Jalpaiguri, Aug. 25 -- The State Government's Zonal Adaptive Research Station at Mohitnagar in Jalpaiguri is working on two fronts-preserving Bengal's endangered indigenous rice varieties and promoting improved, disease-resistant potato varieties among farmers in North Bengal.
The research station has been conducting experiments on indigenous rice varieties such as Kalabhat, Paijam, Dudhkolom and Phoolpapri, many of which are gradually disappearing from farmers' fields. At the same time, it is developing planting material of improved potato varieties to help farmers combat late blight, a major threat during North Bengal's winter fog season.
Sourav Ghosh, Joint Director of the institute and an agricultural scientist, said: "We have achieved success in research on high-yielding, disease-resistant improved varieties of potatoes and rice. At the same time, experimental research on endangered indigenous rice varieties has also been successful."
Late blight can destroy potato plants and damage tubers, causing substantial financial losses to farmers. To tackle the problem, the institute has developed planting material of three improved, disease-resistant potato varieties using fan-pad cooling net houses, conventional net houses and bamboo net houses.
Planting material from G1 to G3 generations is being produced and distributed to farmers through the Agriculture Department. Around 1.8 lakh potato plant cuttings were distributed by the institute last year. Research on nine disease-resistant varieties, including Uday, Pokhraj, Sukhayati and Nilkantha, has also shown promising results.
The institute is also conducting research on improved rice varieties brought from the Rice Research Institute in Chinsurah and has successfully produced planting material for further trials. Experiments on three millet varieties-foxtail, barnyard and finger millet-have also yielded positive results.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.