‘Kathal’— suitable tree for Kandi tract By V.B. Kulshreshtha and H.S. Sur JACK fruit (artocarpus heterophyllus lam.), commonly known as “kathal”, is a multi-purpose tree. It is native of the Western Ghats in India and is widely cultivated in Myanmar, Malaysia and West Indies. It is a poplar backyard tree of north-eastern states of Assam and Tripura. It is also grown in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The tree is valuable for its fruit, leaves (shade and fodder) and timber.

Factors behind low cotton output
By Sarbjit Singh
IT is a matter of common knowledge that Pakistan is involved in fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley, Punjab and other parts of the country. But only a few people know that the Pakistan factor is also involved in playing havoc with the cotton crop in India, especially in the cotton-growing northern states.

Breakthrough in biogas production
MICROBIOLOGISTS at the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, have claimed a major breakthrough in biogas production during the winter season. The process evolved by the scientists is said to be simple and efficient.

‘Kathal’— suitable tree for Kandi tract
By V.B. Kulshreshtha and H.S. Sur

JACK fruit (artocarpus heterophyllus lam.), commonly known as “kathal”, is a multi-purpose tree. It is native of the Western Ghats in India and is widely cultivated in Myanmar, Malaysia and West Indies. It is a poplar backyard tree of north-eastern states of Assam and Tripura. It is also grown in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The tree is valuable for its fruit, leaves (shade and fodder) and timber.

To explore the suitability of tree under Kandi conditions, a few saplings of “kathal” brought from Dehradun were planted at The ZRSKA, Ballowal Saunkhri, in 1990. The sapling survived and grew into a beautiful tree of dense shade with leaves in rosette appearance on the tree. It started bearing flowers in the fourth year but its fruits were not retained during the fourth and fifth years. In the sixth year it bore 37 fruits weighing from 5 to 12 kg with an average weight of 8 kg. The largest fruit was about 45 cm long and 25 cm in width. In this way, a single tree gave 275 kg fruits in the first year of its fruiting. At this stage, the tree attained 18 feet height and its branches covered an area with 16 feet diameter.

“Kathal” is a cross-pollinated tree belongs to the Maraceae family. The flowers generally appear on the foot-stock of the mature branches of the tree in December and continue up to March. The fruit is ready for harvesting in June or in early July. During the period it gives unique sweet fragrance.

The unripe fruits of “kathal” is used for vegetable, pickle and for the preparation of jellies. The fruit is rich in nutritive value due to the presence of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, iron and potash with important amino acid like thiamine and riboflavin. The fruit has abundant vitamins A and C. The fruit has high calorific value (84 calories in 100 gm of edible fruit portion). The ripened fruit has sweet yellowish pulp with attractive fragrance. The “kathal” plant is an evergreen tree with ovate leathery dark leaves giving dense shade during hot summer. Its leaves make good cattle feed and roots are known for their medical value. The tree is valued for its strong timber and is commonly used for manufacturing musical instruments. The wood has high quantity of resin which makes its wood less susceptible to termite attack.

Planting method: Healthy saplings of “kathal” are planted in pits of 1mx1mx1m. The pits is dug 10 to 15 days before planting of saplings. These are filled with mixture of 30 kg well rotten FYM, 500 gm of single superphosphate with 50 gm of BHC (10%) and soil of the pit. The sapling is to be planted at a spacing of 12m x 12m during July or August. Life-saving watering is recommended during the hot summer months of first two year for a better survival and growth rate.

The growth and yield performance of “kathal” at the ZRSKA, Ballowal Saunkhri, showed that the climate and soil of the Kandi area is suitable for this multipurpose tree. “Kathal” is of good economic value and can easily and profitably find its place in the courtyard of the houses of the Kandi tract.

Factors behind low cotton output
By Sarbjit Singh

IT is a matter of common knowledge that Pakistan is involved in fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley, Punjab and other parts of the country. But only a few people know that the Pakistan factor is also involved in playing havoc with the cotton crop in India, especially in the cotton-growing northern states.

A committee of experts set up by the Punjab Government to fine out reasons for the widespread damage to the crop in northern cotton belt last year (1997-98) has come out with a finding that “farmers are also cultivating a large number of underscript materials like PB-104, Sikanderpur and Pakistani varieties”. The committee members have observed that the Pakistani varieties being more susceptible to whitefly and cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) have been greatly responsible for the spread of this disease in Punjab, Haryana and some parts of Rajasthan during the past couple of years.

The committee was headed by Dr K.S. Aulakh, PAU’s Director, Research. The other members of the committee were Dr Man Singh Manohar, RAU, Bikaner, Dr B.P.S. Lather, Chief Scientist (Cotton), CCSHAU, Hisar, Dr H.S. Kalsy, Director, PAU Centre, Faridkot, Dr R.P. Bhardwaj, Senior Scientist, RAU Centre, Sriganganagar, Mr S.K. Kaushik, Deputy Director, ATC, Srikaranour, and Mr Baru Mal and Mr Mahal, Joint Director, Agriculture Departments, Haryana and Punjab, respectively.

The team had visited cotton-sowing areas of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and talked to farmers and government officials.

Protecting the cotton crop from natural calamities and attacks of pests and insects has become a major challenge for experts. Almost every year, a large part of the cotton crop is damaged causing a loss of several hundred crore of rupees to farmers. In the 1990s’ Punjab’s cotton output had touched 27 lakh bales and the state had beaten the cotton-growing states like Andhra Pradesh to the second place.

But in the recent years, due to a pest attack, especially the presence of American bollworm, the cotton output in Punjab has come down to about 10 lakh bales. Although this year the Punjab Government has fixed a target of 15 lakh bales, reports from the field suggest that this figure would be difficult to achieve. Punjab has six lakh hectares of land under cotton. Haryana is also expecting an output of 15 lakh bales, but reports say that pests have attacked the cotton crop in the Haryana belt also.

What is puzzling the experts is that pests have attacked the cotton crop this year, although the weather conditions were not favourable for such an attack. The rainfall in the cotton belt was below normal and a dry spell also remained for about four weeks in August and first week of September. In such a climate, agricultural experts were expecting a pest-free cotton crop.

Among the other reasons listed by the expert committee for damage to the the cotton crop were dependence of farmers on pesticide dealers to get pesticides on credit, lack of proper water management, imbalance in fertiliser use, etc. Various means are adopted by dealers to sell pesticides other than those recommended by the PAU and the Agriculture Department.

Recommendations: The committee has suggested to sow compact, short-statured, early maturing resistant varieties. The felt the need to give boost to the cultivation of “Bikaneri Narma”, H-777, LH-900, LH-1556 in three states which are comparatively tolerant to a jassid attack and exhibit less incidence of bollworm. The varieties like LRA 5166 and RS 875 posses resistance to leaf curl.

The committee has stressed the need for bringing a shift in the cropping pattern in three states and crop rotation, proper management of pests and diseases, seed dressing with fungicides for the control of blight, etc, avoiding cultivation of American cotton in orchards, destruction of curl leaf hosts and use of recommended pesticides.

Apart from this, the committee has recommended banning the indiscriminate use of pyrethroids and their mixtures, stringent measures to control the sale of spurious insecticides, introduction of aerial spray to control the attack of American bollworm effectively and use of traps to catch and kill adults of bollworm.

Committee members have observed that resistance among the key insects and pests has increased. To break it a mass multiplication of the integrated pest management is required. As part of the IPM, tolerant varieties should be sown and parasites and predators created to kill pests and insects. The use of chemical pesticides should be discouraged. Funds should be made available to establish a plant clinic centre for ensuring proper and timely advice by scientists and experts.

Tragic tale of tubewells in Haryana
By S. P. Malhotra

AT present there are over five lakh electric tubewells in Haryana. This is the first ever attempt by farmers to have their own independent and reliable source of irrigation on such a large scale. When tubewell water is used in conjunction with that of canal, the economic value of the later gets enhanced a great deal as the former provides the much-needed insurance against the uncertainty and inadequacy of the latter. As a matter of fact, the high-yielding varieties of crops, which have been the backbone of the Green Revolution, would never have succeeded as they need irrigation water much too punctually than can be made available by canals.

The depth of ground water from which the tubewells lift water plays an important role in determining their economics. When the state government invited farmers to install their tubewells, the implied understanding was that it would manage and control the ground water in such a manner as not to render their working uneconomical. With this end in view, it took the sensible precaution of first estimating the annual input of water from all the natural resources like annual rainfall, seepage from canals and other water bodies, block-wise, and then regulating the number of tubewells to be installed in every block.

Despite this, something went wrong somewhere and the unexpected happened — the level of the ground water started declining as far back as in the seventies and has been continuing unabated since then. This tragedy is man-made and is not the result of any natural calamity.

The bill for electricity has gone up; more and more of electricity is being consumed for lifting the same quantity of water year after year. The relief given by the subsidy in the rate of electricity is being offset by its excessive consumption. The present unrest amongst farmers is the direct outcome of this debacle. This has been compounded by the fact that the state government has so far not made known as to how it proposes to deal with this crisis on long range basis. Any attempt to solve it by increasing the subsidy would be treating the symptom and not the disease.

The Remedy
Amongst the natural means of recharging the annual rainfall is the most important one. It has been more than the average for the past 10 consecutive years but has failed to make any dent. The only remedy, therefore, is to adopt some artificial means for the same.

Such a solution has not been tried anywhere else in this country so far but that is no reason why Haryana cannot be a pioneer in this field. Haryana must start its own research and development to solve its problem.

The most essential ingredient needed for artificial recharging are (a) surplus rain water and (b) sandy strata to hold the recharge. As regards the surplus rain water, it is available in plenty and is going waste via its numerous drains falling in the Ghaggar and the Yamuna. As regards the second ingredient, there should be no doubt about its availability because but for it, their would have been no fall in the level of ground water.

All that is required to be done is to dig specially designed recharging wells along the drains and feed them with the filtered water from the drains during monsoon. Arranging filtered water in such huge quantities needs innovative method; the filter should be located in the bed of a bypass channel which should be made to run with a self-cleaning velocity even when the drain is not running full.

Cost
The cost of one such recharging unit may not exceed Rs 2 lakh. It is difficult to give any idea about the exact number of such units. It is only after about 20 of these have worked for a year or so that their exact number required can be estimated. Cost of this experiments will be insignificant when compared to Rs 700 crore which the state government is spending annually on electricity. The chances of the experiment being successful are quite bright.

Recommendation
Haryana’s motto should now be “Save rain water, Save Haryana”. Work should be started on a war footing in the Kurukshetra-Karnal — Kaithal belt by completing about 20 such recharging stations before July, 1998, for experimental purposes.

Breakthrough in biogas production

MICROBIOLOGISTS at the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, have claimed a major breakthrough in biogas production during the winter season. The process evolved by the scientists is said to be simple and efficient.

Giving details of the breakthrough, Dr Kuldeep Singh Dhindsa, Dean, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities said, although biogas technology has an edge over using cow dung, in traditional way, the former could not become popular due to low gas production, especially during the winter months. Seeding the cow dung slurry with 5 to 10 per cent of spent slurry can compensate the decline in biogas production to the tune of 50 per cent.

Dr Dhindsa disclosed that long term trials at the university had proved the feasibility of using brackish water in place of potable water without any harmful effect on biogas production process.

Emphasising the need for using biogas technology, he said, besides generating clean gas fuel, it provided nutrients for feeding the crops as well. Moreover, due to high burning efficiency, about 80 per cent of the biogas coupled with good energy recovery provided over eight times higher cooking capacity when compared to traditional option of dung cake burning.

Dr Dhindsa said work had been initiated to develop a suitable process in which undiluted dung could be used for biogas production. It would also enhance the adaptability of the technology in high density dwellings where farmers shirk to install biogas plants due to lack of space. — TNS

PADDY

• Provide irrigation regularly to the crop for getting better yield and stop irrigating the crop two weeks before harvesting.
• Rogue out the weeds and off type plants from the paddy.
• Control leaf folder by spraying 250 ml of Folithion/ Sumithion/ Accothion 50 EC or 150 ml of Lebaycid (Fenthion) or 400 g of Sevin 50 WP in 100 litres of water per acre.
• Plants infested with hoppers dry up in patches. Control them by spraying 250 ml Lebaycid or 800 ml of Ekalux 25 EC (Quinalphos) or one litre of Dursban 20 EC (Chlorpyriphos) or 560 ml of Thiodan 35 EC (Endosulphan)/ Nuvacron in 100 litres of water per acre. These insecticides also control leaf folder. Application of Padan 4 G or Caldan 4 G (Cartap) at 10 kg per acre recommended for the control of stem borer also control leaf folder.
• Paddy stem borers feed on growing points and cause dead hearts and white erect ears. Control this by spraying 250 ml of Dimecron 85 SL or 560 ml of Monocrotophos 36 SL or one litre of Coroban/Dursban (Chloro- pyriphos) 20 EC in 100 litre of water per acre. Repeat spray after 20 days interval.
• If high humidity and cloudy weather persists, the crop may be sprayed with Blitox/copper oxychloride 50 WP at 500 g per 200 litres of water per acre to control false smut.
• To save the crop from sheath blight, keep the bundhs of the fields clean by removing grass. On noticing the disease symptoms spray Bavistan at 200 g per 200 litres of water per acre.

COTTON

• Do not allow cotton crop to suffer for want of water at the flowering and fruiting stages, otherwise a lot of shedding of flowers and bolls will take place resulting in lower yield. To hasten boll opening last irrigation may be given at the end of September.
• Check attack of bollworm by spraying 800 g Acephate 75 SP or 800 ml Quinalphos 25 EC or 850 ml Fenitrothion 50 EC per acre. In case serious attack of heliothis is noticed then spray two litres of Chlorpyriphos 20 EC immediately. Repeat spray if it rains within 24 hours of spraying. In case mite/aphid/assid or whitefly appear along with bollworm, prefer to use Monocrotophos/ Tria-zophos or Ethion, etc or Mox 75 ml phosphamidon with other insecticides used for the bollworm control.
  — Courtesy Progressive Farming, PAU.