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Grassland Silvipasture & Management

MANDATE

  • icon Inventory, characterization and documentation of range resources
  • icon Ecological evaluation of range species for different land use systems
  • icon Technology generation for establishment, improvement, management and utilization of grasslands/silvopastures/hortipastures

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Five major grass covers and their subtypes have been identified as a result of country wide reconnaissance survey of grasslands. Opportunities exist for upgrading the productivity of these grass covers from the existing level of 2.0 - 5.0 t/ha to 4.0 - 8.0 t/ha dry matter.
  • 204 accessions involving 10 species of Leucaena (of which 136 accessions belonged to L. leucocephala) were collected from different parts of the world and evaluated for various yield and quality traits. Several selections like Silvi-4 were adjudged better than K8 and K28, the popular exotic varieties. L. collinsii was found psyllid resistant.
  • Silvopasture systems were designed and developed for increasing productivity of degraded lands. A minimum of 2.5 times improvement in land productivity was found with use of such systems compared to the prevailing traditional practices. Similarly, compared to degraded rangelands such systems provided more than 10 times biomass in a rotation of 10-12 years. Environmental impact of these systems has shown reduction in soil loss to less than one tenth compared to the bare soil.
  • Suitable Guava, Bael, Aonla based hortipastoral combinations have been developed for rainfed regions. These combinations were more profitable than plantation of only fruit trees on similar situations as they can sustain fodder supply to livestock and nutritional security of people via production of high quality fruits.
  • Silvopasture model consisting of four fodder trees species i.e. Ficus infectoria, Madhuca latifolia, Morus alba, Acacia nilotica; three shrubs Leucaena leucocephala, Sesbania aegyptiaca and Moringa oleifera in combination with three grass species viz.,Cenchrus ciliaris, Chrysopogon fulvus, Panicum maximum and two legumes Clitoria ternatea and Stylosanthes seabrana were evaluated for providing round the year quality fodder in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Trees foliage provide 21% of total annual fodder supply of the system (from January to June), shrubs provide 15% of fodder (February to April) and grasses 64% total fodder (from July to December through cut and carry method and March to April by grazing method). This system is self-sufficient for sustaining quality fodder supply throughout the year as it can produce around 8-10 t/ha dry matter annually and can sustain 3-4 ACU/ha/year. Morus alba and Acacia nilotica trees and Panicum maximum grass grown under this system has been found most efficient for restoration of degraded land under tropical climate of Bundelkhand region with eco-restoration efficiency ~10 times greater than fallow land.
  • A website named “Virtual herbarium of IGFRI” (URL http://igfri.res.in/igfriherbarium.aspx) has been developed to document the herbarium specimens available at ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi. It is an exhaustive database of the available specimens providing the information about its botanical name, common name, accepted name, place of collection, district, state, date of collection, collection number, name of collector, name of identifier, family name, number of specimens, number of genus, no. of species etc. User can use this user-friendly virtual herbarium for the identification of fodder species and can browse species page by using search key ‘Species’ as well as using ‘Family’ or ‘Genus’ key. The ‘Family’ key would lead to all the genera under that family and genera would lead to all species under each genus.
  • Division is providing technical knowledge and consultancy services to various state governments, line departments, Gaushalas, NGO’s etc. for developments of grassland and pastures.

ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS UNDER GSM DIVISION

Externally funded Projects

S.No. Project title Activities Budget (Lakhs) Funding Agency Duration Team
1.
Development and evaluation of annual moringa for food, fodder and nutritional content in Uttar Pradesh Project code: 17810210002
  • Evaluation of Moringa genotypes for fodder yield and quality
13.97
Uttar Pradesh Council of Agricultural Research (UPCAR)
2020-2023

PI - Manjanagouda S Sannagoudar.

Co-PIs-  Avijit Ghosh, Amit K Singh

2.
Developing cheaper Nutrigel for improving water and nutrient use efficiency in degraded lands of Bundelkhand Project code: 17810210001
  • Development of nutrigel from paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse.

  • Field evaluation of nutrigel for nutrient and water use efficiency
39.14
Department of Science and Technology Government of India (DST)
2020-2023

PI -  Avijit Ghosh

Co-PIs - Amit K Singh, R.V. Kumar.

3.
Use of fly ash in Agriculture for sustainable Crop Production and Environmental Protection Project code: 17814220001
  • Field application of fly ash

  • Impact assessment of fly ash on soil properties and crop growth and yield
194.46
National Thermal Power Corporation Pvt Ltd (NTPC)
2021-2031

PI -  R. V. Kumar

Co-PIs - Sunil Kumar, Amit K Singh, Avijit Ghosh, Manjanagouda S S.

Institutional Projects

S.No. Project title Activities Duration Team
1.
Study of restoration ecology in
silvipasture system for semiarid region CRSCIGFRISIL20200301
  • Studies on Eco restoration ecology
  • Assessment of Carbon sequestration potential
  • Fodder production potential assessment
  • Litter decomposition dynamics studies
2020-2025

PI- R V Kumar

Co-PIs- AK Roy, Sunil Kumar, Amit K Singh, Kamini, Avijit Ghosh

2.
Canopy management in Hardwickia binata
based silvopasture systems for optimizing forage productivity CRSCIGFRISIL20180303
  • Standardization of tree canopy pruning regime for optimizing understory forage production
  • Assessment of Carbon sequestration potential
2018-2023

PI- S N Ram

CO-PIs-Kamini, Manjanagouda S S

3.
Assessment of three-tier silvopasture systems in degraded land CRSCIGFRISIL20170303
  • Screening of tree (Hardwickia binata), shrubs (Acacia catechu, Zizyphus mauritiana) and Cenchrus ciliaris and Stylosanthes seabrana combinations with various spacing to ensure quality fodder supply under semi arid conditions.
  • Studies on understory fodder production potential
2017-2022

PI-S N Ram,

CO-PIs-R V Kumar, M M Das

4.
Evaluation of ecosystem productivity in grown up Hortipastoral System for fruit and forage security with management practices CRSCIGFRISIL20180304
  • Standardization of pruning technique for optimizing quality fruit production in Guava based hortipasture
  • Standardization of foliar micronutrient (Zinc and boron) concentration for optimizing quality fruit production in Aonla based hortipasture
  • Studies on understory fodder production
  • Studies on impact of hortipasture on soil physicochemical and biological properties
  • Assessment of Carbon sequestration potential
2018-2023

PI- Sunil Kumar,

CO-PIs-Avijit Ghosh,Amit Kumar Singh,Kamini,ManjanagoudaSS

5.
Recuperated canopy architecture for higher bael productivity and forage security in semi-arid region CRSCIGFRISIL20200302
  • Standardization of canopy architecture for optimizing quality fruit production in bael based hortipasture
  • Studies on understory fodder production
  • Studies on impact of hortipasture on soil physicochemical and biological properties
  • Carbon sequestration potential assessment
2020-2025

PI- R K Patel

Co-PIs- Sunil Kumar, Manjanagouda S S, Avijit Ghosh, Amit Kumar Singh, Deepak Upadhay

6.
Evaluation of Ailanthus excelsa and Morus species germplasm for growth performance, fodder yield and nutritional traits under various agro-climatic regions CRSCIGFRISIL20200303
  • Screening of Morus germplasm for quality fodder production under semi arid and temperate zones
  • Screening of excelsa germplasm for quality fodder production under semi arid zones
  • Morphological and molecular characterization of germplasm
2020-2025

PI- Kamini

Co-PIs- A K Handa (CAFRI), RP Nagar (Western RRS-Avikanagar), S S Bhat (RRS-Srinagar), Maneet Rana ,Anup Kumar

7.
Development of Grassland Assessment System using Geospatial Technology
  • Assessment of Grasslands in  Lalitpur, Jhansi and Chatarpur districts using GIS and RS technology
2021-2024

PI- Amit K Singh

Co-PIs- J P Singh, Avijit Ghosh

GRASSLAND DEVELOPMENT IN VARIOUS STATES OF INDIA
Division in providing technical knowledge and consultancy services to various state governments, line departments, Gaushalas, NGO’s etc. for developments of grassland and pastures.
Division has successfully developed grasslands in the states Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka etc.

STAFF POSITION

S.No. Name Designation Discipline
1.
Dr. RV Kumar
Head & Principal Scientist
Genetics & Plant Breeding
2.
Dr. J P Singh
Principal Scientist
Geography
3.
Dr. S N Ram
Principal Scientist
Agronomy
4.
Dr. Sunil Kumar
Principal Scientist
Horticulture
5.
Dr. R K Patel
Principal Scientist
Horticulture
6.
Dr. Amit Kumar Singh
Scientist
Agricultural Meteorology
7.
Dr. V C Tyagi
Scientist
Economic Botany & PGR
8.
Dr. Kamini
Scientist
Agroforestry
9.
Dr. Manjanagouda SS
Scientist
Agronomy
10.
Mr. Avijit Ghosh
Scientist
Soil Science
11.
Mr. Ram Asre
Assistant Chief Technical Officer
-
12.
Dr. Harish C Pandey
Senior Technical Officer
-
13.
Mr. Kapil Kumar
Senior Technical Officer
-
14.
Mr. Sudhir Ramteke
Technical Assistant
-
15.
Mr. Chhote Raja
Skill Supporting Staff
-
16.
Mr. Khuman
Skill Supporting Staff
-
17.
Mr. Man Singh
Skill Supporting Staff
-
18.
Mrs. Ramvati
Skill Supporting Staff
-
19.
Mr. Gautam
Skill Supporting Staff
-