Varsity to take up research on YLD in arecanut

Varsity to take up research on YLD in arecanut

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Feb 04, 2015: The University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (UAHS), Shivamogga, in association with other government institutes, will soon take up a Rs. 5-crore research project to find a remedy to yellow leaf disease (YLD) in arecanut plantations, according to its Vice-Chancellor C. Vasudevappa.

 

 

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a cashew festival at the university’s agricultural and horticultural research station at Ullal on Tuesday, he said the research centre of the project would be based in Sringeri. Arecanut plantations, both YLD-affected and non-affected, and old and new plantations in the radius of about 50 km of Sringeri would be selected to conduct experiments, in addition to the plantation of the university.

The research project would be taken up in association with the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala, and the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bengaluru.

The Union government would sponsor the project. He said the YLD had been noticed in water-logged arecanut plantations. In addition, the university would take up a project of developing oil palm varieties suitable to Malnad and the coastal belt as an alternative to arecanut. The experimental project would come up on 37 acre land at Bavikere, Tarikere, near Shivamogga. Bharatiya Krishi Anusandhana Parishat would sponsor this project.

Mr. Vasudevappa said there were about 15 varieties of oil palm, but all of them could not be recommended as an alternative crop to arecanut.

 

Courtesy: The hindu