Established as Regional Research Station during 1973 at Dharmapuri district.It is Located on the NH-7 (Bangalore - Salem) 108  kms from Bangalore ; 29  kms from Dharmapuri

MANDATE

• To serve as a lead centre for finger millet and horsegram Test verification centre for rice, sorghum, groundnut and other crops grown in the North Western Zone of Tamil Nadu

• To generate technologies for rainfed and irrigated farming practices

• To maintain an inventory of soils and their characteristics indicating the problem areas

• To survey the incidence of pests and diseases on major crops and to generate appropriate management techniques

• To develop profitable mango orchard management techniques

• To serve as a centre for training of extension workers and farmers in production technology of millets and pulses

• To adopt few villages for Integrated Village Development Programme (IVDP)

• To publish and disseminate research findings and recommendations of the station

• To design and develop low cost farm implements for major crops

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Crop Improvement

• Development of high yielding long duration ragi varieties with inbuilt resistance to blast.

• Development of high yielding red grain sorghum and samai varieties with good quality grains suitable for value addition.

• Development of high yielding short duration horsegram suited to rainfed regions of Tamil Nadu.

• Maintenance and production of nucleus and breeder seeds of rice Paiyur-1, sorghum Paiyur-2, ragi Paiyur-1, samai Paiyur-2, cowpea Paiyur-1, horsegram Paiyur-1 and Paiyur-2 and niger Paiyur-1.

Crop Management

• Conjunctive and individual applications of inorganic fertilizers and organic manure in rainfed  ragi.

• Production technology for rainfed samai.

• Integrated weed management in sorghum based cropping system.

• Foliar spray for yield maximization in blackgram and greengram.

• Seed hardening and pelleting in rainfed pulses.

• Biofertilizers on rainfed ragi, groundnut and horsegram.

Horticulture

• Selection and propagation of high yielding clones  of mango, tamarind and annona.

• Influence of weather parameters on flowering and yield of mango.

• Seed production on vegetable crops.

• Mass multiplication of mango, tamarind and guava grafts/layers.

Agricultural Engineering

• Feasibility of mechanisation in dryland crops.

• Fabrication and evaluation of double labour operated farm tools for dryland crops.

• Manually operated cleaner/grader for small grains.

• 5. Social Sciences

• Socio Technological aspects of mango pulp industries, flower growing and pulses production.

• Empowerment of rural women through TANWA.

• Role of agro-forestry practices and marketing of forest produce.

• Socio economic appraisal of farmers on production and marketing of medicinal plants.

ACHIEVEMENTS

·     Thirteen Varieties in field crops two in horticultural crops and four farm implements have been released so far.

VARIETIES / IMPLEMETS RELEASED

FARM IMPLEMENTS

TECHNOLOGIES

i)Wet seeding (Drum) in Rice

Wet seeding practice by drum seeder registered higher net income of Rs.18,587/ha with BC ratio of 2.29 over traditional transplanting (Rs. 15,825/ha and 1.93). The yield recorded in transplanting (5.58 t/ha) was on par with seeding by drum seeder (5.66 t/ha).

ii)INM in rice – ragi cropping system

The highest grain yield of rice (6.63 t/ha) and ragi (2.82 t/ha) was recorded in FYM along with recommended inorganic fertilizer application. It was on par with the composted coir pith + recommended inorganic fertilizer application (6.47 t/ha and 2.74 t/ha) of grain yield in rice and ragi respectively. The economics revealed that net income of Rs.29,856 and Rs.29,660/ha was realised in composted coir pith and farm yard manure application (with recommended inorganic fertilizer) respectively with the BC ratio of 2.1 each.

iii)Phosphorus nutrient  in rainfed sorghum

Application of 6.25 kg ZnSO₄/ha + 20 kg P₂O₅ as enriched FYM recorded the highest grain yield of 1411 kg/ha which is 57.8% over control (894 kg/ha).

iv)Time of sowing and orgnic manure to rainfed ragi

Application of recommended dose (60 kg/ha) of N (50% through FYM + 50 % through urea) with 50 % P and K along with seed inoculation of biofertilizer (Azospirillum + phosphobacteris) recorded the higher grain and straw yield than recommended inorganic NPK (60:30:30 kg/ha). Sowing of short duration (95 d) variety ragi DPI 2011 after the initial dry spell gave a good yield of 2415 kg/ha and higher net income compared to long duration variety (Paiyur 1) sown with the first rain received.

v)Micronutrient application to samai

Application of 6.25 kg ZnSO₄ /ha with 12.5 kg FeSO₄/ha enriched with FYM registered highest grain yield of 595 kg/ha.

vi)Yield maximisation in rainfed sorghum

Formation of compartmental  bunding and sparaying of 1 % KCl twice, one at panicle initiation and the other at flowering stage recorded maximum grain yield of 948 kg/ha with additional benefit of Rs.1554/ha.

vii)Herbicide application to rainfed sorghum + pulses intercropping systems

Application of pre emergence herbicide metalochlor 1 kg ai/ha found to control the weeds effectively and increase the yield and net income of sorghum intercropping with pulses (Cowpea / Blackgram/ Greengram).

viii)Azosphos for rainfed sorghum

Application of Azosphos along with the 75 % recommended NP (30:15 kg/ha) and full K  found to be economical for realising higher yield (1221 kg/ha) and net income (Rs.7244/ha).

ix)Sulphur (Gypsum) application to rainfed greengram

Application of sulphur 30 kg/ha (Gypsum 200 kg/ha) along with the recommended dose of NPK (12.5 :25:0 kg/ha)found to increase the grain yield and net income.

x)Manually operated winnower for cleaning grains

The winnower consisting of simple mechanism with fan blades, pillar and frame is so easy to operate even with a woman. At 320 rpm, it develops airflow with a velocity of 10-11 km/h, which is sufficient to clean most types of the grains. The cleaning capacity is 250kg of grains / h at 98% cleaning efficiency.

xi) Chisel ploughing for rainfed sorghum

The chisel ploughing followed by cultivator ploughing four times recorded the highest yield (1594 kg/ha) which is 18 % higher than normal practice of cultivator ploughing alone (1350 kg/ha). Seed drill sowing recorded the highest yield of 1608 which was 16.2 % than broadcast sowing (1360 kg/ha) and 15.6 % higher than behind the plough sowing (1431 kg/ha).

• Application of azophos + 75 % recommended NP in transplanted rice recorded the highest grain yield of 5500 kg/ha followed by application of azophos + 100 % NP.

• Application of N based on LCC critical value 4 registered the highest yield of 7.61 t/ha closely followed by LCC critical value 3 (7.10 t/ha) in improved White Ponni.

• Application of recommended inorganic fertilizers (RIF) + FYM @ 10 t/ha and 75 % RIF + Bio fertilizers significantly increased the grain and straw yields in sorghum.

• Application of Azophos along with 75 % of the recommended NP (30 : 15 kg/ha) was found to be economical for getting higher grain yield (1221 kg/ha) and net income of Rs.7,244/- per ha in sorghum.

xii) Management of Ragi Blast

• Seed treatments with Tricyclazole (Beam) @ 8 kg/ha of seed reduced the incidence of ragi blast.

• An integrated package involving 40:20:0 NPK kg/ha coupled with 5 t/ha FYM for samai has accounted the highest yield and net return with improved soil N fertility status.

• In rainfed cowpea, application of fluchloralin @ 1.5 lit/ha resulted in the highest seed yield and net income.

• Application of 75 per cent phosphorus as single super phosphate and 100 percent phosphorus as rock phosphate with phosphate solubilizer + seed soaking improved the yield of greengram and cowpea to the tune of 13.2 per cent.

• Neem leaf extract 10 % spray reduced the disease incidence in the grade of 2.4 and recorded the yield of 1550 kg/ha in greengram.

• Soil application of vermiculite 2 t/ha with seed treatment of T.viride @ 4 g/ha recorded less incidence of root rot in horsegram.

• Intercropping groundnut with cumbu in the ratio of 4:1 was found to reduce the incidence of leaf miner damage.

• Composted coirpith incorporation @ 12.5 t/ha in red soil enhanced mean soil moisture content at depths upto 45 cm with higher yield in groundnut, sorghum and cotton.

• In groundnut, Vettiver planted across the slope as vegetative barrier recorded the higher average soil moisture content throughout the crop growth period resulting an increase in dry pod yield from 409 to 516 kg/ha.

• Double labour operated ridge plough for weeding and earthling up and sweep blade for weeding were fabricated and the performance studies are in progress.

• Low cost hand operated sieves for grading small grains were fabricated. The capacity of grading ranged from 5 to 6 kg. Further evaluation is in progress.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

• Front Line Demonstration in Small Millets

• Integrated Village Development Programme (IVDP)

• Organising field days, farmers day and village meetings.

• Conduct of On-farm trials on improved agrotechnologies and introduction of new varieties

• Training for watershed and waste land development beneficiaries.

• TNAU-UG - Forestry - Students Rural Work Experience Programme.

• Kharif and Rabi preseason trainings to the officials of State Department of Agriculture.

• Field experience training to the ARS Scientists of ICAR.

• Mushroom training to the unemployed farmers and farm women on 7^th every month.

• Farmer-Scientists interaction programme.

• Farmers training in collaboration with State Development Departments.

Venture capital Scheme

a.      Mass production of Bio-inoculants

Biofertilizers viz., Rhizobium, Phosphobacteria and biopesticides Viz., Trichoderma viride and  Pseudomonas fluorescens are being  prepared and supplied to the farmers and State Department of  Horticulture. Besides mushroom production training is also offered to people from all sorts of life.

b.       Mass production of vermicompost through economic and efficient organic recycling

            Mass Production and supply of quality vermicompost to the farmers at nominal prices, imparting training to interested farmers has been envisaged in this scheme.

FACULTY – SCIENTISTS

ADDRESS FOR COMMUNICATION

Dr. M. Suresh, Ph.D.,

Professor and Head

Regional Research Station

Paiyur – 635 112

Dharmapuri District

Phone : 04343 – 250043

e-mail : arspaiyur @tnau.ac.in
.