Day at CSSRI Research Farm,Bharuch - Central Soil Salinity ...

CSSRI REGIONAL RESEARCH STATION, BHARUCH (GUJARAT) CELEBRATES IT’S25 TH FOUNDATION DAY ON 14 FEBRUARY, 2014The Regional Research Station of CSSRI based at Bharuch, Gujarat established inFebruary 1989 completed 25 years and the 25 th Foundation Day was celebrated atRRS, Bharuch on 14 th February, 2014. During it’s journey, the Station has come outwith many technological interventions for managing the salinity of soils andirrigation waters in the Vertisols (Black cotton soils) of coastal areas and inlandcommand areas. The significant contributions from the Centre comprise Cultivationof Salvadora on highly saline black soils; Dill, an ideal seed spice crop for salinesoils; Prospects of conjunctive use of saline water in agriculture for crops like dill,mustard, wheat, safflower, fruit species and forages; Salt tolerant herbaceumcottons for rain fed coastal areas; Forage production on saline Vertisols; Groundwater recharging and use of micro irrigation in diverse crop interventions;integrated farming system model for small and marginal farmers; Use of industrialtreated effluent and solid industrial wastes in agriculture etc. Apart from this, theStation has been conducting demonstrations on farmers’ fields, working inassociation with other line departments, NGOs, industrial units and impartstrainings to the farmers. The Station also has taken up guiding students in PostGraduate research in the field of Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Soil Science asbriefed by Dr. G. Gururaja Rao, Head of the Station.The Foundation Day had Dr. D.K. Sharma,Director, CSSRI, Karnal as the President andDr. V. Kumar, Research Scientist, Cotton,Navsari Agricultural University, Surat as theGuest of Honour and Dr. K.G. Patel,Principal, College of Agriculture, Bharuch asthe Special Guest. The dignitaries whoattended the meeting comprised StateGovernment officials, Scientific andteaching faculty of Navsari Agricultural University, NABARD, GSLDC, GNFC, KrishiVigyan Kendra, Chaswad, DMAPR, Anand, NGOs like SAVE, CSPC, farmers andstudents.

Dr. G. Gururaja Rao, in his introductory remarks,narrated the initiation of the Station and itsjourney to the present day standard and thehelp it received from organizations like GSLDC,NABARD, NAU, GNFC, SSNNL, AAU and manyNGO organizations. The contributions of thepresent and the past colleagues in developingthe Station and its future programme in salinitymanagement were appraised by Dr. Rao.Dr. Sharma, in his address gave a detailedaccount on the Role of CSSRI in mitigatingsalinity and sodicity problems in Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Coastal areas throughdrainage, evolving salt tolerant crops like Paddy(CSR 10, CSR 23, CSR 30, CSR 36, CSR 43),Wheat (KRL 1-4, KRL 238, KRL 19, KRL 210),Mustard (CSR 52, CSR 54, CSR 56) and Gram (Karnal Chana-1). Whilecongratulating the scientists of the Station for their research contributions, hestressed the need for higher visibility of the Station’s activities in the entire westerncoast.Dr. V. Kumar, while appreciating the efforts made by the Station in the field ofsalinity research, he had highlighted the need to look for salt tolerant cotton incoastal Gujarat. The joint efforts by the Station and the Main Cotton ResearchStation at Surat had resulted in identifying salt tolerant desi cotton lines, Dr. Kumarsaid. Dr. K.G. Patel, stressed the need for collaborative research and appreciated theefforts made by the Station in this direction.Other speakers include Dr. V.I. Patel, Associate Research Scientist, Cotton, Bharuch,Shri S.K. Mehta, General Manager, GNFC, Shri Rajesh Dave, AGM, NABARD, Dahod,Shri Mahendra Patel, KVK, Chaswad, Shri Vijaya Kumar, Asst. Administrtive Offcerand Dr. Vandana Tripathi of DMAPR, Anand and Shri Jesang Thakor of SAVE,Jambusar, who, while appreciating the efforts made by CSSRI RRS and providingeconomically viable technologies to the farmers.

Though, small in number, the scientists and other staff put a team effort in bringinglaurels to the Station and pledged for more efforts to come out with flying colours indays ahead.