September 8th,2020

Topic:-Agriculture Programme.

 

What is the name of the Programme?

• A seed development programme.

 

For which crop?

• Seed programme for better cane yield.

 

Who prepared this?

• A seed development programme has been prepared by Sugarfed, in coordination with PAU, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Karnal and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.

 

What is The major reason for non-performance of this high-yielding variety?

• The DNA test was done in the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. The samples of the seed were sent from Gurdaspur and Ajnala areas.
• A DNA test on sugarcane variety CO-238 revealing that it is not pure and has parentage of other multiple varieties.
• The CO-238 variety of sugarcane is considered to be high-yielding and grown on almost 50 per cent of the area under cane cultivation in Punjab.

Shivrajpal Singh Dhaliwal, sugarcane incharge, Sugarfed, said the reason for impure variety in the state was its late recommendation in 2014-15, though it was cleared for cultivation in other states in 2009.

Solution:-

• For this season, around 20 lakh seed samplings of pure varieties have been distributed to farmers. We will introduce single-bud technique cultivation this year onwards to increase yield.

 

What is single-bud technique cultivation?

The invention discloses a single-bud planting method of sugarcane. The single-bud planting method comprises the steps of:-

(1) selecting seeds;

(2) peeling sugarcane leaves: peeling leaf sheaths of sugarcane seeds first before the seeds are chopped after the seeds are selected, chopping off tails of lower parts from growing points for 4 to 5 cm and old stems away from the ground for 80 to 100 cm, and using most middle sugarcane stems as the sugarcane seeds;

(3) chopping the seeds: removing bad buds and wormy buds;

(4) soaking the seeds and disinfecting: soaking the seeds with 800 to 1000 times thiophanate liquid, completely soaking seed surfaces for one minute, and then taking out;

(5) placing the seeds: placing four buds per meter for the seeds with strong tillering ability, i.e. placing one bud every 25 cm, and placing five buds per meter for the seeds with weak tillering ability, i.e. placing one bud every 20 cm, wherein the sugarcane buds are placed upwards or towards both sides when the seeds are placed, and the sugarcane buds cannot be placed downwards;

(6) applying base fertilizers;

(7) covering mulching films;

(8) inspecting seedlings. The single-bud planting method of the sugarcane has the advantages of high budding rate and difficulty in disease infection, and the yield of the sugarcane can reach more than eight tons per mu in normal years.

(Source:- The Tribune(Pb.))

 

Topic:- Environment.

 

What is the news?

• Ropar schools to have a rainwater harvesting system.

Reason:-

• To overcome the problem of depletion in the groundwater level in the area, the district administration has decided to set up water recharge systems in a large number of government schools of the district.
• Under the pilot project, the water recharge system has already been operationalised successfully at Chanauli village in the Nurpur Bedi block, which has been notified as an overexploited zone by the Central Ground Water Board.

How this initiative will save water?

• Rooftop area of the school building was 1,580 square meter, and over 10 lake litre of water would be saved with this initiative.
• The over-exploitation of groundwater in the zone, it was necessary to take measures so that there was no more depletion in the groundwater level.

Make a new generation responsible:-

• It was planned that all government school buildings would be used to set up water harvesting projects. This would also percolate the habit of saving water into the minds of youth.

(Source:- The Tribune(Pb)