Research Achievements and Impact

The outstanding contributions of the university have been the release of more than 200early maturing, high yielding and disease/ insect resistant crop varieties/ hybrids of cereals, pulses, oilseeds vegetables, cotton and evolution of agro-techniques suited to various situations. The generated technologies have already been transmitted at the farmers’ fields, which have contributed significantly in augmenting and enhancing agricultural production not only in the state of U.P. but also in the country as well.

Sincere efforts have also been made in submission of Adhoc research projects to different funding agencies.

Improved Crop Variety

Cropping System

The following are the cropping systems developed for different agro-climatic zone with high cropping intensity.

InterCropping

As a result of good deal of agromical research work, Potato + Mustard (3:1), Potato +Coriander (3:1), Potato +Linseed (3:3), Groundnut +early pigeonpea (5:1) and Groundnut + Pearlmillet (3:1); intercropping of Soybean+ early pigeonpea (4:2), green gram/ black gram+ early pigeonpea (4:2), Lentil+ Mustard (5:1), Chickpea+ mustard (4:1) andpea+ mustard (3:1) have been developed and found remunerative under varied agro-situations.

Seed Production

There are 30 farms under area jurisdiction of the University, out of which about 60% area is suitable for cultivation, 25% of cultivated area is under irrigation while the remaining area is irrigated through canal. After leaving the area on research experiment and fodder production, rest area is being utilized for seed production and University is producing breeder, foundation and certified seeds of different crops according to target fixed by ICAR and State Department of Agriculture.

The production of quality seed during last five years is given below:

The seed production of parental lines of paddy, maize, Jowar and pearl millet hybrids has also been started in the University for promoting hybrid Cultivation.

Watershed Technology

A good deal of research work on the improvement of dryland agriculture on the basis of watershed approaches has been done by the University. Land treatment, water harvesting and super imposing modern crop technologies generated at Rendhur (Jalaun district of Bundelkhand) region increased the productivity by 2-3 times with positive impact on socio- economic conditions of the farmers under rainfed farming. The practices like land leveling, bunding, terracing, contour bunding, ridging, mulching (vegetable cover) and water harvesting structures to check the runoff erosion and to conserve rain water with a view to increase irrigation potential proved beneficial in improvement of dry land agriculture. The University bagged “National Productivity Awards” for three consecutive years for developing this technology.

The similar research work on watershed basis has been taken up on coarse rakar soil of Babina Block Jhansi in the Catchment of river Pahuja and Dogari dam. Out of total cultivable areas of 2180 ha. about 1900 ha land situated under groundnut as a cover crop. The productivity of groundnut increased from 7.00 q/ha to 23.50 q/ha with vegetative bunding and sowing the crops on contour alignment.

Usar Reclamation

Notable contribution has been made by the university in generating technologies for reclaiming usar soil. Proper bunding, land leveling, drainage, application of soil amendments, superimposing suitable agro-techniques are some of suitable measures being considered a pre-requisite for successful reclamation of alkali soil. In partially reclaimed sodic soil, salt tolerant cultivars of oilseed/legume crops may be grown with sodium saturation to the order of 30%. Rice – Mustard rotation has given higher profit as compared with Rice – Chickpea, Rice – Pea and Rice – Lentil in the descending order.

In alternate land use, Karnal grass and Para grass are quite tolerant to alkalinity and as such may be grown successfully without application of inorganic amendments like pyrites and gypsum. These grasses also help in reclaiming alkali soil. Application of press mud/ water hyacinth / rice straw @ 10 ton/ha found beneficial in reclaiming the sodic soil. The usefulness of organic manuring has been proved in rice-wheat cropping sequence in sodic soils.

In sodic soil 90 kg N/ha supplemented with G.M. (Dhaicha) or FYM (15 t/ha.) proved comparable with inorganic nitrogen added through urea @ 120 kg or 150 kg/ha.

Alkali waters with RSC value of 9 me/L have been successfully utilized by passing it through 7 cm gypsum bed in crop production without adversely affecting physio-chemical properties of the soil.

Rehabilitation of Sodic Soil through Agroforestry

Sodic soil of high pH (10.5) has been reclaimed by agroforestry system after 8 years experimentation with tree species, Acacea nilotica, Eucalyptus hybrid, Leucaena peucocephala, Azadirachta indica, Albizzia procera, and Arjuna dalbergia and pH value came down up to 8. The crop of black gram in kharif and mustard / barley in Rabi inter-cropped with tree species found to be suitable under partially reclaimed sodic soil. How ever in other experiment rice performed better in Kharif and wheat in rabi under neem plantation. Under shade of trees turmeric can cultivated successfully. Seeded variety of Aonla, Ber and Gauva also performing better under high soil pH. It is revealed from the research that Agroforestry can reclaimed sodic soil permanently with low cost.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Intensive research work on Integrated Pest management (IPM) has also been taken up in the University and the production of formulations of different bio-agents like Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma harzianum has been started and is available to the farmers as and when required for the management of seed and soil borne diseases of different crops. Besides, parasites (Trichoderma sp.,) and Chrysoperla sp. are also being used for minimizing the population of major pests. The IPM modules in Pigeonpea, Urdbean, Guava, Groundnut, Sunflower, Mustard, Chilli, Okra, Brinjal, Vegetable pea, Potato have been developed and are being used in minimizing the ill effect of diseases and pests.