Road to sustainable agriculture
By I.S. Sharma
THOUGH the Green Revolution in mid-sixties, with modern crop production technologies has considerably raised output to meet the increasing demand for foodgrains, it has created the problems of land degradation, pesticide residues in farm produce, gene erosion, atmospheric and water pollution. So the concept of sustainable agriculture is the worldwide priority area of research for optimising the crop productivity, resource conservation and environmental protection.

Olive as alternative crop
By Kanwar Yogendra
WITH the successive failure of the apple crop in Himachal Pradesh the farmers and agricultural experts are a worried lot. Experts are now looking for alternatives like diversification in horticulture and floriculture. Out of that olive cultivation can also be taken up as one of the options and a reliable alternative or a future fruit symbolising Himachal Pradesh.

Higher burden on Punjab farmer
By Anil Bansal
PUNJAB is primarily an agriculture-based state and an enhancement in price of any input directly affects its people. It is not denied that enhancement in tax directly increases the revenue of the government which, in turn, is to be utilised for the welfare of the state. In some cases, although tax is enhanced, the actual increase in revenue may not match the expected increase, but the burden on people increases. About 70 to 80 per cent of lubricants are being used by farmers in Punjab.

Jojoba—plant with many properties
By S. S. Sirohi

THE first mention of this shrub in literature was by a Mexican historian, Francisco J. Clavijero, who observed that Indians of Baja California relished the fruit of jojoba for food and oil as a medicine for cancer and kidney disorders. Due to increasing importance of the plant, a large number of common names were introduced like buchnut, bushnut, coffee berry, coffee bush, goat berry, goat nut, hohowi (the original Indian name), jojoba, jajobe, nut bush, quinine nut, wild hazel nut and lemon leaf. The present commonly used name jojoba (hohoba) is the one being used by colonial Spaniards who took it from the Popago Indian name, “jojowi” (Gentry, 1965).

Jojoba — botanically called as simmondsia chinensis (link) schneider — has been under great controversy due to nomenclature speculations and is considered under the family of Buxaceae. The plant is an evergreen desert shrub native to the Sonoran desert of Arizona, California and north-western Mexico. The climate of these areas is very harsh since the summer temperature there is as high as 54°C and the winter temperature is as low as minus 5°C. The plant survives on rocks, gravel and sand but is unfit for undrained soils.

As a potential oilseed crop, jojoba has generated universal fascination among agricultural scientists, farmers and industrialists due to its seed oil content (liquid wax) of about 50 per cent and a possible substitute for sperm whale oil — a product derived from an endangered species.

Jojoba oil is not a fat but ‘liquid wax’. Fats differ from waxes in being composed of one molecule of glycerine to which three molecules of fatty acids are attached, while waxes are composed of one molecule of a long chain alcohol to which one molecule of a fatty acid is attached.

Jojoba is the only plant in the world known to produce such a unique substance. The characteristics of jojoba seed oil are similar to those of sperm whale oil which occupies a unique place among animal fats and oils. It has been estimated that one acre of jojoba cultivation can save 50 sperm whales.

The oil is widely used in pharmaceuticals cosmetics and lubricants because of its oiliness, wetting properties and non-drying characteristics. The plant has attained the status of an industrial crop and has immense potential as a new crop species for human welfare.

Jojoba seeds have long been used by indigenous desert people to dress wounds, facilitate child birth, cure stomach problems and restore hair growth.

The plant is a woody shrub, often multistemmed and about 2-3 metres high. The leaves are leathery bluish green opposite and evergreen. The leaf has a very high percentage of dry matter that gives it mechanical rigidity and prevents wilting under heavy water stress.

Jojoba seed which develop in a capsule certains no endosperum. The two closely oppressed fleshly cotyledons are filled with liquid wax. During seed maturation, there is a definite increase in oil content per seed. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants. The reproductive system is adapted so as to avoid imposing stress on the plant during times of maximum evapo-transpiration or drought by controlling flowering through the effects of temperature and water status on flower bud dermancy. The fruit (capsule) develops within about three months complete maturation.

Jojoba, being a polyploid, provides a large potential for breeding varieties for agricultural use. The variability that exists in morphological and physiological characteristics such as growth rate, yield, plant habit, frequency of floral buds and flowering date, allows the plant breeder to select or breed suitable, high-yielding varieties.

Jojoba oil has high potential as a lubricant.

Because of its chemical similarity to sperm whale oil, jojoba seed oil is a possible substitute of proven efficacy. Jojoba oil is a renewable vegetable product, while sperm oil is an animal product and if the exploitation continues there is danger to the survival of this species. Jojoba oil is light yellow, non-saturated liquid of unusual stability. The oil has high boiling and freezing points. It has high thermal stability, smoke, flash and fire points.

The oil has aesthetic and technical qualities to make it a basic cosmetic ingredient. It is being used in the USA for the production of shampoos, bath oil, hand lotions, shaving creams, lipsticks, vanishing creams and skin freshners. It is also being used for the production of penicillin-G. It can also be used as an edible oil.

Jojoba research is being done in Mexico, Israel, Japan, Australia, Germany, Iraq, Iran and Denmark.

Because of xerophytic nature of the species and its high efficiency of water use, efforts have been concentrated on developing this crop for arid zones. Because of the tolerance of jojoba to salinity, it is possible to irrigate the species with water that is unsuitable for other crops.

The Department of Non-Conventional Energy Resources, New Delhi, is coordinating the introduction and utilisation of jojoba in India. The Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, and the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, have made significant efforts to promote its cultivation in drier parts of the country. Several private organisations and farmers are also showing interest in jojoba cultivation in several areas.

Road to sustainable agriculture
By I.S. Sharma

THOUGH the Green Revolution in mid-sixties, with modern crop production technologies has considerably raised output to meet the increasing demand for foodgrains, it has created the problems of land degradation, pesticide residues in farm produce, gene erosion, atmospheric and water pollution. So the concept of sustainable agriculture is the worldwide priority area of research for optimising the crop productivity, resource conservation and environmental protection.

According to recent definition, sustainable agriculture is a balanced management system of renewable resources, including soil, wild life, forests crops, fish, livestock, plant genetic resources and eco-systems without degradation and to provide food for the current and future generations, maintaining or improving productivity and eco-system services of these resources”. The important steps in sustainable agriculture are the watershed management, conservation of genetic resources, efficient water management, conservation of soil fertility and bioregulation.

The term allopathy was first coined by German scientist Hans Molisch, in 1937, which refers to all the biochemical interactions (inhibitory or stimulatory) among plants. In the past 60 years lot of research has been done on the basic and applied aspects of allopathy. Hence the International Allopathy Society gave new definition of allopathy which refers to “any process involving secondary metabolites produced by plants, micro-organisms and fungi that influence the growth and development of agricultural and biological system (excluding animals). In organisational aspects, India stands first in the world in four aspects — the Indian Society of Allopathy established in 1990 at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, the International conferences on allopathy organised in 1992, 1994 and 1998; Allopathy Journal: publication started in 1994; and books: eight books on allopathy have been published and two are in press. Besides, the International Allopathy Society, USA, was established during the second international congress on allopathy at New Delhi in 1994.

To develop sustainable agricultural practices in the burning need of the day. Allopathy is a new science which has many applications in agro-ecosystem and provides a basis to achieve the goal of sustainable agriculture. It is a multi-disciplinary area of research involving agricultural (agro-forestry, horticulture and agronomy), biological (botany and zoology) and environmental sciences. The science of allopathy is similar to the ayurveda system of human medicines, because both of these systems use plants or plant extracts to control plant pests and human diseases, respectively.

The chemicals or secondary metabolites that impose allelopathic influences are called allelochemicals and are present in all the plant tissues — leaves, flower, fruits, stem, roots, rhizomes and seeds.

These allelochemicals influence physiological and biological processes — cell division and elongation, growth, mineral uptake, respiration, photosynthesis, protein synthesis and conductance of water, etc. The following are the principal steps of sustainable agriculture through which the allelopathic reactions among plants or micro-organisms help to minimise the pesticides and fertiliser inputs, check the soil erosion, control the plant diseases and provide a cleaner environment.

Integrated pest management:

Weeds management: Allelopathic interactions may help in weed management through suppression of weed seed germination, suppression of weed growth and use of plant residues and allelopathic crops in crop rotation systems. Certain allelochemicals like phenolic compounds, terpenoids and alkaloids have been developed as natural herbicides which would be free from the harmful effects that are caused by synthetic herbicides.

Insect pest management:

— Through the development of resistant varieties: Based on allelochemical control of plants the following crop varieties have been developed which are resistant to certain insects.

— Through antibiotic allelochemicals: Certain allelochemicals like phenolic compounds, sapon in, alkaloids, etc. act as antibiotics and may not allow the growth, survival and reproduction of certain insects.

— Nematode management: Certain plant species like calotropis procere and leucaena leucocephalla can control the nematodes through allelopathic interactions effectively. Some microbial products such as avernetins also have proved to be potent nematicidal.

— Plant disease control: Most of the compounds involved in resistance of hosts to pathogens are allelochemicals and phytoalexins. Many plants produce allelochemicals which render the plant resistance to diseases caused by pathogens. Some of the micro-organisms living in the roots of host plants produce such allelochemicals which prove fatal for the pathogenic bacteria.

Enhancement of soil fertility: In the cereal-legume mixed cropping systems, as is practised in northern India, the indirect interactions among the allelochemicals released from cereal crop plants cause nodulation among the rhizobia of the legume crop and hence increases the soil fertility indirectly.

Bioregulation: The exogenous and non-nutrient allelochemicals act as bioregulators. They manipulate the growth and development of plants and function by interaction with endogenous phytohormone groups. Their action includes growth retardation, senescene and flowering stimulation among plants. The main allelochemical growth regulators are agrostenin, tricontanol and brassinolide.

Therefore, to provide clean environment to the future generations, to avoid health hazards in human beings and livestock allelopathic techniques that encourage more intensive sustainable agricultural production, land not subjected to degradation; should essentially be adopted in farming practices.

Olive as alternative crop
By Kanwar Yogendra

WITH the successive failure of the apple crop in Himachal Pradesh the farmers and agricultural experts are a worried lot. Apple is the top commercial crop in the state, especially the higher regions where other agricultural crops are not that thriving and profitable. But now with its collapse at certain places and stagnation at others, the experts are looking for some other alternatives like diversification in horticulture and floriculture. Out of that olive cultivation can also be taken up as one of the options and a reliable alternative or a future fruit symbolising Himachal Pradesh.

Some time ago only wild olive plantation used to exist in the state and that too in a very scattered way. The wild variety called olia caspidata was found at places like Sirmaur, Chamba, Kulu and Mandi at heights of about 1000 to 1300 metres. A proper cultivation of olive plants was taken up in Himachal later at places like Kinggus in Mandi and Bijora in Kulu, with some necessary knowhow from the Italian Government. But it is taken up and grown at a miniscule level all over the state.

Olive, a broad-leaved plant is known basically for its fruit and oil. The famous olive oil is rich in vitamin E which helps in combating cancer and heart diseases. A tablespoon of the oil, if taken daily, reduces blood pressure.

Olive oil is mono-saturated oil like groundnut and sesame and helps in lowering the blood cholesterol. The fatty acids in olive oil also resemble those in breast milk and is a good base for baby foods. It also has anti-clogging properties for preventing any kind of blood clots. It helps the gall bladder to contract effectively so that no gall stones are formed.

The fruit of olive is used for making pickles also. The plant is grown slightly on lower heights as too much of snow proves harmful for it. It requires a chilling period of about 500 to 1500 hours depending on the variety of the plant. The temperature required is 15 to 20°C with sufficient sunlight.

The olive plant can be prepared with semi-hard cuttings and grafting. July and August are the best months for plantation of olive as it requires maximum water. Nitrogen, potassium and natural manure can be used as fertilisers.

The olive fruit gets ready by November to be plucked in phases. The finest olive oil is obtained from fruits which are gathered just as they ripen and turn black. The first oil extract is termed as “extra virgin” olive oil. It is fragrant with a rich, deep yellow-greenish hue and a full bodied flavour. It is retailed up to Rs 1,500 per litre. Further processing is done for second and third extractions.

With so many health benefits of olive oil, this king of oil was called liquid gold by Homer. The lower and middle heights of some districts of Himachal Pradesh can prove ideal for olive plantation. About 30 to 35 kg of fruit is obtained from a single plant. Both seed and flesh of the fruit contains the oil and it constitutes about 25 to 50 per cent of the weight of a fresh fruit.

Himachal Pradesh can be a major producer of olive oil if it takes up its plantation seriously in the coming times and can add to the already existing market of five million tonnes of olive oil.

Higher burden on Punjab farmer
By Anil Bansal

PUNJAB is primarily an agriculture-based state and an enhancement in price of any input directly affects its people. It is not denied that enhancement in tax directly increases the revenue of the government which, in turn, is to be utilised for the welfare of the state. In some cases, although tax is enhanced, the actual increase in revenue may not match the expected increase, but the burden on people increases. About 70 to 80 per cent of lubricants are being used by farmers in Punjab. The state government recently enhanced tax on auto lubricants from 8.8 to 13.2 per cent. The tax on auto lubricants/industrial oils in Chandigarh is only 8 per cent and in Haryana it is 10 per cent.

Due to increase in tax in Punjab, lubricants will be costly as compared to the adjoining states. At present when tax was 8.8 per cent, there was about 2000 kl monthly sales out of which 90 per cent was of auto-lubricants and only 10 per cent is of industrial oil.

This will directly affect sales in Punjab and dealers will be tempted to purchase the same from Chandigarh or Haryana, resulting in decreased sales in Punjab. The expected decrease will be about 50 per cent in case of lubricants and about 80 per cent in case of industrial oils. This will deprive the government of the revenue and actual receipt of revenue is likely to be even less than that available when tax was 8.8 per cent.

In the case of industrial oil most of the users will purchase the same from Chandigarh against form ‘C’ by making payment of 1 per cent CST and no tax will be available to the Punjab Government because this will be covered under their sales tax licence. When tax was 8.8 per cent they used to purchase the same from Punjab even though it was taxable at first stage.

Rapeseed and mustard:

— To save the crop from frost damage, apply irrigation to raya and gobhi sarson.

— Spray the crop with 250 g Blitox or Inofil M45 in 100 litres of water per acre for the control of alternaria blight/downy mildew. Start sprays when the crop is 75-day-old. Repeat spray at 15 days’ interval.

— For avoiding attack of aphid and leaf minor in raya, spray 250-400 ml of Metasystox 25 EC or Rogor 30 EC or Thiodan 35 EC/Ekalux 25 EC/Anthio 25 EC/Malathion 50 EC or 375-600 ml Dursban/Coroban 20 EC or 100 ml of Dimecron 85 SL in 125 litres of water per acre. The crop meant for “sag” purpose should be sprayed with 350 ml of Malathion 50 EC. Observe for a waiting period of one week after this spray to pick “sag”.

Sugarcane:

— Start crushing/harvesting (mill purpose) mid season varieties (CoJ 84, CoJ 82 and CoS 767) and the late-maturing variety (Co 1148) which matures during the end of January.

— Protect the seed crop against frost by giving frequent irrigation. Frost injury results in low germination of sugarcane.

— The sugarcane crop meant to be rationed, may be harvested as close to the ground as possible to promote better sprouting, and burn the trash immediately.

— Irrigate the harvested field, plough in between the cane rows to control weeds.

— The larvae of stalk borer over winter in stubbles/water shoots. Its attack can be minimised by collecting the stumps and destroy them and avoid ratooning of such infested fields.
(Progressive Farming, PAU)