Background

The station is functioning from 1955 adjacent to Bhavanisagar dam, 15 km away from Sathyamangalam in Erode district on Sathy-Mettupalayam road (SH 15).The station is now known as Agricultural Research Station, Bhavanisagar.

Mandate

The station has been contributing mainly for the farmers of Erode and nearby districts by producing and supplying quality seeds in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, spices-especially in turmeric, vegetable crops like tomato, chilies, guards, moringa, etc. Apart from this, the farmers were given on hand training on  hybrid rice seed production and many farmers are involved in participatory seed production programmes. The water management scheme operating in this station, train the farmers in efficient usage of water by adapting different management technologies. Intensive research is also going on in groundnut to evolve high yielding groundnut varieties. The plant clinic centre operating in the station gives periodic counseling to the farmers about the effective and timely usage of pesticides and gives remedies to the problems due to biotic stresses.

Location

The station is located in Erode District, Tamil Nadu,India. It occupies a total area of 180.80 ha. For management purpose the farm has been sub divided into four farms viz., Northern Block (N), Pungar Block (P), Southern Block (S) and Thoppampalayam Block (T). The details on their area and major activities are listed below.

Agro eco system  : Irrigated , water received from Bhavanisagar Dam throughout the year for S and N blocks. The other two blocks (T and P) were irrigated by river water pumping

Geo facts

Staff position

 Agricultural research Station, Bhavanisagar is one of the biggest establishments under Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Apart from main – non plan establishment, there were eleven schemes operating in this station. Among the eleven schemes, three were university plan schemes, four ICAR coordinated schemes, three venture capital schemes and one externally funded (Rockefeller – USA) scheme.

Research Programmes

a.     AICRP-Water Management (WM)

All India coordinated research programme on water management is under operation since 1969 with the total budget out lay of approximately Rs.30.00 lakhs. This research programme focuses mainly on developing water efficient cropping programmes in Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) command areas. The major thrust areas and the technologies developed under this scheme are given below

·     To determine the water requirement, enhance water use efficiency through drip and sprinkler irrigation methods and to improve the yield of common crops and cropping system of the region.

·     Evaluation of system performance and to reconciliate the supply and demand and to develop operation schedule of the selected distributory of LBP command.

·     Conducting on-farm water management studies with improved technologies developed.

i.On-station research

·         Micro-irrigation and fertigation studies in banana, curry leaf and chillies

·         Drip and mulching research in redgram, sapota and groundnut

·         Irrigation and nutrient interaction studies in hybrid rice

ii.On-farm studies

·      Assessment of water availability at regional level and to devise interventions for matching water supply with the integral production system and demand

·     Studies on knowledge and level of adoption of improved water management technologies and impact studies on crop production technologies in LBP command

iii.Technologies developed and is adapted by farmers

iv.            Impact of the technology to the farmers       

Water management technologies developed from this station on rice, groundnut, sugarcane, cotton, banana and sesame are widely adopted by the farmers of the LBP command area. Drip irrigation in banana, sugarcane and tapioca are also becoming popular among farmers of the Erode district and widely adopted in water scarcity areas of Tamil Nadu.

National Seed Programme : Breeder seed production and seed technology research

This seed production programme was started during 1985 Funded by ICAR with total financial outlay of Rs. 12.50 lakhs.  This programme is operating in this station with the very clear and focused objective of producing high quality breeder seeds of improved varieties, parental lines of hybrids, foundation and certified seeds. This quality seed production and making it available to farmers through agricultural departments and private seed producers will increase the productivity and marketability of the produce.

National seed programme mainly focuses on

a.        Production Of Quality Breeder Seeds Of Paddy, Pulses and Tomato

b.        Determination of isolation distance in cms/manual based cotton hybrid seed and parental line seed

c.        Participatory seed production at farmers field

d.        Survey on impact of GM cotton in Tamil Nadu

e.        Crop and machine performance in breeder seed processing and marketing

Breeder seed increase project

This breeder seed increase programme was in operation since 1978 with the major objective of maintenance of basic seeds for the varieties produced that will serve as nucleus seeds for further multiplication and to produce and supply the targeted quantities of breeder seeds of important crops. The total budget of this project is Rs. 30.50 lakhs.

Ongoing research activity:

                Breeder seed production of Paddy - ADT 39, ADT 43, ADT 45, Bhavani, IR 50, Pulses – blackgram (TMV 1), cowpea (CO 7), greengram (CO 6), redgram (CO 6), soybean (Co 1) and tomato (PKM 1) are underway.

Technologies developed:

                Targetted quantities of breeder seeds of different varieties of paddy, pulses and tomato have been produced and distributed to various governmental and non-governmental agencies for further multiplication. During the year 2002-2003 a total quantity of 31,235 kgs of breeder seeds were produced and of which 19091 kgs were distribute.

Impact of the technology to the farmers:

                Production and distribution of breeder seed play vital role on the quality seed production programme under taken by the Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Co-operatives, National Seed Corporation, Private Agencies and farmers.  The quality breeder seed production is necessary for further multiplication of foundation seed stage I, II and certified seeds. Since this is a cyclic and continuous process, existence of this scheme has a direct bearing on easy availability of quality seeds of existing and newly released varieties to the needy and ultimately improvement in the productivity and economy of the farming community.

Breeder seed production of annual Oil Seed Crops- Sunflower elite

This programme was one of the oldest research programmes operating since 1972. Major objectives of this project are to carryout research on sunflower improvement and quality breeder seed production. At present the mandate has been narrowed down only to produce seeds of Morden sunflower breeder seed and parental lines like CMS 234 A, CMS 234 B and 6D- 1 of sunflower hybrid with the financial outlay of Rs. 5 lacks. 

Groundnut research

The all India coordinated research programme on groundnut is operating in this station since1985 with a total budget of Rs. 3.5 lacks. The major objectives are to evolve a variety in groundnut suitable for rice fallow condition. This also acts as a testing centre for the coordinated research programme during rabi summer.

Extension activities

A plan clinic centre is operating at this station since 1998. The staff working under this centre conduct periodic surveys and forecast farmer’s problems arising due to biotic factors. The major objectives of this centre are                               

i.       To offer farm advisory services

ii.      To offer trainings on various aspects of plant protection to farmers and extension workers.

iii.     To disseminate the plant protection technology through AIR / Doordarshan/ other mass media and by conducting farmers melas / farmers days / field days

iv.    To have linkage between Department of Agriculture and University

Details on existing teaching staff

Whom to contact

For  information about the technologies developed, agricultural/ horticultural related field problems and solutions and for seed availability  enquiries contact

The Professor and Head

Agricultural Research Station

Bhavanisagar – 638 451

Erode District, Tamil Nadu

INDIA

Tel: 04295 240032; 04295 240244

Email: arsbsr@tnau.ac.in;  pmanicks_55@yahoo.co.in

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