Findings/Recommendations

Findings/Recommendations-2015-16

Agriculture

• Ginger accession Soma Clone 8640 developed by Plantation Department, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara under Kerala Agricultural University is promising to use for vegetable purpose. Average yield was 2.5 MT/acre, with less disease incidence.
• Fishlizer, the organic fertilizer from marine fish waste enhance flowering  and fruit setting in vegetables. The standard recommendation is 200 g per growbag as basal dose and subsequent 50 g at every 15 days interval.
• Applying 400 kg/ha of dolomite along with application of Pseudomonas, beauveria and fish amino acid augmented the paddy production by 22%. Mechanized transplanting was followed.
• Banana sucker treatment with Cow dung slurry mixed with Metarhizium and basal application of Metarrhizium  2 g dispersed in 1 litre water at 2 months and 4 months after planting controlled rhizome weevil effectively.
• Abnormal leaf fall in nutmeg can be controlled with the sprays of 1% Bordeaux mixture during May 3^rd week and 0.15% spray of Kocide in 1^st week of July (150g Kocide in 100 litres of water).
• Fruit drop in nutmeg can be controlled with sprays of Pseudomonas 2% (20gram in 1 litre of water) during September and Boric acid 0.2% (2 gram in 1 litre of water) during October.
• Calcium- Boron deficiency in Banana can be corrected with the sprays of Calcium nitrate 0.5% ( 5 gram diluted  in 1 litre of water) followed by a spray of 0.1% Boric acid (1gram in 1 litre of water), one week after the Calcium nitrate spray. Lime application of 350g/ plant can also correct the deficiency.  
• Rhinocerous beetle in coconut can be well controlled by placing 250 g Sand + Ferterra mixture in the leaf axils (50 g of Ferterra is mixed with 2 kg sand for this purpose).
• Cool season vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, carrot etc should be transplanted within the first fortnight of October to get better results. Delayed transplanting results in smaller sized curds and heads.  
• Quality organic manures can be purchased from Jeeva Kudumbashree group -a micro enterprise with KVK technology backstopping. 

Fisheries

• Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) is found to be ideal species for high density cage culture in granite quarries. License from Fisheries Department, Govt. of Kerala is mandatory for GIFT farming. Seeds are available at the bio secured farm and breeding unit of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), Manikonda, Vijayawada, Andrapradesh.
• Asian Seabass is a good candidate fish suitable for cage culture in low saline water bodies.  Fingerling size (10 cm) fishes are ideal for stocking in cages. Periodical grading is essential to check cannibalism and to attain uniform growth.
• Mullet is a good candidate fish for open farming brackish water bodies. Its seed collection generally commence after the south west monsoon. Nursery rearing in happa nets to fatten the wild caught mullet fry’s is essential to get good survival. Formulated diet of high protein and fat is needed to attain good survival and growth during the nursery rearing period.
• Integration of Fin fish farming in Pokkali farming system is an ideal practice to enhance income from unit area of the Pokkali field. Asian Seabass, Pearl spot, Mullet are ideal candidate species to grow in Pokkali fields. All these fishes requires eight months growth period to attain the marketable size. To initiate farming install happa nets in sluice pit area and stock healthy finsh frys during first week of August after the NIRTHAL in Pokkali field.  Formulated slow sinking (0.5mm) floating pellet feeds (1.2 mm) are ideal feed for the nursery rearing phase. Restock the nursery reared fishes to floating rectangular HDPE-PVC cages after 45 days. Five time feeding are ideal during nursery rearing phase and two time feeding are ideal in grow out phase. 

Animal Husbandry

• Farmer’s can feed Calf Milk Replacer as replacement of half of whole milk ration. This can   to reduce the milk consumed by calves without affecting their health and growth rate. KVK recommends to adopt this technology in large farms.
• Soviet Chinchilla rabbits have showed improved litter size, less foot diseases, reduced kit mortality and 40% more weight gain in 5-6 month old kits.
• The leg disorders and egg deformities in case of layer poultry due to Calcium deficiency can be prevented by supplementary feeding of raw lime shell powder along with layer mash.

Findings/Recommendations-2014-15

Agriculture

• Fruit rot disease in Nutmeg can be controlled by applying 40 Kg cow dung enriched with 4 kg neem cake and 500g Trichoderma applied in 2 split doses per plant per year in combination with pseudomonas 20g diluted in 1 litre sprayed over the canopy at monthly intervals.
• There is no difference between yield of vegetables grown in Flat planting beds and Grow bags whereas cost of flat planting bed is on higher side.
• Mini tillers are suitable for ploughing in those Pokkali paddy fields dried to such an extent that a man can walk over it. Pokkali fields can be dried in summer by pumping water out. The field capacity of mini tiller is 1.5 acre per day.
• Application of Verticilium leccanii 4 doses of 20g diluted in 1 litre of water can control banana rhizome mealy bugs. First application at the end of 3rd month of planting and subsequently at monthly intervals.
• Application of azospirillum in banana mixed with neem cake and FYM in 1:2:20 ratio at 3rd, 60th and 120th days of planting can reduce usage of chemical fertilizers by 25%. This reduces production cost.
• Application of PGPR mix I increase yield of vegetables. 62 per cent more production observed for Cowpea variety Anaswara. Application of PGPR Mix II reduces disease incidence in vegetables. Disease incidence reduced by 5 per cent in Cowpea variety Anaswara.
• Liming increases crop yield. Liming at the rate of 3.5 kg per one cent increased yield of Tapioca by 18 per cent.
• System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of paddy cultivation increases yield while ensuring low production cost. The method resulted in 25-30% per cent increase in yield of paddy variety Uma. The cost of production reduced by 8-10%.
• Integrated crop management (ICM) in paddy increases yield by 25%. ICM included application of Lime, Neem cake, Azospirillum, Panchagavya, Fish amino acid, Trichoderma enriched vermicompost, Beauveria, Verticilium and Neem oil spray. Seed treatment with pseudomonas and as foliar spray, usage of Trichocards also included.
•  Integrated pest, disease and nutrient management (IPDNM) can rejuvenate senile coconut palms. The IPDNM for coconut include regular crown cleaning, application of recommended dosage of chemical fertilizers in two splits, lime application, application of Trichoderma enriched cow dung, neem cake, Bordeaux mixture and Pseudomonas. The cost of this treatment per plant per year is 500. It takes 4 years to make the changes visible in treated palms.
• Integrated Pest Disease and Nutrient Management (IPDNM) of Nutmeg prevents fruit drop and fruit decay. It increases fruit set by 12 per cent and decreases fruit drop and fruit decay by 18-25%. Immature nut fall and leaf shedding would decrease considerably. The IPDNM comprise of application of trichoderma enriched cow dung, Potash, Bordeaux mixture and Kocide spray.
•  Alternate spray for beuveria bassiana and Pseudomonas controls Pest and Disease in Cucurbit Crops.
• Njavara paddy can be profitably cultivated in Ernakulam. This variety has good medicinal properties. Yield obtained was 3.5 MT/ha in the demonstration.
• Open precision farming enhances vegetable yield. Open precision farming requires initial investment of 75,000/- per acre. This method increased yield of bitter gourd by 85 per cent.
• Onion variety Agrifound dark red is suitable for growing in riverine alluvial and sandy loam soils of Ernakulam district. Spray of Sulphate of Potash (SOP) in Nendran banana bunches increased yield (bunch weight) by 15-20%.

Fisheries/Animal Husbandry

• Integration of high value fin fish such as Pearl spot, Mullet and Asian Seabass along with shrimp and paddy in Pokkali fields is a best method to ensure high remuneration per unit area. Breeding and seed production of Pearl spot in ponds is a profitable venture.
• Small sized ponds (0.5 to 1 acre) are ideal for community breeding of pearl spots. Seed collection can commence from 75 days of stocking the brood fish.
• Monoculture of indigenous fish Varal resulted high rate of cannibalism and low survival percentage. A unique species specific feed for varal is required to carry out its monoculture.
• High density cage culture is a perfect method for utilizing granite quarries for fish production. Tilapia, pungecious and pearlspot are the suitable candidate species.
• Silver Pompano culture in different saline conditions (10 to 30 ppt) in the district indicated significantly low survival rate.
• Yield of Thumburmuzhi TM-1(170 t/ha) was found to be less than Hybrid napier variety CO3 (245 t/ha). However TM-1 was found to be more suitable for feeding small animals like goats and rabbits.