Ludhiana, 29 October 2013 (Bharat Sandesh News):– A three-week national level advance training course on “Management Technologies for Improving Soil Quality and Crop Productivity,” concluded at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today. The course was organized by the PAU Department of Soil Science under the auspices of Centre of Advanced Faculty Training (CAFT), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). A total of 22 participants from different ICAR institutes and state agricultural universities of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab participated in this course.
In his remarks, the Chief Guest, Dr Gursharan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, expressed concern over the depleting natural resources in the contemporary agriculture scenario. He emphasized on the protection of environment and conservation of natural resources i.e. soil and water for farm sustainability. Dr Singh stressed that the students should be addicted to agricultural research, and make significant contribution to the nations’ kitty. “Alongwith good infrastructure facilities, competent faculty is also vital,” he said, while lauding the faculty of Soil Science Department of PAU for being well-versed with the latest knowledge related to the development of technologies for natural resource management. Dr Singh distributed the certificates among the participants.
Dr U.S. Sadana, Director of CAFT and Head, Department of Soil Science, said that so far, the department has organized 26 Centre of Advanced Studies (CAS)/CAFT trainings and trained more than 450 scientists. He informed that the training course shed light on the challenges in the management of soil quality and crop productivity, integrated nutrient management to improve soil quality and crop yield, soil fertility and productivity in Indo-Gangetic plains, and impact of long-term fertilizer use on sustaining soil quality and productivity.
Dr O.P. Choudhary, Chief Coordinator, CAFT, said that during the course, the experts delivered lectures on enhancing water and fertilizer use efficiency through drip irrigation and fertigation, management of salt affected soils of India, advanced technologies to increase water use efficiency, resource conservation technologies for improved crop and water productivity, water balance and crop yield as influenced by climate change scenario, and management practices for restoration and improvement of soil quality. In addition, role of crop residue management practices in sustaining soil quality and crop productivity; and the management of micronutrient deficiencies, poor quality irrigation water and acid soils of India were some of the other focus areas of the course, he added.
Dr B.B. Vashisht, Coordinator of the training course, proposed the vote of thanks. On this occasion, the participants shared their views and appreciated the efforts of the PAU soil scientists in the organization of this timely training programme.
Among others who were present on this occasion included stalwarts and faculty of Soil Science Department, and heads of various departments of the PAU.
