Asia’s useful trees and plants
K. L. Noatay
Amla is a medium-sized deciduous tree. Its scientific name is phyllanthus emblica. In local dialects it is also called as aonla or aola. It belongs to the plant family euphorbiaceae. The tree is found growing in the plains and sub-mountain on tracts all over the Indian subcontinent from 200 to 1500m. above mean sea level. Its natural habitat like other members of its family starts from Burma in the East and extends to Afghanistan in the West. Latitude-wise it starts from Deccan and extends up to the foot of the Himalayan ranges.

Rainwater harvesting need of the hour
S.P. Mittal and R.K. Aggarwal
Water is an essential resource for sustaining life on this planet. In view of its limited availability and competing demands, it is imperative to utilise it judiciously. Although great strides have been made in agriculture production in the country, particularly in areas which have assured irrigation facilities, about 63 per cent of the total cultivated area of 142 million hectares is still rainfed. It is estimated that even after exploiting full irrigation potential through conventional sources, about 50 per cent of the cultivated areas will continue to remain rainfed.

Management of loose smut of wheat
Ashwani K. Basnadrai and B.K. Sharma
India, with a 74.25 million tonnes harvest during 1999-2000, has become the second largest wheat producer in the world. Wheat production has increased by more than 600 per cent in the past 35 years. Despite the population growth per capita availability has increased. The country has built adequate stock to face any unforeseen situation. To sustain the wheat production and productivity at the present level and to further increase it to feed the ever-increasing population, which is likely to touch 1.3 billion mark by 2020, it is necessary to plug various losses, out of which diseases are of foremost importance. Among various diseases loose smut is next in importance to rusts. 

Farm operations for April

Guinea grass an eco-friendly fodder crop
Sukhchain Singh, P.D. Mehndiratta and J.S. Dhaliwal

In the recent past, due to intensive agriculture, there has been manifold increase in the application of irrigation and the use of the nitrogenous fertilisers. Consequently, there has been a rapid increase in the incidence of diseases and also in the build-up of the insect-pests. Farmers have started indiscriminate use of insecticides and pesticides on fodder and other crops. These fodders are ignorantly fed to the animals before the expiry of the prescribed period after the spray of the toxic chemicals. Hence, these toxic chemicals are passed on to the milk of these animals. This milk is taken by the human beings which leads to the build-up of these toxic chemicals in the body. Spray of these toxic chemicals leads to the degradation of environment on account of the widespread pollution of soil and water resources.

In view of these circumstances, there is a need to identify such fodder crops which are resistant to diseases and insect-pests and hence don’t need spray of toxic chemicals. Guinea grass (Panicum maximum jacq.) is one such crop which is resistant to diseases and insect-pests and it does not require the spray of toxic chemicals. Thus, its fodder remains free from the toxic chemicals. Therefore, it can be termed as an eco-friendly fodder crop. Guinea grass was introduced during 1976 in Punjab from Australia where it is raised as a pasture crop. A breeding programme was initiated in Punjab Agricultural University to develop high yielding, multicut improved varieties suitable for stall-feeding. This crop gives four to five cuts and ensures regular supply of fodder from June to September. Guinea grass is shade-tolerant and it can be grown under trees such as populus deltoides. Hence it fits well into the agro-forestry system. Many improved varieties of this crop have been developed and released for cultivation in different agro-climatic zones of India. The list of these varieties is given in table 1.

In order to ensure the optimum germination, the crop should be sown shallow and the seed covered with as little soil as possible. Irrigation should be applied immediately after sowing and the field should be kept wet till the seedlings emerge from the soil. Irrigation must be light and water should not be allowed to accumulate when seedlings are young. Harvesting of the crop must be done at the optimum stage when plants attain a height of 80 to 100 cm. Care must be taken that it is harvested at least 5 cm above ground level, otherwise many stumps fail to sprout. If the crop is not harvested at the optimum stage, it will reduce the quality of fodder and may cause rumen impaction in animals. Whenever there is flooding of fields due to heavy rains, water must immediately be drained from the fields. Nitrogen must be applied at the rate of 75 kg/hectare after each cutting to maximise the fodder production.

Quality parameters of Guinea grass fodder is comparable to maize fodder (table 2). Guinea grass fodder has 10.8 per cent crude protein and maize fodder has 11.4 per cent crude protein. In other non-legume fodders, crude protein percentage varies from 7 to 9 per cent. Guinea grass fodder has 62.4 per cent total digestible nutrients and maize 66.2 per cent total digestible nutrients. In other non-legume fodders, total digestible nutrients vary from 55 to 60.4 per cent.

It is, therefore, advocated that cultivation of Guinea grass by adopting improved technology would help in increasing green fodder production per unit area and per unit time without ameliorating the environment and putting bad effect on the animals as in the case of fodder crops sprayed with insecticides.

Table 1
Improved varieties of Guinea grass released by PAU, Ludhiana

Asia’s useful trees and plants
K. L. Noatay

Amla is a medium-sized deciduous tree. Its scientific name is phyllanthus emblica. In local dialects it is also called as aonla or aola. It belongs to the plant family euphorbiaceae. The tree is found growing in the plains and sub-mountain on tracts all over the Indian subcontinent from 200 to 1500m. above mean sea level. Its natural habitat like other members of its family starts from Burma in the East and extends to Afghanistan in the West. Latitude-wise it starts from Deccan and extends up to the foot of the Himalayan ranges.

The bark of amla is grey in colour and peals in irregular patches. Its leaves are of linear oblong shape and size 10 to 12 mm length and 3 to 6 mm width. Its flowers are monoecioius having greenish yellow colour. They grow in auxiliary clusters and start appearing in the beginning of spring season.

Amla fruit start developing by the middle of spring and the fruit ripen towards beginning of autumn. It is one of the myrobalans of the commerce — the others being harar and baheda. Dried amla fruit is used in ayurvedic and unani systems of medicine for various ailments like fever, liver disorder, indigestion, anaemia, heart complaints and urinary problems. It is a rich source of vitamin ‘C’ which gets assimilated in the human system easily and quickly and is a such utilised for treating scrubby, pulmonary tuberculosis, etc. Raw amla fruit is also used for making pickle and preserves (morabbas). It is also used in making quality inks, ordinary dyes, hair dyes and shampoos and in tanning industry.

The wood of amla tree is small in size and red in colour. It is close grained and hard in texture. It warps and splits when exposed to sun and or excessive heat. However, in under-water situation it is fairly durable. It weighs nearly 20 kg per cubic foot and is generally utilised for making small agricultural implements. Amla wood is also used as firewood. it makes excellent charcoal.

Amla tree is commonly planted in compounds of domestic and office buildings, bunds of agricultural holdings, roadside avenues, etc.

Whereas the horticulture researchers have evolved grafted varieties of amla for better quality of fruit, the state forest departments produce seedlings of its ordinary variety for planting on large scale in gaps in forest canopy, wastelands and or otherwise vacant plots.

Keeping in view the manifold uses of the amla plant, it is desirable that people, especially village folk, obtain its seedlings from nearby forest nurseries and plant these in the vacant nooks and corners around their houses and the bunds of their agricultural fields. the planting will not only yield revenue and foreign exchange, but also enrich the environment and add enchantment to the landscape.

Rainwater harvesting need of the hour
S.P. Mittal and R.K. Aggarwal

Water is an essential resource for sustaining life on this planet. In view of its limited availability and competing demands, it is imperative to utilise it judiciously. Although great strides have been made in agriculture production in the country, particularly in areas which have assured irrigation facilities, about 63 per cent of the total cultivated area of 142 million hectares is still rainfed. It is estimated that even after exploiting full irrigation potential through conventional sources, about 50 per cent of the cultivated areas will continue to remain rainfed.

In spite of the best technologies available for dryland farming, the average production from this region has remained low. This region provides about 45 per cent of foodgrain to the national pool. Occurrence of long dry spells, late onset or early withdrawal of monsoons and a skewed pattern of rainfall are primarily responsible for this malady. There have been years when farmers did not harvest grain equal to the amount of the seed sown.

Deficiency of water at the grain formation stage of kharif crops and at the time of sowing of rabi crops, is the single ubiquitous factor affecting crop yields in the rainfed region. The kharif crops may somehow mature due to monsoon rain, but the fate of rabi crops is particularly precarious because there is hardly any moisture left in the soil for germination after the harvest of kharif crops. Besides, there must be adequate soil moisture available at critical growth stages of the crops. However, the soil moisture remainsdeficient most of the years.

Winter rains are particularly undependable and are mostly received too late. As per records the dry spell between September and December, 2000, was one of the longest. The last effective rain was received on September 10. The dry spell was broken only on December 31, 2000. This long dry spell has left a trail of miseries. Most of the rainfed farmers could not sow rabi crops. Those who ventured and had sown the seed, the crops completely wilted after germination leaving the rainfed farmers high and dry. However, in those villages where harvested rainwater was available, the farmers could harvest the benefits of this water to sow their crops in time as usual and the impact of this long dry spell was not at all felt by these farmers. The only alternative for sustainable crop production in such region, is therefore, “runoff farming”. i.e., harvesting surplus rainwater during monsoon and use it for providing supplemental irrigation as and when needed. This has given a new direction to the management of natural resources for the mutual benefit of the people as well as the hilly eco-system.

Runoff potential
Runoff has been defined as that portion of the precipitation (rainfall) in a drainage area that is discharged from the area in a stream channel. It can be surface runoff, or groundwater runoff or seepage. It is the surface runoff which is of paramount importance. It is estimated that in the Shivalik region of North-West states (spread off three million hectares), out of an average rainfall of 100 c, about 30 to 40 per cent not only ends in runoff but causes the problems of floods, sedimentation and damage to agricultural fields and property. The runoff potential from the Shivalik hills, which have been steep slopes, and clay soil, is likely to be substantial.

Rainwater harvesting
The term “water harvesting” was probably first used by Geddes in 1963. He defined “water harvesting” as the collection and storage of any farm waters, either runoff or creekflow, for irrigation use. Several modifications of the definition have broadened the term of mean “the process of collecting rainfall runoff from watersheds for beneficial use. Water harvesting can often mean the difference between crop and no crop. In the Shivalik region of north-western states where there is no possibility of developing any other source of irrigation, rainwater harvesting has proved to be a panacea.

Water harvesting largely depends on quantity and distribution of rainfall and will, therefore, be more successful in areas where rainfall is sufficient and variability is not excessive. Besides rainfall, water harvesting depends on several factors, including topography, soil type and depth, vegetative cover and slope of the catchment area. For the water harvesting programme to be successful it is essential that moderately large catchment and sufficient storage facilities must be kept in mind. However, the best combination of catchment and storage that will provide the least expensive water for “runoff farming” for a given site, soil and climate is difficult to be determined.

The rainfall distribution in this region is such that about 80 per cent of the total annual rainfall of 110 cm is received during the monsoon period (July to September). This offers distinct possibilities of rainwater harvesting during monsoon for its later use for the post-rainy season crops.

Operational studies on water harvesting systems based on watershed concept, were initiated in community and state-owned lands by the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute. Research Centre, Chandigarh, in the mid-seventies with a view to locally developing water resources at Sukhomajri village, about 25 km from Chandigarh, in Haryana. With the success of Sukhomajri began the era of constructing small water harvesting dams in the Shivaliks in the eighties. The first rainwater harvesting structure a 12 m high earthen dam was constructed in Sukhomajri in 1978. Subsequently, over 200 such harvesting dams have so far been constructed in the states of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh by the forest, agriculture and soil conservation departments. The height of these dams varies from 6 to 16 metres, with catchments up to 190 ha, storage capacity up to 60 ha-m and variable command area (2 to 260 ha). The harvested rainwater is conveyed to the fields through underground pipelines by gravity to control conveyance losses.

Impact of irrigation on crop yield
Depending upon the availability of water, two to three irrigations could be provided to the rabi crops. The studies carried out on farmers fields with limited irrigation, at critical growth stages of rabi crops, use of adequate quantity of fertilisers and improved variety of seed, resulted in three to four times increase in the yield of wheat, chickpea and mustard.

The cost of generating irrigation through small water harvesting dams varies from Rs 9,000 to Rs 20,000 per hectare of command area. While the cost of minor irrigation at the 1995 price level was estimated to be about Rs 45,000 per hectare. However, the cost should also be shared by other protective and productive benefits that accrue by adopting this technology. The small earthen dams have proved to be cost effective and need to be expanded in a big way.

Community participation
The experience of the Sukhomajri, Bunga, Relmajra and many other similar projects executed in this region by the Research Centre strongly suggest technical economic and social viability of constructing small earthen dams by adopting participatory approach for water resource development and rehabilitation of degraded lands in the Shivalik foothill region. Availability of irrigation water for their parched agricultural fields, played a pivotal role in binding the villagers into a coherent society. To ensure people’s participation, the entire management of the projects, including distribution of water, protection of hilly watersheds, maintenance of dam and water conveyance system, was handed over to a village organisation called Water Users’ Association which is a registered body under the Society Registration Act, 1860.

It was envisaged that the benefits resulting from the augmentation of common property resources should be shared equitably. The distribution of water was not based on the land owned or the types of crops grown by a farmer. Each family was entitled to equal amount of water. This system was called “Haqbandi”.

Other benefits of water harvesting
Water harvesting and its utilisation for crop production has generated productive, protective (ecological), social, economic and employment generation benefits. The construction of dams in conjunction with catchment treatment with appropriate soil conservation measures have helped in checking deposition of sand on fertile agricultural land, widening of drains and disruption of communication system. Some areas of village common lands have also been reclaimed from stream bed and put under the alternative land use system.

The experience of water harvesting in the Shivalik region has translated into reality the Guiding Principle No 2 of the International Conference on Water and Environment (ICWE) held in January, 1992, in Dublin and endorsed by Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June, 1992, which reads “Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels”.

In true spirit of the above principle and to ensure efficient and judicious utilisation of limited harvested water, the local community was involved in planning, implementation and subsequent management of the assets.

Management of loose smut of wheat
Ashwani K. Basnadrai and B.K. Sharma

India, with a 74.25 million tonnes harvest during 1999-2000, has become the second largest wheat producer in the world. Wheat production has increased by more than 600 per cent in the past 35 years. Despite the population growth per capita availability has increased. The country has built adequate stock to face any unforeseen situation. To sustain the wheat production and productivity at the present level and to further increase it to feed the ever-increasing population, which is likely to touch 1.3 billion mark by 2020, it is necessary to plug various losses, out of which diseases are of foremost importance. Among various diseases loose smut is next in importance to rusts. The losses are roughly equal to infection of spikes/plants. In North India on an average it causes 2 to 4 per cent losses, whereas in hill states like Himachal Pradesh the incidence in some individual fields has been observed to be as high as 33 to 45 per cent.

The loose smut causing funguns ustilago nuda tritici survives in embryos of seed as dormant mycelium. The infected seed looks healthy but on sowing smutted spikes containing black powder of spores are produced. The spores are blown by wind and cause infection of healthy spikes.

The disease can be managed by cultivation of resistant varieties, solar heat treatment or seed treatment with fungicides. The commercially grown or recommended varieties for hills i.e. VL-616, HS-277, HD-2380, HS-240, HPW-89, HPW-147, VL-738, HS-365, HS-295, Sanalika, etc. are susceptible to the disease. The solar heat treatment is highly cost effective. It involves soaking of seed in ordinary water from 8 a.m. to 12 noon on a calm sunny day in May and June (when the temperature is above 40°C) and its drying in an open cemented floor or other suitable place up to 4 p.m. However, it is difficult to follow this practice in hills due to the prevailing low summer temperatures. Seed treatment with the recommended fungicides Vitavax 75 WP, Bavistin 50 WP @ 2.5 gm/kg or Raxil 2 DS @ 1 gm/kg of seed is highly effective method for loose smut management. However, treatment of one quintal seed with Vitavax, Bavistin and Raxil costs approximately Rs 175, Rs 140 and Rs 90, respectively. According to statistically outline, in Himachal Pradesh about 64 and 20 per cent are marginal (land holding 0.1>1.0 ha/farmily) and small (land holding 1.0-2.0 ha/family) farmers. More than 85 per cent area under the crop is rain fed. Sometimes the resource starved farmers are not sure to reap equal to the grain they have used as seed. So, a majority of the farmers are unable to undertake the costly seed treatment with these fungicides. According to the studies conducted at Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvvidyalya, Regional Research Station, Dhaulakuan, this disease can be controlled by soaking wheat seed in 0.01 per cent solution of fungicides Tilt 25 EC (Propiconazole) and Contaf 5EC (Hexaconozone) for six hours and its drying in shade before sowing. The treatment is little cumbersome, but it is highly cost effective. The total cost for treating one quintal of seed has been worked out to be Rs 12 and Rs 6, respectively. It is well within the reach of small and marginal farmers who generally sow the seed by broadcasting method. Soaking of seed in the fungicidal solutions have no phytotoxic affect. The active toxic chemical is very low so it will cause less soil and environmental pollution.

Farm operations for April

Horticultural operations

This month is marked with a lot of change in weather. The temperature rises rapidly and humidity gets low. The growers are advised to adopt the measures to save their valuable fruit trees from drought, windstorm and sun injury. Whitewash the trunk, provide shelter to young trees and give frequent irrigation.

— The heavy bearing cultivars of peaches like Shan-e-Punjab and of plum like Kala Amritsari and Sutlej Purple normally need fruit thinning in the month to minimise the danger of limb-breakage and to improve the marketable size and quality of the fruits.

— Apply second dose of inorganic fertilisers to the fruit trees of citrus, pear, litchi, plum, grapes, etc.

— In young orchards Sathi Moong can be sown in the last week of April.

— To check pathological fruit drop in citrus give one spray of 2:2:250 Bordeaux mixture during the month.

— To check zinc deficiency in citrus, spray the affected trees with 0.3% zinc sulphate solution, without addition of lime, to spring flush in April.

— In order to get only winter seasons guava crop, spray urea 10 per cent during April-May when the maximum flowers have opened. Also withhold irrigation during this period.

— Spray 625 ml of Nuvacron 36 SL (monocrotophos) or 670 ml of Rogor 30 EC (dimethoate) in 500 litres of water on citrus crop to control citrus psylla.

— To check insect-pests and diseases in grapes, spray 500ml of Nuvacron, Bavistin 400 g in 400 litres of water for controlling Anthracnose and Belytan 40 g in 100 litres of water for the control of powdery mildew and Bevistin @ 400 g/400 litres of water for controlling anthracnose.

— In ber, spray 250 ml of Rogor or 100 ml Dimecron in 250 litres of water for the control of lac insect.

— To check peach leaf curl causing aphids this month, spray 500 ml Rogor in 500 litres of water.

Poplar

— As the temperature has started rising, thus irrigate the poplar plantations at weekly intervals instead of fortnightly.

— Wheat should be harvested from the poplar plantations.

— Turmeric can be sown in poplar having less than three years of age. In the plantations of more than three years age, fodder crops should be raised.

— The attack of poplar leaf defoliator and leaf webber starts in this month. Control the insects by collecting and destroying infested leaves. Spray Monocrotophos 36 @ 600 ml (Monocil, Nuvacron, Monolik) per acre.

Mulberry (toot)

— The tobacco caterpillars and hairy caterpillars feed on green matter of leaves. Infested leaves become white and shrivelled. The young larvae on the infested leaves should be removed and destroyed after burning.

— Progressive Farming, PAU