The front line demonstration is the concept evolved by Indian Council of Agricultural Research with the inception of the Technology Mission on Oilseed during mid-eighties. Under this programme the technologies are demonstrated for the first time by the scientists themselves before being fed to the main extension system of the state department of agriculture. However, this study regarding adoption level and correlation between various characteristics of oilseed growers found that 60.0 per cent respondents were medium adopters. Low adoption level was found in small farmer\\\’s category as compared to medium and big farmer\\\’s category. The possible reason might be low level of scientific orientation and low risk bearing ability of small farmers. Full adoption in case of variety and seed rate was due to simplicity of technology and partial adoption of agronomic practices was due to non-availability of labour, high cost of inputs and untimely technical guidance. Non adoption of seed treatment and plant protection was due to their complexity in use. Adoption of oilseed technology by the respondents is significantly associated with education, annual income, social participation, experience of oilseed cultivation, extension contact, extension participation and scientific orientation of demonstrator farmers. For achieving higher production, emphasis should be given to conduct off campus training program and field demonstrations in specific laggard\\\’s blocks about recommended oilseed production technology especially on seed treatment and plant protection measures.

Vadavathur in Namakkal District is a drought prone village. The annual rainfalls is 400 mm. Farmers pump water from open and bore wells and store it in unlined temporary water storage pond and then irrigate the grown crops. Under the NICRA scheme fourteen temporary storage ponds were lined with HDPE 200 GSM UV irradiated plastic sheets. Most of the farm ponds were of the size of 65 ft length, 45 ft breadth and 6 ft depth with water holding capacity of 17,550 cu.ft. When water was stored in plastic sheet lined ponds, the seepage loss was minimized to ½ ft only in 15 d compared to ½ ft of water loss within 3 days in unlined storage ponds. Ground nut pod yield (22 q/ha) increased by 18 per cent as compared to 18q/ha obtained from fields irrigated from unlined ponds. The increase in yield was due to increased frequency of irrigation once in 10 d in lined pond compared to once in 15 d in unlined ponds. Similarly the weight of onion bulb was 23–25 g in field irrigated with the lined ponds compared to 9–11 g from fields of unlined ponds. This intervention helped in saving water as well as increasing the yield of crops.

The present study was conducted in Imphal West District of Manipur using the ex-post facto research design. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select the appropriate number of the respondents. Total 120 respondents (Job Card Holders) were selected based on proportional random sampling method. The data were collected using structured interview schedule and then analyzed using appropriate statistical tools namely, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, simple correlation coefficient and multiple regression. It was concluded that there is a need of sound and sustainable strategy to improve the socio-economic status of the job card holders under NREGA through organizing effective and efficient training programme regarding guidelines of NREGA, its objective, goals, salient features and most importantly about the rights given to the job card holders under NREGA.

The study was conducted on potato seed producing group, Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers (POSCON), Jalandhar, operating at state level. A combined questionnaire and interview approach was used to survey group members. Out of the total 250 members, 40 members were randomly selected. The study examines the effectiveness and also determines the facilitating and hindering factors for effective group functioning. It was found that all functioning characteristics were found to be effective. The overall Functioning Effectiveness Index (FEI) of the group was more than 0.70 indicating that the group functioned effectively in terms of selected group characteristics. The major variables such as group goal achievements, group motivation, group cooperation and participation in group activities had contributed highly for the effective performance of the group. Important facilitating factors for effective functioning of the group were increased income, knowledge gain of advanced technical information in potato seed production, transparency in functioning and easy availability of loan. The main hindering factors were inadequate government support for lobbying issues, marketing and policies that favor farmers.

A study was conducted to assess the effect of planting time on growth and yield of winter maize (Zea mays L.) after harvesting rice for two successive winter season at Nyigam village, West Siang District near ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh centre Basar. Two planting time viz 15th and 30th November were tested in three replications. After 90th day stage of crop growth (120 DAS and maturity) the maize planted on 15th November produced taller plants, more green leaves, leaf area, leaf area index and dry matter production plant?1. Due to variation in the planting time, almost all the yield attributing characters i.e. cobs plant?1, first and second cobs plot?1, cob length and girth (cm), kernels row cob?1, kernels row?1, grains cob?1, grain weight (g cob?1), test weight (g), first and second cobs grain yield (kg plot?1), shelling percentage, harvest index were affected and showed significant superiority in the crop planted on 15th Nov. than sown on 25th Nov. Higher grains and stover yields (kg ha?1) were also observed in 15th Nov. planting. In the maize planted on 15th Nov nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) content in grain and stover found higher. The uptake of N, P and K by grain and stover as well as total uptake of nutrients by crop was more with 15th Nov planting. However, the available N, P and K content in soil at harvest was more with 30th Nov planting. In the grain of maize crop planted on 15th Nov the grain quality parameters such as protein and carbohydrate percentage were found in higher amount.

An experiment was conducted to find out the effectiveness of different herbicides on weed biomass, nutrient uptake and yield of rice. Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT was found to be superior than all the other herbicides tested. Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha followed by Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT gave slightly lower grain yield of 4.70t./ha. Among the herbicides, the lowest grain yield (3.66 t./ha) was obtained from Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.020 kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT, however, all the herbicides were significantly superior to the non weeded control. The lowest weed dry matter was found in Almix 20 WP @ 0.004 kg a.i./ha plus Butachlor 50 EC @ 0.938 kg a.i./ha applied at 3 DAT which was significantly lower than treatment receiving Pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 5 WP @ 0.025 kg a.i./ha applied at 8 DAT. The uptake of NPK by the plants followed almost the similar pattern.

Demonstrations of improved technologies along with existing technologies were conducted at farmer\\\’s field during kharif 2011. The soils of selected demonstration plots were clay loam with medium in available nitrogen and phosphorus and high in available potassium. Short duration or drought resistant crop varieties of soybean (JS 9560, JS 9305 and RKS 24) and maize (PEHM 2), drought tolerant varieties of black gram (KU 963 and PU 31) and high water tolerant variety of sesamum (Ujjawal) were demonstrated at farmer\\\’s field along with their local check varieties. All the recommended cultivation practices were followed to raise the crop. Results revealed that the soybean variety JS 95–60 took minimum number of days for attaining maturity whereas variety JS 9305 took 13 days more to increase its yield by 0.70 q/ha from the variety JS 9560. The short duration maize variety (PEHM 2) performed better with 11.6 per cent increase in yield over the check variety. The drought tolerant black gram variety proved better for recording 35 per cent increase in yield over the check variety. The sesamum variety (Ujjawal) proved better for high rainfall situation with almost double the yield over the check variety. Selection of improved varieties for extreme weather conditions will help the farmers to cope with such extremes and taking good yields for better returns over the existing technologies.

Training programme is generally conducted with a goal that the participants after being trained will translate the acquired knowledge and skill into action. One hundred and forty six trainees were imparted training on mushroom farming by conducting 7 vocational training programmes. In order to evaluate these training programmes, the present study was undertaken to assess the gain in knowledge of the participants, adoption status of the enterprise and suggestions from the ex-trainees of the mushroom to enhance the entrepreneurship in mushroom farming. It was found that a maximum adoption of 40.9 per cent was observed during the year 2008–09. Among the various practices of mushroom cultivation, maximum knowledge gain (52.2%) was observed in compost preparation. Aspect of diseases and pest management was least understood by the participants (23.4%) followed by variety/cultivation method (37.3%). Hence, it was concluded that more emphasis needs be given to these practices during future training courses. The characteristics of the participants’ viz. Education level, farming experience and extension media contact had positive influence on the knowledge gain of the participants. As perceived by 100 mushroom growers, availability of quality spawn (62.0%), insurance of crop (53.0%) and reducing the cost of inputs (45.0%) were three major suggestions for successful development of mushroom entrepreneurship in Punjab.

This investigation was carried out during 2012 and 2013 seasons on 15 years old Royal Delicious apple trees grafted on seedling rootstock grown in a private orchard at Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh to study the effect of different plant growth regulators on fruit set, fruit retention, fruit drop, fruit weight and yield. The data revealed that foliar application of Sitofex (CPPU) at 10 mm fruit size resulted in higher fruit set, fruit retention and lower fruit drop percentages, and also produced maximum fruit weight and fruit yield in comparison to other treatments under study. Based on this study, apple growers of the chamba district are advised to spray their apple orchards with Sitofex (CPPU) at 10 mm fruit size for producing maximum yield and improving fruit quality, especially fruit weight.

Breeding and hatching of Indian Major Carps under confined conditions are being practiced on traditional ways since a long time by the fishers of rural Assam. A survey conducted in the lower stretch of river Brahmaputra revealed that breeding and spawning of Indian Major Carps (IMC) under confined water conditions has been made possible by simulating artificial riverine environment to brood fishes using locally available devices and indigenous techniques by the rural fish farmers. The cost of operation was found to be lower than the regular methods of breeding carps in hatcheries. Fertilization rate of eggs released during breeding was successful with 70 to 80 per cent survivability. The breeding technique was found to be simple, handy and farmer friendly and can be executed in remote and furlong areas for a ready availability of fish seeds.

Present study was carried out in three villages viz., Mani, Midpu and Chiputa, in 2011. It was found that all the farmers (100%) followed free range system of rearing, natural random mating system, zero-input feeding system and salt as medium to keep close contact with the Mithun. Less than 1 per cent farmers trained their Mithun to come near by their house timely by making sound and offer bunch of hay or grass along with salt. Majority of the farmers (69%) said age at first calving was 36 months and 64 per cent of the respondents said inter calving period was 13 months and 91 per cent of them had breeding bull. Deworming, ectoparasitic control and antibiotics were used by 9, 21 and 12 per cent farmers, respectively and only 25 per cent farmers vaccinated the Mithun against the foot and mouth disease. Weaning was done at 20 months of age by following natural method and male calves were never castrated. Sixty nine per cent of the respondents paid proper attention to the pregnant Mithun whereas 81 per cent farmers sell the animal at the time of adversity.

An on-farm experiment was conducted in sub-montane and low hills sub-tropical zone of Himachal Pradesh to study the impact of application of recommended dose of nutrients and full package of practices as against farmers’ practice in rice-wheat cropping sequence under irrigated conditions. The treatments were evaluated at eight locations for three consecutive cropping seasons of 2004–05 to 2006–07. Results of the study revealed that single intervention of applying recommended fertilizer nutrients over the existing farmer\\\’s practice increased the overall grain yields of rice and wheat by about 23 and 32 per cent, respectively. The application of full recommended package of practices further increased rice and wheat yields by about 9 and 17 per cent whereas rice equivalent yield and net returns by about 42 and 51 per cent over the farmer\\\’s practice.

Rice bran oil (RBO) is nutritionally superior non-conventional vegetable oil and mustard oil (MO) is traditional oil widely used in domestic cooking in rural India. So, the present study was designed to develop a healthier and stable blend of RBO and MO. Therefore, RBO was blended with MO in two ratios i.e. 80:20 and 70:30. These blends were analyzed for fatty acid composition, physiochemical properties, oxidative stability, and antioxidant activity. Consequently, RBO+MO in the ratio of 80:20 contained 16.9 percent SFA, 32.9 percent MUFA and 50.8 percent PUFA whereas the percentage of SFA, MUFA and PUFA present in RBO+MO (70:30) was 15.2, 25.6 and 59.2 respectively. RBO+MO in the ratio of 70:30 showed adequate smoke point (188°C), frying temperature (180°C) and had low acid value (0.28 mg KOH/g) and saponification value (224.0 mg KOH/g) as well as a low percentage of free fatty acids (0.14%). In terms of oxidative stability and antioxidant activity, RBO+MO (70:30) showed least percent increase (33.9%) in peroxide formation after 28 days of incubation period and also had highest radical scavenging activity (57.5%) whereas the highest content of total natural antioxidants (2291.3 mg/kg) was present in RBO+MO (80:20). A significant (pd”0.05) difference was found in all the quality parameters of vegetable oils and it was concluded that RBO+MO in the ratio of 70:30 was an ideal blend in terms of overall quality parameters.

Five samples each of maize, deoiled rice bran, rice polish, wheat bran, soybean meal, limestone and dicalcium phosphate were collected from various sources and their proximate analysis was done. Each sample was grinded and suspended in distilled water and shaken with magnetic stirrer. The pH was recorded using a magnetic stirrer and the amount of 0.1 M HCl required to reduce the pH of the sample to 5 was measured as its B-value. pH and B-value were compared with the crude protein and ash content of the sample. The results showed that ingredients with high protein content had high B-value. B-value for lime stone and dicalcium phosphate were the highest. Knowing the B-value of the ingredients the B-value of the diet can be calculated.

Within a soil, nutrient variability exists depending upon the hydrological properties of the soil and cropping system. In the present study 209 soil samples were collected from 21 gram panchayats and were analysed. The soil samples were collected from rice-wheat cropping sequence. Analysis of soil samples revealed that 82 per cent samples were medium in organic matter content, 100 per cent soil samples were deficient in available nitrogen, while 92 per cent P and 100 per cent K samples were in medium range respectively. Among the micronutrients tested copper and iron were in sufficient range while manganese and zinc were deficient in soil.

A survey was conducted to assess the present status of dairying in Kapurthala district. For this, 3 blocks namely Kapurthala, Sultanpur and Dhilwan were selected. From each block, a cluster of 10 villages (10 dairy farmers from each Village) was selected. It was evident that majority of dairy farmers were either land less or small and medium. On the other hand only 8 per cent farmers who were possessing land more than 10 ha. kept dairy animals which show that large farmers gave more attention to crop production than the dairy farming. Similarly, it was observed that 44.5 and 48.8 per cent of population was keeping up to 5 and 15 animals, respectively. Only 4.3 per cent farmers possessed between 16 to 25 animals and a very small population (2.4%) was possessing more than 25 animals. This showed that very few farmers were practicing dairy business on commercial scale (2.4%) and majority of farmers (93.3%) were having up to 15 animals. Further, it was also noticed that dairy farmers (74.9%) were possessing cows with daily milk yield varying from 4 to 10 l./d and 85.8 per cent of farmers were keeping buffaloes with daily milk yield ranging between 2 to 8 l./d. Major problems of the small dairy farmers were cow dung management while for semi commercial and commercial farmers mastitis was the major problem. Training in the area of feed management was the top priority for domestic and semi commercial farmers.

In the light of observation that farmers are not using pesticides recommended by State Agricultural University, a market survey was conducted in district Kapurthala to ascertain the availability of recommended pesticides (insecticides and fungicides). Survey was conducted in five blocks of district choosing ten dealers per block using random sampling technique. Out of 262 brands of pesticides, 200 brands were those of insecticides and 62 brands were of fungicides available with the dealers. Of all the stock available with retailers, only 38 insecticides brands and 8 fungicides brands were recommended by State Agricultural University while rest of brands were non- recommended. In addition to this, there were certain brands (13 brands) available in the market whose active ingredients are yet to be tested. Certain mixtures (41 brands) were also found available in the market. Out of these, 9.54% brands (25 brands) were insecticides and 6.10% brands (16 brands) were fungicides.

Azolla (Azolla pinnata) has enormous potential as a livestock feed due to its high content of protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, growth promoter intermediaries and minerals. KVK, Ajmer pioneered the Azolla cultivation technique in Rajasthan and developed a prototype for its cultivation. This technology of cultivation of Azolla was transferred through conductance of demonstrations in five villages. Feeding of Azolla as livestock feed to milch animals resulted in increase in milk yield and fat content. Success of the technology led to its wide scale adoption and KVK Ajmer has so far established 523 Azolla cultivation units during the last five years in the district.

A field study was carried out by the extension workers to evaluate the importance of navigation system in agriculture. Two set of field workers with and without the navigation system were deployed to dispense the farm literature to pre decided subjects at specific locations. It was recorded that the field workers with a navigator saved on time and expenses while the worker without the navigator took more time and incurred more expenses under given conditions. The working conditions were more cordial when a navigator was handed over to the worker.

Rice is the world\\\’s most important food crop and a primary source of food for more than half of the world\\\’s population. Severe incidence of bacterial leaf blight (BLB) in paddy resulted in potential yield gap between achievable yield and yield realized by the farmers. To show the importance of proper method of seed treatment for control of BLB, total 328 demonstrations were conducted during the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. These demonstrations were conducted at different locations throughout the district. The existing farmers’ practice was taken as a control for comparison. The yield performance of both control and demonstration plots was recorded and the yield gap, technology gap, extension gap and technological index were analyzed. The yield of demonstration plots was 70.0 q/ha as compared to 66.2 q/ha of untreated plots. Paddy yield of demonstration plots recorded 5.8 per cent increase over the farmers’ practice. Average extension gap was recorded 3.9 q/ha. The yield gap analysis emphasized the need to educate the farmers through various extension means for the adoption of improved agricultural technologies to revert the trend of wide extension gap.