AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH STATION, BHAVANISAGAR

Establishment

Realising the needs of the farmers of Erode district, an Agricultural Research Station was started by the Department of Agriculture at Satyamangalam in August 1951 with an area of 20 hectares. Later it was shifted to Bhavanisagar in 185.28 hectares and started functioning from 1st March 1955. The station is positioned at the origin of LBP (Lower Bhavani Project) reservoir.  It is a lead centre for western zone which lies in 11° 29’ N latitude and longitude of 77° 80’ E at 256 m above MSL. Cultivable area of this station is 154.94 hectares. This is a major multicrop station in the State engaged in research, seed production, diploma education and extension.

Mandates

• Breeding and evaluation of new crop varieties and hybrids for Western Zone of Tamil Nadu.
• Development of agro-technologies for agricultural and horticultural crops and   cropping systems.
• Water management research on agricultural and horticultural crops through drip   irrigation, fertigation and operational research programmes.
• Pest and disease surveillance and recommendations on various crops.
• Production of breeder, foundation and TNAU labelled seeds in agricultural and horticultural crops.
• Dissemination of the technologies by conducting farmers’ day, field days, training programmes and through mass media.
• Agricultural education by offering Diploma in Agriculture programme through M.S. Swaminathan Institute of Agriculture (MSSIA) at this station

Climate and Soil

The climate is mainly semi arid tropic. A mean annual rainfall of 667 mm is recorded in 42 rainy days. The mean maximum temperature ranges from 28.4 to 36.7° C and the minimum from 18.7 to 25.6° C. Wind velocity varies from 3 to 12 KMPH. Sunshine hours range from 6 to 10 per day with evaporation varying from 5 to 10 mm per day. The soils of this station can be considered to represent the major soil types which are found in the Lower Bhavani Project ayacut area. The soils are having low content of macro and micro nutrients. Thus the result obtained from these soil types will find applicability for the Lower Bhavani Project ayacut soils.

Activities
Research, seed production, education and extension activities are being carried out in the following five blocks in which different soil types encountered in the Erode district are available.

Northern Block

This is the main block holding the premises of offices and laboratory complex and research fields. It covers an area of 37.09 ha. The soil type is predominantly medium to deep reddish brown belonging to the Irugur or Chikkarasampalayam series. Research on agronomy and water management in various crops and seed production of oilseeds, millets, rice and turmeric are concentrated in this block. The diploma institute is also functioning in this block for a student’s strength of 100 numbers in two year programme since 2006.

Bhagaduthurai Block

The soils of Bhagaduthurai block belongs to Sathyamangalam series and Kodiveri series. The soil is generally shallow to moderately deep. The fields adjacent to river is of alluvial formation. With an area of 15.23 ha available in this block, research on crop improvement in rice, sorghum, maize, sunflower and groundnut and evaluation of pipe line entries besides seed production of turmeric are being carried out.

Southern Block

This block covers an area of 46.96 ha with soil type representing Sathyamangalam and Kodiveri series. Soil is reddish brown to yellowish brown loam and clay loam having near neutral reaction. Research on rice foundation and TNAU labeled seed production of early and medium duration rice varieties and turmeric are the major activities, besides mechanized sugarcane cultivation.

Groundnut BSR 1 Released during 1994 Yield: 2845 kg/ha in kharif and 2500 kg/ha in summer Duration: 105 days Seed dormancy: 21 days Oil content: 49.5% Shelling percentage: 70.3%

Turmeric BSR 2 Released during 1994 Induced mutant from Erode Duration: 240 - 250 days Medium statured Resistant to scale insects Attractive yellow rhizomes Curcumin content: 4.1%

Sorghum BSR 1 Released during 1994 Suitable for rainfed and irrigated conditions Duration: 105 days Yield: 2500 kg grain and 9800 kg stover in kharif 6000 kg grain and 11800 kg stover during summer

Redgram BSR 1 Released during 1986 Perennial bush type suitable as border crop Yields: 7 kg green pods/plant; 1.5 kg seed/plant Suitable for both grain and vegetable purpose

Amla BSR 1 Released during 1995 Selection from Thimbam Local Yields: 155 kg fruits/tree Medium sized fruits (27 g) High in ascorbic content (610 mg/100 g) Highly suitable for herbal and healthcare products

CROP MANAGEMENT

• In gardenlands, sequential cropping of rice (Aug-Dec.), groundnut (Jan.-April) and pearl millet (May-July) was found efficient and economical
• Growing rice – sesame – pearl millet – turmeric – cotton in a two year sequence has given the maximum profit
• Onion was found to be the best intercrop in turmeric and tobacco with highest monetary returns
• Optimum time of sowing groundnut is 1st and 2nd weed of January for summer crop and 1st weed of July for kharif crop
• Foliar spray of 1 per cent KCl at 30, 60 and 90 days after planting along with recommended levels of fertilizers was found to be effective in mitigating the moisture stress during tillering and growth phases and minimize yield loss in sugarcane
• Spraying salicylic acid 150 ppm at flowering and fruit set stage was found to be the best by recording highest yields in tomato.
• Spraying nutrient mixture (Cu, Zn, B, Mg and Fe each 0.5%) at pre shooting and post shooting (Urea 4%, KCl 1% and DAP 1%) increased the bunch weight of banana.

Findings in water management research

• Micro sprinkler irrigation once in two days at 40 per cent pan evaporation (PE) under paired row planting with a spacing of 0.75 m between rows and 1.25 m between pairs of rows was found to be optimum in sandy loam soils with following time of operations.

• Single economic drip irrigation layout of 1.50 m lateral spacing with 4 lph drippers at 60 cm spacing along the lateral is most suitable for sugarcane, banana, turmeric, tapioca, tomato and other annual crops without altering the layout for several years.

Triangular method of planting – Banana	Paired row method – Sugarcane
Paired row method – Tapioca	Raised bed method – Turmeric

• In banana based inter cropping system with marigold as intercrop, irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE (approximately 6-8 days interval) registered higher fruit yield, total equivalent yield, WUE and B-C ratio.

Banana based intercropping system

• Pit method (3 plants/pit) of banana planting with drip irrigation and fertigation of N and K application of 84 lits of water through drip once in two days is found to give higher yield, WUE and economic returns.

Pit method of planting of banana

Findings in seed science and technology

• The A line (234 A) of sunflower hybrid can be sprayed either with borax (0.5%) or TIBA (50 ppm) or salicylic acid (100 ppm) at pre flowering stage to increase seed yield by 10%.
• ZnSO4 applied @ 50 kg/ha as basal dressing followed by two sprays of 0.5% ZnSO4 given at 45th and 52nd day after sowing to the R line (6D-1) of sunflower hybrid resulted in 17.5% increase in pollen production and 23% increase in pollen viability.
• Sunflower seeds dried to 9% moisture content and treated with Captan @ 2 g/kg of seed maintained the viability (70%) upto nine months.
• Seeds of paddy dried to 9% moisture content, treated with halogen mixture @ 3 g/kg of seed and packed in 30 gauge thick polylined gunny bag maintained high viability of more than 80% upto 15 months.
• Dormancy of sarpagandha seeds can be overcome by soaking in 100 ppm gibberllic acid for 5 hrs.

Findings in plant protection

• Endosulfan and phosalone were found highly effective against mango hopper.
• Sunbirds and Little spider hunter are found to be the bioindicators of aphid incidence in Tobacco.
• Furrow application of carbofuran 3G @ 34 kg/ha and foliar spray of acephate 75 SP @ 250 g/ha was found highly effective against tobacco aphids.
• Placing honey bee hives @ 4 Nos./ha was found to enhance seed set in sunflower by 15-20%.
• Extracts of Gymnema sylvestris, TNAU No. 60 EC (A) and TNAU NOPO 60 EC (A) are effective against sucking, chewing and borer pests.
• Spraying carbendazim 0.1% cholorthalonil 0.2%, mancozeb 0.2% and NSKE 5% at boot leaf stage and panicle emergence was found to control rice sheath rot effectively
• Carbendazim @ 4g/kg of seed eliminates seed borne Colletotrichum capsici upto 60 days in storage resulting in higher germination in chillies.
• Rhizome treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 10 kg/ha and soil application of neemcake reduces nematode population in turmeric.
• Root rot in blackgram can be controlled by seed treatment with Trichoderma viride, T.harzianum and neem leaf extract (10%).
• Coconut leaf blight caused by Biopolaris incuwata, Coleus root rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina and Stevia root rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii are identified and reported for the first time in India.

Transfer of technology

• Farm advisory services to solve field problems
• Training to Agricultural Officers and farmers’ on improved crop and water management technologies
• Field demonstration on INM, IPM and crop varieties
• Dissemination of findings through Mass Media
• Pest and disease surveillance and recommendations
• Organizing training to farmers, farmers day and field days

Seed production
            The station is the major breeder seed producing centre in the state. Breeder seeds on rice, millets, pulses, oilseeds and vegetable crops, totally around 30 tonnes in produced annually and supplied to farmers, private seed growers and State Department of Agriculture. Besides about 120 tonnes of rice,pulses foundation/TNAU labelled seeds are produced at this station annually.

Visitors (VVIPs and VIPs) remarks

Contact:

Professor and Head
Agricultural Research Station,
Bhavanisagar - 638 451.
Tel: 04295-240244
Fax : 04295-240032
Email:arsbsr@tnau.ac.in

Updated on Oct 2013