Himachal Journal of Agricultural Research

Ravinder Singh ¹, K. S. Verma ², Sanjay Kumar ²

Affiliations
1 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur at Berthin-174 029, IN
2 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur at Berthin-174 029, IN

Abstract

Onion occupies an important place in daily diet and is semi-perishable in nature. The production of off-season onion in Kharif season in North Indian plains can stabilize the market supply of fresh onion as well as its price in winter and spring seasons. Keeping this in view, the present investigation was carried out at the experimental farm of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh during 2013 and 2014. Two varieties namely, N-53 and Agrifound Dark Red (AFDR) were evaluated using sets and seedlings following randomized block design in four replications along with Farmer practice (FP). The marketable bulb yield of both the varieties raised through sets was significantly higher than those raised from seedlings during both the years. The higher bulb yield was the result of low mortality of seedlings and improved crop stand which resulted in higher economic returns. In another experiment on weed management practices, pre- emergence application of alachlor and pendimethalin @ 1.00 kg a.i. /ha, respectively along with hand weeding at 40 days after planting resulted in significantly higher bulb yield compared to their sole application. Hence, Kharif onion crop raised through sets of AFDR variety followed by N-53 is better than seedling raised crop under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh.

Keywords

Onion, Seedlings, Weed Management, Bulb Yield.

Full Text

   

Sanjay Kumar ¹, Jai Dev ², Ravinder Singh ³, Suman Kumar ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Tea Husbandry and Technology, CSKHPKV, Palampur, IN
2 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur at Berthin-174 029, IN
3 Department of Vegetable Science & Floriculture, CSKHPKV, Palampur, IN

Abstract

Realizing the importance of cluster frontline demonstrations in transfer of latest technologies, Krishi Vigyan Kendra are regularly conducting CFLDs on pulse crops at farmer's field with the objective of convincing farmers and extension functionaries together about the production potentialities of production technologies for further wide scale diffusion. To boost the production and productivity of chickpea pulse crop and to find out the yield gap, a total of 312 numbers of cluster frontline demonstrations on chickpea were conducted in 156 numbers of adopted villages of the four blocks of the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh under rainfed conditions for consecutive 4 years (2015-16 to 2018-19). For comparison with recommended practices prevailing farmers' practices were treated as control. The findings of the study revealed that irrespective of the chickpea varieties used in demonstrations, percent increase in demonstrations yield over farmers practice ranged from 24.6 to 95.1 per cent. It was further observed that in terms of economics chickpea crop recorded higher net returns per hectare in demonstration plots compared to farmer's practice during all the years of studies. The extension gap and technological gap ranged between1.5-5.9 q/ha and 0.9-12.4 q/ha, respectively. The benefit cost ratio which indicates that whether CFLD technology is profitable or not varied from 2.22, to 3.8 during the study period and was always higher in demonstrations plots over farmers practice. The per cent technology index varied from 6.92 to 51.67 per cent indicating urgent need to make aware and motivate the farmers to adopt improved and economically viable technologies for chickpea production.

Keywords

Chickpea, Cluster Front Line Demonstrations, Technology Gap, Extension Gap.

Full Text

   

Ravinder Singh ¹, Sanjay Kumar ², Suman Kumar ¹

Affiliations
1 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur at Berthin-174 029, IN
2 Department of Tea Husbandry and Technology, CSKHPKV, Palampur, IN

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur during 2017-18 and 2018-19 to find out alternatives to manual weeding in elephant foot yam. The manual weeding and herbicides alone and in combinations were tried. The results revealed that pre emergence application of alachlor @1.00 kg a.i./ha along with hand weeding after 60 days of planting is the most effective and economic treatment for weed management and getting highest return in elephant foot yam variety 'Palam Zimikand-1' under low hill condition of Himachal Pradesh.

Keywords

Elephant Foot Yam, Weed Management, Weed Density, Corm Yield, Economics.

Full Text

   

Ravinder Singh ¹, J. D. Sharma ¹, Suman Kumar ¹, Sanjay Kumar ¹

Affiliations
1 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur at Berthin -174 029, IN

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh for two consecutive years 2017-18 and 2018-19 to study the effect of curing methods on shelf life of onion bulbs, harvested at their physiological maturity, cured with and without leaves and dried in shade in a well ventilated airy room. The Kharif onion bulbs kept for curing alongwith 12-15 cm tops, dried from top towards bulbs, leading to retaining their proper shape, size and bulbs remains compact which leads to prolonged shelf life of bulbs, whereas, 40 per cent sprouting was observed in bulbs kept for curing without tops and they become loose and cannot be kept for further storage.

Keywords

Kharif Onion Bulbs, Shelf Life, Curing Methods, Sprouting.

Full Text