Rodent management and control
By Naresh Kumar Gulati
Rodents are important vertebrate pests of agricultural crops. There are about 500 species of rats throughout the world. In India their number is six times more than the human population. It is estimated that the food eaten by six rats is equal to the requirements of one human being. Apart from eating the food material, the rats also contaminate 20 times more than what they consume with their faeces, urine, hair and sometimes with their dead bodies. Besides causing damage to the agricultural sector, they are the causal agent of various diseases.

How to select poplar plants
From Khushwant Ahluwalia
GROWING poplars has caught up in a big way among farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. To meet the immense requirements of poplars, a lot of forest companies and part-time farmers are providing farmers with low quality and negligently brought up poplar nurseries. With their mushroom growth all over North India, poplar growers are in a dilemma from where to buy good poplar plants for better poplar yield.

Trend-setter in mango cultivation
By Dharmender Thakur

IF determination to do something is strong, success and fame can flow easily even in the fields of horticulture and agriculture.

Bhure Ram, resident of Dhaula Kuan, near Paonta Sahib, in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, is one such progressive farmer whose farsightedness and hard work drove him to leave the job of a daily-waged labourer in the Horticulture Department, and start his own nursery of exotic varieties of mango.

He is the forerunner of the revolution in mango cultivation, fast catching up in this region and adjoining areas of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana where climate is excellent for the mango crop.

He has successfully grafted southern and western varieties like alphonso, sindhu kesar and topasso, which are popular in Maharashtra, Madras and Bangalore and fetch good returns in overseas market.

This man having unending desire for raising improved varieties of mango, has so far distributed more than 20 lakh saplings of mango to growers in the district, besides the entire North India, especially Haryana, Punjab and UP farmers come to his nursery to collect plants and seek advice on proper upkeep of orchards.

Hundreds of mango orchards have come up in the lower belt of Sirmaur district and Bhure Ram has definitely contributed towards spreading this culture in this belt where traditional crops of wheat and maize often fail because of poor soil texture and paucity of rain.

He is using the drip irrigation technique developed in Israel where sprinklers are used to irrigate plants at the time to ward-off effects of frost to plants in winter days. He advises farmers to practice the age-old fumigation method in winter to save plants from frost or use sprinklers, if they can afford.

Whenever he learns anything about new mangoes, he loses no time to collect information. He said: “I am crazy about of procuring rare varieties of mango and interested in going abroad to get those varieties of mango which are not available in India to grow in my nursery.”

He has been to Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other parts of India in search of mango plants.

Rodent management and control
By Naresh Kumar Gulati

Rodents are important vertebrate pests of agricultural crops. There are about 500 species of rats throughout the world. In India their number is six times more than the human population. It is estimated that the food eaten by six rats is equal to the requirements of one human being. Apart from eating the food material, the rats also contaminate 20 times more than what they consume with their faeces, urine, hair and sometimes with their dead bodies. Besides causing damage to the agricultural sector, they are the causal agent of various diseases.

Rodents are prolific breeders with a gestation period of around 21 days and with number of young ones up to 20 per female. Mice reach maturity in 45 days and rat in 90 days. It is calculated that one pair of rats in favourable conditions could produce 35 crore offspring in three years. However, such a geometrical progression of rodents is countered by various factors operated by nature. Rodents' breeding activity depends upon the climate and food supply. Generally their breeding activity coincides with the crop maturity periods when adequate food is available. About 10 days after the birth, rats develop teeth which grow continuously throughout the animal's life at the rate of 12.5 cm per year. They have only one pair of these chisel-shaped incisor teeth and no canines. The rodents can live up to seven days without food and two days with water.

Some of the important species of rodents found in India are: house rat, house mouse, Norway rat, smaller bandicoot and larger bandicoot, etc.

For the effective control of rats in houses, stores, war houses, fields, etc. integrated techniques need to be adopted. Integrated rodents management is a strategy in which various control techniques are applied in an integral fashion, making the maximum use of natural mortality factors and need-based control measures. The various techniques adopted for rodents' control under the IPM are cultural control practices, mechanical practices, biological and chemical practices.

Cultural control practices: Deep ploughing up to 18 inches, reduction of size and trimming of the field bundhs at the land preparation time would certainly go a long way in controlling rodents. The rodents control can best be achieved by understanding the basic needs of the rodents. Weed management, removing of burrows, etc. reduce not only shelter but also the alternative food availability. Simultaneously planting prevents rodents' migration from harvested fields to unharvested fields. Guarding of rat attacks by means of rodent-proof containers, plastering storage structures and removing various causes help in the rodents' infestation. By obstructing the entry of rats into the houses, stores, etc, the rodent problem can be solved to a large extent.

Mechanical Control: Trapping to rats is an economical and effective way of reducing rodent population. Trapped rats should be killed by drowning cages in pounds, etc and the dead rats should be buried deep in the soil. The general trend among the people is that the trapped rats are released in the nearby fields. This practice should be discouraged. Sometimes it is seen that the released rats come back to their original place.

Biological control: Their are a number of predators present in this universe contributing to the natural regulation of rodent population. Snakes, owls, eagles, mangooses, etc are well known predators of rats and they contribute to keep the rodent population low. Keeping cats in houses also checks the rat population.

Chemical control: The various other measures often will not adequately control rodents. If these are supplemented with chemical control the effectiveness of programme would be increased.

The chemical used is called rodenticides. Two different types of poison is available — stomach poison and respiratory poison. The stomach poison has two types of rodenticides — single-dose and multiple-dose poison. Single-dose poison or acute poison is preferred because of its good results. Zinc phosphide is the most popular rodenticide because of its quick effect and good acceptability by rats. The bait should be prepared by mixing two parts of zinc phosphide with 96 parts of wheat flour or foodgrains and two parts of any edible oil. It has been seen that after the application to zinc phosphide in the live burrows rodents will be killed within 24 hours. But the residual population would become bait shy and will not eat the bait. So the residual burrows could be fumigated with aluminium phosphide at the rate of 1.5 gm per burrow. Multiple dose poison or chronic baiting is slow poisoning. This is fed to the target rodents. The advantage of this poison is that the bait shyness is avoided and chances of accidental poisoning of non-target animals are minimised. The baits are available in three forms — ready to use, dry bait and water bait. Ready-to-use bait can be fed to the rodents directly, while the dry and water-based baits are prepared. Rats in this case start dying after six-seven days. The baiting should be continued for 21 days to get good results.

The third process of rat killing is fumigation. Before fumigation, the live burrows in the fields should be located. This could be done by closing the burrows with loose earth or paper balls, etc on the first day and the fumigation done on the second day. The burrow should be tightly closed immediately after fumigation. Fumigation of rat burrows should not be done during rainy days.

The rodent control by trapping or poisoning, etc. may reduce their population from 80 to 90 per cent, but this often fails to prevent rodent damage because of their fast immigration behaviour. So it is suggested that rodent control measures should be undertaken on the village basis. The significant results could be achieved during summer months when the rodent population will be the minimum.

Forest farming in Himachal Pradesh
By Mahipal Singh

BEFORE the formation of Himachal Pradesh in 1948, no attention was paid to the economic development or social welfare of the people of this region. None of the erstwhile hill states was an economically viable unit and exploitation of the vast natural resources of the area was not even thought of. The British cared merely for the cantonment towns and for those places which they chose as their summer resorts. The people continued to depend on land. The land was scarce due to hilly terrain and then the best of it was with the rulers or their relatives. It was only after the formation of Himachal Pradesh that the people and the government of this hill state started making concerted efforts to improve their own economic condition and thus that of the state. Today the economy of Himachal Pradesh is based on a number of factors like agriculture, horticulture forests, hydel power and road transport.

Himachal Pradesh has extensive forests which cover almost an area of 37,591 square km. About 25 per cent of the total revenue comes from the forest. Besides, they provide employment to nearly five lakh persons and grazing facilities to about 20 lakh animals. The forests also form the catchment area for big rivers like the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Yamuna.

The forest of this state had been exploited to produce mainly timber and railway sleepers. This type of primitive usage has resulted in a great wastage of valuable wood which could otherwise be utilised to feed wood-based industry. It was indeed essential to formulate a forest policy in order to streamline forest working in the state. The state government has taken numerous decisions in the context and promulgated important Acts. There has been a marked change in the concept of conventional forestry on account of drastic changes in the socio-economic condition of the people and the environment. Previously efforts were concentrated on raising plantations and carrying our regeneration works only in the government forests but now the concept of farm forestry or social forestry has been introduced in the state forest policy.

A major change in the forest policy of the state was effected in April, 1978, by adopting the concept of three-dimensional forest farming (TDFF). The new forest policy stressed the need of involvement of the masses in plantation programmes on the one hand and highlighted the importance of raising plantations on the other with the three objects in view — soil conservation, production of timber and of fodder for the domestic cattle. Thus, the concept of multi-utility function of the wood was included in the new forest policy. The department was designated as Department of Forest Farming and Environmental Conservation in sequel to the new forest policy. In pursuance of this policy, the government decided to involve the panchayats for the maintenance of new plantations raised by the Forest Department in the areas reserved for grazing.

The TDFF merged with social forestry/farm forestry with the passage of time. Consequently, social forestry/farm forestry schemes were initiated during 1979-80. A 20 year perspective plan starting from 1981-82 has been prepared for forestry, soil conservation and water management in the pradesh in pursuance of the state forest policy. The estimated area likely to be available for carrying out afforestation work in about 20,000 sq km.

Social Forestry has assumed importance on the one hand on account of denundation of forests and, on the other, on account of an increase in population. The net result of deforestation is soil erosion and scarcity of fire wood which is the major source of energy in villages. In view of these problems the state government has embarked upon a social forestry programme to prevent further deforestation and gainful utilisation of forest wealth. Under this programme main emphasis is laid on raising plantations of fast growing deciduous trees which will yield leaf fodder, fire wood, wood for agricultural implements and packing cases required for transporting fruits and vegetables to the markets. The plantation under the above scheme is raised on undemarcated protected forests and other government lands situated in the vicinity of villages. Plantations of commercially important tree species required for the wood-based industry are being raised in the government forest.

Steps have also been taken to promote the fishing and tourism industry which are associated with forestry. The economy of the state is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in time with such measures adopted by the government.

How to select poplar plants
From Khushwant Ahluwalia

GROWING poplars has caught up in a big way among farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. To meet the immense requirements of poplars, a lot of forest companies and part-time farmers are providing farmers with low quality and negligently brought up poplar nurseries. With their mushroom growth all over North India, poplar growers are in a dilemma from where to buy good poplar plants for better poplar yield.

Wrong propaganda by nursery growers that all poplar nurseries are the same and the gullibility of the common farmer has led to irreparable losses to the farmers who are realising the after effects of defective poplar nurseries.

Poplar plantation takes place in January and February when the plant in the nursery is still dormant. Poplar is a winter deciduous plant and it sheds its leaves by the end of October leaving itself in a state of dormancy for about four months.

This dormancy, with a naked eye, restricts a farmer to check any signs of prior disease,fungi and health of the plant.

As a farmer growing poplars I am of the view that September-October is the right time to do nursery hopping to identify the right source and earmark the poplar saplings which are to be planted.

While selecting a nursery there are vital checks which determine a good quality nursery and price should not be an important factor when selecting it.

First of all shortlist renowned companies and growers who are qualified to raise good poplar nurseries. They will have pure clones of poplar plants. All clones have different characteristics and different clones in the same field hamper growth of each plant. For example, if you plant a slow growing clone in the middle of two faster growing trees the taller ones will never allow the growth of the smaller plants, thus effecting the economics of the project.

Poplar nurseries are usually infested with termite and stem borer and proper prevention has to be taken to avoid this menace in the nursery . Good growers take care of this aspect and treat the soil from time to come to prevent their attack. Checking poplar plants now will enable you to see for yourself if there is any lunch problem. The leaves at the top of the poplar plant go dry if there is termite in the root zone or borer stem. If you see this phenomenon in a majority of saplings, reject the nursery outrightly.

During Monsoons, a lot of nurseries are plagued with fungal diseases . Anthracnose and blight pose a major threat to the poplar nursery. Timely sprays are required to check these fungi. By selecting a nursery at this time, these fungi are visible on the top part of the plants. After October once the leaves would shed, there is no way to determine if anthracnose and blight are rampant in the plants.

Another important factor to note is whether straight leaders have been created and the poplar plants are injury free from points where pruning has been done.

After satisfying yourself on these guidelines there are a few more points to be kept in mind when taking the delivery of the plants. Do not to take tall poplar plants as they have a higher casualty rate. Take plants between12 feet and 16 feet in height as they will give you the best results. Due to the cold weather some plants get frost bite on the tip. Avoid buying such plants.

Once the delivery is taken you can be assured of having bought a good poplar nursery and not being fleeced by people who have grown poplar nurseries just to make a fast buck.

— Animals must conceive within 60-90 days after calving. For this, watch the animals regularly in the morning and evening for heat symptoms like mucous discharge, decrease in milk yield, etc.

—When oestrus signs are observed, get the dairy animals inseminated/mated by adopting morning-evening formula. Animals seen in heat in the morning are to be inseminated in the evening and vice versa. Double insemination can be done in cows if their heat is prolonged.

—Provide clean, dry and good bedding, especially for young calves. Colostrum must be fed to calves. Get the new calves disbudded and dewormed within 10 days of birth. Apply antiseptic cream on wound regularly after dehorning.

—Keep the record of milk yield and cull the uneconomical animals to have more profit.

—Do grooming of calves regularly to keep them clean. This practice will also help in detecting wound or tick infection.

—The cross-bred animals are more susceptible to various diseases associated with change in climatic conditions. These animals and their calves are likely to get diarrhoea and other digestive troubles. The diarrhoea may be due to internal parasites. Seek veterinary advice early and get the calves dewormed and get the diarrhoea treated.

—Do milking quickly, cleanly, quietly and correctly with full hand for more milk yield.

—Regularly feed the mineral mixture to the animal and give fresh water and green fodder.

—The adult animals should be dewormed with broad spectrum anthelmintic. The anthelmintic used earlier should be changed in consultation with local veterinary doctor to avoid anthelmintic resistance.

—Prophylactic measures for control of tick, flies and mites should be taken.

Poultry

—Provide14-16 hours lights, including daylight, to your flock if the flock has come in production.

—Provide extra grit in addition to marble powder in feed for better quality of egg shell.

—Keep the litter dry by stirring it two-three times in a week. If there is any wet part of litter, remove it immediately. Keep the litter depth 4-5 inches.

—It is good time for raising broiler chicks. Get your chicks from a hatchery of repute.

—Provide broiler chick-feed for the first four weeks and then broiler finishes ration for two-three weeks to attain proper weight.

—Cull and sell the uneconomical birds to increase the profit.

—Always use good quality feed from dust and molds to avoid infections and drop in egg production.

—Be prepared for winter season and keep the curtain in good condition for prevention of winter chill.

Fish farming

—Resume organic manuring (120 kg/acre/week of cow dung or 60 kg/acre/week of poultry manure or 120 kg/acre/week of biogas sulurry) and inorganic fertiliser (16 kg/acre/week of single superphosphate) if these were suspended due to algal blooms or disease problem.

— Resume supplementary feeding (a mixture of deoiled rice or wheat bran 44 per cent, deoiled mustard oil-cake/soyabean oil-cake/sunflower oil-cake/groundnut oil-cake —44 per cent, fish meal/meat meal—10 per cent, mineral mixture/bone meal—1.5 per cent and common salt—0.5 percent @12kg/acre/day if it was discontinued due to algal blooms or disease problem.

—Sample fish to check its growth rate which can be considered satisfactory if between 75-100 g/month. If the growth rate is below, then contact the Department of Fisheries,Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, for advice.

—Progressive Farming, PAU