Achievements - Soil Fertility

Straw decomposition using microorganisms

A study was conducted to find a method for rapid decomposing of straw using Trichoderma harzianum fungus. It was found that decomposition of straw becomes faster with the application of Trichoderma harzianum than application of urea to straw and normal straw decomposition.

Service Oriented Programmes

Field Problem Diagnosis

Diagnostic service of plant pathology and entomology divisions of FCRDI provided their free services to a large number of farmers in the area identifying diseases and insect pests and recommending control measures. The division of pathology examined 150 plant samples and the division of entomology 40 during 2002.

Soil testing service

Annually about 300 farmers obtain the service from the soil testing programme. Soil samples from rice, OFC, fruit and vegetable farmers are received and tested for important nutrients and some physical and chemical properties. The analytical reports with fertilizer recommendations and necessary instructions are sent to the farmers for carrying out their cultivations. Mainly the service is helpful to the farmers for farming economically and long-term land improvement.
In 2002, FCRDI tested 220 soil samples received from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya and Trincomalee districts and made site-specific fertilizer recommendations.

Farmers' Forum

Twelve forums were conducted to make farmers know about new technologies developed in the OFC, vegetable and fruit sectors in 2002. For these, 302 Farmers participated. Solution for farmer problems were also provide in these forums.

Breeder's seed production

During this year FCRDI produced and issued breeder's seeds of 18 OFCs and 2 vegetables (table 2).

Table 2 - Issues of Breeder's seed by FCRDI, Maha Illuppallama during year 2002