NHM Project Activities and Achievements - KVK Hirehalli, Tumakuru

1. Establishment of Leaf Tissue Analysis (LTA) Lab

Introduction

The changed agricultural scenario has to focus our attention on way to improve the soil fertility level of the district in all location to check the crop losses, avoid-wide fluctuations in productions and sustain the higher levels of productivity and quality of different horticultural crops. Establishment of a Leaf Tissue analysis Lab is to provide services to the farmers in and around Tumakuru district. Objectives:

1. Analysis of plant and leaf in all high valued horticultural crops. 2. The nutrient level in the sample under diagnosis is compared with the standard values

established for each crop and assessment is made whether a particular nutrient is limiting the yield or not. The nutrient standards for important horticultural crops have been developed by Soil Science Division, IIHR, Bangalore.

3. Provide the recommended dose of nutrients required by the plant based on the plant and leaf analysis. 4. To provide the immediate measures to crop suffered by different nutrient deficiency. 5. To create awareness among the farmers about the different crop nutrient deficiencies and their remedial measures. Project details:

Fund sanctioned: 20 Lakh

Date of Start of the Project: April 2013.

Completion of the Project: Mar 2014.

Activities supported: � The fund was utilized for the procurement of instruments, glassware and chemicals needed

for the LTA lab. � Glassware and chemicals were procured for the LTA lab. � Procured the equipments for LTA Lab. Instruments procured for Leaf Tissue Analysis Lab:

Sl. No. Name of Equipments Amount (Rs.)

1 Spectrophotometer with accessories 181260

2 Flame photometer 53238

3 Analytical balance 28625

4 Nitrogen Analyzer (Kjeldahl digestion and distillation) with spare parts 179879

5 Shaker 45800

6 Refrigerator 40200

7 Oven 60456

8 Hot plate 18893

9 Digestion fume chamber 99501

10 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer 1000000

11 Centrifuge 58404

12 Glassware and miscellanies 99279

13 Chemicals 134465

Total 2000000

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer Kjeldahl distillation

Achievements: Sample analyzed: Sl.No Samples Quantity (Nos.) Rate (Rs.) Amount (Rs.)

1 Soil sample 400 100 40000

2 Water Sample 290 50 14500

3 Leaf sample 90 100 9000

Total 780 Total 63500

Farmers covered: Total 780 samples of soil, water and leaf were analyzed and benefited 315 farmers and covered 245 villages of different Taluks viz., Pavagada, Madhugire, Koratagere, Sira, Tumakuru, Gubbi, Kunigal, Turuvekere, Tipatur, Chikkanayakanahalli of Tumakuru District, Magadi Taluk of Ramanagara District and Nelamangala Taluk of Bangalore Rural District.

Training programmes organized:

Total 7 training programmes on method of soil sampling and importance of soil, water and leaf testing and fertilizer recommendation were conducted. About 221 farmers were participated in the training programme.

2. Establishment of model nursery for multiplication of improved varieties and hybrids of horticultural crops

Introduction

In Karnataka, Tumakuru is one of the leading district in horticulture development as it has rich potential. It comes under Central and Eastern Dry zone (Zone-4&5), receiving an average rainfall of 543 mm annually. The total geographical area of the district is 10.65 Lakh hectares with cultivated area of 6.64 lakh hectare, out of which only 1.48 lakh hectare area is under irrigation. Tumakuru district with an excellent ecological situations prevailing, all most all types of horticultural crops can be cultivated throughout the year. In district, about 19,696 ha of area are covered under fruits, 3,853 ha under vegetables. For any success in the development of horticulture requires supply of good quality planting materials and which can be supplemented by establishment of nursery, where many types of horticulture plants can be raised under intensive care for later planting/transplanting. Therefore the promotion and area expansion of horticulture crops in Tumakuru require a model nursery through which a large number of quality horticultural planting material can be produced and supplied to the farmers & also to encourage going for dry land horticulture. In order to boost up the quality nursery production, there is a need to develop model nursery of fruits and vegetables at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hirehalli, Tumakuru district. Hence, the project is being proposed with following objectives.

Objectives:

1. Production and distribution of genuine good quality seedlings of different horticultural crops

2. To build capacity of rural youths on nursery techniques and propagation of horticultural crops

3. To meet the requirement of planting materials for area expansion programme

Project details: Fund sanctioned: 25 Lakh

Date of Start of the Project: May 2013.

Completion of the Project: May 2014.

Activities supported:

1. Constructed Shade net house of 750 mt2 2. Purchased ploy bag filling machine of 380 bags /hr capacity 3. Purchased Propagation tools and equipments 4. Formation of label boards for display 5. Fencing facility for Mother block orchard 6. Instillation of Bio digester and Vermicompost Unit 7. Drip and sprinkler irrigation system for shade net house 8. Bore well drilled ( 790’ Depth ) 9. Raised root stocks of different fruit crops for propagation purpose 10. Production of grafted plants / seedlings of fruits crops, vegetables and plantation

Seedlings under Shade N

Achievements:

Grafted plants / seedlings of fruits crops,

scheme

Crop Mango Alphonso, Mallika, Baneshan & DasheriGuava Pink flesh, Mridula and LAmla NA-5, NA-4 and NATamarind PKM-1 Jamun Gokak

Pomegranate Baghva Lime Kagzi lime

Fig Poona Coconut Arsikere Bird of Paradise BoP Pomello Devanahalli Seedless lime Rasaraj Drum stick PKM-1

Net House Polybag Filling

Grafted plants / seedlings of fruits crops, vegetables and plantation produced under the

Varieties Seedlings /Graft productionAlphonso, Mallika, Baneshan & Dasheri Pink flesh, Mridula and L-49

4 and NA-7

illing Machine

vegetables and plantation produced under the

Seedlings /Graft production 2500 1500 2000 150 250

4000 2600

200 2000 2000 1000 150

2000

3. Seed production of Vegetable Crops

Introduction

Seeds are the most important inputs for the farmers. Leave aside the quality seeds, availability of them itself is becoming a huge issue some times, especially during peak seasons. Tumakuru district having more than 3,158 ha under vegetable for quality seeds are always felt by the farmers. Having Indian Institute of Horticultural Research nearby and its KVK at this district, this need of the farmers was recognized by the KVK, and this NHM project has been proposed to supposelected vegetables like onion, okra and french

Objective:

To produce quality seeds (of onion, okra and frenchfarmers in and around Tumakuru district in nominal rate.

Activities supported:

Budget has been utilized for the purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, etc., and also for hiring the contractual labors for various activities like land preparation, sowing, weeding operation, harvesting, processing and packing of the

Onion (Arka Kalyan)

Achievements:

Quality Seeds produced and distributed to the farmers:

Sl no Crop Variety

1 Onion Arka Kalyan2 French bean Arka Suvidha3 French bean Arka Komal4 Okra Arka Anamika

Total * Sold to the farmers at nominal rate as per the MoU with Dept. of Horticulture

3. Seed production of Vegetable Crops

Seeds are the most important inputs for the farmers. Leave aside the quality seeds, availability of them itself is becoming a huge issue some times, especially during peak seasons. Tumakuru district having more than 3,158 ha under vegetable cultivation, demand for quality seeds are always felt by the farmers. Having Indian Institute of Horticultural Research nearby and its KVK at this district, this need of the farmers was recognized by the KVK, and this NHM project has been proposed to support the farmers with quality seeds in selected vegetables like onion, okra and french-bean.

To produce quality seeds (of onion, okra and french-bean) and supply to the needy farmers in and around Tumakuru district in nominal rate.

Budget has been utilized for the purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, etc., and also for hiring the contractual labors for various activities like land preparation, sowing, weeding operation, harvesting, processing and packing of the vegetable seeds.

French-bean (Arka Suvidha) Okra – Arka Anamika

Quality Seeds produced and distributed to the farmers:

Variety Quantity (kg)

Selling Cost (Rs./kg)* generated (Rs.)

Arka Kalyan 450 500 Arka Suvidha 550 90 Arka Komal 148 90 Arka Anamika 55 200

1203 * Sold to the farmers at nominal rate as per the MoU with Dept. of Horticulture

Seeds are the most important inputs for the farmers. Leave aside the quality seeds, availability of them itself is becoming a huge issue some times, especially during peak

cultivation, demand for quality seeds are always felt by the farmers. Having Indian Institute of Horticultural Research nearby and its KVK at this district, this need of the farmers was recognized by the

rt the farmers with quality seeds in

bean) and supply to the needy

Budget has been utilized for the purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, etc., and also for hiring the contractual labors for various activities like land preparation, sowing, weeding

Arka Anamika

Income generated (Rs.)

225000 49500 13320 11000

2,98,820

4. Integrated mushroom unit At Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hirehalli, Tumakuru.

Introduction

Spawn, i.e. seed required for growing mushroom, is the vegetative mycelium from a selected mushroom cultured on a convenient medium like wheat, sorghum grains, etc.,. Spawning is the essential first step in the early development of mushroom cultivation. In simple words spawn is grains covered with mushroom mycelium. It essentially involves the preparation of pure culture of mushroom from tissue/spores, evaluation of selected cultures for yield, quality and other desirable traits, maintenance of selected cultures on suitable agar medium, followed by culturing on sterilized grains and further multiplication on grains.

Project submission:

A Project proposal was submitted to the Department of Horticulture under National Horticulture Mission with title “Integrated Mushroom Unit” for the Spawn Production. The total cost of the project initially submitted with an out lay of Rs.18.87 Lakh. The funding agency has given sanction in a letter no MD/KSHMA/ED.AHO/95/2010-11 dated 18/3/2011 through the Department of Horticulture, Tumakuru for the Rs.15.00 Lakh Rupee.

Building Construction: following rooms have been constructed

1. Storage room: This will be utilized for storing the various chemicals, glass wares and other raw materials required for the spawn production.

2. Sterilization room: Here Equipments like grain boiler, High speed blender, Spawn bagging unit and an autoclave has been placed. In this room boiling the Jowar grains, mixing, bagging and sterilizing the same.

3. Inoculation room: After sterilization all the bagged grains are inoculated with the mother spawn/ mother culture.

4. Incubation room: Inoculated bags have to be incubated for the proper mycilial growth of the fungus. In this room temperature has to be controlled and for this, two Air conditioners have been fixed.

Purchase of Equipments:

In this project major emphasis was to create the infrastructure which will be required for the spawn production. Under this scheme a large number of major and minor equipments have been purchased which are being used for spawn production. The list equipments with its utilities are given in the table.

Table: Equipments and Accessories Purchased under the project with their utility

Sl.No. Particulars Purpose

Equipments and accessories 1 Grain Boiler For grain boiling in large scale

2 Fine wire meshed tray with legs 2 Nos.

Utilized for drying the sterilized paddy straw

3 Grain Filler Filling of the grains in PP bags

4 Trolleys Movement of spawn bags

5 Vertical Autoclave Sterilizing the boiled grains and other media

6 Laminar flow Inoculation of boiled grains

7 Spawn inoculators Inoculation of spawn from one generation to next

8 B.O.D Incubator For spawn running

9 Refrigerator Storing the spawn

10 Poly bags sealer Sealing the pp covers

11 Electrical balance Measuring the chemicals for media preparation

12 PH meter To adjust the PH of the media 13 High speed blender Mixing the boiled grains with lime and Gypsum 14 Chaff cutter For cutting the paddy straw for mushroom cultivation 15 Air conditioner (3 No,s) To maintain the temperature in Incubation room

16 Plastic drums (6 No,s) Soaking the paddy straw for Mushroom cultivation

17 Sprayers Spraying the water to the mushroom bags 18 Plastic buckets (4 No.s) For movement of other materials in the laboratory 19 Weighing balance (5 kg) For weighing in bigger quantity 20 Steel open racks (10 Nos) For keeping the spawn bags for incubation

21 PVC Ring For spawn bags

22 Distillation unit Production of DW for media preparation and other

laboratory work

23 Glasswares (petriplates,conical flask, pipettes ,measuring jars, ,)

Tissue culture and other work

24 Hot Air oven Drying and keeping the sterilized glass wares

25 Almera For storing the important items

26 Minor equipments (Gas connection, Forceps, Knife, needles, Scissors etc)

For Inoculation etc,

Budget Utilization

For Implementation of this project, Total amount of Rs.15.00 Lakh was sanctioned by National Horticulture Mission. As per the sanction, all the budget have been utilized during the project implementation.

Present Status of Mushroom Laboratory at KVK Hirehalli

After establishment of infrastructure through NHM, large number of Training programme are being conducted regularly at KVK, so far 20 training and awareness programmes on mushroom cultivation had been done. So far more than 300 farmers have been trained. Now trained farmers/ farm women are demanding spawn (mushroom seed), hence now our laboratory has started tissue culturing of mushroom and later spawn production. Major demand in Tumakuru is the Oyster mushrooms, hence culturing and production of spawn is being undertaken.

FUTURE STRATEGIES

In Tumakuru district, very little is known about the importance of the mushroom for their nutritional benefits. In this background, KVK, Hirehalli initially, would like to popularize the Mushroom Cultivation and its economic benefits. Farmers will be encouraged to go for the cultivation of mushrooms and then the quality spawn will be supplied to the needy farmer/ mushroom grower in the district.