Horticulture Research and Extension Station, Arsikere

Genesis of the station

            The Horticulture Research and Extension Station, Arsikere was established in the year 1958 by the Department of Agriculture as Regional Coconut Research Station. Later, it was handed over to the Department of Horticulture in 1963. During 1965, research station was handed over to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and renamed as Agriculture Research Station. In 2009, research station was transferred to University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot and renamed as Horticulture Research and Extension Station.

Geographical location

Horticulture Research and Extension Station, Arsikere is located at 7 Km away from Arsikere town of Hassan district on Arsikere – Hassan Road and situated at 76^o 15’ E longitude and 13^o 15’ N latitude with an altitude of 808 m above mean sea level. The Research Station is having 48.61 ha area of which 24.30 ha is under protective irrigation.

Soil and weather conditions

The research station falls under Central dry zone of Karnataka. The soils are red sandy loam to medium black clay with PH of 7.39, low in available nitrogen (254.1 kg N/ha) and phosphorous (19.0 kg P₂O₅/ha) and medium in available potash (246.0 K₂O/ha). The research station receives an annual rainfall of 815.7 mm distributed mainly during April to October with two peaks one in April- May and another in September- October. The mean minimum temperature ranges from 11.0 ^oC (January) to 19.3 ^oC (June) and the maximum temperature ranges from 27.9 ^oC (December) to 35.4 ^oC (March). The mean relative humidity rages from 49.1 % (March) to 75.0% (August).

Mandates

 

·         Evaluation of germplasm, new hybrids and high yielding varieties of coconut.

·         Evolving suitable combination of cultural, manurial and irrigation techniques in coconut.

·         Evaluation of suitable coconut based cropping/ farming systems.

·         Development of integrated pest and disease management in coconut.

·         Post-harvest technology and value addition in coconut. 

Scientific Staff

Sl. No	Name	Post	Email id and Mobile number
1	Dr. T.B. Basavaraju	Professor  of Agronomy and Head	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +919449872865
2	Dr. M. Prashanth	Associate Professor (GPB)	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +919480787698
3	Dr. G. S. Chandrashekar	Assistant Professor (Entomology)	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +919901093240
4	Dr. Manjunath Hubballi	Assistant Professor (Plant Pathology)	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +918971639748

 

Research

 

The Arsikere centre of All India Coordinated Research Project on Palms (AICRP on Palms) started functioning at Horticulture Research and Extension Station, Arsikere from May 1976. The broad objectives of the project are:

1.      Collection, conservation, cataloguing and evaluation of germplasm, new hybrids and high yielding varieties of coconut.

2.      Standardization of agro-techniques for various agro-climatic regions and development of appropriate farming/ cropping system compatible with the main crop and edaphic and climatic conditions.

3.      Development of effective and efficient pest management strategies.

On-going AICRP Experiments

A. Crop Improvement

Sl.No.	Project No.	Title of the Project	Year
			From	To
1. Gen.1		Conservation and evaluation of coconut genetic resources in different Agro-climatic regions
	Expt. 1	Evaluation of conserved germplasm	2014	2030
	Expt. 2	Collection, conservation and evaluation of location specific germplasm	2009	2025
	Expt. 3	Evaluation of selections from germplasm	2014	2030
2. Gen. 2		Evaluation of coconut hybrids in different agro climatic regions
	Expt.1	Production and evaluation of new cross combinations	1987	2016
	Expt. 2	Evaluation of new coconut hybrids of location specific cross combinations	2009	2025
	Expt. 4	Evaluation of Tall x Tall coconut hybrids	2009	2025
3. Gen. 3		Establishment of mother blocks and production of quality planting material in coconut
	Expt.1	Demonstration of released coconut varieties in different agro-climatic regions	2009	2025
	Expt. 2	Nucleus seed gardens for released varieties	2010	2020

 

B. Crop Production

Sl.No.	Project No.	Title of the Project	Year
			From	To
1. Agron. 10		Development of coconut based integrated cropping system models for different agro-climatic regions.	2008	2018
2. Agron.10A		Development of Coconut - Livestock integrated farming system models	2013	2018
	Expt. 1	Integration of cows in coconut based cropping system	2013	2018
	Expt. 2	Integration of sheep in coconut based cropping system	2014	2018
3. Agron. 11		Coconut based cropping systems for different agro-climatic regions
	Expt. 1	Performance of commercial flower crops in coconut garden.	2012	2016
	Expt. 3	Multilocation trial (MLT) of cocoa clones under palms	2012	2022
4. Agron. 14		Soil and nutrient management in coconut
	Expt. 3	Network project on Organic farming in coconut based farming system	2014	2018

 

C. Crop Protection (Pathology)

 

D. Crop Protection (Entomology)

 

On-going revolving funds projects

Name of P I	Title of projects	Amount     (Rs)	Funding agency
Dr. T.B. Basavaraju	Seedling production of different varieties of coconut	50,000	UHS, Bagalkot
Dr. Manjunath Hubballi	Mass multiplication of bio- control agents	50,000	UHS, Bagalkot

 

Completed Projects

 

Sl.No.	Projects/ Experiments	Year of Start	Year of Close
1	Integrated nutrient management in coconut through organics	1996-97	2004-05
2	Drip irrigation experiment in adult coconut palms	1999-00	2004-05
3	Coconut based high density multi species cropping system	2001-02	2006-07
4	Management of Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease of coconut	2000-01	2006-07
5	Nutritional requirement of high yielding varieties/hybrid coconut	1987-88	2007-08
6	Performance of medicinal and aromatic plants in coconut gardens	2006-07	2008-09
7	Studies on fertilizer application through micro-irrigation technique in coconut.	2007-08	2012-13
8	Trial on new hybrid combinations in coconut	1992-93	2013-14
9	Observational trial on the performance of Morinda citrifolia as mixed crop in coconut gardens	2008-09	2013-14

 

Extension

Horticulture Extension Education Unit is in operation at this institute and various training programmes and demonstrations are being carried out by the subject matter specialists.

 

SMS	Area of specialization
Dr. T. B. Basavaraju	Agronomy
Dr. M. Prashanth	Genetics and Plant Breeding
Dr. G. S. Chandrashekar	Agricultural Entomology
Dr. Manjunath Hubballi	Plant Pathology
Mrs. S. M. Patil	Value addition and Marketing

 

On-going University Extension Projects

 

Name of the PI	Title of the project	Duration
Dr. M. Prashanth	Integrated Farming System	2011-12 to 2015-16

 

 

 

Research Achievements

·         Release of coconut varieties and hybrids: One variety (Kalpatharu) and four hybrids (Kalpashresta, Kalpaganga, Abhayaganga and Vasistaganga) of coconut have recommended for release for cultivation in Karnataka.

1. Kalpatharu

Bearing year	6-7 years
Nut yield /palm/year	100
Copra content (g/nut)	172
Copra yield (kg/palm/year)	17.2
Oil Percentage	67

2. Kalpashresta (MYD x TPT)

Bearing year	4 years
Nut yield /palm/year	120
Copra content (g/nut)	166
Copra yield (kg/palm/year)	20
Oil Percentage	67

3. Kalpaganga (GBGD x FJT)

Bearing year	4 years
Nut yield /palm/year	120
Copra content (g/nut)	157
Copra yield (kg/palm/year)	19
Oil Percentage	66

 

 

4. Abhayaganga (GBGD x LCOT)

Bearing year	4 years
Nut yield /palm/year	134
Copra content (g/nut)	159
Copra yield (kg/palm/year)	21
Oil Percentage	66

 

5. Vasistaganga (GBGD x PHOT)

Bearing year	4 years
Nut yield /palm/year	130
Copra content (g/nut)	159
Coprayield (kg/palm/year)	21
Oil Percentage	66

 

·         Planting of seed nuts: Planting of seed nuts in horizontal position at 30 cm apart is ideal to get good stand of robust seedling compared to vertical planting.

 

·         Planting of coconut seedlings: Planting of coconut seedlings at 60 cm deep in 90 cm pits is ideal for good growth of plants.

 

·         Spacing for coconut: Planting of tall coconut at 9 m x 9 m spacing is ideal for better growth and yield.

 

·         Use of coir pith compost as source of nitrogen to coconut: Raw coir pith can be made into compost of good manurial value by using ligno-cellulolytic fungi, Pleurotus sajorcaju and used as a source of nutrients to coconut. The composted coir pith (CCP) can be applied to coconut palm to supplement 50-100% of the recommended dose of N (25-50 kg CCP).

 

·         Drip irrigation requirement of coconut: Drip irrigation at 100% Eo is ideal for coconut in maidan tract of Karnataka as it produces higher nut and copra yield and results in higher WUE, net returns and B:C ratio compared to basin irrigation. The water to be applied during summer months (February-May) is 65-75 litres per palm per day while for winter and rainy months (June-January) is 40-50 litres/palm/day.

 

 

·         Fertigation requirement of coconut: Fertigation of 75% RDF is recommended for coconut. Application of 75% of recommended NPK through drip irrigation produced nut and copra yield on par with the application of 100% of recommended NPK and also with the soil application of 100% of recommended NPK indicating the possibility of saving 25% of recommended NPK through fertigation.

·        Fertilizer recommendation for hybrid coconut: A fertilizer level of 1000:250:1000 g N, P₂O₅, K₂O per palm per year is optimum for hybrid coconut (COD x WCT) in the maidan tract of Karnataka as it produces higher nut and copra yield and results in higher net returns and B:C ratio.

 

·         Suitable intercrops in coconut: Intercropping of banana, drumstick, french bean-ladies finger and red gram with adult coconut palms is productive and remunerative. The crops are to be selected depending on the availability of irrigation water. When there is a good source of irrigation water, high water requirement crop like banana or medium water requirement crops like drumstick, french bean and ladies finger can be grown. Under limited source of irrigation water, red gram can be grown as a rain fed crop with need based protective irrigation. 

 

    
      Coconut + Drumstick      Coconut + Banana

 

 

 

Coconut + French bean                                               Coconut + Redgram

·         Suitable medicinal and aromatic crops for coconut gardens: Lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus), garden rue (Ruta graveolens), tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata), arrow root (Maranta arundinaceae) and makoi (Solanum nigrum) are the promising medicinal and aromatic plants for intercropping in coconut gardens of maidan tract of Karnataka.

Garden rue	Kalmegh
Makoi	Tulsi
Arrow root	Lemon grass

• Coconut based cropping system: The coconut based cropping system of coconut + cocoa + lime + drumstick under integrated nutrient management developed at Arsikere Centre of AICRP on Palms showed higher productivity and income than monocrop of coconut. The net returns were higher under fully organic nutrient management (Rs. 294810/ha) followed by 50% of recommended NPK + organic recycling with vermicompost + vermiwash application + biofertilizer application and in situ green manuring (Rs. 284410/ha) and 75% of recommended NPK + organic recycling with vermicompost (Rs. 274590/ha).

 

• Flower crops as intercrops with coconut: Growing of flower crops as intercrop in coconut is remunerative than monocrop of coconut. The cropping system of Coconut + Chrysanthemum recorded significantly higher net income (Rs. 256400//ha) followed by Coconut + Crossandra (Rs. 163300/ha), Coconut + Jasmine (149000), Coconut + China aster (Rs. 144350/ha) and Coconut + Marigold (Rs. 104150/ha). The monocrop of coconut recorded significantly lowest net income of Rs. 53400 per ha.

 

·         Management of basal stem rot disease of coconut: The combined application of Hexaconazole (1%-100 ml) root feeding at quarterly interval along with soil application of neem cake @ 5 kg/palm/year + Trichoderma viride @ 50g/palm/half year is effective in the management of basal stem rot disease of coconut.

 

Contact address

 

Head

Horticultural Research and Extension Station,

P. B. No. 41, Arsikere-573103

Hassan District, Karnataka

Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone No: 08174-291565/ 9449872865