Salient research recommendations on Crop
Production & AKMU (HSSen)
1.. Large proportion of oilseed grown
areas are marginal lands having poor natural resource base especially with
respect to soil moisture availability under normal circumstances. .Besides, El
Nino might have adverse influence on rainfall distribution leading to more of
drought and flood occurrence across India in the ensuing year. Probability
analysis on drought occurrence may preferably be worked out using the rainfall
and other parameters of the past nearly
30 years as well as the climate change models for planning for short & long
term droughts to occur in future. This warrants a strong need for more
attention in the ensuing year on studies on droughts due to climatic reasons.
Besides, salinity may also come up to a greater degree in certain areas.
2. Following steps are suggested to
obviate the moisture & salinity stress particularly at critical growth stages.
(a) identify the critical growth stages for a few oilseed crops and
study their physiological tolerance mechanism
under the prevailing climatic situations
(b) it is important to study rhizosphere-moisture interactions
genotype-wise, the role of microbial consortia, and their effects on nutrient
dynamics.
(c) along with crop phenology it is also important to study the root
characteristics of the sress tolerant genotypes
(d) it should be of fundamental interest to work out irrigation/water
requirement and suggest irrigation strategies to minimize irrigation
requirement. The study should also take into consideration the available water
resource and water quality with minimum stress on underground water sources.
(e) conservation tillage practices with zero tillage may be standardized
particularly useful for areas having drought situations in order to conserve
soil moisture and minimize irrigation requirement.
3.
An exercise may be undertaken to map location-wise suitability of growing
different mandated oilseed crops depending on the prevailing agroclimates and
market demand/access.
4. Soil health mapping should be done for all
areas suitable for oilseed crops, and suggest cropping systems along with
cultural practices in order to arrest or reverse the declining trend of
productivity observed at present.
5. For soil health evaluation it is necessary
that the methodologies for soil physical, biological and chemical properties,
particularly the former two, be standardized first. This will necessitate
discussion with ICAR institutes like IISS, CRIDA, etc. for uniform techniques
as well as the approach towards soil health evaluation .
6. Steps should be undertaken to explore
the value addition of different oils and their derivatives. Instead of
competing with major crops like mustard and groundnut, value addition in
respect of minor oilseed crops should be explored in consultation with the
concerned industries.
7. Efforts should be made to work out
cropping system(s) location-wise involving the suitable oilseed crops for the
areas with the aim to achieve higher harvest index.
8. Attention may also be given for
Integrated Farming System research with allied farming activities to ensure higher and sustainable return to
the farming communities.
9. It is a welcome approach to implement
or advance our knowledge on AKMU. It is suggested inthis respect to get in
touch with BCKV (attention: Pro-VC) who has developed an effective protocol,
which has earned international recognition of late.
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