Krishi Mela at UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru, was a grand success this year with over 15 lakh visitors. The company had a stall under the Agri-inputs section, which was well-visited and appreciated by farm lovers. The main products at the Company stall included Tissue Culture papaya ‘Dawn Delight’ (dwarf female line with seedless parthenocarpic fruits) and elite pomegranate ‘Super Bhagwa’. This year, we launched the new product Acid lime ‘NIMBU’, which was well received by the visitors.
A major attraction this year was ‘Dawn Delight’ papayas grown in the poly-house at GKVK, which the farmers could visit and assess for themselves. Open cultivation of papaya is a big challenge now due to the devastating Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV) disease. It was quite convincing that papaya could be grown well protected from PRSV damage inside the poly-house giving the grower assured returns and good export-quality fruits.
Further, we introduced the ‘Plant Net Cages’ for the virus-protected terrace and homestead cultivation of papayas guarding against PRSV. Our trials and observations endorsed those individual plants of dwarf-type DD papaya plants could be well protected from PRSV with the use of net cages which is to be done right from the time of planting. This may work out expensive, but in turn, offers assured good returns. The net cages were supplied along with the DD plants by the company. The package for net cultivation with the return on investment estimates was explained to the farmers / visitors during the Krishimela. We consider Net-cage mediated terrace or homestead cultivation, or the poly-house/net-house based protected cultivation as the only way forward for papaya cultivation wherever PRSV disease is a serious threat. The net cages are covered by ‘Design IP’.
Yet another new introduction was the ‘Pomegranate Bio-protector’ to guard pomegranate plants against the devastating Bacterial Blight disease caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae. This is a bacterial endophyte-based, pathogen-antagonistic bio-organic formulation, regular use of which would prevent the infection by the pathogen.
From Left to Right: (i) A view of the Krishimela Stall; (ii), Dwarf Dawn Delight papaya plants inside the Poly-house at GKVK, UAS, (iii), Net-Cage protected DD papaya plants in grow-bag, (iv), pomegranate Bio-Protector