LUDHIANA – The Department of Soil Science of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has adopted Lalton Khurd village of Ludhiana district to develop it as a ‘model village’ for site-specific need-based management of fertilizer nitrogen using leaf colour chart (LCC) in crops. A function was organized to launch the “LCC Awareness Campaign” which saw the participation of the farming families of the village.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr Upkar Singh Sadana, Head of Soil Science, urged the farmers to follow LCC based recommendations for appropriate use of urea in crops. Dr Sadana told that the team of PAU scientists would work for one year in the village to educate all the farmers regarding site-specific need-based management of nitrogen fertilizers in the crops.
Dr Varinderpal Singh, Coordinator of the campaign, said that farmers have developed a tendency of applying fertilizers in excess of crop requirements. In quest for achieving high yield levels and to avoid risk of nitrogen deficiency, farmers derive satisfaction from dark green colour of the crop plants achieved by excessive use of urea, the major nitrogen fertilizer. Dr Singh told that excessive dose of urea increases insect-pest attack and thus leads to consumption of high doses of insecticides and pesticides, thereby, resulting in increased cost of production, environmental pollution and deterioration of the quality of produce.
Dr Bijay Singh, ICAR National Professor, discussed the LCC based management practices for making need-based fertilizer nitrogen application decisions to avoid excessive use of fertilizers. He also advised the farmers to work with commitment to achieve encouraging results in their village.
Addressing the participants, Dr Yadvinder Singh, former Head (Soil Science), said that LCC is a farmer-friendly technology and all farmers can use it easily.
Dr Sukhpal Singh, Block Agriculture Development Officer, Department of Agriculture, Punjab, and his team also educated the farming community about the cultivation of crops during the rabi season. They organized block level training camp and distributed the wheat seed on subsidy to the farmers.
