Srinagar, May 2: The single-cross maize hybrids has revolutionised the maize production since it could increase two-fold within a year.
 This was revealed at day-long maize mela- hybrid maize cultivation campaign held at SKICC here on Saturday.
 The mela was organized by the J&K Department of Agriculture.
 Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sian Das, director, directorate of maize research, Pusa Campus, New Delhi , said that by adopting single-cross maize hybrids, the maize productivity in India has increased by 400 kilograms per hectare within a year.
 “This is a record. It has never happened in past,” he said.
 Similarly in Jammu and Kashmir, he claimed, where maize productivity per hectare was less than 20 quintals per hectare can increase to 40 quintals only within a year.
 He said Jammu and Kashmir needed 35 kilograms of breeder seed and the maize production would increase twofold.
 “For instance, in Andhra Pradesh, only within a year, the maize productivity increased from 33 quintals to 53 quintals; and in Rajasthan the productivity has increased twofold,” said Dr Das.
 He said in J&K, currently three lakh hectare area was under maize cultivation, with a minimal maize production in most of the districts, “whereas J&K has got an excellent climate for maize cultivation.”
 He said zero per cent area in the state was under single cross hybrids, whereas area under hybrid was 20 per cent and irrigated area under maize was maize was seven per cent.
 Talking about benefits of single cross hybrid seed production, he said the seed was uniform, suited all agro-ecologies, possessed highest yield potential and was the most acceptable to farmers. Besides, he said, the seed was able to tolerate all kind of stresses, including cold and heat.
 Dr Das said the appropriate time for sowing the seed in the state was the first week of May. He said the seeds should be sown on well drained and weed and disease free land without any water logging.
 He talked at length about nutrient management, water management, weed management, disease management, protection from insects and pests, maintenance of plant population, selection of field and post-harvest operations of single cross hybrids.
 Maize, he said, was the crop of opportunities that was grown in diverse seasons and ecologies and possessed high yield potential. He said maize served as a great raw material for industries, especially feed industry, paper industry, textiles industry, dyer industry, etc.
 Dr Das also suggested to the farmers to grow baby corn, hybrid sheet corn and hybrid pop corn and quality protein maize for various benefits.
 Vice chancellor SKAUST Prof Anwar Alam said by adopting the experiments of SKAUST, the maize production could increase twofold and even more.
 Terming maize as ‘crop of tomorrow,’ he said maize production was increasing worldwide and USA was the biggest maize producing nation.
 He said maize was more nutritious than rice and floor. “Rice contains only 5 per cent proteins, whereas maize contains 10 to 12 per cent proteins,” he said.
 Prof Alam said maize was the main ingredient of the animal feed and that it formed around 70 per cent of it. “So if we can have our own maize, we can run poultry business at large scale that would lead to employment generation and huge profits,” he said, adding that maize was the best feed for poultry birds.
 He said 20 per cent of animal feed and 80 per cent of feed concentrate was imported from outside at exorbitant prices. He added that 3/4th of meat here was also coming from the outside in the form of sheep, goats and poultry birds, on which state was spending a huge sum of money, “so it is important for the state to be self-sufficient in meat.”
 He said there was 40 per cent deficit in food grains in the state and to overcome that the SKAUST was conducting various experiments and research work.
 He said the SKAUST had achieved great results in two of its experiments; one was rice-wheat rotation, by which Kashmir could become self-sufficient in food grains, and another was maize cultivation.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 2 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 2 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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