Global warming and agriculture
Ravi Kiran
Global warming is an age-old phenomenon. Various historical evidences show the records of changing climate. About 18,000 years ago the world was 4 to 5°C cooler. Before the industrial revolution, climate change was a gradual process. Due to rapid industrialisation, this process became very fast.

Potential goes unexploited
V.P. Prabhakar
The Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan (HP), has a lot of potential to raise its income from its number of sources but no seriousness has ever been shown in this direction.

Farm operations for July

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

Bakain is a medium sized, deciduous and yet handsome tree of the Asian continent. Its other regional names are dek, darek, betain, bakaraja, etc. Having its English name as Persian lilac and scientific name as Melia azedarach, it belongs to the plant family Meliaceace. In other words it is a sibling of the multiutility neem i.e. Azhadirachta indica tree. It is found growing naturally in cultivated land, forested areas, residential areas and in miscellaneous forest crop, all over India i.e. Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, etc.

Bakain is a hardy species and adapts itself readily and easily to all kinds of environs, soil and climates. However, it does better on sunny aspect between 500 to 1500 m above sea level. It tends to have a shallow root system.

The bark of bakain is dark grey and smooth on young poles. It tends to be greyish brown with shallow vertical fissures on a grown-up specimen.

The leaves of bakain are compound, bipinate, even tripinnate at times. The overall length of the compound blade is 20 to 35 cm and width about 10 to 20 cm. The number of leaflets on each pinna is 3 to 7. The leaflets are 1 to 4 cm in length and 5 to 10 mm broad. Their shape is ovate lanceolate, serrate, acuminate with about 5 mm long petiole. New buds of leaves appear in spring i.e. March-April. The old ones are shed during autumn i.e. October-November.

Bakain flowers during March-April. The flowers are lilac blue in colour. These are borne in numberous axilliary cyme bearing panicles. There peduncles (stalk) are 5 to 10 cm long. The calyx is a deeply lobed with five lobes on each peduncle. The petals occurring in sets of fives, are 5 to 7 mm long, linear and oblanceolate in shape. The stamina tube is purple, about 5 mm deep, cylindrical in shape with 20 to 30 linear teeth.

The fruit of bakain are globose-shaped drupe with average dia about 10 to 15 mm. These are smooth and green when raw, but be yellow and wrinkled when mature and dry.

Bakain is a fast growing species. The stem has three of four rings to an inch. It attains a height of about 10 to 15 metres and girth of about .75 to 1 m in about 40 to 40 years when it is deemed mature. The wood weights about 15 to 16 kg to a cubic foot. It is moderately hard, elastic in grain and reddish brown in shade. It tends to warp and split if used fresh. Storing the wood in shade for about a year gives it the required seasoning to make it durable and fit for carpentry. It is easy to cut, saw, plane and takes good polish. It is used for house construction, cheap furniture, house construction, boats, toys, packing cases, sports goods, etc. The lops and tops are useful as firewood as well as for paper pulp. Though its availability is limited, this wood fetches about Rs 400 to Rs 500 per cubic foot when exchanged or bartered between villagers.

The bark of bakain is extremely bitter. It is used as an authelmintic. The fruit contains a kind of oil which is useful in treating skin sores etc. The leaves and fruit pulps too have certain medicinal application as per ayurvedic and unani systems. The foliage and fruit also serves as fodder for cattle, especially during famine.

So far as regeneration of bakain is concerned, young seedlings come up naturally and abundantly under the mother trees in its natural habitat. The ripening of the fruit occurs in summer and germination of the seed coincides with monsoons. Therefore, its regeneration poses no serious hurdle. Sowing seed directly in the field and or in nurseries gives good results.

With a view to encouraging the maximum tree planting in vacant nooks and corners in new habitations, colonies and bundhs and butts of agricultural fields, avenues of roads, rail tracks and canals, and or gaps in natural forest canopy, the forest department raise bakain seedlings in nurseries. They use the stock for filling gaps in the canopy of the existing forests and or raising avenues along linear features. They also issue these to the interested landowners and or planters at a subsidised rate of Re 1 or Rs 2 per plant. The transplanting is most successful if carried out during monsoons.

Global warming and agriculture
Ravi Kiran

Global warming is an age-old phenomenon. Various historical evidences show the records of changing climate. About 18,000 years ago the world was 4 to 5°C cooler. Before the industrial revolution, climate change was a gradual process. Due to rapid industrialisation, this process became very fast. Exploitation of the natural resources by the increasing population is no doubt one of the reasons to accelerate the global warming. Byproducts of industrialisation like carbondioxide, methane, clorofluorocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and ozone are the main causes of global warming. Before the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbondioxide is estimated with the range of 250 to 290 ppm. The expectations are that the concentration of carbon dioxide will rise from 350 ppm to 600 ppm by 2050. The doubling of carbondioxide concentration is expected to increase the average global temperature by 1.5 to 4.5°C. Carbondioxide is believed to be increasing at the rate of 1.5 ppm per year. Half of the green house effect is expected due to carbondioxide.

Methane has two times greater capacity for global warming than that of carbondioxide. About 20 per cent of the global warming is caused by methane.

Clorofluorocarbons are used for refrigeration, aerosol propellant and for insulation. These are responsible for 15 per cent of the green house effect. Clorofluorocarbons have 10,000 times greater potential for global warming than that of carbondioxide. Oxides of nitrogen (gaseous form) have 10 to 1000 times greater effect on global warming than that of carbondioxide. Ozone in troposphere also acts as a green house gas. It is responsible for 15 per cent of the global warming.

Green house gases affect the heat balance of the earth by absorbing long-wave radiation that would otherwise escape to space. This phenomenon is also termed as green house effect. Increasing concentration of green house gases is directly affecting the heat balance. This is indisputably going to affect the agricultural production and human activities on earth.

One of the predictable consequences of global warming is the sea level rise either due to thermal expansion or due to increased melting of mountain glaciers. By the end of 2030 global sea level will rise 14 to 24 cm. The rate of rise is 4 to 6 cm per annum which is 2 to 6 times faster than that of the last 100 years. Sea level rise will result in the loss of coastal delta parts of the land. Small low-lying island states could be particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. Saline water ingress will be another problem that will force the growing of salt tolerant crops and abandoning of some of the crops in the saline water affected areas.

The changing temperature scenario will affect the agricultural production, both positively and negatively, all over the world. Increased carbondioxide concentration will increase branching, leaf area of the crops that will also increase transpiration and ultimately reduce soil moisture. A one-degree increase in the mean annual temperature would advance the thermal limit of crops in northern hemisphere by 150 to 200 m. Warming will also provide more agricultural area in the high latitudes. Due to reduced duration of crop growing there will be reduction in yields in some of the areas of the world in case of major food crops.

So there will be both favourable and unfavourable effects of global warming. A high precision in the global circulation models (GCMs) could be helpful to predict these changes more precisely.

Potential goes unexploited
V.P. Prabhakar

The Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan (HP), has a lot of potential to raise its income from its number of sources but no seriousness has ever been shown in this direction.

This has rendered the institution fully dependent on the grants. Income from own sources is negligible, that is Rs 2.05 crore. This also cannot be considered as real income as the same has been received in lieu of services extended by the university, that is, for bus facilities, standard rent from the accommodation provided by the university and receipt for the electricity bills, etc. As such the real income which, however, could have been received from the sale of plants etc is very little for which no specific accounts are being maintained.

This has been pointed out in the audit report of the Examiner, Local Fund Accounts, Himachal Government, pertaining to this university for 1999-2000. It says that proper utilisation of 1375 acre of fertile land can fetch a very good income. Out of that area only 375-acres of land has shown to be brought under cultivation, which also not yield good results. Even if plantation could have been brought in a phased manner that could have brought sufficient earning to the institution.

Excessive manpower and brain could have been properly utilised to raise income from floriculture, seed production, nursery and dairy farm etc. A lot of machinery costing lakhs of rupees has been found idle. Surprisingly a full-fledged department of post-harvest technology having an FPO licence could produce better quality of jams, juices, etc.

Quality produce of seeds and nursery, which is a basic job of the university, even did not bring to the satisfaction of the farmers which, however, could be a major source of income.

As such the university may make serious efforts for proper utilisation of manpower so that the income could be raised and complete dependency on the government does not at all appear to be a healthy tendency.

The total expenditure of the university in 1999-2000 was Rs 26.95 crore. The major part, that is, about 80 per cent of the total expenditure was incurred on salary. In such a situation, when no extra income is likely to be expected toward grants from the government, the only way left is to curtail the expenditure on this head. Due to inadequate financial resources, restructuring of organisational set-up is need of the hour. Therefore, it has suggested that the staffing pattern required review under a high-powered committee while possibility of amalgamation of identical departments into single department can also be explored.

The report further says that muster rolls for maintenance of plantation at Jaloti were issued for Rs 5,865. These were issued for watering of plants, cutting of bushes, making of beds, including watch and ward purposes. "Every month muster rolls are issued for the same purpose. Through earlier muster rolls were entertained on explanations given by the department from time to time, it is not understood as to how bushes need cutting every month and why plants are to be watered in the rainy season?"

There are 244 audit paras out of which 106 paras have been outstanding for the last 10 years or above wherein serious cases of misappropriation and embezzlements have been reported. It has been seen that when no cognizance is taken by the management even the guilty go unpunished as the evidence gets faded due to lapse of time and many a time accused get retired with full pensionary benefits. The purpose of auditing is also defeated.

— Cotton crop is highly sensitive to standing water during early stages of growth. Hence, drain out the excess rain water from the cotton fields.

— To control weeds in between the crop rows in place of hoeing/interculture apply Gramoxone 24 WSC (paraquat) at 500 ml/acre or Roundup/Glysel 41% SL (Glyphosate) at 1.01/acre in 100 litres of water when crop is 6 to 8 weeks old and about 40 to 45 cm in height as directed spray. To avoid drift, spray the herbicide on non-windy days, using a protecting hood so that herbicide does not fall on crop leaves.

— In case severe attack of thrips, mites or jassid is noticed i.e. the leaves start curling, spray the crop with 250 ml Rogor 30 EC (Dimethoate 30 EC) or 300 ml Metasystox 25 EC (Oxydameton methyl) or Anthio 25 EC (Formothion) or 75 ml Dimecron/Phosolik/Cildon 85 SL (Phosphamidon) in 100 litres of water per acre. For control of jassid only spray of 40 ml of Confidor (Imidacloprid) 200 SL can also be done.

— Uproot and destroy leaf curl infested American cotton plants up to initiation of fruiting phase. Protect the crop against white fly vector by using recommended insecticides. Keep the fields free from kanghi buti and peeli buti which act as collateral host of leaf curl virus.

— To control leaf spots or blight, spray the crop with Blitox 500 g along with Agrimycin 20 g or Streptocycline 3 g/acre at an interval of 15 to 20 days starting just after shower of rain.

— For control of weeds, use Atrazine 50 WP as pre-emergence application @ 500 per acre on light textured soils and @ 800 g per acre on heavy textured soils. Atrazine can also be sprayed 10 days after sowing maize for controlling weeds.

— Do not allow the rain water to stand in the main crop as this crop is highly sensitive to standing water.

— Maize responds to organic manures or farmyard manure or compost. To JH 3459, Parkash, Pearl Pop Corn, and Kesri varieties, apply 25 kg of urea, 75 kg of superphosphate per acre at the time of sowing. If maize follows wheat which received recommended phosphatic and potassic fertilisers, the application of superphosphate and potash may be omitted. If FYM has been applied @ 6 tonnes/acre then there is no need to apply fertiliser at the time of sowing. If soil testing low in potash, 15 kg of muriate of potash may also be applied.

— To check the attack of maize borer, uproot the border damaged plants and bury them at the time of thinning. Spray the crop with 40 mi Sumicidin 20 EC/Ripcord 10 EC or 80 ml Decis 2.8 Ec in 50 litres of water per acre. After this application, there will be no need to spray further any pesticide to check this pest.

— Spray the crop with Indofil M 45 @ 200 g/100 litres of water to protect against diseases.

— Earthing up of the sugarcane crop may be done if not done earlier. If sugarcane fields get flooded with water, excess water may be drained out.

— The attack of top borer can be checked by applying 12 kg of granules of carbofuran encapsulated 3 G or Phorate encapsulated 10 G at the base of the shoots. Earth up slightly to check the granules from flowing with the irrigation water and irrigate the corp immediately. Apply granules only if attack exceeds 5 per cent level.

— Sowing of the rainfed crop should be complete using variety M-37, ensures high yield.

— The rainfed crop to be sown and must be treated with fungicide for the control of collar rot disease. For this purpose, use 5 g Thiram or 3 g Indofil M 45 per kg of kernels.

— To check the attack of termites/whitegrub, seed should be treated with Chlorpyriphos 20 EC 12.5 ml/kg seed kernel.

— Apply 50 kg of superphosphate, 15 kg of urea and 15 kg of muriate of potash per acre. If the source of P is other than superphosphate (single), gypsum @ 50 kg/acre may be applied. If groundnut follows wheat which received recommended dose of phosphorus omit application of phosphorus.

— The grub attack can also be reduced by applying 4 kg of Thimet 10 G or 13 kg Furadan 3 G per acre in the soil at or before sowing. To kill the beetles spray 200 g Carbaryl 50 WP or 50 ml fenitrothion 50 EC using 100 litres of water on nearby trees of ber, guava rukmanjni, grapevines, almonds etc. Repeat the spray till the middle of July after every rainfall.

— Sowing of mash (Mash-338, Mash 1-1) and moong (PBM-1, ML-613 and ML-267) should be completed as delayed sowing results in lower yields. Moong variety PBM-1 is recommended only for sowing in Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Ferozepore and Sangrur district.

— Check weeds in mash, moong orarhar by giving one or two hoeing. Alternatively in moong, use Stomp 30 EC (pendimenthalin) @ 1 litre/acre pre-emergence application or Basalin 45 EC (fluchloralin) @ 600 ml/acre as pre-plant application.

— Treat the seed with 3 g Captan per kg of seed before sowing. Grow mosaic-resistant variety (PBM-1, ML-613, ML-267) for the control of yellow mosaic virus.

— Semi-looper/hairy caterpillars in-fetation can be checked by spraying 450 ml of fenitrothion 50 EC or 500 ml of Thiodan 35 EC or 200 mi Nuvan 100 in 80 litres of water per acre.

— Progressive Farming, PAU