Case4-January-2013

Exposure visit to Hans Rover, KVK

The One Village One variety scheme is a CSR project implemented with the support of Cotton Corporation of India, Coimbatore in Sengapadai and surrounding villages in Thirumangalam block of Madurai District. Farmers in a village were educated to sow a single variety of cotton, which will help them a lot in pest and nutrition management strategies. As a part of training to the farmers an exposure visit to Hans Roever Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Perambalur was organized on 11.12.2012 to enable them to learn the new technologies followed in cotton cultivation. Mr. R. Jeyakumar, The Branch Manager of Cotton Corporation of India, Coimbatore, rendered his support and guidance for making this visit successful.

Fifty two farmers from Sengapadai Village along with Supervisor and Scout from this project visited Hans Roever KVK, Perambalur on 11-12-2012. Mr. M. Palanisamy, Programme Leader from DHAN Foundation also participated along with the farmers.

The training programme started with the formal inaugural function headed by Mr. Kathiravan, Programme Coordinator, Hans Roever KVK and Mr. M. Palanisamy, Programme Leader, DHAN Foundation. In this, Mr. Kathiravan shared that their farmers, all the Perambalur cotton cultivating farmers used hybrid cotton varieties like RCH -2, RCH-20, RCH-530 and MRCH 7918. All farmers adopt line sowing 4*3 ft in Perambalur district unlike the farmers in Gujarat who adopt 5*1 ft in their cotton field which was observed by the Perambular farmers during their exposure visit to Gujarat. Mr. M. Palanisamy also reinforce the importance of certified seeds, practicing line sowing in the cotton field and all the participant should utilize this kind of exposures by adopting it in their field and it could be replicate to other farmers also in future.

Technical guidance undertaken from KVK Class room Session

Mr. P. Saravanan, Cotton Senior Inspector, Hans Roever KVK explained about the package of Practices in cotton Cultivation adopted in the Perambalur block. Some of the key points explained by the Resource persons are

• The farmers in Gujarat have practiced the spacing of 5 * 1 feet and using tractor/ power tiller during first and second weeding.
• Use certified seeds which could be brought from the reputed dealers or organizations. Use Hybrid varieties to increase the income. The varieties of cotton used for rainfed areas are LRA 5166, SVPR-2, and hybrid varieties are RCH-2, RCH-20, RCH530 (Bt varieties) and MRCH 7918 (Long leaf variety). The seed rate used for hybrid cotton seed is 450 gm/ acre which cost around र950/-.
• Soil testing should be done
• Seed treatment with Azospirillum, Phosphobacteria, Trichogramma viride, Pseudomonus sp will help a lot.
• Line sowing should be practiced by adopting spacing 120 to 90 cm at 3 cm depth and the population comes around 9260 plants/ha.
• Proper weed management should be done through hand weeding and Power weeder and maintain free from weeds.
• Application of foliar nutrition with Urea 1% along with plant growth regulator ensures good plant growth and avoids wastage of urea.

Pest management in Cotton

1. Myrid bug Infestation: The leaves turns from green to light yellowish color and later leads to formation of blockish red spots, which later spreads to plant tip, flower bolls and make them shed in case of sever infestation
2. Mealy Bug: Two types of mealy bugs viz., papaya mealy bug ( white colour) and Cotton mealy bug (white color with black spots) affect cotton. The symptoms are yellowing and wilting of leaves, wilting of flowers and bolls which later fall down. Spraying Quinocram 30 ml in 10 liter of water along with Soap oil or Sampoo (adhesive purpose) and lime will control the pest

Other pests which affects cotton crop are boll worms (pink and spotted ), red cotton bug, Green leaf hopper, White flies and Aphids. Cotton plant normally gets subjected to heavy pest infestation if proper precautionary pest management practices are not taken. Farmers will be forced to spend more on pesticides which eventually leads to reduction in profit margin or even loss. Following agronomic and pest management practices like summer ploughing, using natural fertilizers, using certified seeds of cotton, line sowing, using same variety and same age seedlings, management of field channels, castor as coverage crop and intercropping with maize, Using yellow sticky trap etc., will help the farmers to get a good crop with less investment.

Controlling sucking pest

• Biological control: Acirophagus papaya @100/acre and using Ephilacna Beetle and cirpit fly.
• Chemical control: Acetate 2 gm, Emidochloprid 0.7ml and prophinophos 2ml/lit of water and spray to control sucking pests.

Diseases management in Cotton

1. Root rot: Roots will be turn to black colour and it can be managed by Seed treatment with Trichogramma viride 4 g/kg of seeds. Carpendazim 3g /lit of water mixing and using at the root portion.
2. Wilt: The entire plant will wilt, which starts spreading from tip of the stems.e wilted. The disease can be managed by spraying Potassium nitrate 10g/ lit of water.
3. Bacterial Leaf Blight: The symptoms of bacterial leaf blight are brown spots in leaves which spread to entire leaves and later affect the entire plant. The disease can be managed by spraying Copper oxy chloride 1gm/ litre of water with Streptomycin sulphate 1gm per 10 liter of tank in the affected field.

The KVK also had a Cotton Fiber Separating machine which they use for demonstration purposes. The machine is battery operated having the capacity of working for 6 hours. It weighs around 10 to 12 kg and cost of र7,000 to 7,500 per machine.

Field visit to Anukur Village of Perambalur village

All the farmers went to visit Anukur village of Perambalur district to have an interaction with farmers on their cotton cultivation experiences along with the KVK staff. The farmers visited the fields of Mr.Rajendraen and Mr.Selvaraj. The cotton crop was sown by September, 2012 which was nearing first harvest by the time of our field visit. The harvest will continue up to the month of April, 2013. The farmers have sown MRCH - 7,918 (long broader leaf variety). The farmers shared the cultivation practices they followed which are as follows

• First Disc plough 1 to 3 time
• Sowing Season –mid of September
• Basal application-DAP- 50 to 75 kg/acre
• Spacing for their hybrid variety is 4 * 3 feet
• Animal drawn weeding was done for first weeding on 22nd day after sowing (DAS), Hand weeding was done from Second weeding on 50 DAS, Third weeding on 75 DAS. So far three weeding was done in their field
• Application of Confidor of 5ml/lit for controlling sucking pest.
• Application of Mancozeb + confidor for Pest and diseases management.
• Application of Monocrotophos+Asiphate @20ml/ tank.
• Application of micro nutrient mixture to arrest the square fallen.

Mr.Rajendiran shared that he got a yield of 8 quintals/ acre under rainfed conditions. But this year he expects the yield to be lesser to a tune of only 4-5 quintals/ acre due to monsoon failure. This year he was forced to give one irrigation for the crop from the neighbours well on rental basis to save the crop. The number of bolls per plant ranges from 100 to 120. The farmers demonstrated how the cotton fiber separating machine works. The fiber was sucked by the sectional force and it was stored in the bag which is held by the operator. Then the collected fiber stored in the gunny bag for sales.

Key learnings

The exposure visit was extremely useful and the farmers felt very happy about the visit. These are some of the key points the farmers learned through this visit, which they shared during their feedback

• Timely sowing with the correct season
• Selection of varieties/ hybrid i.e., certified seeds
• preparation
• Fertilizer application – basal, broad casting and Foliar
• Line sowing with adequate spacing
• Weed management
• Foliar nutrient application
• Application of Growth regulator
• Pest management
• Disease management.