Newsletter - Agricomplex 32_02.pdf - KIRAN

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Agricomplex Newsletter, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Meghalaya Vol. 32 No.2

October 2017 - March 2018 Vol. 32 No. 2

DIRECTOR’

DIRECTOR’ DIRECTOR’

DIRECTOR’

DIRECTOR’s MESSAGE s MESSAGE s MESSAGE s MESSAGE s MESSAGE

As the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has given me the responsibility of Director to serve this prestigious institute, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to ICAR for giving me an opportunity to serve in this position and, I also thank one and all at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam for their cooperation and support.

This issue of Newsletter highlights the activities of the Institute along with its six regional stations and 20 KVKs for the period October, 2017 to March, 2018. The Institute is moving forward with well-planned strategy and has been continuously emerging in science, technology and applied research with excellence. This Institute has pioneered efforts in solving issues concerning the farming community of this region and will tirelessly continue to work in this direction. We have the technologies to address the problems of farming community and I especially request the farmers to be proactive and vigilant as these two qualities will go a long way in making farming a profitable and sustainable venture. I also wish to congratulate the scientists working in this region for developing farmer friendly technologies and their efforts for effective dissemination of the knowledge. A notable research finding during this reporting period is the detection of coconut case caterpillar (Mahasena corbetti) invasion in Northeast India. Due to its geography, NER of India is highly vulnerable for invasion of insect pests and diseases therefore, timely detection and management should be given top priority. Institute has also identified high anthocyanin rich French bean lines, nutrient contents of different weed biomass has also been worked out that can be applied in organic farming. Apart from these, many success stories based on poultry farming, piggery farming, beekeeping, etc. have also been documented. Roadmap and strategy documents for doubling farmer’s income for four states such viz., Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland have been prepared and shared with the concerned state governments. I place on record my appreciation to all the staffs for their hard work, dedication and persistence which has resulted into these tangible technologies and success stories.

Dr. Narendra Prakash

Narendra Prakash

Research Highlight Success Stories Extension Activities

Training Selection Retirement Inside this issue/ edition

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Research Highlights

Coconut case caterpillar or bagworm, Mahasena corbetti Tams (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), is one of the serious polyphagous pest of many plants in Southeast Asia and some islands of the Pacific.

Larvae of this species voraciously feed on the leaves of many economically important plants and their most preferred families are

‘Fabaceae’ and ‘Arecaceae’.

Bagworm, M. corbetti (Fig 1) was previously recorded from Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo (Brunei, Sabah), Solomon Islands, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Philippines. In 2015-16, severe incidence of M.

corbetti was observed for the first time on arecanut (Areca catechu L.) plants (Fig 2) in Sohbar (25°12’47.006"N, 91°45’4.117"E) and adjoining villages in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, India bordering between India and Bangladesh. The affected plants had very few and poor quality fruits compared to unaffected plants.

Besides severe defoliation, necrotic patches were also formed on infested leaves which gave them a

‘burnt appearance’. Due to remarkable similarities in

morphology and very long life cycle, species identification in family Psychidae is complex as well as a daunting task. Thus, a rapid and reliable diagnosis based on molecular technique has been developed for detection M.

corbetti. Since it is a polyphagus pest, and many host plants are widely available in Northeastern and other states of India (viz. palm, banana, citrus, etc.), hence regular monitoring and subsequent management would be needed to detect its presence on other host plants and localities. Bagworms (including M. corbetti) could be controlled by application of commercially available formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis.

D. M. Firake*, G. T. Behere and S. V. Ngachan

* [email protected]

Invasion of coconut case caterpillar, Mahasena corbetti Tams in India

Fig 1. Mahasena corbetti larva inside the case

Fig 2. Severe defoliation of arecanut plants due to M. corbetti

Paddy straw: A New substrate for

cultivation of shiitake mushroom

Trials for utilization of paddy straw as substrate for Shiitake cultivation were conducted using five strains LE -17-01 to 17-05.

Paddy straw was supplemented with wheat bran @ 20%.

Sterilization of the substrate was done by autoclaving (1 hour).

Spawning rate was 5% on wet weight basis (50 g spawn in 1 kg wt substrate). After spawn run and browning the blocks were dipped in chilled water for 10 minutes.

Strain LE 17-04 started fruiting after 53 days of spawning (Fig. 1) whereas same strain took 106 days for harvesting on sawdust substrate. Fruit quality was also good on paddy straw based substrate. These results indicate the possibility that paddy straw can be used for cultivating shiitake in this region. This technology will certainly help farmers in a big way since cultivation on logs takes around one year but using this technology, farmers can get the harvest within two months.

Pankaj Baiswar*, S.V. Ngachan

* [email protected]

Fig 1. Shiitake mushroom on paddy straw

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Rice fallow is common in the entire NEH region of India due to late harvesting of long duration traditional rice varieties. As, rapeseed-mustard is one of the most preferred crop after harvesting of rice but late harvesting of paddy limits its cultivation during rabi season. Under such circumstances, an adaptive research was attempted to study the effect of different sowing dates on yield and yield attributes of toria variety TS- 67 during Rabi season, 2017 at upland agronomy farm, ICAR RC NEHR, Umiam. Sowing of the crop was done at ten days interval. It was observed that sowing on 3^rd November resulted in statistically similar pod length with sowing on 13^th November and was significantly superior over other sowing dates. Sowing on 3^rd, 13^th and 23^rd November produced statistically similar number of pods per plant and seed yield. However, sowing dates had no significant effect on number of seeds per pod (Table 1). It can be concluded from the study that optimum yield can be

Effect of sowing date on yield and yield attributes of toria

Table 1. Sowing date effect on yield and yield attributes of toria

Date of sowing Per pod No. of pods No. of seeds Seed yield length (cm) per plant per pod (q/ha)

03.11.2017 4.68 94.90 14 6.69

13.11.2017 3.71 85.00 12 6.60

23.11.2017 3.32 93.00 12 6.11

03.12.2017 3.37 64.50 13 5.53

13.12.2017 3.71 65.30 12 4.84

23.12.2017 3.75 58.20 13 3.88

02.01.2018 3.54 35.30 14 2.88

12.01.2018 3.87 36.00 12 2.09

22.01.2018 3.09 22.50 10 2.05

SEm± 0.35 9.37 1.07 0.20

CD (P=0.05) 1.05 28.10 NS 0.60

obtained by sowing the toria in the month of November. It is also recommended to the farmers to sow toria preferably in the first week of December instead of keeping the land fallow due to late harvesting of paddy, as yield reduction is approximately 9% as compared to sowing in second fortnight of November. Thus, the farmer will get an extra income and also increase the cropping intensity.

Fig 1. View of the experimental field at different growth stages

M. Thoithoi Devi*, Anup Das, Subhash Babu, Jayanta Layek, Krishnappa R. and Utpal Dey

* [email protected]

Mancozeb inhibits rooting in onion (Allium cepa)

Root inhibition effect was evaluated with pesticide formulation mancozeb 75% WP (Indizeb M-45), a fungicide, on the roots of Allium cepa by determining the effective concentration, EC₅₀. A set of onion bulbs exposed to tap water was run parallel for negative control along with different doses of mancozeb (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ppm) for 5 days (Fig 1a). Significant reduction in root length was observed with the different doses and EC₅₀ value of mancozeb showed root growth reduction at 88 ppm (Fig 1b.)

Prabha Moirangthem* and Sandip Patra

*[email protected]

Fig 1a. An illustration of Allium Cepa exposed to different doses of

mancozeb

Fig 1b. Effect of different concentra- tion of mancozeb on Allium cepa root length after 5 days of treatment

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French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) an important leguminous vegetable crop of NE India, is grown twice a year during March-June and July-November.

To identify the high yielding anthocyanin rich lines, a total 8 accessions including 6 coloured podded genotypes were evaluated at ICAR RC NEHR, Umiam, Meghalaya during 2013-16. The crops were grown during August- November and planted at 75 x 30 cm spacing. Among genotypes, significant differences were observed for all the yield attributes (Table 1). The earliest flowering was observed in RCFB-19 (30.67 days) while it was late in MZFB- 40 and MZFBC-5 (40 days each).

Likewise, pod weight ranged from 4.13-10.8 g, maximum pod weight and pod length was recorded from MZFB-44, maximum number of pods per plant was in MNFBC-16 (43.0) and lowest in MZFBC-5 (18.3), yield per plant was highest in MZFB-44 (320 g). Results of quality analysis also show wide variability (Table 2) amongst the accessions. Highest carbohydrate content was recorded from MNFBC-16 (9.54 g) and purple podded genotype MZFB-44 was superior over other accessions with respect to protein (1.82 g), vitamin- C (18.22 mg/100 g) and anthocyanin (12.35 mg/100 g) contents (Fig.1).

Comparative performance of anthocyanin rich lines of French bean

Table 1. Yield and related traits of anthocyanin rich lines of French bean

Genotype Days to first Pod weight Pod length Pod width No. of pods Yield per No. of seed Plant height

flowering (g) (cm) (cm) per plant plant (g) per pod (cm)

MZFB-44 40.00 10.80 18.25 0.98 25.00 320.00 7.00 188.33

MNFBC-18 34.00 4.13 11.37 0.99 34.00 140.53 6.17 168.00

MNFBC-16 35.67 7.50 12.73 1.09 43.00 307.00 6.93 156.33

RCFB-19 30.67 5.07 10.85 1.00 35.00 177.45 6.93 142.67

MNFBC-10 38.67 6.78 10.73 0.81 31.00 210.18 7.50 184.33

MZFBC-5 40.00 9.48 14.00 1.10 18.33 173.80 5.50 200.00

MZFB-76 38.33 7.19 14.82 0.95 23.00 165.45 7.67 187.67

Local 38.33 6.78 12.40 1.12 28.00 189.93 5.90 146.33

CD (5%) 2.30 1.45 2.17 0.11 5.52 16.65 1.33 21.70

Table 2. Quality attributes of anthocyanin rich lines of French bean

Genotype Pod colour Carbohydrate Protein Vitamin C Total Chl Anthocyanin

(%) (%, FW) (mg/100 g) (mg/100g) (mg/100 g)

MZFB-44 Purple 7.14 1.82 18.22 0.09 12.35

MNFBC-18 Purple 5.77 1.81 16.11 0.08 11.66

MNFBC-16 Pinkish 9.54 1.43 18.89 0.06 2.69

RCFB-19 Pinkish 8.18 1.62 12.22 0.09 2.27

MNFBC-10 Pinkish Green 6.52 1.75 14.56 0.05 1.35

MZFBC-5 Pinkish Green 5.89 1.62 13.87 0.08 1.97

MZFB-76 Light Green 6.19 1.67 12.22 0.08 0.85

Local Green 5.36 1.81 15.56 0.07 0.88

CD(5%) - 1.67 0.23 1.27 0.01 0.88

V.K. Verma*, W. Shimray, P. Chaudhuri, A.K. Jha and B.K. Singh

* [email protected]

Fig 1. MZFB-44(IC-0595238): A high yielding anthocyanin rich line

of French bean

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Nutrient acquisition potential of commonly available weed flora of Meghalaya

Climatic condition of the Northeast India is very congenial for growth and development of various weed floras both in cropped and non- cropped areas wherein soil nutrients extraction potential of weeds is generally more than the cultivated crops and has different nutrient acquisition ability. These weed biomass can be used as a valuable organic fertilizer for sustainable crop production. Keeping in view the evolving interest towards organic food production, nutrient content of different weed biomass was evaluated to identify their potential uses in manure production (Table 1).

Table 1. Nutrient content of different weed biomass

Weed biomass N P K

(%) (%) (%) Alligator weed 1.98 0.35 2.04 (Alternanthera

philoxeroides)

Big-sage/lantana 2.01 0.49 2.15 (Lantana camara)

Fireweed (Erechtites 1.68 0.30 2.19 hieraciifolius)

Eastern hayscented 1.99 0.34 1.87 fern (Dennstaedtia

punctilobula)

Crofton weed/sticky 1.92 0.33 1.75 snakeroot (Ageratina

adenophora)

Blue snakeweed 2.07 0.27 1.76 (Stachytarpheta

cayennensis)

Goat weed 2.11 0.29 1.90 (Ageratum conyzoides)

Cobbler’s peg/beggar- 1.99 0.37 2.28 ticks (Bidens pilosa)

Mixed grasses 2.18 0.32 1.90 M. Thoithoi Devi*, Anup Das, Prabha M., Subhash Babu, Krishnappa R., Jayanta Layek and Moutusi Tahashildar

*[email protected]

Four strains of oyster mushroom viz. Pl-17-01 to 04 were evaluated in Umiam, Meghalaya.

Substrate used was paddy straw, which was presoaked for 2 hours followed by 30 minutes of hot water treatment. Spawning was done

@100g/kg dry substrate and each strain with 6 replications (10 bags

Yield performance of various oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sp.) strains

per replication). The strains Pl-17- 02 and 03 were found to be superior and statistically at par giving yield 75.3 and 64.8 kg/100 kg dry substrate, respectively (Table. 1).

Days taken for spawn run and first harvest were also just 14 and 18 days for both the strains.

Table 1. Evaluation of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sp.) strains

Pleurotus spp. Average Yield Days Days Fruit body

strains (kg/100 kg dry (spawn (First wt (g)

substrate) run) harvest)

PL-17-01 45.7 26 19 17.4

PL-17-02 75.3 14 18 14.0

PL-17-03 64.8 14 18 14.1

PL-17-04 30.1 26 29 10.1

CD (5%) 12.1 10 4 5.1

Pankaj Baiswar* *[email protected]

Fig 1. Oyster mushroom strains in mushroom house at Umiam, Meghalaya

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Bee-keeping can play a potential role in enhancing the income of small and marginal farmers of Meghalaya. It can be considered as a commercial enterprise for poor farmers with minimum investment in financial and manpower resources. Mr.

Lurshai Songthiang, a 30 year old farmer of Klew village, Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya used to cultivate ginger and traditional crops in his small area of land and earnings from farming was not sufficient to sustain his family. He was constantly looking for other avenues to enhance his income and was interested to start bee keeping.

Subsequently, he approached ICAR, Research Complex for North East Hill Region, Umiam for assistance on scientific bee keeping.

ICAR has been consistently educating farmers of North Eastern states on scientific bee-keeping and has been supporting farmers with trainings, awareness programmes and supplying required inputs for bee-keeping under Tribal Sub Programme. As part of this programme, Mr. Lurshai Songthiang received ten modern type Bee boxes along with accessories and training in year 2017 from Division of Crop Protection, ICAR, Umiam, Meghalaya. Apart from training on scientific bee keeping, Mr.

Songthiang was receiving the regular technical support as and when required with respect to rearing and proper management of bee hives. With his dedicated efforts and meticulous

management, within one year time span, Mr. Songthiang increased the bee boxes to 20. Presently, he is continuously maintaining 15 bee boxes for regular production. The annual production of honey from productive boxes (i.e. 15 Boxes) was around 120 kg (average 8 kg/

box/year) and as a result he has earned Rs. 60, 000/- per annum from bee keeping by selling his

Success Stories

Success Story on Beekeeping: A profitable venture for doubling farmer income

produce @ Rs 500/kg of honey.

Mr. Songthiang has made his income more than double with this new venture. Mr. Songthiang is a successful bee keeper in his village and his success motivated other farmers and now most of the farmers would like to follow his alleyway of scientific bee keeping as an alternate source of income for sustainable livelihood improvement.

Mr. Lurshai Songthiang, with his modern type Bee Box

Hygienic way of harvesting of Honey

Sandip Patra*, G. T.Behere and D. M. Firake and S. Hazarika

*[email protected]

Honey packed in Bottles and ready for sale

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Under ‘Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav’ (MGMG) programme funded by Tribal Sub Plan (TSP), effort was made to improve the backyard poultry farming in the adopted villages (Umsawkhwan, Mawphrew, Wahlang), by organizing training programmes on scientific rearing of backyard poultry, animal health and deworming camps. To promote backyard poultry farming with improved breeds, 850 nos. of Kuroiler chicks (3-4 weeks old) were distributed to 97 beneficiaries (8-9 birds each beneficiary) along with inputs such as anthelmintics, vitamins and mineral supplements, anticoccidials, etc. In addition, backyard poultry birds were also vaccinated against Newcastle disease by LaSota and R₂B vaccine and bilingual extension folders entitled ‘Backyard Poultry Farming’, ‘Common Poultry Diseases and its Control’ and

‘Deworming and Vaccination in livestock and poultry’ were also distributed to the farmers.

Our intervention had shown that from only 8-9 birds, farmer had successfully produced and sold about 380-400 nos. of eggs @ Rs 10/- per egg and earned about Rs.

3800-4000/-. In addition, live male birds (3.5 kg) were sold @ Rs 200/

- per kg and earned about Rs 700/- from each bird. The birds were fed with concentrate feed @ 25-30 g per bird/day. However, the feed cost of the birds is significantly reduced by using the locally available feed ingredients such as broken rice, maize, vegetable waste, etc.

Table 1. Performance of Kuroiler birds in adopted village

Traits Performance

Body weight 700 g (6 weeks)

Body weight 1.5-1.9 kg (40 weeks)

Body weight 3.5 kg (male), (60 weeks) 2.5 kg (female) Age at first egg (days) 150 days Egg production 106 nos./year Egg weight 48-50 g

Egg colour Brown

Table 2. Net income per farmer from Kuroiler birds

No. of Egg/ Meat Income by birds production selling eggs/

meat Female (4) 106 nos. 106 x 4 birds x

of eggs Rs. 10/- = per bird Rs. 4,240 annually

Male (4) 3.5 kg 3.5 x 4 birds x per bird Rs. 200/- per

kg = Rs. 2,800 A.Total Income Rs. 7,040 B. Cost of production Rs. 2,650 i) Concentrate Feed

(50 kg Rs. 1,450/- per bag)

ii) Miscellaneous cost (Rs. 1200/-)

Net profit (A-B) Rs.4,390.00 Net Income Per bird Rs. 548.75 Benefit : Cost ratio 1: 2.65

Scientific interventions enhances income of small scale poultry farmers of Meghalaya

Babiangmon Lapang, Mawphrew

Banroilin Nongkseh, Umsawhkwan Fig 1. Successful poultry farmers

from adopted villages

This shows that improved backyard poultry farming in small scale increased the nutritional outcome directly by providing meat and eggs and indirectly by providing cash at times of need.

M. Das*, S. Hazarika, H. Rymbai, P.

Baiswar and A. Kumar

*[email protected]

Rearing breeding pigs for high income

Under NAIP Project, Mr. N.

Beizachi from Theiva village, Saiha District, Mizoram is one of the beneficiaries who received 1 female and 1 male piglets of cross breed Hampshire from ICAR Mizoram Centre, Kolasib in the month of December, 2011.

Technical guidance and management practices were provided through training programmes. The female piglet distributed gave birth to 10 piglets (7 female and 3 male) in first farrowing. After knowing the benefits of rearing superior pig breed, piglets were bought @ Rs.3000/piglet by Mr. N. Chilua, Theiri village (2 female, 1 male), Mr. M. Khatlua, Theiri village (2 female) and Mr. Beizakhaw, Theiva village (1 female, 1 male). The remaining 2 female piglets were kept for breeding purpose and 1 male for fattening purpose. An income of Rs. 21,000 was generated by the beneficiary besides having a total stock of 1 sow, 1 breeding boar, 2 female piglets and 1 male piglet.

Lalhruaipuii*, S. B. Singh, I. Shakuntala, Manoranjan Singh, Lalrempuii and Chinlampianga

*[email protected]

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Improved breeds of pig (Hampshire and Yorkshire) were introduced through training programme to exploit the genetic variability of pig to 88 nos. of farmers from Theiva and Niawhtlang villages, Saiha district, Mizoram. Two nos. of piglets (1 male & 1 female) of Hampshire and Yorkshire breeds were distributed to each farmer. It was found that crossbred pigs produced higher litter size at birth, at weaning and more meat than that of local pigs.

Crossbred pigs had lower age at 1^st farrowing, farrowing intervals, low mortality (5-8%) during pre and post-weaning period (6 weeks).

The studies on adaptability and performance of Large white Yorkshire x Hampshire x local in the

region showed a remarkable adaptive resilience to climatic conditions in hills of Mizoram. It was concluded that rearing of crossbred pigs with improved low cost diets (locally available ingredients) could enhance productivity and profitability under smallholder pig production system in the region. Ten more farmers adopted the technology by purchasing the improved breed of piglets from the beneficiaries. The net income generated by per farmer is approximately Rs. 1,20,000/- per annum through sale of piglets, pork and natural service of boar.

Lalhruaipuii*, S.B.Singh, I. Shakuntala, Manoranjan Singh, Lalrempuii and Chinlampianga

*[email protected]

Livelihood improvement through scientific pig rearing in Mizoram

Fig 1. Beneficiary farmer with piglets

Fig 2: Sow with piglets at farmers’

field

Participation

The institute participated in the exhibition held at Kochi, Kerala to commemorate the 11^th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture forum organized by the Asian Fisheries Society Indian Branch and ICAR- CIFT, Kochi during 21^st to 24^th November, 2017. Dr. S. K. Das, Principal Scientist and Head, Division of Fisheries also participated in the technical session.

Hon’ble Secretary DARE and DG ICAR, Dr. T. Mohapatra visiting the

Institute stall

Awards/ Fellowship

Dr. Anjani Kumar Jha, Princi- pal Scientist & Head, Horticulture Division was admitted as Fellow of the Horticultural Society of In- dia, New Delhi (16.12.2017) and Fellow of the Indian Society for Spices, Kozhikode, Kerala (15.03.2018).

In addition to fresh fish, value added fish products play a very important role in the diet of majority of people in the Northeast India. Recently, Division of Fishery of the Institute at Umaim has

Introduction of value added fish products from low-cost farmed fish

made a maiden attempt to standardize several fish products viz. fish pickle, fish chakli, fish sausage, etc from a low cost cultured fish, Pangasius hypophthalamus.

Fish pickle Fish sausage Pangasius hypophthalamus

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The Northeast Zone Regional Agri-Fair 2017-18 was organized by the ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam during 6^th to 9^th January, 2018. The main theme of the event was ‘Drive to double tribal farmers’ income in North east India”. A series of brainstorming sessions on doubling farmers’ income and successful implementations of schemes were held among technical personnel and stakeholders.

Dr Narendra Prakash, Director, ICAR RC for NEH Region delivered the welcome address during the inaugural session. The Chief Guest, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Govt. of India appreciated the dedication and achievements of the Institute on various aspects for solving the specific farming problems and augmenting the food productivity leading to the sustainable livelihood in the region.

The Hon’ble Union Minister also launched the e-publication on

‘Successful technological intervention for doubling farmer’s income in NE India’ and booklet on

‘Important Agricultural schemes for farmers welfare’. The technologies show cased in various stalls were also highly appreciated by the Hon’ble Union Minister.

Dignitaries attended the inaugural programme were Dr Y.R Meena, Add. Commissioner (Ext.), DAC&FW, MOA &FW. GoI.;

Prof. M. Premjit Singh, Vice Chancellor, CAU, Imphal; Prof.

K.K. Saharia, Member, Governing Body, ICAR; Dr Randhir Singh,

ADG, Agril. Extension, ICAR, New Delhi; Dr B.C. Deka, Director, ATARI, Umiam and Dr A.K.

Tripathi, Director, ATARI, Guwahati.

During the programme, three MoUs were inked between the Institute and farmers’ organization such School of Livelihood and Rural Development; Mynsain village, Ri-

Events

North Eastern Zone Regional Agri-Fair 2018

Inaugural ceremony of the North- east Zone Regional Agri-Fair 2017-

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Bhoi District, Meghalaya and Nongkseh Milk Producers Co- Operative Society Limited. The Agri-Fair was attended by about 4100 farmers. A total of 43 stalls displayed their products in Agri- Fair.

The Agri-fair was concluded on the occasion of the Foundation Day of the Institute, 9^th January, 2018.

The ceremony was graced by Dr.

Narendra Prakash, Director, ICAR RC for NEH Region, Umiam in the present of Chief Guest, Dr. C.

Rajkhowa, Former Director, ICAR- NRC on Mithun, Medziphema; Shri B. K. Sohliya, OSD, Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship, Shillong; Dr S.V. Ngachan, Former Director, ICAR RC for NEH Region, Umiam; Dr Azad Thakur, Professor, CAU, Imphal, and staffs of the Institute and stakeholders.

Extension activities

Livelihood Improvement through Livestock Interventions

A training programme on

‘Livelihood Improvement through Livestock Interventions’ was jointly organized by the Division of Animal Health, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region and ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani on 21.03.2018 at Umshorshor village, Ri Bhoi District, Meghalaya.

About 70 farmers along with Headman of the village Mr. E.

Syiemlieh were actively involved in the programme. The programme was graced by the presence of Dr.

T.K. Dutta, Principal Scientist and Head, Dr. A. Mandal, Principal Scientist of ICAR-NDRI ERS, Kalyani, Dr. R. Laha (Principal Scientist), Dr. A. Sen (Principal Scientist & Head). The program was coordinated by Dr. S. Das (Scientist), Dr. A.A.P. Milton (Scientist), Dr. Amarjit and Dr.

Caressa of the Division of Animal Health.

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Awareness programme on deworming,

vaccination and improved breeds of backyard poultry

This programme was organized on 1^st September, 2017 in different villages under Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya adopted under Farmer’s FIRST project of the Institute, for creation of awareness amongst farmers on the importance of deworming and vaccination in poultry and promotion of scientific backyard poultry farming with improved breeds. During the programme, various inputs viz.

anthelmintics, vitamins, mineral supplements, antidiarrhoeal, antibiotics, acaricides, topical cream, etc. were distributed to farmers. Poultry birds were vaccinated (Lasota and R₂B) against Ranikhet disease and six hundred forty eight (648) Kuroiler chicks (4 weeks old) were also distributed to farmers. A total of 39 farmers benefitted from this programme.

A field demonstration on ginger was carried out using high yielding variety “Nadia” in farmers’ field with organic production system. A group of 15 farmers were selected from the Self Help Group “Farmers Group Welfare Society” of Tyrso Pyllun, Ri-Bhoi. Demonstration was given on 0.5 ha area with input support system such as seeds and technical guidance. Crops were planted at recommended spacing and observations were taken for yield and related traits. Mrs. Iohilut Lyngdoh, president of the SHG witnessed on the difference in production with the variety.

Significant differences were observed between the variety for plant growth and rhizome development (Fig.1). The increase in yield from Nadia was about 31.25% over the local cultivar however, for quality parameters both the genotypes were statistically at par (Table 1). The farmers have adopted this variety at large scale

however, the main limitation is the unavailability of quality planting material.

Table 1. Comparative performance of local ginger and var. Nadia at farmers’ field

Plant characteristics Genotype Local Nadia Plant height (cm) 62.93 74.36 No of tillers/plant 3.33 4.67 Leaf length (cm) 20.73 25.63 Leaf breadth (cm) 2.17 3.10 No of leaves/plant 14.33 20.00 Yield/plant (g) 195.03 254.67 Yield/ha (q/ha) 108.0 141.75 Dry matter (%) 24.20 23.78 Crude fibre (%) 3.43 4.23 Oleoresin (%) 4.30 4.12

Field demonstration of ginger cultivar Nadia with organic production system

Fig 1. Plant growth of ginger (a) Local, (b) Nadia genotype

Joining

Name Designation Institute of Date of joining

& discipline transfer Scientific

1. Dr. M. Niranjan Pr. Scientist ICAR DPR 10.10.2017

(Poultry Sc.) Hyderabad

2. Dr. A. Arun Prince Milton Scientist ARS newly 12.10.2017 (Vety. Public Health) recruited

3. Dr. Rahul Katiyar Scientist ARS newly 12.10.2017

(An. Repn. & Gyn.) recruited

4. Dr. Ampee Tasung Scientist (Soil Science) ARS newly 12.10.2017 recruited

Administrative

5. Shri K. K. Kulshreshtha Chief Administrative ICAR Hqs. 31.12.2017

Officer New Delhi

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Transfer

Name Designation From To Date of release

1. Shri Sulabh Singh Sengar Assistant KVK, 17.03.2018

Tamenglong, Manipur

2. Shri Ratnakar Singh Patel Prog. Asstt. KVK, Dimapur, IGFRI Jhansi 31.03.2018

(T-4) Nagaland

Promotion

Name /Discipline Centre Date of

Designation promotion

Scientific

1. Dr. B. K. Sethy Principal Scientist (Soil & Water Hqs. Umiam 12.08.2016 Conservation Engineering)

2. Dr. Tanmay Samajdar Principal Scientist

3. Dr. Rafiqul Islam Principal Scientist (Animal Sikkim 28.10.2016

Reproduction & Gynaecology)

4. Dr. B. U. Choudhury Principal Scientist (Soil Physics Hqs. Umiam 03.01.2017 and Soil Water Conservation)

5. Dr. G. T. Behere Principal Scientist Hqs. Umiam 17.02.2017

(Agril Entomology) Technical

1. Smti. Bharati Saloi Asstt. Chief Tech.Officer,T-7-8 01.03.2015

2. Shri Sikandar Singh Sr. Technical Officer, T-6 01.01.2016

3. Shri Lungkhong Riamei Technical Officer, T-5 21.04.2015

4. Shri G. Gangmei Technical Officer, T-5 26.04.2015

5. Shri Yuimi Raising Technical Officer, T-5 04.05.2015

6. Smti. Kabita Choudhury Technical Officer, T-5 04.05.2016

7. Shri Shaphrang E. Nongrum Technical Officer, T-5 20.07.2016

8. Dr. Tulan Kr. Borah Technical Officer, T-5 03.10.2016

9. Shri Achan Chiphang Technical Officer, T-5 28.10.2016

10. Shri D. Doungel Technical Officer, T-5 23.04.2016

11. Shri Kamei Super Technical Officer, T-5 05.04.2016

12. Shri Th. Bablu Singh Technical Officer, T-5 19.04.2016

13. Shri Meren Jamir Technical Officer, T-5 27.02.2017

14. Shri S. Pienyu Technical Officer, T-5 27.02.2017

15. Shri V. Sale Technical Officer, T-5 27.02.2017

16. Shri K. N. Rengma Technical Officer, T-5 27.02.2017

17. Shri Shyamal Ghosh Technical Officer, T-5 29.06.2016

18. Shri Patrick M. Fancon Sr. Technical Asstt.T-4 01.01.2015

19. Shri Sato Naleo Technical Asstt., T-3 07.11.2013

20. Shri Narcis Lyngdoh Technical Asstt., T-3 07.11.2013

21. Shri F. N. Marak Technical Asstt., T-3 01.11.2017

22. Shri Kitbok J. W. Wriang Sr. Technician, T-2 01.12.2016

23. Shri Dhiren Barman Sr. Technician, T-2 25.11.2016

24. Shri Th Surjit Singh Sr. Technician, T-2 28.01.2016

25. Md. Rahim Uddin Laskar Sr. Technician, T-2 06.04.2016

26. Shri N. G. Genet Monsang Sr. Technician, T-2 11.01.2012

(12)

Superannuation

Name Category Centre/Estt. Date of

retirement Administrative

1. Smti. Zoram Pari AAO Mizoram 31.10.2017

2. Smti. Sankari Paul AAO Hqs. Umiam 31.12.2017

3. Shri N. Yolmo AAO Sikkim 31.10.2017

4. Shri N. Paudel UDC Mizoram 01.11.2017

Technical

1. Shri Paniram Neog Sr. Tech. Asstt. (T-4) Hqs. Umiam 31.10.2017 2. Shri G. Kharkongor Tech.Officer, T-5 Hqs. Umiam 31.10.2017 3. Smti. Th. Chandralekha Devi Tech.Officer, -5 Manipur 31.12.2017 4. Shri Achang Chiphang Sr. Tech.Asstt. (T-4) Manipur 31.12.2017 5. Shri A. S. Shangwan Tech.Officer, T-5 Hqs. Umiam 31.12.2017 6. Shri S. Nongneng Tech.Officer, T-5 Hqs. Umiam 31.12.2017 7. Shri Niranjan Taye Tech.Officer, T-5 Arunachal 31.12.2017 8. Shri Jagdish Lal Tech. Asstt. (T-3) Hqs. Umiam 31.12.2017

9. Shri L. Pachau Tech.Officer, T-5 Mizoram 31.12.2017

10. Shri P. K. Roy Barmon Tech.Officer, T-5 Tripura 31.01.2018

11. Shri P. K. Dey Tech.Officer, T-5 Hqs. Umiam 31.01.2018

12. Shri R. Zakhuma Sr. Tech. Asstt. (T-4) Mizoram 31.01.2018 13. Shri Aboni Phukan Tech.Officer, T-5 Hqs. Umiam 28.02.2018 14. Shri N. P. Chetri Tech. Asstt. (T-3) Hqs. Umiam 28.02.2018 15. Shri A. Manihar Singh Sr. Tech. Asstt. (T-4) Manipur 29.02.2018

16. Shri G. P. Kabui ACTO (T-7-8) Manipur 31.01.2018

17. Shri Bikram Deb Barma Tech.Officer, T-5 Tripura 31.01.2018 Skilled Support Staff

1. Shri Joylal Sarkar Skilled Support Staff Tripura 31.10.2017 2. Shri B. J. Acharjee Skilled Support Staff Tripura 31.10.2017 3. Smti. Sadhana Deb Skilled Support Staff Tripura 28.02.2018 4. Shri T. I. Singh Skilled Support Staff Manipur 28.02.2018 5. Shri Arjun Rai Skilled Support Staff Hqs. Umiam 28.02.2018 6. Shri B. N. Rai Skilled Support Staff Hqs. Umiam 28.02.2018 7. Shri Badal Suklabaidya Skilled Support Staff Hqs. Umiam 31.03.2018

Compiled and Edited by

Dr G. T. Behere, Dr Pankaj Baiswar, Dr H. Rymbai and Dr S. Ruth Assumi

Published by Director, ICAR-ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam – 793 103, Meghalaya.

Telephone : 0364 – 2570257, FAX : 0364 – 2570355

E - Mail : [email protected] Website : www.icarneh.ernet.in

Staff passed away in harness

Name Designation Centre Date of death

1 Shri L. Kiran Ch. D. Barma Skilled Support Staff Tripura 09.03.2018