ARS, Madhira – Organised Field Day Cum Awareness Programme on 04-12-2021

Agricultural Research Station, Madhira, organised field day cum awareness programme on High Density Planting System (HDPS) in cotton at Nakkalagarubu (V), Madhira (M) on 04.12.2021. Dr. K. Rukmini Devi, Senior Scientist (Br) & Head, Chaired this programme, she has explained importance and advantages and growing cotton in HDPS. Dr. S. Srinivasa Rao, Scientist (Agro), explained that he has conducted eight demonstration in the farmers field (Nakkalagarubu), with variety ADB-39 and early duration Bt. hybrid NCS-2778 with a spacing of 80cmx20cm and noted that in this system the plant population was 25,000 plants per acre, as compared to the normal planting system (90cmx90cm) i.e 5000 plants per acre and also told that HDPS cotton recorded 30 to 40 bolls per plant, with a boll weight of 5 to 6gm and expected seed cotton yield was 15-20 q/acre. After that farmers shared their experiences regarding this HDPS cotton and told that they are satisfied with this practice, because crop growth was less due to reduced plant height and matured early and in first picking they got 8-9 q/acre, and also incidence of pink bollworm was less, expecting another 8 quintals per acre in next picking. Smt. K. Nagaswathi, Scientist (Ento) explained about the pest management in cotton and after that organised field visit in HDPS cotton. In this programme Dr. G. Venugopal, Scientist (SS&AC), and Sri. A. Sriram, Scientist (Br), Sarpanch, Raithu Convenor, 60 progressive farmers from different villages, Nuziveed seeds and Coromandal staff were participated.