NEWSLETTER July - December, 2018

Not AvailableThe Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu visited ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad on 3rd July, 2018. He was the Chief Guest for the “Consultative Meeting on Doubling of Farmers' Income in Telangana State and Adjoining Areas”. Shri. Md. Mahmood Ali, Deputy Chief Minister, Telangana State was the Guest of Honour. Dr. K. Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General (NRM), ICAR, New Delhi, Shri. C. Parthasarathi, APC & Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Telangana State; Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), CRIDA; Directors and scientists of local ICAR institutes, senior officials of PJTSAU, senior officials from Telangana State, NGOs, Industrialists, Bankers and progressive farmers participated in the meeting. Hon'ble Vice President addressing participants of consultation meeting Deputy Director General (NRM) Dr. K. Alagusundaram, ICAR, New Delhi welcomed the dignitaries and the participants while briefing about the various rainfed technologies developed by CRIDA for the benefit of farmers of dryland agriculture. Hon’ble Vice President Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu, chaired the interactive session with scientists, research scholars, farmers and representatives of NGOs. He stated that the multifaceted strategy is needed to protect agriculture as agriculture is now under distress. During interactive session, farmers of Ranga Reddy district mentioned that their farm income has been substantially increased due to the interventions of ICAR-CRIDA, KVKs and SAUs. Book releasing during consultation meeting New Research Initiatives CRIDA was awarded a competitive research project entitled “Innovative and contextual agromet. advisory services for climate smart agriculture” funded by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Ministry of Earth Sciences under Monsoon Mission-II with budget outlay of the Rs. 311.48 lakhs. ICRISAT and ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur are the partner institutes. Dr. P. Vijaya Kumar, Project Coordinator, AICRPAM, ICAR-CRIDA is the Principal Investigator of this project. Dr. AVM Subba Rao and Dr. Santanu Kumar Bal are the CoPrincipal Investigators from ICAR-CRIDA and Dr. Anthony Whitbread and Dr. R.K. Mishra are the Co-Principal Investigators from ICRISAT and ICAR-IIPR, respectively. CRIDA - Newsletter 2 Minimum tillage with crop residue retention on soil surface produced higher crop yields while maintaining better health of rainfed Alfisol The results of 6 year old experiment on conservation Agriculture (CA) in rainfed Alfisol showed that the surface retention of crop residues @ 2-6 t/ha produced 5-13% higher sorghum yield and 28-45% higher cowpea yield as compared to no residue application control. About 56% higher organic carbon (6.80 g/kg) content was recorded with the application of sorghum stover @ 6 t/ha as compared to control (4.36 g/ kg). The increase in available N with the application of 6t and 4t crop residue was to the extent of 19.5 and 28% respectively while significantly higher contents of soil available P (10.67 kg/ha) and K (288.8 kg/ha) were observed with application of sorghum residue @ 4 t/ha. Significantly higher microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) were recorded with the application of sorghum stover @ 4 t/ha. Besides reducing the bulk density, the application of residues had a significant influence on the mean weight diameter (MWD) of the soil aggregates. The highest overall soil quality index (SQI: 9.58) was observed with the residue application @ 6 t/ha. A significant positive relationship was observed between SQI and pooled cowpea seed yield (R2 =0.82) and pooled sorghum grain yield (R2 =0.69). This study also clearly indicated that the adoption of minimum tillage in combination with adequate crop residue cover, the soil moisture increased and soil temperature decreased which in-turn made the crops to withstand the mid season dry spells without much adverse effects. Crop residue retention in the field Development of track width & ground clearance enhancing platform and matching Implements for low horse power tractor A reconfigured platform for small horse power tractor with matching weeding and spraying implements was developed. Such new developments will increase effective use of tractor for weeding and spraying operations in crops like maize, castor, red gram, cotton, chilies etc. The developed platform basically consists of three components (i) Front wheel axle (ii) Rear drive wheel axle and (iii) Reworked steering set system for enhanced track width. The prototype high clearance platform fitted mini tractor matching rotary weeder consists of a main frame with hitch mast, gear box housing with power transmission provision, rotor shaft assembly with soil working tools. The developed boom sprayer unit basically consists (i) Base frame to give support / fix various components (ii) Pump with manifold for flow control and pressure regulation (50 lpm & 30kg / cm2 rating) (iii) Boom with height adjustable frame work and (iv) High pressure hose pipes. The pump gets the required power from tractor. The nozzles on the boom were fitted with spacing adjustable provision to use for different types of rainfed crops. The weeding efficiency of rotary machine varied 74 to 82.5.% and 78.5 to 86.8% for castor and pigeon pea, respectively. In case of maize crop, the weeding efficiency observed to be 73.9%, which was low compared to other two crops due to narrow row spacing. The boom sprayer was operated in cotton crop at two growth stages; the first one at flowering stage (75 DAS) and second operation in bolls expansion stage (90 DAS). The operator can steer the tractor comfortably and sprayer worked satisfactorily. The field capacity of the machine ranged from 1.7 - 2.0 ha/hr. The newly developed implements shown significant advantage in monitory terms when compared with traditional practice of bullock operated blade harrow and hand labour spray operation (15 - 20% lower cost). Track width and ground clearance enhanced platform fitted low horse power tractor with matching weeding and spraying implements Research Highlights July - December, 2018 3 Scientific Activities XXVIIth Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting The XXVIIth meeting of the Research Advisory Committee of the institute was held during 10-11 November, 2018 under the chairmanship of Dr. Panjab Singh, former Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR. The committee reviewed the progress and recommended for strengthening of farming systems research with horticulture and livestock components, scaling up of NICRA interventions to more villages and restructuring of the institute by creating divisions of Social Sciences and Climate Change. Further, RAC suggested to align the research programmes with the challenges and development needs of dryland farmers. RAC meeting in progress Field Institute Research Council (IRC) meeting Field Institute Research Council (IRC) Meeting for 2018-19 was held on 25th September, 2018 at Gunegal Research Farm (GRF) and on 5th October, 2018 at Hayathnagar Research Farm (HRF) under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting). The chairman IRC, Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), Project coordinators, Heads of Divisions / Sections and scientists visited various experiments and discussed thoroughly on various treatment effects. Interaction during field IRC Various suggestions like displaying of the experimental and treatment boards at the experimental site, periodical monitoring of soil moisture in CA related experiments, rainfall amount, rainy days and crop yields needs to correlated for all the experiments etc., were made in field IRC. Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) Under the Chairmanship of Dr. J.C. Katyal, former Vice Chancellor, CCS Haryana Agriculture University & former DDG (Education), ICAR, two review meetings were conducted. QRT meeting was held during 18-19 June, 2018 at UAS, Bengaluru and reviewed the work done by both AICRPDA and AICRPAM centers located in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala & Tamil Nadu. Another meeting was held at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad during 16-18 August, 2018 to finalize the QRT report. QRT visit to AICRPDA center, Bengaluru Dr. J.C. Katyal presented the salient recommendations of QRT to DG, ICAR and other officials in presence of DDG (NRM) and ADG (A, AF & CC) on 13th September, 2018 at ICAR, New Delhi. Honorable DG, ICAR has appreciated the work done by the QRT. QRT meeting in progress Hindi fortnight celebrations The Hindi fortnight was organized from 1st to 14th September, 2018 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad. On this occasion, Hindi Noting & Drafting, Hindi-English technical terminology and other Hindi competitions were organized. Winners were awarded on concluding day, 14th September, 2018. CRIDA - Newsletter 4 Interface meeting on agricultural contingencies for Andhra Pradesh In view of the low rainfall and its poor distribution in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, at the behest of ICAR-CRIDA, an interface meeting was organized by ICAR-CRIDA on August 3, 2018 with Department of Agriculture and ANGRAU under the chairmanship of special Commissioner of Agriculture, Government of A.P. to review and develop mid-course action plans for Rayalaseema (Anantapuramu, Kurnool, Kadapa and Chittoor), Prakasham, Nellore and Guntur districts. The participants included Director of Research, ANGRAU, Special Commissioner of Agriculture, A.P., Joint Collector, Kadapa, Senior scientists from ANGRAU, JDAs, ADAs, Scientists from KVKs and farmer representatives. Dr. NV Naidu, Director of Research ANGRAU, conducted the proceedings of the meeting. Dr. KV Rao, ICAR-CRIDA and Dr. S Malleswari, ANGRAU made detailed presentations on current rainfall scenario and forecast for the forthcoming weeks. Sri D. Muralidhar Reddy, Special Commissioner in his address emphasized that department should gear up to rescue the crops in the field, plans to cover unsown area and preparation of documents for early drought declaration procedures. Dr. NDRK Sharma, Consultant, Department of Agriculture, highlighted the implementation of agriculture contingency plans during past years and requested the officers to prioritize the interventions based on the uptake of preferred technology options by the farmers. Sensitization on district agricultural contingency plans for Mizoram In an interface meeting of ICAR-Mizoram State held on 24.09.2018 to sensitize the Senior officers of the State on District Agricultural Contingency Plans (DACPs). This is the first meeting on sensitization of DACPs to senior officials in the North-Eastern states of India. Mr. Lalsawta, Cabinet Minister for Finance & Planning chaired the meeting. Mr. Lalthanliana, Cabinet Minister for Horticulture, LAD & SWD and Mr. Lalmingthanga, Commissioner & Secretary, Agriculture were guests of honour. Secretaries from Horticulture, Sericulture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science; Directors of various line departments; Director, ICAR - Research Complex, NEH Region and Director, ATARI, Umiam also attended the meeting. Dr. N. Prakash presented the technologies developed by ICAR RC for NEH and Dr. Deka highlighted how KVK set up is actively participating in dissemination of technologies. The Commissioner of Agriculture highlighted that only 30% of the food grains are produced in Mizoram. Mr. Lalthanliana mentioned that farming community in Mizoram are facing multi-faceted problems. Mr. Lalsawta emphasized on developing viable alternatives to Jhum cultivation which is responsible for meager yields. Dr. S. Desai, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CRIDA made a presentation on “Sensitization on District Agricultural Contingency Plans to meet the weather aberration impacts on agriculture in Mizoram”.The Commissioner & Secretary, Agriculture appreciated the efforts and emphasized on more sensitization about DACPs among district officials. The meeting ended with vote of thanks by Ms. Shakuntala, JD, ICAR Research Complex, Kolasib centre. Contingency Plans Interface meeting in progress Interface meeting at Mizoram July - December, 2018 5 Technology Transfer Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with SHGs & women groups at ICAR-CRIDA Web telecasting of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with SHGs & Women’s groups was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra – Ranga Reddy District, ICAR-CRIDA on 12.07.2018 in KVK Campus, Hayathnagar Research Farm, ICAR-CRIDA. About 74 SHG women from four different villages of Ranga Reddy District, Telangana State participated. The Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with SHG women emphasized on improving the economic status of farm families through supporting SHG women by strengthening the Self Help Groups. The Prime Minister highlighted about DAY-NRLM programme (Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission). Almost 30 lakh SHG women are being supported under Mahila Kisan Sashakthikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) to promote sustainable agriculture practices and the objective of Mission Antyodaya is to develop poverty free panchayats. Web telecasting of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with SHGs & women’s groups Parthenium awareness week organized Training cum awareness programme on integrated management of Parthenium was organized by KVK-CRIDA, Ranga Reddy District on 21st August, 2018. About 50 participants from Agriculture College, farmers, teaching and extension officials attended the programme. Subject matter specialists from KVK-CRIDA highlighted the technical aspects of Parthenium management, invasion of Parthenium in India, plant physiology-spread, impact and harmful effects of weed on crop, composting of weed. Displayed posters and removed weeds from demo plots and office premises of KVK. National nutrition month organized The theme for National Nutrition Month for 2018 was "Go Further with Food". On this occasion, organized 3 training programmes and method demonstrations i.e. (i) Prevention of anaemia – preparation of low cost nutritious recipes on 6th September, 2018, (ii) Value addition to millet products as food security & income generating activity on 11th September, 2018, (iii) Demonstration on dried green leafy vegetables – different recipes to prevent Iron & Calcium deficiency on 18th September, 2018 in KVK adopted villages Gummadivelli, Kolanguda and Nerrapally, for about 291 women. These programmes involved total 291 women, of which 67 were SC /ST, 224 were others. Distributed 200 drumstick plants as part of National Nutrition Week to women of self help groups. National women farmers’ day (Mahila Kisan Divas) & technology day National Women Farmers’ Day (Mahila Kisan Divas) and Technology Day was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra-Ranga Reddy District, ICAR-CRIDA on 15th October, 2018 at Hayathnagar Research Farm with the participation of women farmers from Ranga Reddy district. Dr. V. Maruthi, Head & Principal Scientist, KVK briefed the importance of the day and women’s role in agriculture. Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), ICAR-CRIDA, presided over as Chief Guest and addressed about the women farmers’ role in agriculture, drudgery management practices to be followed by women farmers, nutritional disorders and health issues. Dr. Y. G. Prasad, Director, ATARI, Guest of honour, requested the women farmers to utilize skill training programmes of KVK related to dairy and floriculture and NARI (Nutri sensitive agri-resources and innovations) programme of ICAR through KVK. The resource persons Dr. K. Aruna, Professor and Head (Retd.), AICRP (Home Science) informed the women farmers about the health, nutrition, diet, nutritive value of millets and gave a detailed presentation on nutritional disorders and remedies. Sri DGP Sharma, Senior Executive officer, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has explained different schemes in KVIC, loan facilities and Honey production and rearing techniques. Two brochures on Good management practices of chickpea and redgram cultivation, pamphlets on fall army worm in maize, pink bollworm in cotton, hydroponics in fodder cultivation, balanced nutrition diet for livestock were released. Five progressive women farmers and women entrepreneurs from Ranga Reddy District were felicitated on this occasion. National women farmers’ day celebration CRIDA - Newsletter 6 World soil day organized ICAR-CRIDA celebrated world soil day on 5th December, 2018 at ICAR- CRIDA under the Chairmanship of Dr. G. Ravindra Chary, Director (In charge), ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad. Around 200 participants comprising of students, scientists, technical officers, KVK officials attended the awareness programme. Dr. G. Ravindra Chary explained historical background of World Soil Day, the usage of Soil Health Cards and its interpretation for effective nutrient management in the field crops for sustainable crop yields. Dr. K.L. Sharma, Principal Scientist, educated the participating students about the importance of soils and clarified the doubts raised by the students. The students were sensitized about the importance of soils through demonstrations, posters and exhibits and practical insights to laboratories. On this occasion posters on “Know your soils”, “Soil profile” and “Identification of Nutrient deficiencies in Plants and Crops” were displayed for the benefit of the students. Dr. G. Ravindra Chary, Director (In-Charge) addressing students Kisan Diwas organized during Swachhtha Pakhwada KVK-CRIDA, Ranga Reddy District organized one day Kisan Diwas on 23rd December, 2018 as a part of Swachhtha Pakhwada (16-31st December, 2018). Dr. V. Maruthi, Principal Scientist & Head, KVK welcomed the invited farmers from 12 mandals of Ranga Reddy District and enlightened the objectives of the Kisan Diwas. Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad was the Chief Guest. He explained to the farmers about the importance of Swachatha and also emphasized to prepare manure from the wastes generated on farmers’ fields. Dr. K. Srinivas, Principal Scientist & OIC, HRF shared experiences on Swachhta initiatives by farmers and civil society officials. Farmers were felicitated based on the initiatives/adoptable measurers expressed during the interaction. SMSs from KVK gave lectures on Good Agricultural Practices in horticulture, agriculture, women empowerment and animal husbandry. Farmers visited demonstration units, exhibition, posters presentation of KVK and gained knowledge. About 107 members including farmers, farm women, ADAs, AOs, AEOs, ATMA officials attended the programme and got handful information with printed literature. Felicitation to farmer during Swachhatha Pakhwada Around 200 farmers including farm women and school going children participated in the awareness campaign of Swachhtha Pakhwada in Farmers First Village. The people were trained in the knowledge about segregation of biodegradable and nondegradable wastes. AICRPs XV Biennial workshop of AICRPAM organized The XVth Biennial workshop of the AICRP on Agrometeorology (AICRPAM) was organized at Regional Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Vijayapura, Karnataka during 15-17 November, 2018. Participants of XV Biennial workshop, AICRPAM The objective of the workshop was to review the research progress made during 2017-18 and finalization of the technical program for the year 2018-2020. Monsoon mission II project meeting at ICRISAT Monsoon mission II project meeting was held at ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad on 10th September, 2018. Dr. Peter Carberry, DG, ICRISAT, Dr. G. Ravindra Chary, Director (In-charge), Dr. P. Vijaya Kumar and Dr. AVM. Subba Rao from AICRPAM, ICAR-CRIDA, Dr. Suryachandra Rao, Associate Mission Director, Shri S.M.D. Jeelani, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, Dr. Anthony Whitbread, Research Program Director, Dr. AVR Kesava Rao, Dr. K.P.C. Rao and Dr. D. Ram, ICRISAT July - December, 2018 7 National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Sixth NICRA Annual Review Workshop Organized A two day Annual Review workshop of National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) was inaugurated by Dr. T. Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR at NASC, New Delhi on 7th August, 2018. Chhabilendra Roul, Special Secretary, DARE & Secretary, ICAR, Shri B. Pradhan, FA & Additional Secretary, DARE & ICAR, Dr. K. Alagusundaram, DDG (Agril. Engg. & NRM I/c), Dr. AK Singh, DDG (Agril. Extn.), Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, DDG (Hort. Science & Crop Sciences I/c), Dr. Joykrushna Jena, DDG (Fisheries), Dr. S Bhaskar, ADG (A, AF&CC), Dr. SK Chaudhari, ADG (SWM), Dr. K Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad and NICRA Expert Committee Members viz., Dr. B Venkateswarlu, Ex-VC,Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth Krishinagar, Parbhani; Dr. V Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU, Hyderabad; Dr. CL Acharya, Ex-Director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal; Dr. KK Singh, ADG (Farm Engg.), ICAR; Dr. YS Ramakrishna, ExDirector, ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad; Dr. HE Shashidhar, Retired Professor of Genetics, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru; Dr. RC Upadhyay, Principal Scientist (Retd.) NDRI, Karnal; Dr. AG Ponniah, Ex-Director, ICAR-CIBA, Chennai; Prof. UC Mohanty, Professor IIT, Bhubaneswar; Dr. NK Krishna Kumar, Coordinator, Biodiversity International, New Delhi; Dr. Praduman Kumar, Ex-Head, Economics, IARI, New Delhi, Dr. N. Sudhakar, Ex-Director, ATARI and Dr. H. Senapati, Former Dean, OUAT, Bhubaneshwar, Chairmen of Zonal monitoring teams and Director