Thursday, October 11, 2007

Training on Bt Cotton management at CICR by NCIPM


Transgenic Crops shall bring another Green Revolution - Dr. O.M. Bambawale

SIRSA NEWS

10 October, 2007


All pictures can be clicked to enlarge or right click to open link in new window


An eight day short term training program for Bt Cotton and its integrated management was inaugurated today at CICR Sirsa.


The short term course aimed at training farm scientists and farmers to meet the newer challenges from emerging pests being faced by the highly successful GM Crop, Bt cotton is being conducted by NCIPM. Dr. D. Monga in charge CISR Sirsa told Sirsa News that, eminent scientists of national and international repute shall be holding discussions & delivering lectures at the CICR. The participants shall also doing training at the CICR farm apart from this, there shall be visits to various laboratories of State Agriculture university, and visit to the farms of farmers who have already taken to the recommended IPM practices.

Visits to various cotton fields of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan where mealy bugs CLCuV, Spodoptera, drought conditions etc. have been reportedly hampered the cotton crop shall be the integral part of the tightly programmed eight day schedule beginning 10th October and concluding on 17th October, 2007.
DAY ONE
After a brief inaugural and presentation of bouquets to visiting scientists, Dr. D. Monga and Dr. Sultan Singh Joint Director Agriculture (Cotton) [JDA(C)] briefed the attendees about the cotton scenario of the region in the past and as of now. Scientific research and work done in the cotton fields was also mentioned. Dr. BS Sheokand Co-ordinator KVK Sirsa also spoke at the inauguration.

Dr. Sultan Singh said that he belonged to Rajasthan and the Bt cotton had not been a success story there due to its varietal incapacity to fight draught conditions of Rajasthan, he requested the scientists to bring in some Bt Cotton varieties that are suitable to drought conditions also.

Dr. O.M. Bamabawale director, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM) said that he had a long stint working in the North India so he was very well aware of the problems of this region. (Click on Name to know about Dr Bambewale)
Transgenic Crops shall bring another Green Revolution
He said that transgenic crops and genetically modified (GM) Cotton: like the Bt. Cotton are here to stay. He believed that another Green Revolution is waiting to take off in India, this time due to the advent of G.M. Crops. He clarified that most of the fallacies associated with the GM crops and more so with the Bt cotton are ill founded and have no scientific basis. He explained in detail with the help of Power Point slides show, the modus operendi and action of Bt. Toxicity to certain worms that are harmful to cotton bolls etc. He proved that how Bt is completely safe to humans and ecosystem.
Mealy Bugs Threat not unreal
Dr. Bambawale agreed that the threat from mealy bugs and other cotton pests was not unreal, in fact there is need to be very vigil and need to monitor the Bt Cotton crops. He said that mealy bugs are not direct outcome of Bt cotton crop as being rumored, the damage due mealy bugs was there even a century ago, however the reduction in the use of pesticide due to its non-requirement in Bt crops might have made the mealy bugs resurgent in the recent times.

Dr. Bambawale briefed the history of Bt from 1901 to 1998, he said though Bt as a spray material is available internationally but it is not suitable for India to its high cost and being highly photo & thermal sensitive.
He explained that Bt acts fast on the target worms. It paralysis the mouth of the American Boll worm and the spotted boll worm of the cotton within 30 minutes, there after the Gut of these worms gets punctured, further the larvae acquire septicemia.

Dr. Bambawale also explained in detail the benefits of the use of Trichoderma for Bio-control of Plant Pathogens. It was also cited that apart from the pest control there is a great need to look out for damges due to fungi, nutritional problems etc.
Dr. SC Ahuja, Dr P. Jeyakumar, DR. OP Tuteja, Dr. Rishi, Dr P. Bhatnagar, Dr Ramji, Jaimal Darbi,Dr. Dhillon from KVK Mukatsar, Mr. Manoj Kumar, from Sardulgarh, Dr AK Rana & Dr. BS Thind from Jalandhar, Dr. SK Verma, Dr. Meena, Mr. Brar AI etc were present in the day long seminar followed by farm visit.

DAY2

Lectures by Dr. D Monga, Dr. Daljeet Singh, Dr PL Nehra, Dr P. Jeyakumar, Dr. Shashi Bhalla on CLCuV, IPM practises, Pink Boll worm threat, Biosafety aspects of relase of commercial cultication of Bt Cotton.

DAY3

Lectures by Dr. KR Kranthi, Dr Rishi Kumar, Dr PS Sekhon, Dr. Vikrant, on emergence of mealy bugs, root rot, Qualitative and quantitative detection of Bt. genes, development of Bt cotton in India.

DAY4

In the guidance of Dr. OP Tuteja, Dr. KK Verma & Dr. JS Beniwal, visits were taken to IPM farm at village Bakerianwali Distt. Sirsa, Visit to Nematology labs of CCS-HAU Hisar and visit to Ladwa.


To read earlier CICR News post Click here

No comments: