewho were running business on semi commercialor commercial basis. The major technicalproblems in cross bred cows reported were ofmastitis followed by anestrous and repeatbreeding. Since, these farmers were having largenumber of cows and thus due to deficiency inproper management and feeding of cross bredcows problems persisted under both the conditions(Table 5). The farmers who were keeping smallnumber of animals (domestic dairy) were notfacing such problems because they were takingcare of each animals individually to the maximumpossible extent but availability of green fodderand concentrate was on the top list probably dueto poor financial conditions. Availability of greenfodder was a major concern under commercialdairy farming and not in semi commercialconditions. It is thus suggested that in order tomeet out green fodder requirements of milchanimals, farmers must opt for silage making. Thispractice will reduce cost of milk production onone hand and prevent nutritional diseases on theother. From the table 5, it was concluded that allthese three categories of dairy farming were facing

different types of problems, hence their trainingneeds were also found to be different.

Assessment of training needsTraining needs were assessed based on the

ranking from 1 to 10 . Score 1 was given to theactivity adjudged on the top priority andconsequently least important at no. 9. The data(Table 6) indicated that in order to run dairy oncommercial scale, farmers gave top priority onhousing management whereas under domesticand semi commercial purposes, priority was onfeed management. Since, feed alone cost about70 per cent of total expenditure involved in milkproduction.Table 6. Training needs of dairy farmers.

Area Ranking of training needs by dairy farmersDomestic Semi Comm-

Comm- ercialercial

Calf management 6.0 8.0 8.0Care of dry and 8.0 7.0 5.0pregnant animalsFeed management 1.0 1.0 4.0Health management 6.0 6.0 6.0Housing management 7.0 5.0 1.0Marketing and processing 4.0 2.0 9.0Milk production 3.0 3.5 3.0Reproductive management 2.0 3.5 7.0

Likewise, marketing and processing of milkwas ranked at no. 2 after feed management undersemi commercial conditions whereas reproductionmanagement was found to be at no. 2 underdomestic purpose. This was probably due to poorfeeding and management condition followed bythis category of farmers. Under commercial dairy,there was no problem in the marketing of milk asthe score 9 was given. However, for small andmedium farmers this was placed on priority atserial number 4 and 2 probably in order to increasetheir margin of profit. Higher milk production wasranked at no. 3 by all the categories of farmerswhich indicated that to get more income was solecriterion, however, calf management and care dryand pregnant of animals was not given dueconsideration by all the farmers. Thus, training inthis aspect is required at all the levels.Conclusively, it can be said that in order to make

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the training and demonstrations more effective intechnology transfer, assessment of training needof each category is of utmost importance.Otherwise, total exercise made by extension staffengaged in the dairy sector will go futile.

CONCLUSIONIn the current situation of Punjab agriculture

where soil health is deteriorating due to intensivefarming and water table is going down due to overexploitation, dairy farming has been suggested asthe most suitable alternative. Although Punjab isleading in total milk production but productivityis low. To improve the status of dairy farming andto make dairy a commercial venture it is necessary

to remove the bottle necks and to develop traineddairy farmers. Now, more number of farmers areopting dairy on large scale still gap is there.Identification of problems and training needs ofdairy farmers can lead to overall socio- economicdevelopment of the farming community.

REFERENCESGangasagare P T and Karanjkar L M (2009). Status of milk

Production and economic profile of dairy farmers in themarathwada region of Maharashtra. Vety World 2(8):317-320.

Garg M R, Arora, S P , Bhandari B M, Sherasia P L and Singh DK ( 2000). Mineral status of feeds and fodders in Kaira districtof Gujarat. Indian J Dairy Sci 53: 291-97

NRC (1989). Nutrient requirements of dairy cattle. 6th revisededition. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

Received on 26-07-2013 Accepted on 19-11-2013

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Use and Availability of Recommended Pesticides inDistrict Kapurthala

Gurmeet Singh*, Gagandeep Kaur, Manoj Sharma, Gurpreet Kaur and Gobinder Singh

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala-144 620 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTIn the light of observation that farmers are not using pesticides recommended by StateAgricultural University, a market survey was conducted in district Kapurthala to ascertain theavailability of recommended pesticides (insecticides and fungicides). Survey was conducted infive blocks of district choosing ten dealers per block using random sampling technique. Out of262 brands of pesticides, 200 brands were those of insecticides and 62 brands were of fungicidesavailable with the dealers. Of all the stock available with retailers, only 38 insecticides brandsand 8 fungicides brands were recommended by State Agricultural University while rest ofbrands were non- recommended. In addition to this, there were certain brands (13 brands)available in the market whose active ingredients are yet to be tested. Certain mixtures (41brands) were also found available in the market. Out of these, 9.54% brands (25 brands) wereinsecticides and 6.10% brands (16 brands) were fungicides.

Key Words: Insecticides, Fungicides, Availability, Survey, Kapurthala

INTRODUCTIONAlthough various methods are used to control

pests in different pest management systems, yetuse of pesticides continue to be the majorcomponent of most of the pest controlprogrammes and will probably remain so in thenear future. However, several reports havehighlighted the indiscriminate and excessive useof insecticides by the farmers. This large scale useof pesticides has caused many environmentalproblems like pesticide poisoning, insecticideresistance, resurgence of pests and effect on non-target organisms. One solution to combat theseproblems is to use recommended pesticide at theright time with the recommended dose and not tomake use of banned or restricted pesticides at all.The reason being that the recommended pesticidesare good as they are less persistent and more toxicto the target species than their natural enemies andprovide required control of insect pest or disease.

It is pertinent to mention that before makingany recommendation within a state, the Stateagricultural universities conduct a large numberof experiments to test the brand developed by a

pesticide firm in the laboratory as well as at thefarmers’ field. Later on, these recommendationsare passed on to farmers through various extensionagencies including the Krishi VigyanKendras’(KVK) working at the district headquarterin a district. The availability, efficacy andsuitability of pesticides for the control of insectsand disease are major factors considered whileproviding solution to the problems of farmers.Farmers are advised by the KVK to use onlyrecommended dosages of insecticides orfungicides. However, during several interactionswith the farmers, it was observed that despite theefforts of KVK to educate farmers about the rightuse of pesticides, farmers are still using non-recommended insecticides. Thus as prelude to thisstudy, an interview of hundred farmers wasconducted and it was found that though they areaware of recommendations of various pesticidesbut only 7 per cent were using recommendedbrands of pesticides. The reason cited was nonavailability of recommended pesticides in themarket. Thus the current study was planned toknow the availability of recommended pesticides

*Corresponding Author’s Email:kvkkapurthala@gmail.com

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(insecticides and fungicides) in the districtKapurthala besides availability of banned orrestricted pesticides and pesticide mixtures.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA survey was conducted to know the

availability of different pesticides in the district.There are five blocks namely Dhilwan,Kapurthala, Nadala, Phagwara and Sultanpur inthe district and 10 pesticide dealers per block wereselected for the purpose of interview. A list of allrecommended pesticide chemicals was preparedand the dealers were asked about the presence ofvarious brands (recommended and non-recommended) corresponding to that chemical.The collected data were then analysed based onthe groups of different pesticides available withthe retailers in the market.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAs discussed earlier that a lis tof all pesticide

chemicals was prepared and the dealers were askedabout the presence of various brandscorresponding to that chemical. The following 22chemicals having insecticidal nature wereexamined about the presence of various brandsin the market.

A) Availability of Recommended insecticides1. Chlorpyriphos: It is recommended in wheat,

paddy, sugarcane, pulses etc. for the controlof stem borers, leaf folders and termites(Anonymous 2013a, b) . Out of total 28brands of chlorpyriphos available in themarket, only 6 brands (21.4%) wererecommended.

2. Thiomethoxam: It is recommended in wheat,paddy, cotton etc for the control of suckingpests particularly aphids and jassids. Itsrecommended brands are Actara and Extrasuper. Actara was found available in blocksSultanpur Lodhi, Kaputhala and Phagwarawhereas in the district 13 brands ofThiomethoxam were available but only onebrand (7.7%) was found to be recommended.

3. Imidachloprid: It is recommended in wheat,paddy, cotton, citrus etc for the control ofsucking pests particularly aphids and jassids.Its recommended brands are Crocodile,

Confidor, Confidence, Imidacel, Markdor andExtra super. Confidor was found available inblocks Sultanpur Lodhi, Dhilwan andPhagwara while Crocodile and Confidor wereavailable in Kapurthala block but norecommended brand of imidachloprid wasfound available in Nadala block. A total of 30brands of Imidachloprid were available, outof these only 3 (10%) were recommendedwhile rest of the available brands were non-recommended (Table 1). For seed treatmentpurpose, recommended brand ofimidachloprid is Gaucho 70 WS but theformulation available was Gaucho 600 FS.

4. Lambda Cyhalothrin: None of the brand ofLambda cyhalothrin is recommended yet, 19brands of this chemical are being used by thefarmers for the control of stem borer and leaffolder in paddy.

5. Indoxacarb: It is recommended in cotton, fruitplants and vegetables etc for the control ofbollworms particularly American bollworm(Anonymous 2013c, d). Its recommendedbrand in only Avaunt which was foundavailable in Sultanpur Lodhi (vegetablegrowing area) and Phagwara blocks only. Outof 4 brands available, only one is (Avaunt)recommended.

6. Cypermethrin: It is used in cotton, maize,pulses etc. for the control of bollwormsparticularly maize borer and Americanbollworm. Its recommended brands areCymbush, Ripcord and Cyperguard.Cymbush was available in block Phagwaraonly whereas out of 11 brands ofCypermethrin, only one (9.1%) wasrecommended.

7. Dichlorvos: It is recommended in pulses forthe control of leaf eating insects particularlyhairy caterpillars and the recommended brandis Nuvan which was available in SultanpurLodhi and Phagwara blocks only. Onerecommended brand (7.7%) out of 13 brandswas available in the district.

8. Flubendamide: It is recommended in cottonfor the control of pink bollworm, spottedbollworm and American bollworm. Itsrecommended brand is NNI 001 which was

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Table 1. Prevalence of recommended and non-recommended brands of insecticides in Kapurthala district.

Sr. No. Chemical Name Brand’s Name

Recommended Non-recommended

1. Chlorpyriphos Lethal, Classic, TKS-CHLO,Clearout,Krishan, Super 777, Jailsan, Dhanvan,Lethal, Coroban, Massban, Jailsan, Krushan, Tricel, Laser, Unichban,Radar, Durmet, Dhamaka500, Dhanvan-20, Chlorocid, Pyrifex, Lethal SuperDursban 550, Aldrin TC 20, Tafaban, Rusban, Predator, Dhanwan,

Massban, Golden, Aldrin RTU

2. Thiomethoxam Actara Arrow, Kri-Oxam, Exaam, Jai-Oxam, Areva, Kri-oxam, Spike,Arrow, Gizmo, Dotara, Actor, Areva, Imexo, Caper, Areva, Shinestar

3. Imidachloprid Gaucho 600 FS Immediate Plus, Tatkal, Anucida, Josh, Suju, JaipridMida, Media,ConfidorCrocodile Josh, Victor, Jumbo, Super SpectraTouch, Active Super, Media,

Admire 10 WG, Tata mida, Amida, Touch, Chemida, Atom, Imida,Super Spectra, Imidacare, M-con, Bildar, Victor, Dawn, Pectus

4. Lambda Bravo 5000, Wrestler, Coro lambda, Metador, Hammer, Deva ,cyhalothrin Shakti, Loc 2.5, Loc 5, Fire, Dabang 4.9%, Khanjar 5.0%, Garud,

Dhoom, Khanjar, Xylo S, King Kong, Belton, Lambrador,Metador, He man Super, Khanjar, Fire, Dabang 4.9%, Icon 10WP, Metador

5. Indoxacarb Avaunt Kare, Lashkar, King Doxa

6. Cypermethrin Cymbush Kricyp, Jai cyperin-10, Anilofos 30%, Jai cyperin-10, Jackpot25, Cypergun, CyperMass 10%, Super Fighter 20%, Cypermil,Super , Fighter 20%, Cypermil, Cyper Mass, Super Killer 25

7. Dichlorvos Nuvan Teer, Anu Vista, Jai Dichlorvos, Dhruv Tara, Divap-100, Massvan,Univan 76%, DDFea 76%, Decent 76%, Dhruv Tara 76%, Badal76%, DD Fex, B Zoom

8. Flubendamide - Fame, Takumi, Suraksha.

9. Triazophos Tarzan , Kranti, Ghatak

10. Profenofos - Krifos, Ajanta

11. Fipronil Regent 5% SC Fipro 0.3%, Urgent 0.3%Regent GR 0.3%

12. Novaluron Rimon Rudra, Novel, Crazy

13. Carbofuran Furadan 3G Carbogran, Touch 3G

14. Cartap Hydrochloride NidanCaldan Rickdan, Jaildan, Virat, Kritap, Capsi, Grip, Indan, Veeta power,Current, Sumo, Jaildan, Indan

15. Buprofezin Applaud Kri March, Tribute, Chemrise, Blunt, Tribute, Apple

16. Phorate 10% Granules Furatox 10 G, Thimet 10 G

17. Monocrotophos Monocil Zeephos, Shaktimaan, Anucron, Uniphos-36

18. Malathion Cythion, Milthion

19. Quinalphos Ekalux Jaikalux, Vazra, Unilux 25, Dhanulux

20. Thiodicarb Larvin -

21. Chlorantraniliprole FerterraCoragen -

22. Dimethoate Rogor -

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not available in any of the block of Kapurthaladistrict. Two brands of this chemical namelyFame and Takumi manufactured by BayerCrop Science and Tata Rallis, respectivelywere found available in different blocks .Farmers are using this chemical for the controlof stem borer and leaf folder in paddy and onvegetables particularly on tomato and brinzalat their own level. As no recommended brandof Flubendamide was available, hence theavailability of unrecommeded brands ofFlubendamide was 100 per cent. Moreover,cotton is not grown in this district still, thischemical was available under different nonrecommended brand names.

9. Triazophos: It is recommended in paddy forcontrol of stem borer and leaf folder and whitefly in cotton. Sutathion is its recommendedbrand which was not available in any of theblock. Hence, percent availability of non-recommended brands was 100 per cent.

10. Profenofos: It is recommended in cotton forthe control of pink bollworm, spottedbollworm, American bollworm and mealybug. Its recommended brands are Curacron,Krina, Profex which were not available in thedistrict because cotton crop is not grown inthis area. However, 2 non recommendedbrands were available.

11. Fipronil: It is recommended in wheat fortermite control and stem borer and leaf folderin paddy. Its recommended brands are Regent5% SC and Regent GR 0.3%. Both theformulations of Regent were available but inblock Sultanpur Lodhi, only Regent 5% SCwas available while in block Nadala granularformulation of Regent was found available.Granular formulations of non-recommendedbrands were available in block SultanpurLodhi and Nadala .Out of total 4 brands ofFipronil available, 2 were foundrecommended and 2 non-recommended.Hence percentage of availability ofrecommended brands were 50.

12. Novaluron: It is recommended in cotton forthe control of tobacco caterpillar. Itsrecommended brand is Rimon and was foundavailable in block Phagwara. Four brandswere found available in all the five blocks of

Kapurthala district but only one (25%) wasrecommended.

13. Carbofuran: It is recommended in maize forthe control of maize shoot fly. Itsrecommended brand is Furadan 3G which wasavailable in 3 blocks. Two non-recommendedbrands i.e. Carbogran and Touch were alsofound available in block Nadala andKapurthala, respectively.

14. Cartap hydrochlorde: It is recommended inbasmati rice for the control of stem borer andleaf folder. Its recommended brands arePadan, Nidan, Caildan, Regent, Dursban 10Getc. Availability of Nidan was found in all theblocks of Kapurthala district. In Nadala block,8 non-recommended brands of cartaphydrochloride were found against only 1recommended brand. In block Dhilwan, 2non-recommended brands and in blockKapurthala and Phagwara, only 1 non-recommended brand of cartap hydrochloridewas found. Of the total 14 brands of cartaphydrochloride available, 2 were foundrecommended and 10 non-recommended.Hence percentage of availability ofrecommended brands were only 16.7 in wholeof Kapurthala district.

15. Buprofezin: It is recommended in cotton forthe control of mealy bug. Its recommendedbrands are Applaud and Tribune. In Nadalaand Dhilwan block, only non-recommendedbrands Krimarch and Tribute, respectivelywere found while in rest of the blocks,recommended brands were found available.In whole of the district, 5 non-recommendedbrands were available against the availabilityof 1 recommended brand. Hence percentageof availability of recommended brands was16.7 per cent.

16. Phorate granules: This chemical is used forthe control of bollworm in sugarcane, rice rootweevil in paddy, shoot fly in maize and stemfly in peas . Its recommended brands areThimet and Furatox which were found in allthe blocks and no non recommended brandwas there in the district.

17. Monocrotophos: Being systemic in nature,this chemical is used in paddy for the control

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of stem borer and leaf folder, pink bollworm,spotted bollworm and American bollworm.Only one brand of monocrotphos has beenrecommended in paddy namely Monocilwhile 10 brands have been recommended incotton. Availability of Monocil was found inall the blocks of Kapurthala . Hence, percentavailability of recommended brand was 100.

18. Malathion: Being systemic in nature, thischemical is widely used in agricultural cropsfor the control of aphid in rapeseed andmustard, thrip in summer moong and mash,red pumpkin beetle in curcurbits, to disinfectthe walls of godowns. No specific brand nameof Malathion has been listed in package ofpractices for Rabi and Kharif crops, hence thischemical cannot be graded as recommendedand non-recommended. Only brand Cythionis recommended for disinfecting the walls ofgodowns which was found available in blockKapurthala only. In block Sultanpur Lodhi,Kapurthala and Phagwara, brand Milthion wasavailable manufactured by Insecticide IndiaLimited . Due to the availability of moreeffective and alternative brands of malathion,its use is decreasing in farmers.

19. Quinalphos:It is the chemical which isrecommended in cotton for the control of Pinkbollworm, spotted bollworm and Americanbollworm, in wheat for the control of hairycaterpillars, American bollworm and pinkbollworm and in some vegetables for thecontrol of above mentioned insect pests. Itsrecommended brands are Ekalux andQuinguard. Ekalux was found available inblock Kapurthala and Phagwara only. In blockNadala and Dhilwan, no brand whetherrecommended or non-recommended wasavailable. In block Sultanpur Lodhi, Jaikaluxwas the brand name manufactured by the JaiFarm Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. was found available.

20. Thiodicarb: This chemical is recommendedin cotton for the control of pink bollworm,spotted bollworm and American bollworm. Itsrecommended brand is Larvin. This brand wasfound available in blocks Sultanpur Lodhi,Kapurthala and Phagwara. No non-recommended brand of this chemical was

available in whole of the district Kapurthala.Hence, in terms of recommended brands, itsavailability was 100 per cent.

21. Chlorantraniliprole: This chemical isrecommended in cotton for the control oftobacco caterpillar and for the control of stemborer and leaf folder in basmati rice. Itsrecommended brands are Coragen andFerterra. Coragen and Ferterra isrecommended in basmati rice. Coragen aloneis recommended in cotton and Ferterra aloneis recommended in Sugarcane for the controlof bollworms. Brands Coragen and Ferterrawere available in blocks Sultanpur Lodhi,Dhilwan, Kapurthala and Phagwara whilethese brands were not available in Nadalablock.

22. Dimethoate: It is the chemical which isrecommended in wheat and pulses for thecontrol of aphid. Its recommended brand isRogor. Rogor was found available in all theblocks of district Kapurthala except Nadala.No non-recommended brand was foundavailable in any of the block of districtKapurthala. Hence, the availability ofrecommended brand of Dimethoate was 100per cent.

B) Available insecticide brands whose chemical is yet to be testedThiacloprid: Thiacloprid, a neonicotinoidinsecticide with novel mode of action, is found tobe effective against several lepidopteran as wellas hemipteran pests. It belongs to imidachlopridand Thiomethoxam like chemicals belong. It isthe chemical which has not been recommendedfor the control of any of the pest till now. Thischemical is being used by the farmers onvegetables particularly tomato and brinzal. Duringthe survey, 2 brands of Thiacloprid were foundavailable in whole of the Kapurthala distric. Thesebrands were Alanto and Splendour. Alanto wasfound available in blocks Sultanpur Lodhi,Dhilwan and Phagwara whereas brand Splendourwas available in Kapurthala block. In Nadalablock, no brand of this chemical was available.

C) Available Recommended fungicidesAs for as the fungicides were concerned, the

Availability of recommended pesticides

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following 5 chemicals were examined in contextthe presence of various brands pertaining to thatchemical in the market.

1. Pencycuron: It is recommended for thecontrol of sheath blight in paddy and for seedtreatment in potato. Its recommended brandis Monceren and was found available in allthe blocks except the Nadala block . Theavailability of recommended brand was 100per cent.

2. Carbendazim: This chemical is widely usedin agricultural crops to disinfect the seed inorder to kill the soil borne fungi . It is used inwheat for seed treatment, for the control ofsheath blight in paddy, for seed treatment ofgram, maize, basmati rice , etc. Only onebrand of carbendazim is recommendednamely Bavistin and was found available inblock Kapurthala and Phagwara only. InKapurthala block, 5 non-recommendedbrands of carbendazim were found againstone recommended brand. 10 non-recommended brands of carbendazim werefound available in whole of the Kapurthaladistrict against only 1 recommended brand .Hence, the availability of bavistin was 9.0 percent (Table 2).

3. Mancozeb: It is a contact fungicide which isrecommended in almost all the agricultural

crops. For the control of late blight in potatoand tomato, downy mildew in cucurbits,Ascochyta blitght in gram and leaf spotdiseases in maize etc. Only 1 brand ofMancozeb is recommended i.e. Indofil M-45and was found available in all the blocksexcept Nadala. During the survey, 3 non-recommended brands of Mancozeb namelyMarlet, Manzate, Luzem were found availablein block Kaputhala and 4 non-recommendedbrands namely Leo M-45, Abic, RM-45 andM- Guard 45 were found available inPhagwara block. Hence, the availability ofIndofil M-45 was 9.0 per cent.

4. Propinconazole: It is recommended in paddy,wheat, citrus, sugarcane etc. for the controlof yellow rust, brown rust in wheat, sheathblight and sheath rot in paddy, pathologicalfruit drop in citrus and for treating seed ofsugarcane. Its recommended brands are Tilt,Shine and Bumper and were found availablein all the blocks except Nadala where non-recommended brands like Zerox and Sonawere available. 11 brands of propiconazolewere there in the market out of which only3(27.2%) were recommended.

5. Tebuconazole: It is recommended in paddy andwheat for the control of yellow rust, brownrust in wheat and sheath blight and sheath rot

Table 2. Availability of recommended and non-recommended brands of fungicides in district Kapurthala.

Name of chemical Recommended Brand Name Non-recommended Brand Name

Carbendazim Bavistin Batista, Fungy, Pearl, Sriston-50, Carzim, Adrin, G-zim, Pearl,Histastin, Sahara, Batista

Pencycuron MoncerenMancozeb Indofil M-45 Emzeb-45, Marlet, Manzate, Luzem, Leo M-45, Abic, RM-45,

M-Guard 45, BenfilPropinconazole Tilt 25 EC,Bumper 25 EC Bonus, , Kontrol, Result, Zerox, Sona, Kilt, Zerox, Swift, Cobler

Shine 25 ECTebuconazole Folicur, Raxil 2%

Table 3. Availability of recommended and non-recommended brands of fungicides whose chemical is yet to be tested.

Active ingredient Recommended Brand Name Non-recommended Brand Name

Difenoconazole - Dividend, Score 25 ECValidamycin - V-3Hexaconazole - Jaizole Plus, A-one Plus, Corohexaplus, Krizole++5, Krizole++5,

Avon Plus, Revolt Plus, Nector Plus, Hexstar PlusTricyclazole - Tric

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in paddy. Its recommended brand is Folicur25 EC. Folicur was found available in all theblocks except Nadala . The interesting factabout this very chemical was that no non-recommended brand was found available inall the five blocks of the district. Hence, thepercentage of availability of recommendedbrand over non-recommended brands was100 per cent.

D) Available fungicide brands whose chemicalis yet to be tested1. Difenoconazole: It is the chemical which has

not been recommended for the control of anyof the disease till now but the farmers of thearea is using on paddy and vegetables. Duringthe survey, 2 brands (Score and Dividend) ofDifenoconazole were found available. Scorewas available in Kapurthala and Phagwarablock while Dividend in Sultanpur Lodhiblock.

2. Validamycin: It is the chemical which has notbeen recommended but is being used by thefarmers on potato for seed treatment purposefor the control of black scurf and potato scab.It is also being used on paddy for the controlof sheath blight disease. Only 1 brand ofValidamycin namely V-3 manufactured byKrishi Rasayan Export Pvt. Ltd. was foundavailable but the availability of this brand wasfound in all the five blocks .

3. Hexaconazole: It is the chemical which hasnot been recommended but is being used bythe farmers on paddy and basmati rice for thecontrol of sheath blight disease. 8 brands ofHexaconazole were found available in all thefive blocks except Dhilwan.

4. Tricyclazole: It is the non recommendedchemical being used by the farmers onbasmati rice for the control of blast disease.This is the chemical which was responsiblefor rejection of basmati rice consignment forexport purpose. This chemical is banned inforeign countries for use on agricultural crops.During the survey programme, only 1 brandof Tricyclazole namely Tric manufactured byKrishi Rasayan Export Pvt. Ltd. was foundavailable .

E) Available brands of Pesticides mixtures During the survey, a number of brands (41

brands) were also found available in the marketwhose formulation is a mixture of two activeingredients. Out of these brands, 9.5% brands (25brands) were of insecticides and 6.1% brands (16brands) were of fungicides (Table 4).

A total of 262 brands were studied. Out ofthese brands, availability of recommendedinsecticides (30 brands) was 11.5 per cent and ofnon-recommended insecticides (143 brands) was

Table 4. Brands of insecticides and fungicides whose formulation is a mixture of two active ingredients.

Sr.No. Active ingredients in the mixture Brand name

1 Deltamethrin 1% + Triazophos 35% Tiger, Clark, Corobill, Trizo plus, Shark, Tridelter,Jadu, Jalva

2 Profenofos 40%+ Cypermethrin 4% EC Googly, Cypro, Rocket 44 EC, Banjo super, Blast 44,Deck, Ceres, Profit plus, Smash, Kilcron plus,Power plus 404, Krifos super

3 Chlorpyriphos 16%+Alpha cypermethrin 1% Junoon4 Chlorpyriphos 50 + Cypermethrin5% Nurocombi, Dhamaka 500, Tatex 5055 Cypermethrin 18%+Alphacypermethrin Naat6 Cymoxanil +Mancozeb Elpis, Delmix , Combi , lus, CM 75, Dost, Gomeda,

Sure, Starlet, Companion7 Carbendazim 12% +Mancozeb 63%8 Matalazyl 8%+ Mancozeb 64% WP Krilazyl MZ 72% WP, Master, Kemoxyl9 Captan 70%+ Hexaconazole 5% WP Kick, Taqat10 Carbendazim 1%+Mancozeb 0.3% Stump11 Fenamidone 10%+Mancozeb 50% Sixer

Availability of recommended pesticides

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Table 5. Summary of all the available recommended and non-recommended pesticides in the market.

Sr. No. Chemical name No. of available No.of available Total no. Percentagerecommended non- of available availability of

brands recommended brands recommendedbrands brands

Recommended Insecticide Chemical1. Chlorpyriphos 6 22 28 21.42. Thiomethoxam 1 12 13 7.73. Imidachloprid 3 27 30 10.04. Lambda cyhalothrin 0 19 19 0.05. Indoxacarb 1 3 4 25.06. Cypermethrin 1 10 11 9.17. Dichlorvos 1 12 13 7.78. Flubendamide 0 3 3 09. Triazophos 0 3 3 010. Profenofos 0 2 2 011. Fipronil 2 2 4 50.012. Novaluron 1 3 4 25.013. Carbofuran 1 2 3 33.314. Cartap hydrochloride 2 10 12 16.715. Buprofezin 1 5 6 16.716. Phorate 2 0 2 100.017. Monocrotophos 1 4 5 20.018. Malathion 2 - 2 100.019. Quinalphos 1 4 5 20.020. Thiodicarb 1 0 1 100.021. Chlorantraniliprole 2 0 2 100.022. Dimethoate 1 0 1 100.0

Total 30 143 173 -

Insecticide chemical yet to be testedThiacloprid 0 2 2 0

Total 0 2 2

Recommended fungicide Chemicals23 Pencycuron 1 0 1 100.024 Carbendazim 1 10 11 9.125 Mancozeb 1 9 10 10.026 Propiconazole 3 8 11 2.727 Tebuconazole 2 0 2 100.0

Total 8 27 35

Fungicide Chemicals yet to be tested28 Difenoconazole 0 2 2 029 Validamycin 0 1 1 030 Hexaconazole 0 7 7 031 Tricyclazole 0 1 1 0

Total 0 11 11

Available brands of Pesticides mixtures32 Deltamethrin + Triazophos 0 8 8 033 Profenofos + Cypermethrin 0 12 12 034 Chlorpyriphos +Alpha cypermethrin 0 1 1 035 Chlorpyriphos+ Cypermethrin 0 3 3 036 Cypermethrin +Alphacypermethrin 0 1 1 0

Singh et al

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54.6 per cent, recommended fungicides (8 brands)was 3.1 per cent, non-recommended fungicides(27 brands) was 10.3 per cent, insecticide brandswhose chemical is yet to be tested (2 brands) was0.7 per cent, fungicide brands whose chemical isyet to be tested (11brands) was 4.2 per cent,insecticide mixture (25 brands) was 9.5 per centand fungicide mixture (16 brands) was 6.1 percent.

CONCLUSIONThis can be concluded that very few

recommended brands of pesticides are availablewhile large number of non-recommendedpesticides were prevalent in the market. Thus, thefarmers were forced to use non-recommendedinsecticides. Also it could be due to the reasonthat farmers are being influenced by theaggressive campaign of the manufacturers and thecommission agents. Also some industries pushtheir molecules directly to the market withcombination of formulations where one of the

37 Cymoxanil +Mancozeb 0 1 1 038 Carbendazim 12% +Mancozeb 63% 0 8 8 039 Mataxyl+ Mancozeb 0 3 3 040 Captan+ Hexaconazole WP 0 2 2 041 Carbendazim 1%+Mancozeb 0.3% 0 1 1 042 Fenamidone +Mancozeb 0 1 1 0

Total 0 41 41

Grand Total 262

constituents’ acts as insecticide and other ashormone which increases the crop yields inaddition to control of disease making the farmershappy. Another reason for non availability ofrecommended pesticides in market is that someold recommendations are no longer effective. Alsothe cost of the recommended brands is anotherfactor. Thus all the stakeholders mainly theRegistration Committee for pesticides, stateagricultural universities, farmers, manufacturersand dealers need to be look into it.

REFERENCESAnonymous (2013a). Package of practices for the Kharif crops.

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Anonymous (2013b). Package of practices for the Rabi crops.Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Anonymous (2013c). Package of practices for the Vegetable crops.Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Anonymous (2013d). Package of practices for the Fruit crops.Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Received on 22-08-2013 Accepted on 12-11-2013

Availability of recommended pesticides

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Use of Azolla (Azolla pinnata) as Cattle FeedSupplement

G N Mathur, Ramakant Sharma and P C Choudhary

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ajmer-305 001 (Rajasthan)

ABSTRACTAzolla (Azolla pinnata) has enormous potential as a livestock feed due to its high content ofprotein, essential amino acids, vitamins, growth promoter intermediaries and minerals. KVK,Ajmer pioneered the Azolla cultivation technique in Rajasthan and developed a prototype forits cultivation. This technology of cultivation of Azolla was transferred through conductance ofdemonstrations in five villages. Feeding of Azolla as livestock feed to milch animals resulted inincrease in milk yield and fat content. Success of the technology led to its wide scale adoptionand KVK Ajmer has so far established 523 Azolla cultivation units during the last five years inthe district .

Key Words: Azolla, Livestock, Milk yield,

INTRODUCTIONDespite being largest producer of milk, in

India there acute shortage of feed and fodder fordairy animals. Shortage of dry fodder, greenfodder and concentrate has been estimated to be12 to 14 per cent, 25 to 30 per cent and 30 to 35per cent, respectively. The shortage of fodder istherefore, compensated with the use of readymadecommercial feed resulting in increased cost of milkproduction. The search for alternatives to greenfodder and concentrates led to a wonderful plantAzolla, which holds the promise of providing asustainable feed for livestock.

Azolla is a free floating, rapidly growingaquatic fern on water surface. It floats as small,flat, compact green mass. Under ideal conditionsit grows exponentially, doubling its biomass inevery three days. There are at least eight speciesof Azolla worldwide; Azolla caroliniana, Azollacircinata, Azolla japonica, Azolla mexicana,Azolla microphylla, Azolla nilotica, Azolla pinnataand Azolla rubra. The common species of Azollain India is Azolla piñnata. It produces more than4 to 5 times of protein of excellent quality incomparison to lucern and hybrid napier. Besidesthis, the bio- mass production is almost 4 to 10times when compared with hybrid napier andlucern, respectively. These two parameters are

very important to enhance economic livestockproduction to establish that Azolla is reckoned as“The Super Plant”.

MATERIALS AND METHODSConsidering the nutritive value of Azolla,

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ajmer developed a costeffective prototype of Azolla cultivation for massmultiplication and it’s feeding to livestock.

Details of technology: Ajmer Model for

cultivation of Azolla.

Maintenance of Azolla- Add water to maintain the depth up to 10 cm.

*Corresponding Author’s Email: kvkajmer@gmail.com

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- Add 5 Kg. of cow-dung after mixing itthoroughly in water every month.

- Add 20 g super phosphate every month alongwith the cow-dung to maintain daily yield of1.5-2.0 Kg. Azolla.

- Remove Azolla and change water and soilcompletely after every third month and re-inoculate as a fresh bed.

Utilization of Azolla as cattle feedThe hitherto produce Azolla should be

harvested with a large sieve having holes of 1 cm.mesh size to drain the water. Harvested Azollashould be washed with clean water to get rid ofthe cow dung smell. This Azolla may be was fedto cattle after mixing in concentrate ratio in 1:1ratio.1.5 to2.0 Kg of Azolla may be fed to milchanimal per day.

Economics of Azolla production

Azolla Production in one unit during one year(Approx.) = 680 kg.

Giving due consideration to the one-time costof permanent structure and recurring expenses,the cost of Azolla Production would be less than60 paisa per Kg.

Effect of feeding Azolla as cattle feed supplementThe technology was demonstrated in five

villages namely Bhagwanpura, Surajpura,Ganaheda, Picholia and Motisar by selecting sixfarmers from each village. Thus, a total of 30farmers and one cow and one buffalo each from

each farmer were taken to study the impact offeeding of Azolla. Approximately 1.5 to 2.0 Kg.fresh Azolla was fed to the milch animals per dayalong with usual ration. The animals weremaintained on chaffed sorghum fodder at ad liband 3 to 4 kg of commercial concentrate mixture.These selected animals had already completed aperiod of three months of lactation period. Theobservations on milk yield and milk fat percentagewas recorded for three months starting from onemonth after the Azolla was included in ration ofanimals.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe data revealed there was 20.96 per cent

increase in milk yield of cows when ration wassupplemented with Azolla while it resulted in16.90 per cent increase in buffalo milk yield. Themilk yield and fat percentage increased from 1.0to 1.5 l and 4.3 to 4.7 per cent in cows and from1.0 to 1.4 l and 6.2 to 6.9 per cent in buffaloes,respectively (Table 1). Kamalasanana etal (2002) also found an increase in milk yieldwhen Azolla was combined with regular feed, andthat 15-20 per cent of commercial feed could bereplaced with the same quantity of Azolla on dryweight basis without affecting milk production,providing a 20 to 25 per cent savings on buyingcommercial feeds. General reaction of the farmerswas that the animal starts showing excellent signof health such as improved hair coat condition,brightness in eyes, moist muzzle and alwaysactiveness after feeding of Azolla.

Kuccha Trench Pucca Trench

Digging charges of trench (size of unit Rs. 100.00 200 Bricks Rs. 700.006.0 x 1.0 x 0.2 mt)

Cement 3 bags @ Rs. 270/- Rs. 810.00Cost of silpauline sheet (120 G) Rs. 350.00 Gitti + Sand Rs 400.00Nylon Shady net 50 %( 7 x 2 mt). Rs. 420.00 Nylon Shady net 50 %( 7 x 2 mt). Rs. 420.00@ Rs. 30/- mt @ Rs. 30/- mtAzolla 2 kg @ Rs. 50/-kg Rs. 100.00 Azolla 2 kg @ Rs. 50/-kg Rs. 100.00Cow dung 70 kg (5-10 kg.+ 5kg./month) Rs. 70 .00 Cow dung 70 kg Rs. 70 .00

(5-10 kg.+ 5kg./month)Super phosphate 240 gms. Rs. 2.00 Super phosphate 240 gms. Rs. 2.00@20 gm. / month @20 gm. / month

Total Rs. 1042=00 Rs. 2502=00

Mathur et al

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Table1. Effect of feeding of Azolla as livestock feed on milkparameters (n=30)

Parameter Cow BuffaloInitial Final Initial Final

Milk yield (l/ d) 6.20 7.50 7.10 8.30Milk Fat (%) 4.3 4.7 6.2 6.9

Horizontal spread of technologyInspired by the easy method of cultivation,

good yield and economy of production and beingexposed to extension interventions made byKVK, large number of farmers started practicingcultivation of Azolla on small scale. After theimpact of the technology was established and feedback of farmers was encouraging, the KVKcontacted Project Director of ATMA, Departmentof Agriculture, Govt. of Rajasthan for its fasterhorizontal spread and was successful in gettingapproval of 50 per cent subsidy of Rs. 2000/- forconstruction of Azolla in pucca trench. Throughthis approach, large numbers of livestock ownerswere contacted and 523 Azolla cultivation hasbeen established by KVK Ajmer from year 2008to 2013. (Table 2)

Table:-2. Year-wise Azolla unit established by KVK Ajmer

Year Quantity of No. of unitAzolla (Kg) established

2008-09 130 652009-10 260 1302010-11 98 492011-12 78 392012-13 236 1182013-14 244 122

Total 523

CONCLUSIONThe study on feeding of Azolla indicated that

the farmers of Ajmer district have adopted thishitherto developed model of “KVK Ajmer modelfor cultivation of Azolla”. Farmers felt that thetechnology is highly useful because of easymethodology and the results are also visible withina short period of time. The improvement in healthand physical condition of animals, increase in milkyield particularly, motivated the farmers to talkabout Azolla and enhance its horizontal spread ofthis technology.

REFERENCESKamalasanana P, Premalatha, S and Rajamony, S (2002). Azolla –

A sustainable feed substitute for livestock. Leisa India, March,2002, pp. 15-17.

Use of Azolla (Azolla pinnata) as cattle feed

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 73-75

Received on 13-11-2013 Accepted on 23-11-2013

76

Utilization of Navigation Systems to Enhance theEfficiency of Field WorkersGagan Jyot Kaur, Udit Jain and Jagbir Rehal*

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga-142 001(Punjab)

ABSTRACTA field study was carried out by the extension workers to evaluate the importance of navigationsystem in agriculture. Two set of field workers with and without the navigation system weredeployed to dispense the farm literature to pre decided subjects at specific locations. It wasrecorded that the field workers with a navigator saved on time and expenses while the workerwithout the navigator took more time and incurred more expenses under given conditions. Theworking conditions were more cordial when a navigator was handed over to the worker.

Kew Words: Navigation, Agriculture, Time saving, Efficiency of field workers.

INTRODUCTIONNavigation system comprises of an electronic

map combined with route instructions, displayedon a screen. The system communicates via globalpositioning system (GPS) to display on the screen,the users’ geographic location and direction oftravel. In the system an input in the form ofdestination is fed using a keypad and then itcalculates the shortest route, giving both visualand audible directions to the destination. Differenttypes of navigation systems are used for road, railand air transportation. These are present in deviceslike Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs),Automobile Navigation Systems and the mostpopular and commonly used Smart MobilePhones. (Abbott and Powell, 1999).Thenavigation system works as shown in Fig 1.

Fig1: Flow diagram of working model of navigationsystem.

The GPS systems are used extensively inagriculture extension for Mapping soil properties,Chemical application, Chemical prescriptions,Tillage maps, Yield mapping, Pest mapping,Topographic maps and Planting maps(Dana,1997). The system has improved theworking efficiency of the extension work. Apartfrom this the need of navigation has been realizedin finding the routes/directions to the variousvillages. Considering the state Punjab (Table 1),it has 22 districts, 145 blocks and 12813 villages(Anon, 2013).

On an average there are 500 villages perdistrict in Punjab. For field staff to work efficientlyand reach the farmers in the remote areas,navigation plays a vital role. Field staff facesgreat difficulty in reaching the remote areas.Mostly they either ask people on the way or getthe directions over the phone calls, by followingsign boards or milestones (if present). The wholeexercise involves spending extra time in findingthe location leaving less time for the productivework. Other than this it involves consumption ofextra fuel and increased expenditure over phonecalls and diesel. To overcome all these hurdles,navigation seems to be a good alternative.Navigation based upon GPS can be usedeffectively for reaching the unreached.

The present study was undertaken to compare

*Corresponding Author’s Email: jagbir@pau.edu

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the native system of navigation to the computerbased navigation systems, its optimal utilizationto enhance the productivity and /or efficiency offield workers and the economic benefit in utilizingTable 1. District wise division of blocks and villages in

Punjab State.

S. No District No. of Blocks No. of Villages

1. Amritsar 9 7362. Barnala 3 1253. Bathinda 8 2824. Firozepur 6 6885. Fatehgarh Sahib 5 4466. Fazilka 4 3137. Faridkot 2 1668. Gurdaspur 11 12089. Hoshiarpur 10 141010. Jalandhar 11 95411. Kapurthla 5 69112. Ludhiana 12 91013. Moga 5 32914. Mansa 5 24015. Muktsar 4 22816. Mohali 4 40817. Pathankot 5 65918. Patiala 8 91419. Sangrur 10 56520. Rupnagar 5 59821. Taran Taran 8 485

the navigation system.

MATERIALS AND METHODSTwo field workers were employed with private

vehicle to dispense useful literature in the pre-selected villages. First worker was withoutnavigating system while the second worker wasprovided with the a smart phone with GPS enabledfeature and pre-downloaded Google/Nokia mapsused to navigate to pre selected villages .Theobservations were recorded in terms of travel timeand the journey expense (fuel consumption, phonecalls etc.).The results were statistically analyzed

to determine the significance.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe result of using computer aided navigation

system can easily be deduced in the form of savingof time and other expenses that includes fuel,phone calls etc. The observations revealed thattime required to reach location 1 by first fieldworker was 15 min more in comparison to thesecond field worker ( with navigator) and the fuelconsumption was also more by 0.5 lt. Similar trendwas recorded for other four locations. The timesaving of 30, 20, 60 and 15 min. was recordedfor location 2,3,4 and 5, respectively .The dieselsaving from 0.5 to 2 lt. was recorded for variouslocations. Field worker 1 took more time andincurred more expense in comparison to fieldworker 2.On average, the time saved was 140 min(approx 2.5 hrs) and the fuel saved was 4 lt. whichsums to an economic advantage of Rs 200/- (Table 2).

Table 2: Time and fuel consumption in common methods and Navigation System.

Sr.No Destination Practice Navigation SavingsTime (min) Fuel (lt.) Time (min) Fuel (lt.) Time (min) Fuel (lt.)

1. Location 1 30 1.7 15 1.2 15 0.52. Location 2 90 3.2 60 2.5 30 0.73. Location 3 45 2.5 25 2 20 0.54. Location 4 90 4 30 2 60 22. Location 5 50 1.3 35 1 15 0.3

Total 305 12.7 165 8.7 140 4

2(b) Fuel consumed to reach locations

Fig 2 (a)Time consumed

Kaur et al

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The field workers working under fieldconditions with a navigator saved on time andexpenses while the worker without the navigatortook more time and incurred more expenses undergiven conditions. The working conditions weremore cordial when a navigator was handed overto the worker. There are few villages in the remoteareas where route maps are unavailable, so thefuture work needs to done in mapping everyvillage of the district in the state. The cost ofmobile phone was not considered during the studyas mobile is an integral part of every person intoday’s world.

CONCLUSION The present study shows that the efficiency

of field workers increased with the use of

navigator as it saves both time and money.Navigation with a navigator was a better optionwhen compared to traditional methods (followingroad signs, asking people, over the phone) ofnavigation. Mobile phones were considered mostappropriate due to their compatibility with differentnavigating software and moreover they are anintegral part of everyone’s life.

REFERENCESAnonymous ( 2013). http://www.punjabstat.com/default.aspx.

Abbott E and Powell D (1999). Land-Vehicle Navigation UsingGPS. Proceedings of the IEEE, 87:1.

Dana P H (1997).Global Positioning System (GPS) TimeDissemination for Real-Time Applications. Kluwer AcademicPublishers.

Received on 21-10-2013 Accepted on 21-11-2013

Navigation systems to enhance the efficiency of field workers

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79

Yield Gap Analysis in Paddy Based onDemonstration on Seed Treatment Technique For

Control of Bacterial Leaf BlightAmandeep Kaur, Hardeep S Sabhikhi*, Gurpreet Singh,

Jaswinder Singh and Gurpreet Kaur

Farm Advisory Service Scheme, Patiala- 147 001Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

ABSTRACTRice is the world’s most important food crop and a primary source of food for more than half ofthe world’s population. Severe incidence of bacterial leaf blight (BLB) in paddy resulted inpotential yield gap between achievable yield and yield realized by the farmers. To show theimportance of proper method of seed treatment for control of BLB, total 328 demonstrationswere conducted during the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. These demonstrations were conductedat different locations throughout the district. The existing farmers’ practice was taken as acontrol for comparison. The yield performance of both control and demonstration plots wasrecorded and the yield gap, technology gap, extension gap and technological index wereanalyzed. The yield of demonstration plots was 70.0 q/ha as compared to 66.2 q/ha of untreatedplots. Paddy yield of demonstration plots recorded 5.8 per cent increase over the farmers’practice. Average extension gap was recorded 3.9 q/ha. The yield gap analysis emphasized theneed to educate the farmers through various extension means for the adoption of improvedagricultural technologies to revert the trend of wide extension gap.

Key Words: Seed Treatment, Yield Gap Analysis, Technology Index, Extension Gap, Paddy.

INTRODUCTIONPaddy (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated over an

area of 28.18 lakh ha in Punjab, with an annualproduction of 105.42 lakh tones (Anony 2013).Paddy crop is prone to many diseases particularlybacterial leaf blight (BLB). The incidence of BLBincreases due to the sowing of untreated seed, un-recommended varieties of paddy, use of higherdose of nitrogenous fertilizers and faulty diseasecontrol measure. The occurrence of BLB is themajor reason for the loss of yield in paddy. So thepresent investigation was designed to assess theyield gap between farmers’ practice andrecommended practice of seed treatment techniquefor the control of BLB in paddy.

MATERIALS AND METHODSNumbers of farmers were educated through

village level and on-campus training campsorganized before the start of crop season.Interested farmers were identified for conductingdemonstration on seed treatment technique forcontrol of BLB in paddy. Thus, a total 328demonstrations (0.4 hectare each) were conductedduring the year 2009, 2010 and 2011 in differentblocks at different locations. The recommendedpackage involved seed treatment withrecommended fungicide + antibiotic beforenursery sowing. For this eight Kg of paddy seedwas soaked in water (10 l) + Emisan 6 (5 g) +Streptocycline (1 g) solution for 8-10 hrs. Soakedseeds were then removed from the treatmentsolution, kept in shade by maintaining propermoisture and covered with gunny bags for 24 hrs.and then sown in the prepared bed. The existingfarmer practice of seed treatment (either no seed

*Corresponding Author’s Email: hardeepkvk@gmail.com* Asstt. Professor (Plant Protection) KVK, Patiala

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80

Tab

le:

Yie

ld g

ap, t

echn

olog

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p, e

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and

tec

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t in

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e

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emo.

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ld (q

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%

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logi

cal

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enti

alD

emon

stra

tion

Loc

al c

heck

over

che

ckga

pga

p (q

/ha)

inde

x %

Bhu

nerh

eri

2009

1980

75.0

767

.511

.21

4.93

7.57

6.16

2010

1880

78.1

274

.58

4.75

1.88

3.54

2.35

2011

1680

71.0

868

.12

4.35

8.92

2.96

11.1

5M

ean

17.6

780

74.7

670

.07

6.69

5.24

4.69

6.55

Sano

ur20

0913

8074

.86

68.4

39.

405.

146.

436.

4320

1016

8073

.78

67.8

18.

806.

225.

977.

7820

1118

8073

.04

71.6

21.

986.

961.

428.

70M

ean

15.6

780

73.8

969

.29

6.64

6.11

4.61

7.64

Raj

pura

2009

1580

71.1

465

.38.

948.

865.

8411

.08

2010

1680

61.6

456

.56

8.98

18.3

65.

0822

.95

2011

1180

62.0

860

.52.

6117

.92

1.58

22.4

0M

ean

1480

64.9

560

.79

6.84

15.0

54.

1718

.81

Pat

iala

2009

1880

73.8

369

.27

6.58

6.17

4.56

7.71

2010

2080

72.8

767

.62

7.76

7.13

5.25

8.91

2011

1680

73.3

469

.37

5.72

6.66

3.97

8.33

Mea

n18

8073

.35

68.7

56.

696.

654.

598.

31N

abha

2009

2180

72.5

667

.84

6.96

7.44

4.72

9.30

2010

1780

70.3

468

.23.

149.

662.

1412

.08

2011

1580

74.2

173

.57

0.87

5.79

0.64

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n17

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8072

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69.8

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587.

632.

59.

54G

hano

ur20

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8065

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61.1

6.81

14.7

44.

1618

.43

2010

1380

57.3

455

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3.09

22.6

61.

7228

.33

2011

1080

6058

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2.95

20.0

01.

7425

.00

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8060

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58.3

34.

3519

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23.9

1

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8

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Ave

rage

1680

70.0

366

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5.82

9.97

3.85

12.4

6

Kaur et al

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 79-81

81

treatment or wrong method of seed treatment bythe farmers) was taken as control or local checkfor comparison. The comparison in demonstrationplots and farmers’ practice was made from 6blocks of district Patiala. The impact of transferof technology was assessed in terms of per centincrease in yield and extension gap (Samui et al.,2000). Technology gap, extension gap andtechnology index were calculated as per followingformulae.

Technology gap = potential yield – demonstration yield

Extension gap = demonstration yield – farmer yield

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe perusal of data revealed that in the

demonstration plots, paddy yield was foundsubstantially higher than the control plots underfarmers practice ‘during all the three years. In allthe blocks , the paddy yield ranged between 60.87q/ ha to 74.76 q/ ha which was 2.50 to 4.69 q/hahigher than the local check. On overall basis 4.28to 6.76 per cent increase in yield was recorded.These results corroborate with the findings ofFilippi and Prabhu (1997) who recorded 4.22 percent increase in yield over the untreated plotagainst rice blast. However, the variation in yieldfrom location to location can be accounted forvarying field conditions, prevailing microclimateand variation in the agricultural practices followed.

The technological gap i.e. the differencebetween potential yield and yield of demonstrationplots was 5.24, 6.11, 15.05, 6.65, 7.63 and 19.13q/ha in the Bhunerheri, Sanaur, Rajpura, Patiala,Nabha and Ghanour blocks, respectively. Theaverage technology gap in all the six blocks inthree years was 9.97 q/ha. Technology gap implyresearchable issues for realization of potential yieldwhile the extension gap implies what can beachieved by the transfer of existing technologies.

On an average basis of three years study, anextension gap of 4.69, 4.61, 4.59, 4.17, 2.54 and2.50 q/ha was observed in Bhunerheri, Sanur,Patiala, Rajpura, Ghanur and Nabha, respectively.An average extension gap of 3.8 q/ha emphasizesthe need to educate the farmers through variousextension means for the adoption of improvedagricultural technologies to revert the prevailingtrend of wide extension gap. Similarly Mishra et

al (2007) reported an increase in the potato yieldby 29.8 q/ha and presented a gain in yield to thetune of 13-19 per cent resulting from treatment ofpotato seed against blight disease. In all the blocksthe extension gap from year 2009 to 2011recorded a decreasing trend which shows goodperformance of technical interventions to increasethe yield performance of rice and lower the lossescaused by the bacterial leaf blight disease in rice.

The technological index shows the feasibilityof the demonstrated technology. Lower the valueof technology index, more is the feasibility of thetechnology demonstrated (Sagar and Chandra,2004). The technology index was 12.46 in threeyears of demonstration from six blocks.

CONCLUSIONThe study of yield gap analysis of disease

management through demonstrations of seedtreatment of paddy revealed that the yield lossescaused by BLB disease could increase by 0.87 to11.21 per cent. The technology gap which showsthe gap in the demonstration yield and potentialyield ranged from 1.88 to 22.66 q/ha and can beattributed to the dissimilarities in soil fertility andlocal field situations. Extension gap rangedbetween 0.64 to 7.57 q/ha, which emphasizes theneed to educate the farmers through variousmeans like village level/ on campus trainings,method demonstrations, front line demonstrationsetc. Technology index which shows the feasibilityof the technology demonstrated has depicted goodperformance of the intervention.

REFERENCESAnonymous (2013). Package of Practices for crops of Punjab,

Kharif. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

Filippi M C and Prabhu A S (1997). Integrated effect of host plantresistance and fungicidal seed treatment on rice blast controlin Brazil. Plant Disease 81:351-355.

Mishra, D K, Tailor R S, Pathak G, and Deshwal A ( 2007). YieldGap Analysis of Blight Disease Management in Potato throughFront Line Demonstration. Indian Res J Ext Edu 7 (2&3): 82-84

Samui S K, Maitra S, Roy D K, Mandal A K and Saha D (2000).Evaluation on front line demonstration on groundnut. J IndianSoc Costal Agril Res 18 (2): 180-183

Sagar, R L and Ganesh Chandra (2004). Frontline Demonstrationson sesame in West Bengal. Agri Ext Rev16 (2): 7-10

Received on 09-04-2013 Accepted on 10-11-2013

Yield Gap Analysis in Paddy

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 79-81

82

Comparative Performance of Serrated V/S OrdinarySickle Used By Rural Farm Women in Junagarh

District of GujaratHansa S Patel*, Brijendra Singh Rajawat and Minaxi K Bariya#

Krishi Vigyan KendraJunagadh -Ambuja Cement Foundation, Ambujanagar -362 715(Gujarat)

The harvesting of cereal crops in India ismostly done manually by sickles. Thoughcombine harvesters are being introduced forharvesting of cereal crops but more than 90 percent area is still harvested manually by sickles.There is large variation in the types of sickles beingused in different parts of the country. Mostly thesickles are made by village artisans with widevariation in shapes and sizes. The serrated sickleintroduced by Central Institute of AgriculturalEngineering, Bhopal consists of a steel blade withspecial serration and a special handle that makesoperation of the sickle easy and comfortablecompared to the traditional sickle. The goodquality steel used and the special serration givesa cutting tooth profile that easily cuts both dryand wet crops. The special shape of the handlegives protection of fingers from getting rubbed tothe soil or stubbles. The sickles have been foundvery useful for harvesting wheat, rice, fodder andother crops that do not have woody stem.

Women population is nearly half of thepopulation and the empowerment to thispopulation is equally important in the nation’sdevelopment. Farm women and women labour arethe most important functionaries in agriculture andrelated activities. The ordinary sickle being usedfor harvesting the fodder grasses is very simpleand the design has not been changed for years.As a result, these sickles are very rough to handleand gives poor working efficiency. On the otherhand, serrated sickle developed at Bhopal forharvesting purpose is lesser in weight, easy tohandle and also saves harvesting time. It is worthto mention that the land holding capacity of

Short Communication

Kaneri farmers is very small and on the average,less than 0.5 ha is available with each farmer.Moreover, lack of right tools for carrying outvarious farm operations is the major constraint.Hence, this study was undertaken to popularizethe serrated sickle and compare its performancewith ordinary desi sickle being used by the ruralfarm women for cutting grasses, fodder and cerealcrops for maximizing efficiency and safety in use.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted in Junagadh district

of Gujarat state. Farm women were from 3 talukasand from each taluka, 2 villages were selected tocarry out this study. A total of 100 farm womenwere selected and divided in to two groupsconsisting of 50 farm women each. One groupwas allowed to use the desi ordinary sicklewhereas another group was provided with serratedsickle developed by CIAE, Bhopal for cuttingdown of fodder crops. In order to compare theperformance of both these sickles, variousparameters noted were time taken to harvest onehectare area of fodder, cost of operation and levelof drudgery.

The method used to collect information wasinterview of the farm women selected to undertakethe harvesting of fodder crop. For this purpose, asemi structured interview schedule was developedto know change in level of drudgery duringharvesting, time taken to harvest a unit area andcost involved.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONDuring the fodder cutting all farm women

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Corresponding Author’s Email : hspatelkvk@gmail.com

83

were bending position and none was squatting.However, the bend position during longer periodsof work may lead to tensing of certain musclesand thus result in quicker, tiredness and soreness(Pheasant, 1991). To reduce these feelings,farmers occasionally stand upright or sharpentheir sickles which result in wastage of time.Table 1. Performance of serrated v/s ordinary sickle.

S. No. Parameter Serrated OrdinarySickle Sickle

1. Time consumption 20.2 27.3(hr/ha)

2. Level of drudgery Low Medium3. Cost of sickle + 60.0 80.0

operation (Rs)4. Benefit over ordinary 25.0 -

sickle (%)5. Time saving (%) 26.0

Advantage of using serrated sickle over theTraditional desi sickle

The data ( Table 1) shows that there is 26 percent saving in the harvesting time with the use ofserrated sickle over the ordinary sickle. Similarly,economical benefit is to the extent of 25 per centdue to the reason that ordinary sickle requires itsgrinding more frequently which wastes time aswell as money whereas serrated sickle does notrequire it at all. In addition to this the design oftraditional sickle is not comfortable for the useras sometimes the fingers as well as lower portionof the hand get rubbed with the soil and causepain. On the other hand, design of serrated sickle

is farmer friendly and does not result in anydamage to the worker. Hence, it reduces thedrudgery amongst the farm women while workingin the fields. According to Kulkarni andSirohi(1985) the sharpened part of a sickle is themost important factor affecting the workingcapacity of farmers and the handle determiningthe convenience in using this tool may also havean indirect effect on working capacity. Likewise,Sen and Chakrabarti (1989) stated that the use ofserrated sickles may improve working efficiency.The present findings were, thus, in agreement withthese workers.

CONCLUSIONSIt was thus concluded that use of improved

serrated sickle by the farm women is desirablefor cutting of fodder as well as cereal crops dueto the fact that it reduces drudgery on one handand saves time and money on the other hand.Hence, such improved technologies need to bedemonstrated on a large scale among the ruralfarm women.

REFERENCES:Kulkarni, S D and Sirohi, B S(1985). sickle handle and its impact

on performance efficiency of a work for crop harvestingAgri.Engg.Today, 23-27

Pheasant, S (1991), Ergonomics, work and Health. Mac millanPress: pp.261-267

Sen , R N and Chakraberti, D(1989). An ergonomics study ofsickle designs for a reaping task in Indian agriculture.Proceeding of the Ergonomics Society AnnualConference.Taylor and Francis Ltd. London.

Received on 26-08-2013 Accepted on 19-11-2013

Patel et al

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84

Introduction of Sweet Corn Cv. Sugar 75 ThroughFront Line Demonstration in Tribal Area of Navsari

District in GujaratK A Shah*, B M Tandel, C K Timbadiya and Nital N Patel

Krishi Vigyan Kendra Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari- 396 450 (Gujarat)

Short Communication

The agriculture is the back bone of the countryand more than 65 per cent population of countrydirectly or indirectly depends on agriculture fortheir livelihood. In most of the tribal areas of thecountry, traditional agricultural practices with oldcrops or cropping system are being practiced inorder to fulfill the needs of the family. The farmersof the eastern tribal region of South Gujaratparticularly Chikhali and Vansda taluka of Navsaridistrict grow low value crops like wheat, gram,kidney bean, sorghum etc. after paddy in Rabiseason. Therefore, to enhance the production andincome per unit area, it is very essential to growhigh value short duration crops like sweet corn,which will not only increase awareness about thiscrop in tribal people but also meet requirement ofgood quality fodder for their milch animal whichwill result in an increased milk production andthus, enhance the income of farmer. Hence, thepresent study was conducted to demonstrate thecultivation of sweet corn cv. Sugar 75 throughfront line demonstration in the tribal area ofNavsari district in Gujarat.

MATERIALS AND METHODSKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Navsari conducted

front line demonstration (FLD) on sweet corn (Sugar 75) at the farmers’ field of Vansda andChikhali taluka of Navsari district during Rabiseason of 2010-11 and 2011-12 under the tribalsub plan scheme, Vansda. A total of 126 and 295FLDs on cultivation of sweet corn were conductedon an area of 30.0 and 68.75 ha. during the years2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively under irrigatedconditions. The soil of demonstration plots ranged

from medium black to latterite. The variousaspects included in the FLD were introduction ofhigh value new crops (sweet corn), variety (Sugar75), integrated nutrient management, weedmanagement, proper irrigation schedule ,integrated pest management and harvesting. Thedetail guidance regarding scientific cultivationpractices of sweet corn were given to the farmersto increase the awareness of improved technologyand to increase productivity of sweet corn throughconducting training programmes both at KVK aswell as off campus. The crop was sown duringsecond fortnight of November in both the years.In demonstrations plots, seeds were treated withthe bio- fertilizers like azotobacter and phosphatesolublizing bacteria before sowing and applicationof chemical fertilizer @ 120:60:60 kg N:P:K/hawas done. The yield data was recorded fromdemonstrated as well as control (Farmers’ practice)fields. Under contract farming system,memorandum of understanding was signed withM/s Vadilal industries to solve the marketingproblem of the crop later on .

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe sweet corn variety Sugar-75 performed

better in demonstration plots owing to bestmanagement practices like integrated nutrientmanagement, weed management, irrigation andpest management practices. The data regardingperformance of sweet corn in front linedemonstrations presented in Table 1. The averagecob yield and straw yield of demonstration plotsin Vasada taluka were 90.9q/ha and 83.3q/ha,respectively, whereas, the average cob yield and

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Corresponding Author’s Email : kvknavsari@yahoo.com

85

straw yield of control plots were 74.0 q/ha and68.5 q/ha, respectively. The average cob yield andstraw yield of demonstration plots in Chikhalitaluka were 94.2 q/ha and 86.7q/ha, respectively,whereas, the average cob yield and straw yield ofcontrol plots were 76.7q/ha and 70.2q/ha,respectively. The average per cent increase in cobyield and straw yield of demonstration plot overthe control plot in Vasada taluka were 22.8per centand 21.6 per cent, respectively. The average percent increase in cob yield and straw yield ofdemonstration plot over the control plot in Chikhalitaluka were 21.8per cent and 24.1per cent,respectively. There was overall 22.3 per cent and22.8 per cent increase in cob yield and straw yield,respectively, in demonstration plots where all thebest management practices were adopted over the

control plots. The increase in yield indemonstration over control plots due to integratednutrient management were also reported byDhemre and Desale (2010) in radish crop.

CONCLUSIONResults of the frontline demonstration had

shown that the use of improved variety, scientificcultivation practices and plant protection measuresresulted in higher productivity of sweet corn. Bestmanagement practices approximately increased22 per cent cob and straw yield in sweet corn.

REFERENCESDhemre J K and Desale S B (2010). Impact of front line

demonstration on production technology of radish cv.DHAWAL KRANTI in Dhule district of Maharastra. Asian JHort 5(2): 350-52.

Received on 12-02-2013 Accepted on 18-05-2013

Table 1 : Performance of front line demonstration of Sweet corn Cv. Sugar 75 .

Name of Taluka

Observations Vasada Average Chikhali Average Average2010-11 2011-12 2010-11 2011-12 of two

Talukas

Number of demonstration 106 172 139 20 123 72 105Average cob yield under demonstration (q/ha) 92.4 89.4 90.9 92.4 96.0 94.2 92.5Average cob yield under control (q/ha) 74.0 73.9 74.0 79.8 75.5 76.7 75.8 Percent increase in cob yield over control 24.6 21.1 22.8 16.3 27.2 21. 8 22.3Average straw yield under demonstration (q/ha) 84.0 82.6 83.3 85.6 88.2 86.7 85.1Average straw yield under control (q/ha) 69.1 67.9 68.5 72.0 68.4 70.2 69.4Percent increase in straw yield over control 21.6 21.5 21.6 19.1 29.0 24.1 22.8

Shah et al

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86

Rare Case of Foetal Ascitis in a KidH K Bhattacharyya* and S Baruah

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dibrugarh Assam Agricultural University, Romai-Kardoibam

Dibrugarh – 786010 ( Assam)

Short Communication

Foetal ascitis or dropsy of peritoneum isusually ascribed to derangement of foetalcirculation. It may either be hereditary orassociated with brucellosis (Roberts, 1982). Thecondition is common in bovines but rare in otherdomestic animals (Noakes et al, 2001). On vaginalexamination ascitic foetus shows increased sizeof abdomen that fluctuates on pressure and suchanimals are usually born dead. If alive they areweak with less survival. The present case describesa rare case of ascitis in a kid.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Case history, Observation and TreatmentA pleuriparous crossbred full termed goat

weighing 18 Kg. was presented with the historyof straining since 2 days. The goat was anorectic,depressed, severely dehydrated and slightlyfeveric (103.80C) with pale and dry mucusmembrane. The animal was frequently getting upand down showing extreme abdominal pain.Examination of external genitalia revealed slightlyswollen vulva discharging fetid purulent materials.Pervaginal examination indicated fully dilated os.The kid was in posterior longitudinal presentationand dorso-sacral position; however, both hindlimbs were flexing at hock. Haematologicalexamination of the doe revealed 6 g/ dlHaemoglobin (Hb), 41% packed cell volume(PCV), 5.12X106/ µl erythrocytes (RBC) and17X103/ µl leucocytes (WBC).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAfter careful repelling of the foetus, both the

hind limbs were corrected manually (Fig-1)however, the foetus was tightly retained in the birthcanal due to its enlarged abdomen. Lubrication

*Corresponding Author’s Email: drhiranyabh@yahoo.co.in

of the birth canal was achieved by applyingvaseline and the male foetus was extracted out(Fig-2). Although, the kid was delivered alive itdied after about 5 minutes probably due to forcefulexhaustion of the foetus leading to bradychardiaand shock during the prolonged phase of labour.Rectum of the foetus was also found evertedthrough anus. Succussion of the foetus revealedfluid splashing sound. On abomasocentesis a largeamount of abdominal fluid (1.5 l) came out andthus the condition was diagnosed as foetal ascitis.Another dead female foetus, which was in anteriorlongitudinal presentation, was also removed bymild traction and no ascitis in this second foetuswas observed. After removing both the foetusesthe goat was treated with injection Ciprofloxacin@ 10 mg/ kg IM bid X 7 days, injection Rintose@ 300 ml IV od X 3 days, injection Feritas 1mlIM (each ml contains iron sorbitol citric acid-50mg, folic acid-500 mcg and cyanocobalamin–50mcg; Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Ahmedabad,India) at weekly intervals for 3 occasions and 2boli of Furea were administered throughintrauterine route. The body weight of the damfollowing removal of foetus was 12 Kg. Theanimal discharged same day of treatment andinformation of the patient was taken telephonicallyevery alternate day. The goat was found activeand alert resuming normal appetite after 10 days.Marked improvement in clinical status 20 dayspost treatment as indicated by increase in level ofHb (9 g/ dl) and RBC (9.10X106/ µl) and decreasein PCV (35%) and WBC (10.2X103/ µl) wasrecorded with an extra body weight gain of 2 Kg.The level of MCV (80.08 pg), MCH (11.72 fL)and MCHC (14.63%) before treatment revealedsevere macrocytic and hypo chromic anaemia that

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87

could be due to deficiency of iron (Fe), folic acidand cyanocobalamin in the feed (Radostits et al,2000). After administration of haematinic (Inj.Feritas) a marked improvement in the haemogramand haematological indices (MCV 38.46 pg, MCH9.89 fL and MCHC 25.71%) was observed. Severeleucocytosis (17X103/ µl) before treatmentrevealed acute bacterial infection and a drasticreduction in the WBC count (10.2X103/µl) wasobserved following Ciprofloxacin administration.The severe macrocytic and hypo chromic anaemiaalong with bacterial infection might have resultedin deterioration of dam’s health and foetal death.

In the present case hereditary nature in theoccurrence of foetal ascitis could not be ascertaineddue to non availability of record as the goatpurchased form the local market only few monthsearlier. The probable involvement of brucellosiscausing fetal ascitis was also ruled out byconducting serum agglutination test. Theoccurrence of this condition in goat from ruralAssam is reported for the first time.

REFERENCESNoakes E D, Parkinson T J and England G C W ( 2001). Arthur’s

Veterinary Reproduction and Obstetrics. 8th edn., Harcourt(India) Private Ltd., New Delhi.

Radostits O M, Gay C C, Blood D C and Hinchcliff K W ( 2000).Veterinary Medicine, 9th edn, W.B. Sounders, London.

Roberts S J (1986). Veterinary Obstetrics and Genital diseases,3rd ed. Edward Brothers Michighan, U.S.A.

Fig 2: Ascitic kid showing abdominal enlargement

Fig 1: Removal of hind limbs after correction

Bhattacharyya and Baruah

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 86-87

Received on 03-06-2013 Accepted on 08-11-2013

88

Validation of Wilt Management Technology ThroughOn Farm Trials in Coloured Capsicum

Arti Shukla

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kandaghat-173 215Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (Himachal Pradesh)

Short Communication

The climatic conditions of Himachal Pradeshideally suits for protected cultivation ofvegetables. The major vegetables being grownunder protected conditions are capsicum tomato,cucumber, cauliflower, bush beans and leafyvegetables. Among these, coloured capsicumoccupies maximum acreage and give maximumreturns to the growers. This technology furthergot impetus with the implementation of “Pt. DeenDyal Kisan Bagwan Samridhi Yojna” by the StateAgriculture Department in 2008-09 under whichfarmers were given 80 per cent subsidy for theconstruction of polyhouse. Since then, it isgaining momentum in the state and presently 220ha. area has come under protected cultivation ofvegetables. Out of which, 150 ha is beingoccupied by capsicum only. In Solan district, 1190polyhouses have been constructed covering anarea of approximately 1,13,013m2 and most ofthe farmers are growing coloured capsicum only.The varieties which are being grown are Bomby,Spinx ( Red), Orebelle and US-26 (Yellow).Besides favouring the luxuriant growth of theplants, the environmental conditions inside thepolyhouse is very congenial for the developmentof various diseases of fungal, bacterial and viralnature.

Under protected conditions, fungal wiltcaused by Phytophthora capsici, Phytophthoranicotianae var. nicotianae and Fusariumoxysporum fsp. capsici is the major limitingfactor for successful cultivation of colouredcapsicum. Disease incidence up to 30 to 70 percent have been recorded and sometimes thedisease wipes out the whole crop resulting in 100per cent loss. None of the varieties or hybridswhich are available in the market and being grown

commercially has resistance against the wilt. Inthe absence of resistant varieties, farmers arecompelled to grow the varieties which succumbto the disease very easily. Keeping in view thedevastating magnitude of the disease, KVK hasdesigned an intervention on wilt management andthe technology was disseminated to the farmersthrough conductance of on farm trials and frontline demonstrations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Factors responsible for development andspread of the disease:

Periodic surveys of different polyhouses wereconducted to find out the various factors involvedin high incidence of the wilt and data on responseof farmers to these factors were collected (Table1). Following factors were found associated withhigh disease incidence:

1. Use of improper growth media: Duringsurveys, it was observed that farmers generallydo not use proper growth media (2 parts soil:1 part sand: 1 part FYM). They onlyincorporate FYM in the soil and that too ininsufficient quantity and in most of the wiltaffected areas, soil type is clay which supportsperpetuation of the fungal pathogens for alonger period.

2. Monoculture: In district Solan, farmers aremainly cultivating coloured capsicum ortomato under protected conditions. Due tomonoculturing of these solanaceous crops,inoculum of soil borne diseases like wilt hasincreased tremendously. Once the inoculumestablishes itself in the field, it becomes verydifficult to eradicate it.

Corresponding Author’s Email : artikvksolan@gmail.com

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89

3. Lack of seed or soil treatment: It was foundthat initially, none of the farmer go for seedand /or soil treatment and on the appearanceof the disease, they use fungicidesindiscriminately. Hence sterilization of soilwith formaldehyde solution (5%) is must togrow crop in polyhouse during next season.

Table 1. Factors associated with wilt incidence (N=15).

Factor associated with Response of farmerswilt incidence (Yes/No)

Yes No

Use of proper growth media 0 15Monoculture 14 1Seed treatment 2 13Soil treatment 0 15

On Farm Trials were conducted at the farmers’fields at different locations of the district for threeyears i.e. 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12consecutively to validate the efficacy of wiltmanagement technology. Keeping in view theabove mentioned factors, following treatmentswere given either alone or in combination andwere compared with farmers’ practice. The nurserysoil with formaldehyde (5%) solution in order toensure use of healthy nursery. Different treatmentswere as T

1 (Farmers’ practice) i.e., no seed and

soil treatment + indiscriminate use of fungicides,T

2 (Soil treatment) i.e., beds were thoroughly

wetted with water one day prior to treatment. Nextday, drenching of beds was done with 5 per centformaldehyde solution and were covered withtransparent polythene sheets (50 µ) in such a waythat no air should enter inside. After one week,sheet was removed and raking of soil was donetwice a day until there was no smell of ammoniain the soil. Third treatment was T

3 (T

2+Seed

treatment + drenching of soil with copperoxychloride (0.3%) alternated with spray ofcarbendazim (0.1%) + mancozeb (0.25%) at 7days intervals). In order to avoid seed borneinoculum, seed treatment was done with Captan@3g/kg seed before sowing. Drenching of soilwith copper oxychloride 0.3% followed by sprayof mancozeb 0.25%+ carbendazim 0.1%alternatively at an interval of 7 days at floweringstage or at the appearance of disease symptomswas done.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe perusal of the data (Table 2) revealed that

there was a remarkable decrease in diseaseincidence in the polyhouse where treatment wasdone as compared to the untreated one. During2009-10, it was found that 73.0 and 83.3 per centdisease control was achieved in T

2 (soil sterilization

with 5% formalin) and T3 treatment (soil

sterilization with 5% formalin+ seed treatment withcaptan @ 3.0g/kg of seed + drenching with copperoxychloride 0.3% alternate with spray ofcarbendazim 0.1% + mancozeb 0.25%) with 48.57and 58.09 percent increase in yield indemonstration plots as compared to farmer’spractice (FP). There was a net return of 35.60 and39.00 lakhs/ha and a B:C ratio of 2.81 and 2.90was achieved in T

2 and T

3 treatments, respectively

as compared to only 17.55 lakhs/ha net return anda B:C ratio of 1.92 in FP . Similar trend wasobserved during 2010-11 and 2011-12 also.During 2010-11, 67.61 and 78.23 per cent diseasecontrol was achieved in T

2 and T

3 treatments,

respectively with 43.75 and 56.25 per centincrease in yield over farmer’s practice and a B:C ratio of 2.86 and 2.98 was observed ascompared to 1.96 in farmer’s practice. Similarly,41.30 and 52.17 per cent increase in yield and aB: C ratio of 3.45 and 3.49 was recorded in 2011-12 in T

2 and T

3 treatments, respectively as

compared to a B: C ratio of 2.40 in farmer’spractice.

CONCLUSIONIn order to have a good crop in the polyhouse

consecutively, farmers must go for crop rotationwith non solanaceous crops, use of proper growthmedia, healthy nursery, soil and seed treatment.From the present studies it can be concluded thatin order to harvest good crop of capsicum in thepolyhouse consecutively, soil sterilization withformalin @5% can prove very effective aspreventive measure but once the incidence ofdisease appears, the soil and seed treatment shouldbe followed by soil drenching with copperoxychloride 0.3% and spray of carbendazim(0.1%)+ mancozeb (0.25%). However, in orderto minimize threat to the environment, there isneed to find out some more economical andenvironmentally safe methods like resistantvarieties.

Arti Shukla

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 88-90

90

Tab

le 2

: E

ffec

t of s

oil t

reat

men

t and

fung

icid

es o

n w

ilt m

anag

emen

t.

Trea

tmen

tsW

ilt in

cide

nce(

%)P

er c

ent d

isea

se c

ontr

ol o

ver

chec

k(T

1)Y

ield

(q/h

a)P

er c

ent i

ncre

ase

in y

ield

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

T1 =

Far

mer

’s p

ract

ice

31.2

38.6

48.6

--

-52

548

046

0-

--

(No

seed

and

soi

l tre

atm

ent +

indi

scri

min

ate

use

of f

ungi

cide

s)

T2

= S

oil s

teri

lizat

ion

with

8.4

12.5

15.6

773

.067

.61

67.7

780

690

650

48.5

743

.75

41.3

05%

for

mal

in

T3 =

T2+

see

d tr

eatm

ent w

ith

5.2

8.4

12.3

383

.378

.23

74.6

830

750

700

58.0

956

.25

52.1

7C

apta

n @

3.0

g/kg

of

seed

+dr

ench

ing

with

cop

per

oxyc

hlor

ide

(0.3

%)

alte

rnat

ed w

ith

spra

y of

carb

enda

zim

(0.

1%)+

man

coze

b(0

.25%

) at

7 d

ays

inte

rval

Healthy crop

Wilt affected crop

Wilt Management Technology

J Krishi Vigyan 2013, 2(1) : 88-90

Received on 13-07-2013 Accepted on 13-11-2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The editorial office of Journal of Krishi Vigyan expresses its extreme gratitude to the followinghonorable reviewers from across the country, for reviewing the manuscripts and providing their expertcomments. The valuable input by the worthy reviewers in terms of their precious time and sincereefforts is greatly admirable.

Reviewer’s Name No. of Articles StateAnil Kr. Dixit 1 Chattisgarh

Avneet Kaur 1 Punjab

Bhupinder Singh 1 Haryana

Deepanjali Deori 1 Assam

Doni Jini 1 Arunachal Pradesh

Gagandeep Kaur 2 Punjab

Gobinder Singh 1 Punjab

Gurdeep Singh 1 Punjab

Gurmeet Singh 1 Punjab

Gurpreet Kaur 2 Punjab

K P Chaudhary 1 Manipur

Meharban Singh 1 Punjab

R R Singh 1 Uttar Pradesh

Ranjay Kr Singh 1 Jharkhand

Rishi Kumar 1 Haryana

S K Acharya 1 West Bengal

S Subash Kumar 1 Karnataka

Sangita Sood 1 Himachal Pradesh

Simerjeet Kaur 1 Punjab

T A Shah 1 J & K

T J Ramesha 1 Arunachal Pradesh

Vinod Kr Khatta 1 Haryana

Copyright and discalimer

Copyright © Authors. All rights reserved. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission toreproduce copyright material from other sources. The publisher assumes no responsibility for anystatement of fact or opinion or copyright violation in the published papers. The views expressed bythe authors do not necessarily represent the view point of the journal.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

The Journal of Krishi Vigyan, a peer-reviewed, half yearly, journal is being published by theSociety of Krishi Vigyan. The publication is aimed at providing access to academicians, researchers,extension workers and industry professionals from across the globe to publish their work on all aspectsof agriculture and allied fields through research papers, short communications and review articles.

The editorial board of SKV welcomes the submission of manuscripts within the aim and scope ofthe journal for publication. The articles may be submitted via regular mail in duplicate, each with a setof original figures and photographs to the Editor, Journal of Krishi Vigyan electronically in MS WORDformat as e-mail attachments to the editoriskv@gmail.com or secretarykvk2011@gmail.com .

Please refer to the instructions for authors before submitting an article.

General guidelinesIt is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that

1. Papers are submitted strictly as per the style and format of JKV. The articles not confirming fullyto the style and format of JKV will be returned to author(s) by the editorial office foramendment, prior to a review for its scientific merit.

2. Submission of an article is understood to imply that the article is original and has not been publishedpreviously, is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and if accepted, it will not bepublished elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language. The submission ofthe article has the approval of the all co-authors and the authorities of the host institute where workhas been carried out.

3. The editorial board of JKV discourages the submission of more than one article dealing withrelated aspects from the same study; this includes different aspects of data derived from oneparticular experiment, or cases in which the analytical techniques, animals or experimentalprocedures are common to all papers. If author(s) have valid reasons for separation of reports ofone particular experiment or study into more than one paper, these must be submitted simultaneously.

4. The Author(s) may suggest the names of at least three experts/reviewers, not from the hostorganization/institute where the work had been carried out (along with their complete mailingaddress, contact nos. and e-mail id) whom they feel qualified to evaluate their research article.These suggestions will only be considered if e-mail Ids are also provided. Submission of suchnames does not imply that they will definitely be used for scrutiny.

5. The “Article submission certificate” duly signed by all the authors/head of host department / institute(optional) on a prescribed format must be furnished along with article at the time of submission. Ifthe article is sent through e-mail, the scanned copy of certificate (signed / stamped) may be attached.

6. For publication of articles in JKV, all the contributing authors has to be the member (either life orannual) of Society of Krishi Vigyan.

7. The submitted manuscripts will be assessed from editorial points of view, at first, and if foundsuitable for publication, it will be sent for peer-review. The review process will be a double-blindprocess where author(s) and referees are unaware of each others’ name. The author(s) must abideby the suggestions of referee and the editorial board of JKV. The final decision to publish anarticle will lie with the Editor and Publisher of the journal.

8. The corresponding author will be sent the PDF file of his/her published article free of cost via e-mail. No hard copies of the reprints will be provided.

9. Journal of Krishi Vigyan has no page charges.

10. For enquiries regarding submission, please contact the editorial office atsecretarykvk2011@gmail.com

Manuscript preparationLanguage: Papers must be written in English. The text and all supporting materials must use UKspelling conventions. It is up to the authors to make sure there are no typographical errors in themanuscript.

Typescript: Manuscripts must be typed in Microsoft Word, using Times New Roman font at 12 points,double spaced on one side of A4 size bond paper with 2.5 cm margin on all sides. All pages should benumbered consecutively in the right corner on the top. Indent new paragraphs.

Words: Papers should not normally exceed up to 8000 words for review articles; 4000 words fororiginal full length papers and 1500 words for short communications.

Headings: Main Headings - Major headings are centered, all capitals, boldface in Times New Romanfont at 12 points, and consist of ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND MATHODS,RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (optional) andREFERENCES.

First subheadings are placed in a separate line, begin at the left margin, and are in italics. Text thatfollows should be in a new paragraph.

Second Subheadings should begin with the first line of a paragraph, indented and in italic. The textfollows immediately after the second subheading.

Contents: The contents must be arranged in an orderly way with suitable headings for each subsection.The recommended subdivision of contents is as follows:-

Running head: The running head or short title of not more than 50 characters, in title case andcentered should be placed above the main title of the study.

Title: The title must be informative and brief. The initials and name of the author(s), the address of thehost institution where the work was done must follow the title.

Superscripts (1,2,3) should be used in cases where authors are from different institutions. Thesuperscript # should be appended to the author to whom correspondence should be addressed, andindicated as such together with an e-mail address in the line immediately following the keywords. Thepresent postal address of authors, if currently different from that of the host institution should also besuperscripted appropriately and inserted in the lines following the key words.

Abstracts: It must summarize the major objectives, methods, results, conclusions, and practicalapplications of the study conducted. The Abstract must consist of complete sentences and use ofabbreviations should be limited.

Keywords: The Abstract is followed by three to five keywords from the title to be used for subjectindexing. These should be singular (e.g. paper, not papers). The abstract, including key words shouldbe separated by horizontal lines places before and after the text.

Introduction: This should include a statement of why the subject under investigation is considered tobe of importance, a concise indication of the status quo of published work in this field and a declarationof the aims of the experiment or study i.e. the hypothesis.

Materials and Methods: These should be concise but of sufficient detail to enable the experiment tobe replicated by an outside party. Particular care should be taken to ensure that the appropriatestatistical analyses have been carried out. Specify the design used, factors tested or the statisticalmodel employed. Non significant differences (P> 0.05) should not be discussed.

Results and Discussion: Results and discussion should be combined to avoid repetition. It should bepresented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures. The repetitive presentation of the samedata in different forms should be avoided. The discussion should consider the results in relation to anyhypotheses advanced in the Introduction and place the study in the context of other work.

Conclusion: The conclusion should consist of a short integration of results that refer directly to thestated aims of the experiment and a statement on the practical implications of the results.

Acknowledgements (optional): A brief and formal acknowledgment section, if desired, should followthe conclusion statement. Do not include titles of persons; such as Dr., Mr., or Ms., use only initialsand surnames.

References: The existing relevant literature restricted to those with a direct bearing upon the findingsmust be appropriately cited.

References appearing in the text – References in the text should be given as : Sharma and Rao(1983). Use änd” and not “&”. A reference by three or more authors should be identified in the textonly by the first author followed by et al (in italic) and the year.

Where several references are quoted consecutively in the text, the order should be chronological or,within a year, alphabetical (by first author or, if necessary, by first and second author(s).

Where references are made to several papers by the same author(s) in the same year, the year shouldbe followed by a, b, c, etc.

Personal communications and unpublished work should be cited in the text only and not in the referencelist, giving the initials, name: for example (M. S. Gill, unpublished), (M.S. Gill, personalcommunication).

References to internet sites should be quoted in the normal way in the text e.g. FDA (2008). In thereference list, the full URL must be given, followed by the date that the website was assessed.

References appearing in reference section : All publications cited in the text should be presented inthe list under Reference section, in alphabetical order. The title of the article should be given in thereference and journal’s name should be cited in italic as abbreviated by the journal. It is the fullresponsibility of the authors to cross check reference in the text of the article with those in the list ofreferences. In all cases, a reference must provide sufficient information to enables the reader to locateit.

Examples of references – (Hanging indent 1 cm)

For journals/periodicals

Mufeed S (1998). Evaluating employee performance: A successful instrument for human resourcedevelopment. Indian J Trg and Dev 28 (2): 72-93.

For books

AOAC (1980). Official Methods of Analysis. 13th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists.Washington, DC.

For Chapters in bookBarnabas A P and Lakshmiswaramma M (1980). “Assessment of Evaluation system for Rural

development”. In: Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development: Some Asian Experiences.(eds Kuldeep Mathu and Inayatulloah) Kuala Lumpur U.N. Asian and Pacific Development Centre.Pp: 121-22.

Bray R A (1994). The leucaena psylid. In: Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture (eds. R CGutteridge and H M Shelton). CAB International, Oxford. Pp. 283-91.

For proceedings of conferences/symposia etc.

Vivero J L P (2002). Forest is not only wood: the importance of non-wood forest products for the foodsecurity of rural households in Ethiopia. In: Proceedings of the Fourth, Annual Conference forestrysociety of Ethiopia 14-15 January 2002, Ethiopia pp 102.

Elangovan A V ,Tyagi P K, Mandal A B and Tyagi P K (2007). Effect of dietary supplementation ofstain on egg production performance and egg quality of Japanese quail layers. Proceedings ofXXIV Annual Conference of Indian Poultry Science Association and National Symposium , 25-27April, Ludhiana, India, pp. 158 (Abstr.).

For thesesFayas A M (2003). Viability of self help groups in vegetables and fruit promotion council Keralam- amultidimensional analysis, MSc (Ag.) thesis, Kerala Agricultural University.

For online (internet site) citationFDA (2008). Effect of the use of antimicrobials in food producing animals on pathogen load: Systematicreview of the published literature. www.fda.gov/cvm/antimicrobial/PathRpt.PDF Accessed January11, 2012.

Tables/Figures/Illustrations : Tables should be self contained and complement, but not duplicateinformation contained in the text. The table number (given as an Arabic numeral) should be given atthe top, followed by a concise title. Give essential details as footnotes. Keep the number of columns toa minimum. Column headings should be brief, with the units of measurement clearly stated inparentheses. Where one unit applies to all the data in the body of the table include it in the title. Cite alltables in the text, in numerical order at first mention. Significant differences between means in columnsor rows should be indicated by superscript letters, and accompanied by a standard statement underneaththe table, e.g. “Means in columns not sharing a common superscript differ significantly (P<0.05)”.

Figures: Number all figures/illustrations consecutively, in order of appearance in the text, using Arabicnumerals. Keep lettering

on illustrations to a minimum and include essential details in the legend. Tables/Figures/illustrationsetc. should be submitted along with the main text of the paper with each on a new page, and shouldtake account of the page size of the journal. Wherever possible, figures should be suitable for subsequentdirect photographic reproduction.

Coloured figures : Use of coloured photographs is discouraged. If found necessary, the photographsshould be submitted as good quality, glossy colour prints.

Abbreviation and units: Use only standard abbreviations. The word ‘Figure’ should be shortened toFig. unless starting a sentence. SI units (metre, kilogram etc.) should be used wherever possible.Statistics and measurements should always be given in figures; i.e. 15mm, except where the numberbegins the sentence. When the number does not refer to a unit measurement (e.g. 15mm), it is speltout, except where the number is greater than nine.

Style and format of short communications: A short communication should be a maximum of 1500words. It contains a very brief abstract followed by a brief introduction, text including tables andfigures and a brief conclusion followed by references. No subheadings are to be included except forthe abstract and reference section. Format, tables and figures must conform to the conventions of theJournal.

ARTICLE SUBMISSION CERTIFICATE

Manuscript Title:

Manuscript type: Review article/Full length paper/Short communication (Check one):

Name(s) of the author(s):

Name and address of

corresponding author :

Contact No. # :

E-mail:

I (we) affirm that:

1. The manuscript has been prepared in accordance with the latest “Instructions for author’s guidelines ofthe Journal of Krishi Vigyan.

2. The article is original and has not been published previously, is not under consideration for publicationelsewhere, and if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same or, in English or any otherlanguage. The submission of the article has the approval of the all the authors and the authorities of thehost institute where work had been carried out.

3. All the authors have made substantive and intellectual contributions to the article and assume fullresponsibility for all opinions, conclusions and statements expressed in the articles.

4. I (we) agree to abide by the comments of referees/editorial board and will modify the article as per theirrecommendations for publication in Journal of Krishi Vigyan.

5. If the above article is published in Journal of Krishi Vigyan, the copyright of this article will vest with theSociety of Krishi Vigyan, who will have the right to enter into any agreement with any organization inIndia or abroad engaged in reprography, photocopying, storage and dissemination of information containedin it, and neither we nor our legal heirs will have any claims on royalty.

Name of the author(s) Designation Present official address Signature with date

1.

2.