Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Research on cultivating `karuvel' on alkaline soil

Staff Reporter

In Manikandam block of Tiruchi district, says official

FRUITFUL ENCOURAGEMENT: Gurbachan Singh, Director, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, interacting with a farmer in Tiruchi on Friday. — Photo: R. Ashok.

TIRUCHI: The Central Soil Salinity Research Institute in Haryana will take up research programmes on cultivating `karuvel' in the alkaline soil of Manikandam block in the district, Director Gurbachan Singh has said.

Addressing farmers of Poongudi village in the block at the inaugural function of a `seed village programme' organised on Friday by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirugamani, he said Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute would take up the research.

Five species would be sent from Haryana to the college soon. The industrial uses of `karuvel' included power generation and manufacturing fodder and powdered feed.

Cultivation of horticultural crops, increasing milk yield through fodder development and setting up of poultry and inland fishing units in the block would also be explored to ensure an assured income for the farmers. To achieve this goal, select farmers from Manikandam would be taken to farms in Madhya Pradesh.

S. P. Ramanathan, head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, said site-specific nutrient management had resulted in harvest of salt-tolerant varieties developed by the college. As against zero a decade ago, the per acre yield of paddy was 2,400 kg this season. The Kendra had identified Poongudi under the `seed village programme' to help farmers to produce quality seeds.

The Project Co-ordinator, All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Salt-affected Soil, O. S. Tomar, the Dean (in-charge) of the college, M. Sheik Dawood, and the Soil Scientist from the kendra, O. S. Tomar, were among those who were present.

Earlier, Mr. Singh distributed seeds to farmers.

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