CCSHAU’s unique scheme for students
By V.P. Prabhakar
CHAUDHARY Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, has completed three decades of its existence this month and has decided to celebrate it by launching unique schemes for the welfare of both students and farmers in 2000-2001.

Allergic reactions of parthenium
By K.R. Aneja & S.A. Khan
CONGRESS grass (parthenium hysterophorus L.) is a noxious weed. The plant belongs to the sunflower family asteraceae, posing a great health hazard and playing havoc with the economy of nature. It is also known as carrot weed, bitter weed, white top, broom bush, carrot grass, chatak chandani, gajar ghass, gandhi booti, safed topi, osadi, gajari, phandaripuli and parthenium weed in different languages and dialects of India.

Tomato, brinjal on one plant
Two vegetables grown on one plant! This sounds incredible. But this has been made possible by a chowkidar, of course, under the supervision of a farm expert.

Farm operations for February

Exploitation of kinnow growers
By Khushwant Ahluwalia

MARKETING of horticulture produce till today remains a grey area for a farmer. His illiteracy and ignorance in this field leave him exploited and he is not duly rewarded for the kind of labour he puts in. There have been various efforts by the central and the state governments to facilitate marketing but somehow our political set-up lacks dynamism and farsightedness to present us with quality policies and infrastructure.

I was in Bangalore for the whole of January, marketing kinnows. Kinnow-laden trucks take about five to seven days to reach Bangalore from Hoshiarpur.

My aim was to meet my middleman and see for myself that how the market forces behaved and what was needed to improve our fruit acceptance in the South Indian market.

My advice to farmers would be that make sure that you are sending your produce to the right man. I was mobbed by arthias each offering an extra Rs 100 than the others. But when I asked them that they pay me in advance for one truck they retreated immediately. The bottom line is that don’t be lured by their sweet talk and make your own judgement.

I learnt that a farmer on being promised a higher rate had sent a truckload of kinnows to one such middleman and since he didn’t have any storage space and it was raining in Bangalore, the middleman sold the kinnows at a throwaway price and informed the farmer that because of bad weather this was the prevailing rate of the day.

Bangalore was flooded with kinnows from Punjab and Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. Farmers, owing to their ignorance, had once again flooded a potentially good market, thereby hindering the possibilities of higher profits. I fail to understand why respective state governments have not been able to find ways and means to channelise information regarding demand and supply of various horticulture produce. There is no method to determine the quantity of arrival of fruit and vegetables and also their daily price. It is only once the farmer has reached the mandi that he comes to know that the market is flooded with kinnows.

It is imperative to set up a coordination committee either by the kinnow growers themselves or the government to coordinate the inflow of kinnows from Punjab. An extra truckload means a drop in price up to 10 per cent.

In a weak market a farmer has no choice but to sell his produce at whatever price the middleman offers and this is where exploitation sets in.

Another big reason for the Bangalore market being flooded with kinnows is arthias of Delhi who diverted whatever kinnow comes to them for sale to Bangalore packed in wooden boxes. They pay the farmer the prevailing price in Delhi which is much less than the prevailing price in Bangalore.

Though there is little one can do to stop this practice, yet this is not honest trade. If one is indulging in such sort of an activity then he might as well keep the ethics alive and take the farmer into confidence and offer him a better price to procure his fruit. Basically small farmers who cannot afford to send their horticulture produce to far-off places fall prey to such exploitation. The government offers subsidies to promote marketing but their policies have failed to percolate to the lowest level and the smaller farmer remains stagnant.

In Bangalore one can get all kinds of fruit from India as well as abroad and is a distribution market to smaller townships like Madurai, Tirchinapalli, Mysore, etc. Much attention is paid to the cosmetic feature and size of the fruit and farmers should attempt to grow quality fruit on a tree rather than looking for more numbers on it.

A farmer should time his arrival in Bangalore well because there is a lot of orange which comes from Maharashtra, especially from Nagpur, and affects the price of kinnow. Nagpur has two crops and the gap between the two crops is ideal time to send kinnow.

It is time the farmers think on professional lines and become aware of their dues to avoid exploitation and in the process find ways and means to beat the middleman in his own game and put that extra buck in their pocket.

CCSHAU’s unique scheme for students
By V.P. Prabhakar

CHAUDHARY Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, has completed three decades of its existence this month and has decided to celebrate it by launching unique schemes for the welfare of both students and farmers in 2000-2001.

Agriculture and animal husbandry constitute more than 50 per cent of Haryana’s gross domestic product and agriculture provides direct employment to more than 70 per cent of its population.

Haryana agricultural University (HAU) was established in February 1970 at Hisar under the Haryana and Punjab Agricultural University Act, 1970, after the bifurcation of the erstwhile Punjab Agricultural University.

The name of Chaudhary Charan Singh was added to the university when the Tau, Mr Devi Lal, was Chief Minister of the state during 1987-89.

Over 130 high yielding and diseases resistant varieties of field crops, fruits, vegetables, fodder crops, medicinal plants, etc, have been developed scientists of this university over the past three decades. Haryana, which was a deficit state until 1966-67, has not only emerged as a self-sufficient in its foodgrain requirement but has also been contributing to the central pool to the extent of 40-45 lakh tonnes per year. According to a former Vice-Chancellor, Dr J.B. Chowdhaury, this evidently implies that this university has played a leading role in tiding over the foodgrain shortage and shaping the economies of the state as well as the country. This has been possible on account of research infrastructure and trained scientific manpower of the university.

No educational institution perhaps in the country has thought of the welfare of students in the manner the CCS Haryana Agricultural University has thought of.

In the fast-moving world of today, strikes are observed in the institutions and sometimes clashes do occur among student groups. Traffic hazards are also there. Hence, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr Vinay Kumar, has decided to protect his students and their parents by taking insurance policies for them. No other institution in the country has taken such a step. Along with this, a special programme for the training of farmers has also been chalked out.

Dr Vinay Kumar said that there were 2,200 students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the university. There are 48 disciplines.

He said that it had been decided, in principle, that every student on the rolls of the university would be insured against personal accidents leading to casualty, permanent or partial disability for an amount of Rs 1 lakh. In addition, it has also been decided that under the new “amritya shiksha yojna” policy for students of the group insurance scheme, the parents of every student on the rolls of the university would be insured against personal accidents for an amount of Rs 2 lakh.

Under this policy, in the case of any casualty of the parents or the student the insurance company shall pay the total expenditure involved in the education of the student at the university, including boarding, lodging, tuition fee, travelling, etc. A small amount of approximately Rs 15 per month will be included in the fee structure of the students for this purpose.

The Vice-Chancellor said that such an arrangement would ensure an uninterrupted education of the student in case of any eventuality. This would be implemented from the academic year 2000-2001. The National Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the General Insurance Corporation of India, is providing 35 to 50 per cent discount against group insurance of students for the purpose and Rs 15 per month per student for both policies is calculated after this discount.

As regards farmers, each Krishi Gyan Kendra (KGK) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) will adopt three new villages in 2000-2001. They will undertake various activities in these villages.

Each KVK/KGK will conduct training on various aspects of agriculture, animal science, veterinary sciences and home sciences.

Demostrations on different aspects of water management, weed control, fertiliser management, insect-pest management, crops harvesting techniques, use of different implements, safe use of brackish water, fruit preservation, candle making, etc will the laid out.

This will include frontline demonstrations on farm trials, adaptive research trials on farmers’ fields on different aspects like evaluation of different varieties, fertilisers, pest management and water management.

Some demonstrations will be laid out on the introduction of new crops under the rice-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping system. These new crops will be sunflower, soyabean, lentil and introduction of sugarcane in new areas.

At least five campaigns district-wise on various crop production technology like weed control, proper water management, etc will be organised.

Field staff of the Department of Agriculture has been laying out on farm trails for verification of some of the proven technology. The necessary technical guidance will be provided in planning and evaluation of these trials at different stages and joint inspection will be organised to have in-depth ideas about the particular practices.

Scientists of the KVKs/KGKs will provide farm advisory consultancy to the villagers on various aspects in veterinary science, animal science, home science, etc.

Each KVK/KGK will organise/assist in organising different melas on crop production, animal science, clinical mini camps. They will also assist in organising different regional melas like ganna mela, kapas mela, dhan mela, etc. Mini kisan melas will also be organised at district headquarters.

All these activities will be undertaken under the Directorate of Extension Education of the university. Suitable literature will be made available such as crop folders, bulletins, pamphlets, specially on the production problems of the farmers.

Allergic reactions of parthenium
By K.R. Aneja & S.A. Khan

CONGRESS grass (parthenium hysterophorus L.) is a noxious weed. The plant belongs to the sunflower family asteraceae, posing a great health hazard and playing havoc with the economy of nature. It is also known as carrot weed, bitter weed, white top, broom bush, carrot grass, chatak chandani, gajar ghass, gandhi booti, safed topi, osadi, gajari, phandaripuli and parthenium weed in different languages and dialects of India. This exotic neotropical annual weed has attained the status of number one terrestrial weed both in India and Australia. In India, parthenium covers approximately 5-6 million hectares of urban and rural land and is extending its domain to some new areas. The white-flowered plant, which was restricted to open spaces like highways, wastelands, fallow lands, abandoned fields, industrial areas, residential plots, parks, lawns, playgrounds and railway tracks, has now infesting to economically important agricultural crops like sugarcane, sunflower, maize, wheat, chickpea, onion, garlic, sorghum, barseem, mustard, taramira, potato, methe, lady’s finger, arvi and poplar, reducing crop yield by competing for resources, by allelopathic effects.

Parthenin (sesquiterpine lactone (SQL), a predominant allergen present in this weed, is responsible for various skin and respiratory problems like allergy, dermatitis, eczema, asthma, hayfever, pollenosis and gangrene in humans. Although this chemical is present in all parts of the plant, yet significantly higher in trichomes (leaf hairs) found on the leaf and stem. Dry leaf fragments in dust may be responsible for allergic reactions even when the living plants or pollens are not present. Several studies reveal that parthenium is highly toxic to domestic animals and responsible for ulceration of the muzzle and mouth, necrotic lesions on the liver and gastrointestinal tract, intestinal bleeding, oedema in the lungs and kidney damage, if consumed accidentally. Animals may get skin rashes on their udder and whole bodes. It is also responsible for acute illness, bitter milk and tainted meat when buffaloes, cows and goats fed on grass mixed with parthenium. The toxic effect of the weed to the cattle and buffaloes is such that a significant amount (10 to 15 per cent) of the weed in the diet can kill these animals within 30 days.

In humans, it causes allergic dermatitis due to prolonged skin contact with parthenium referred to as allergic eczematous contact dermatitis (AECD) or air-borne contact dermatitis (ABCD) by the doctors. In sensitised individuals, the dermatitis appear within 24 to 28 hours of exposure to parthenin. Allergic contact dermatitis in man results from rupture of the glands and deposition of parthenin and ambrosin on the exposed part of the body, particularly upper eyelids, sides of the neck, part of face, V of neck and hands, front of elbows and back of knees. It may spread to wrists, forearms and upper trunk. Allergic reactions are not experienced with the first contact of the plant but may develop after a number of exposures and disease always increases by the exposure to sun light. In chronic stages thickening and darkening of the skin are the characterstic symptoms of dermatitis. Even dried plant material such as trichomes on the leaves and stem as air-borne dust may induce dermatitis in sensitive persons who may not be having direct contact to the parthenium plant. This is the reason that in India many of the cases of dermatitis due to parthenium involve people who do not come in direct contact with the plant. It also causes loss of scalp and body hairs and nails, besides depressing the human nervous system. It has been observed that only the adult males are main victims of this weed usually engaged in outdoor work, particularly in farming and gardening.

The main allergic reaction of parthenium is allergic rihinitis, or hayfever which takes place due to the presence of its pollen grains in the air. A single mature plant produces about 640 million pollen grains. The pollen grains are trapped by the nasal mucosa and cause allergic rihinits rather than asthma. For treatment of the skin and respiratory problems, removal of the patient from the pathenium-infested area is expected to help but is not practicable in most cases due to family, social and economic reasons.

Several studies and programmes have been initiated in the past to check the rapid spread of parthenium, but no significant progress has been made so far due to paucity of funds on one hand and lack of coordination among various agencies on the other hand.

Keeping in view the above facts, scientists succeeded in finding out a novel approach for controlling this weed by the use of fungal pathogens. Experiments conducted at the CABI Bioscience, UK, have reported the potential of two rust fungi, puccinia abrupta var. partheniicola (macrocyclic autoecious rust) and P. melampodii (microcyclic autoecious rust), in Australia and India.

Tomato, brinjal on one plant

Two vegetables grown on one plant! This sounds incredible. But this has been made possible by a chowkidar, of course, under the supervision of a farm expert.

The grafting of tomato on one branch of a brinjal plant has resulted in producing fruits of both tomato as well as brinjal. This has been done by Mr Mansa Ram, a chowkidar, under the guidance and supervision of Mr Desh Raj Sharma, Horticulture Development Officer, PCDO, Darlaghat in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district.

According to Mr Sharma, one can harvest about 1 kg of each vegetable from a single grafted plant. This technique is very beneficial where people do not have enough space to grow plants or for kitchen gardening.

Brinjal plants can be grown in pots, tins or some wooden boxes of 12 to 14 inches size, specially in towns and cities where people are fond of kitchen gardening but they do not fine enough space. They can make the best use of their courtyards and balconies to raise a few plants which can yield both vegetables.

The technique of raising the grafted plants is very simple. People can use the method of tongue grafting in the months of July and August and a good success rate can be achieved. — TNS

Farm operations for February

Vegetables:

Cucurbits: As soon as the risk of frost is over, remove “sarkanda” from the crops sown in November-December and irrigate. Apply the remaining half dose of nitrogen in channels, earth up and train vines and plants towards the bed. Thereafter, apply light irrigation once a week in sandy soil and after 10 days’ interval in heavy textured soil regularly.

— Draw bed marks east to west at the recommended space for each crop. Apply one quintal of CAN, 155 kg of superphosphate (single) and 50 kg of muriate of potash in a band at 15 cm on northern side of each bed mark and prepare channels and irrigate. Soak 2 kg seed in lukewarm water, wrap it in a woollen rag and place it in a warm place during night and in the sun during the day. After 48 hours dibble at least two or three presprouted seeds per hill on the northern moist edge of beds. Apply 2 to 3 kg Furadan 3 G per acre along with the seeds while dibbling to check attack of red pumpkin beetle.

— In the second fortnight of this month, nurseries of muskmelon, watermelon, bottlegourd, pumpkin, etc should be transplanted on pre-decided spacing of the beds. Before transplanting remove plastic bags.

— Most ideal varieties are Punjab Komal and Punjab Round and Punjab Long of bottlegourd, Chappan Kaddo No 1 of summer squash, Punjab Sunheri, Punjab Hybrid and Hara Madhu of muskmelon. Sugarbaby and Shipper of Watermelon S-48 of Thinda and Punjab 14 and C 96 of bittergourd.

Caution: Do not sow cucurbits in those fields where either Atrataf/ Tafazine/ Hexazzine/ Simazzne herbicides has been used for weed control in potato.

Chilli and capsicum:

— Remove “sarkanda” from the fields of chilli and capsicum in the afternoon when the risk of frost is over and irrigate the fields immediately. After a week, apply one quintal of CAN per acre in channels, earth up near the base of plants.

— Transplant the nurseries of old chilli and capsicum raised under protection in the fields at the recommended spacing. Before transplanting, apply 60 kg of CAN, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre in 45 cm apart bands and prepare ridges. Irrigate the field after transplanting of seedlings and repeat the irrigation once a week. Fill the gaps to ensure a complete plant population of the crop after 7 to 10 days.

— In case seedlings were not raised earlier, chilli and capsicum can be sown directly by dibbling the seeds. For this purpose, apply 60 kg of CAN, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre in 60 cm apart bands. Prepare ridges and irrigate the field. As soon as the field become fit for working, dibble 5 to 6 seeds per hill at 1 to 2 cm depth on the sunny side of the slope of ridges. Use 1.5 kg seed per acre for “chutki” sowing. When the plants are 20 to 25 days old, do thinning and keep two plants per hill. Varieties recommended are Punjab Lal, Punjab Gurchhedar and Punjab Surakh and hybrid CH-1 of chilli and California Wonder and Punjab Mirch 27 of capsicum. Prefer sowing CH-1 because of better yield and resistance to diseases.

Brinjal:

— After the frost period is over, remove “sarkanda” in the afternoon and irrigate the field. After a week, apply one quintal of CAN and earth up the crop.

— Transplant nursery of Punjab Bahar the round fruited variety which gives the best results in this season. Apply one quintal of CAN, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre by broadcast. After a week, fill the gaps and irrigate again.

Okra:

— Prepare the field, apply one quintal of CAN, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre in bands kept 45 cm apart from east to west. Prepare ridges and apply irrigations. Soak Okra seeds in lukewarm water over night. Dibble at 4 to 5 cm depth keeping hills 30 cm apart. Pre-sprouting of Okra seeds and sowing on ridges ensure quick germination and better stand of the crop. Varieties recommended for sowing in this season are Punjab Padmini, Punjab-7, Punjab-8 and Pusa Sawni.

Tomato:

— In the afternoon , when frost period is over, remove “sarkanda” or plastic bags/sheets from the fields and irrigate the crop. After a week, apply one quintal of CAN per acre in channels. Repeat watering after 7 to 10 days.

— In the second fortnight of this month, sow 250 to 300 g of seed in a marla bed area to raise seedlings for transplanting in the next month.

— Spray the crop in the middle of February with Ridomil MZ @ 500 g per acre followed by three sprays of Indofil M-45 @ 600 g per acre in 200 litres of water at seven days interval.

Onion:

— For the control of purple blotch, spray the crop with 600 g of Indofil M-45 mixed with 200 ml of Triton or linseed oil in 200 litres of water per acre as soon as the first symptom of purple blotch appears in the crop. The spray should be repeated at 10 days interval.

— Onion maggot can be controlled by applying 4 kg of Sevin 4 G or Lindane 6 G or Thimet 10 G to the soil followed by light irrigation.

— Progressive Farming, PAU