Vol. 11 No. 2 March-June, 2005s.rti+i t+_rf+*tr*+e$$*-t

J-o4u/vfuqt-q_at-€[-is-IGFRT

As informed to you earlier, in order to crystallize prrojects on soil biology, fertility andsustainability and the ecoagriculture, we conducted our Staff Research Councilmeetings during May, 2005. ln order to provide a proper framework for the futureecological agriculture, we also initiated a project on grassland biodiversity and haveplanned to establish a Biodiversity Park. These initiatives are being taken to lay asolid foundation for the organic [orage production research,

Jhansi was well known in the historical past for grasslands, grass hay and itsbusiness. lt is also felt that establishment of IGFRI was a step forward in this direction

by the Govt. of India during 1962. The history of grass hay as an enterprise at Jhansi

is presented based on available information to understand its significance. Ourinitiative at understanding the organized grazing paddocks systdms of Tamilnadu atKangeyum also throw light on the socio-economic perspectives of grasslands in the

dry zones. The key issues of management controlling its productivity and

sustainability as understood are sure to help in its fufure management policy

formulation. The future of grasslands as a land use system depends upon theirproper understanding.

ln past five years, at least three years have been with scanty rainfall. Some of the

range grasses viz., Pnicum antidotale are found ideal on the raised bunds in the

semi-arid climates at Avikanagar for not only protecting the bunds but also producing

fodder for livestock. The IGFRI bund technology with proper grass ahd legume

species has a great future for improving the fodder supply in the dry climates even inthe years with erratic monsoon. We also find that our initiative for.perennials vz,stylo, hybrid napier, guinea grass, Leucaena as potential source ior fodder in such

climates is meeting with success in the farmers'fields.

The initiatives taken during the last year on organic agriculture or Jaivfk krishi arecontinuing with many good results to prove their worth. ln this issue also results ofPanchgavya application on wheat and berseem are encouraging. The long term

effects of applying Angara and Amritpanl in the soil and also the crop growth are

expected to help in formulating the guidelines for ecoagriculture. Biomass

management for livestock and soil and intensive study of their nutrient cycling are

bound to show promise. lt is expected that only through these initiatives it will bepossible to evolve clean development mechanisms for sustained growth of landproductivity.

During this period, we also organized the working group meeting of AICRP (FC) atDhanrvad for the kfian'f. Reports are presented in this number. Several new varietieshave been identified for use at regional and national level.

The diversity of initiatives are bound to provide firm footing for fodder research anddevelopment to sustain the rural livelihoods. Livestock based farming systems arekey to rural prosperity and gainful self employment where fodder / grazing resource is

the key. Let us commit ourselves to research and development on forages.

lsw-'" '(P,S.Pathak)

PatronP.S. Pathak

EditorsS.A. FaruquiK.C. Pandey

A.K. SrivastavaAssistance

A.K SaxenaA.K. Singh

bffiihrt# €reup ekk etrffiRF ({Fe} e ffitumn# me$iiiiiiiiiilliii-ii-t',ri.,

The National group Meet of A11 India Co-ordinatedProject for Research on Forage Crops (AICRP-FC) forkharif 2005 was held at TJniversity of AgriculruralSciences, Dharwad (Karnataka) from May 5-7 , 2A05.The meeting had two broad objectives (1) thediscussions on results of the experiments conductedduring rabi 20A4 and (2) to formulate the technicalprogramme for kharif2005. In this meeting, more than110 delegates including Scientists frorn CoordinatinganC Collaborating Centres of the SALisi ICAR.Institutes, Professors/ Researchers fronn tIAS,Dharw ed, Development professionals, and thepersonnels from Department of Animal Husbandry &Dairyirg, NDDB, and NGOs participated.

Dtr. S.A. Patil, Vice Chancellor, uAS, Dharwad wasthe Chief Guest ofthe function. In his inaugurai speech,he provided an exhaustive account of the agriculruralscenario and forage status in the country as a whole andin southern peninsular states in particuiar. Heenlightened the participants about the new chaliengesrelated to genetic resource upgradation and thedevelopment of the varietal and productiontechnologies. The meeting was presided bver by Dr.P.S. Path&k, Director, IGFRI, Jhansi.

A new variety of forage cowpea UPC 618 d.pveloped atGBPUAT, Pantnagar has been recommended foq_release andcultivation in the north-west, north-east anrd central zones ofthe country in the Group Meet of AICRP (FC) for kharif 2005at UAS, Dharwad. Thg. yield pqle"lia|of this variety is 35-40tlhagreen fodder and 4.5-5.0 tltiadry matte r at 50% floweringstage. It has high dry matter digestibility (6 5-70%) and crudeprotein (15-I7%), besides lower content of NDF and ADF. it.is tesistant to cowpea yellow mosaic virus, bacte rtaL blight,"collarlroot rot, aphids and tolerant to wilt, agthracnose,nematode and pod borer under field conditions.

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In total, six technical sessions i.e., Review of researchactivities, Formulation of technicatr programme (ForageCrops Breedirg, Crop Protection and Agronomy &Soil), Discipline-wise presentation, Breeder seeCproduction, Enhancing production and productivity offorages, and Present status and future possibilities offorage crop improvement in India with speciatrreference to Southern States were organrzed.

The Plenary Session was Chaired by Dr. G. Kalloo,DDG (CS&H), ICAR, New Delhi. He called upon thescientists to come-out with feasible and economicallyviable teehnoiogies, which can help the Indian farmers toget maxirnum sustainable production. Dunng thissession, two catalogues on White clol-er anC Cluster beandeveloped by IGFRI, RRS Palampur anC Avikanzgffi,respectively were released by the Charrman.

The Varietal Identification Committee meeting was heldunder chairmanship of Dr. G. Kailoo. In all five varietiesproposals in five crops namely, oats. co\\pea. Anj afi,maizeand pearl millets were submitted to the cornmittee. Finallythree varieties viz., Bundel Jai 20A1-3 (IHO 2001-3) inoats, Bundel Anj an-3 (IGFRI -127) ln Anjan grassdeveloped by IGFRI and variety UPC-618 in cowpeadeveloped by GBPUAT were identifi ed for release .

New forage cowpea UPC-618 tariety developed

(,F.5. Vermu, GBPLIAT, Puntnogur)

Ee4'teae.ee.@ree*G**uGPag,"@&ewesru**GQeh:1EF"ee*ee*Ul-BHlefSu*Gr-e*k."

ee#Ler is a costly input in agriculture. There is need topractice other alternatives iike Vedic amendments andPanchgay)a use in croppirrg system mode forininimrzrng fertili zer cost and optimtzing"production.Field experiment on evaluation of Vedic amendmentstike Angara, Amiritpani, Angara + Amiritpani andcontrol (rro amendment) .with sowing of Fanchgavyaand water pnmed seecis was evaluated under 50%*rganic and 50% inolganic source of nitrogen (applied

@I20 kg /na) to wheat crop. The resutrts indicated thrtthe use of various V-edic amendments over controlproduced higher seed yieid of wheat to the extent of 6-tr 0 percent under sowing of Panchgavya primed seedsand 4-7 percent under sowing of water primed seeds,respectively (Table). However, maximum increaseswere obtained under amiritpani particularly in case of

Table : Whe at grain yield (qlha) with Yedic treatments and seedpriming with Panchgavaya and water

sowing of primed seeds with Panchgavya. Whencompared seed yield with Funchgavya over noFqnchgav))a under different organic amendments, itwas higher by 6,8,9 and 8 percent in control, Angara,Amiritpani and Angara * Amiritpani, respectively. Thesuperiority of Amiritpani was also observed inrecordirrg highest seed test weight of 10 percent (fig)with sowing of Panchgavya primed seeds compared tonvater primed seeds (53.9 gll000 seeds) and by 11

percent with seed priming of Panchgay)il over control(48 .4 gltr 000seeds).

The study thus concluded that the sowing ofPanchgavya primed wheat seeds along with Vedicamendments like Amiritpani could be practiced fortrigher grain yield. "

Effect of amendments and seed priming withPanchgavya and water on seed

test weight of wheat grainac$t-c,)(,ooU)

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50

40

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Control Angara Amritpani Angara + Mean

Amritpani

Amendments

'rfi. Panchgavya ffi Water

f,S.B. Triputhi und M.S.Sharmu)

Seed priminglncrease overControl (%)

Panchgavaya | ltJater lncrease oYerwater {%}

Control

,4ngara

Amritpani

Angara+Atu;,niip*;n;i

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Etfect ol Panchgavya and water spray on seedyield of berseem (qlha) and seed test weight

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Seed yield Spray Seed test weight

W Panchgavya ffi Water

Ss*&&gh $gasilM E'esedl HlvSHJlrgeG *y+euruu eff Kange#rou r Aur* l&r*t*edHeHjeul

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A smali enclosure.measuring approximately 5x4.5 m'(fbr 30 sheep) is erected for'keeping sheep. Pens areirrrrrd eithei with live hedge of soft-awrr.d Acacia ordried coconut leaves twined together. Between midNovember-mid January fuy are covered' *;th apolSrthene sheet to protect the sheep from dew in thenight. Every evening sheep are herded into thisenclosure after their day-long gra zingin the paddocks., , ,,

Small ruminants dorninatein areas w&ere concentration:of'paddocks is more N{echeri sheep, native to thograss1andarerearedwidely'Thissheepwartfrornmeatare valued highly for itshide, This region is the'bre lnwact of the famous Kangayam cattle known for its

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Wnicum antidoto,le' (Blue'pahic) - Harvest more fodder frornltPanicum antidotale cofirnonly called as Blue

'' .,'p-{ffi ate erect deep rooted thin stemmed, ,

":offifted perennial grixs with smooth and solid :

,',"Cul . It is a profuse seeder, which mature :

,".t" shed easily. The rooted slips ofthis species :"" fransplanted at adistanie of 50cm from ,i

,'slip-to slip on fieldbwrds. Near aboutnine tons i',of green biomass was harvested from three,-*,,,.'-r:.r,VX-1,',,$f\./\,/rr lvtr\,rrlr(*JJ YY(,fD ll(rl YVDL\,l\i IIt lll lfffW\+, iii

'',, ffis at an intenral of 25 duys from 5' heightt$iu g rnetre length around one hectare areaitiiThw, from a cultivated field an additionatri$

fodder can be harvested fromthe bm-ffi

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c e to Jhansi treaving behind everything ,and

setfied in front of the present day Jhan$irHotel.In 1885, he struck upon an idea of suppliing?,av to army- The q{rn}t at that time had alrye'number of animals including horses,el@ant, mules etc. to cater to theirtranSport need. For fueding of afiLmals theanrry used to purchase hay locally but the il

quanfiirn' required was s&stantial. J.H"Abb contacted the anny offered tosupply all the requirements of hay,whichwas agreedupon.

The 'grasslands are locally called 'Rundurhich we stilt'find,today in names ofplaces as

'Ruhd ,':Karari'., trn the b*ginning Abbottorganized the supply of h*y locall5r throughcontfacto,r.s. The anny also, tbund it eonvenient that their

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eqp reme was being metwiftout anlr fuss. Moreov€r,

J.H. Abbott, had 4 sons and 2 daughters.He had put three of his sons at differentplaces to look after the business of balingand distribution of hay, while the eldest

son Roy Leslie Abbott looked afteragriculture in Sagar district. lr{eil Abbott

was the incharge of the baling plant at Karari.Charles Abbott looked after the baling

'J.H. Abbott was a man of word. He kept his'word'inmeeting the supply of hay in time. With passage of time

I arrriy cantonrnents frorn elsewhere started placing theirrequirement to Abbott. This provided him anopporfuniqv to expand his busin*i. and incorporateinnovative ways to transport his hay to far off places.Orders flor hay started'pouring f,rom places as far as

Quett,a, Laltore,and P e shawar in P aki stan. Tran sp ortingthem loose was not fbasible. Therefure, J.H. Abbotpurchased an old steanr engine. Each bale of grassweighed approx. 1 mound (40 ke), The first such plantwas ostablished at Ganeshpura near Karari in- Ihansi.Each bale was accurately weighed before beingdispatched. The Imperta\ Gazetteer of India (1908)also mentions that I'Grass is also exported from Jhansiand hay wes baled in large quantities for the Military

, operations at Markundi, Manikpur. Bruce Abbott was

Stationed at Lahore, who trooked after the distribution ofbales, which used to arrrve from Jhansi and Manikpur.A street in Lahore is, hown as 'Abbott'Road' *i.,today- Thus, the extent of the hay business of Abbottcovsred ,almost whole of the ]r{orth India. It alsocontributed to the war preparations in meeting thestrategic supplies ofbaled hay for feeding animals usedfbr transport of men and weaporrs. Baled hay fromJhansi was also used during t[e' Tirah expedilion of1895 and the South Africa* frur. ^

J.H. Abbott was a man of vision and an astutebusinessmen. He was a man of words and used to keeppromise ln making tirnely delivery of the baled haywhich in turn brought hirn more orders from far offplaces. He neither used to drink nor smoke. He wouldsay fut he had no money to indulge in these things in hisyouth and when he could afford, he did not need them.

fuPssGe[lsFl{nbri rilorilof flffi ol ,hanri)

Jhansi, in the years gone by, had excellent grasslandswhereihe business ofbaled hay had flourished-a hundredyears ago. .trames Harold Abbott (1863-1945) was thepiorcer of 'Central India hay trade (The trmperialGazetteer oftrndia, 1 908). J"H, Abboff was,son ofWilliamtr-umsden Abbott (1828- 1880), a native of Scotland, whoamived in trndia as a private soldier of British anny int85O. William got wounded ih the first war ofindep dence in 1857 and returned back to England in

. i858.,.F{e came back to India and seffled in Morar nearGwalior along with his six 'children (3 sons and 3daughters). J.fr. Abbbott was the eldest child. Williamt Abbott died in 19g0. In Iggtr, the MorarCantonment was ordered to be vacated immediatetry andhence J.H. abbott alongwith his rnother and 3 siblirgt

Department during the Tirah expedition of 1895 and theSouth African'War".

with the demand for baled hay pouring from far andwi,Ce, another plant for baling of grasses wasestablished at Markundi in Manikpur in 1895. J.H.Abbott used to collect the grasses which grew inabundance in Jhansi and Manikpur. They wereharvested and collected in October and Novernber,dried and staked near the baling machines. The- balingcperations used to start from December which

Thjs eng,ine used for the braling of grass is nowdisptrayed at Cantt area in Jhansi. Extensive sheds

and the tin roof could still be $een now in villageBilta (Karari). Initially wood was used to

power the engine to''produce steam. Butlater on crude oil was used fbr the puqpose.i{ot much is known about the balingoperations that were carried out atMarkundi, Manikpur"

business of baled hay flourished. The machineryemployed in baling of grasses and martasement ofRund-the grassland. It would also give an insight intothe vegetation during that period.

The_ IGFRI takes pride that it has taken forward thework that was started more than hundred years ago.There is also the need to have a re-look in to the historyof Indian agriculture and emph asize the importurrr. ofJhansi during the period gone by, as never before thisflourishing trade in baled hay finds a mentiorl.Whenever, there is a talk of the process of baling anddensification ai any platfotrrn, Jhansi should frni theforemost place.

IGFRI Jhansi and its Regional Research Stations located atDhnruad (Karnataka), Avikanagar (Rajasthan) and Palampun(Himanchal Pradesh) are producing and selling the TFLseed of various fodder crops and range species.

SM svaihbb fu mb at IGFRI, JhansE

Berseem (Wardan; 1300 kg @ Rs.130l-i<g

Cats (JH0-S32)

Oats (Kenti

Jagriti

cv-2618

cv-2508

K-508

BG.1

BG.2

BG-3Dotichos iabtab

JLP.3JLP.4

Please contact.

1850 kg

650 kg

950 ks

750 kg

1 050 kg

1 260 kg

Please contaet :

Director", IGFRI, JhansiPh, : (0517)2730666, Fax: (0517)2nA833

$e$ ffiaikHe furffi sf; IGFRI, RRS, AdlcnnfferCenchrus sefrgerus 175kg @ni.t 50lkg

Guar{tsreeder seed)

30 kg

140 kg

130k9

60 kg

30kg

@ Rs 30l-kE

@ Rs 30l-kg

@ Rs.30/-kg'!r''

@ Rs.60r-kg

@ Rs.601-kg

Officer lncharge, RRS, lGFR|,Avi kanagar (lVIai pu ra, Distt.-Ton k)

..Via -Jaipur- 30{ 501 (Rajasthan)

-Ikt'::9:lill:??91T-gl];,?-f--11-(Rl

(Anil Kumar)

Dr. G. Kalioo, il12. Director General (CS&H), IndianCouncil of egricultural Research, New' Delhiaccompanied by other scientists visiting theexperimental area at the IGFRI Regional ResearchStation, Dharwad.

Society of Extension ,Ed, ation awarded YoungSCientist Aw ard-2}05 n'to Dr. B.S. Mee;; for fiIcontribution in the field of agricultural extensio n, attheocoasion- of 3rd' Natiowal: Extension EducationCongress (27 -29 April,2005) atNDRI Karnal

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Sh. S.C. ,'

irit roevc,Assistant,retired on

April 30, 2005

Smt. Pachcho,Mazdoorretired on

April30,2005

$h" Udal,,Mazdoof, ,,'

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retir"ed on

May 3tr,2005

Sh. KishanLal,Mazdoor,

retired on'May31,2005

B.eStP.cs-=ter=P-re.E-€-r:tt:eti.e=r=r:Awaf d:

Society of Extension Education awarded best posterpresentation awards-2005 to B.S. Meefld, P. Sharma,Sadhana Pandey & R.N. Dwivedi for their paperentitled "Impact of participatory research on farmersknowledge and adoption of animal productiontechnologies", and to Sadhna Pandey, B. S-Meena, R.N. Dwivedi 8L P. Sharma for their paper entitled"Decision-making and gender involvement paffern offarm families in-food,"feed and fodder pril;riio";under different Themes on the CIccasion of 3rdNational Extension Education Conlr.** 1zl -zsApril,200 5) atNDR[ Karnal.

ANational Seminar on Resource Management Optionsto Reverse the Declining Trend in Crop Productivitywas held at TNAU, Coimbatore during July 4-5,2A05.appfoach for sustainable fodder and crop productivity"-

' Sareen bagged the I st pri ze forposter presentation. -

The #stract entitled' "Cereal-clover bicropping : A newby Inder Derr Birnal Misri, Sudesh Radot* uiA Sindtru

-ftefrgfl?gtr'-f.-s

Contact at : lndianTe[. :

Pubtished by: Director; IffiF'Rl,

Grassland and Fodder Research lnstitute, Jhansl-284 0030517 - 273A666, 2730908, Fax : 051 7-2730833Jhansi and Printed at : Mini Printers, Jhansi. Ph. :2447831,2446820