Elephant-foot Yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is a popular tuber crop of humid tropics, and it is widely grown in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. A number of high yielding varieties of this promising tuber crop have been developed at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), and other State Agricultural Universities.

The improved varieties of elephant-foot yam are non-acrid, and endowed with excellent cooking qualities. The tubers are prescribed as medicine in ayurveda to treat piles, dysentery, asthma, swelling of lungs, vomiting and abdominal pain. It is used as a blood purifier. The paste of tubers is applied externally to reduce pain in arthritis. Elephant-foot yam performs well in warm and humid belts. It prefers partial shading, and it is grown as an intercrop in coconut groves and orchards in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The improved varieties should be vegetatively propagated. The tubers should be dipped in cow-dung slurry and dried in shade before being planted. Bio-fertilizers and other beneficial microbial organisms should be added to the cow dung slurry to get good results from the crop.

The tubers should be planted in well-worked fields where pits of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm are dug at a spacing of 90 cm x 90 cm. The pits should be filled with adequate quantities of organic manure, especially vermin-compost and powdered neem cake. The pits should then be mulched properly with leaf mould or paddy straw. February-March is the best time for planting in Kerala and northeastern India. As a rainfed crop, it can be planted in May-June or July with the onset of the rains. The plants are robust, and they can be protected from sucking and chewing pests by resorting to sprayings with botanical insecticides. The crop comes to harvest in 6-8 months after planting. The drooping and yellowing of the leaves will indicate the maturity of the crop, and with a shallow irrigation, the corms can be dug out. Care should be taken to prevent any injury to the corms while harvesting.

The plants of the new CO (CR) 4 variety grow up to a height of 35 cm. The plants flower in 30-35 days after sowing. The variety has recorded an average yield of 587.2 kg grains per hectare in irrigated condition and 539.4 kg grains in rainfed crop. Seeds should be treated with Azospirillum at 600 g per hectare, and treatment with Trichoderma viride at 4 g per kg should be done to prevent the incidence of wilt disease. The variety responds well to organic nutrients, and sound cultural practices. About 10kg nitrogen, 40 kg phosphorus and 20 kg potash should be applied per hectare as basal dressing, and 10 kg nitrogen should be applied as top dressing on the 30th day after sowing. Adequate care should be taken to prevent the incidence of pests and diseases by adopting suitable integrated pest and disease management strategies.

Scientists at the Forest College and Research Institute (FC&RI) of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) at Mettupalayam have been conducting extensive research on a high yielding oil-bearing tree that can be successfully grown in the waste lands. The tree popularly known as the Paradise tree (Simaruba glauca) has been found to yield good quality edible oil. Being a highly drought-tolerant tree, it can be ideally grown in the dry tracts, and it can be an ideal tree species for afforesting the wastelands. Say Dean, FC&RI.

Also called the ‘king of oilseed trees’, the Paradise tree is an evergreen tree originating from El Salvadora, Brazil. The Paradise tree yields seeds of high oil content. Seed samples analyzed at the Central Food technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, recorded 58% oil. The oil quality is almost equivalent to groundnut oil.

The new tapioca variety yields more tubers in a short duration of about 255 days.

An early maturing, high yielding tapioca variety has been released for commercial cultivation as “CO (TP) 4-Tapioca” by Scientists at the department of vegetables, Horticultural college and Research Institute of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore.

The new variety is a clonal selection from one of the seedling progenies of the hybrid SM 1679 (CM 2766-5 X CM 4843) obtained from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia. It is a high yielding clone with a duration of about 255 days. This improved variety recorded a mean tuber yield of 50.6 tonnes per hectare. It is suited for cultivation under irrigated and rainfed conditions.

Description
3-wheel trencher with patent for irrigation and electric plants in gardens, nurseries and parks. The machine is supplied complete of spare parts catalogue and "use and maintenance"

Technical Features
1. Honda gasoline engine Mod. GX 200 6.5 HP with "Oil Alert" device and silent muffler
2. Folding and adjustable handle-bar with safety lever and balanced lifting points
3. Cutting tool moving by means a rubber belt and final reducer by gears in oil bath
4. Mechanical transmission to the driving wheels: rubber belt, hydraulic variable speed unit and final reducer by gears in oil bath
5. Forwards, backwards control with adjustable speed from 20 to 2,500 m/h
6. Locking device at the differential case to steer easily and get the best traction
7. Adjustable trench-depth: 25, 35 or 45 CM
8. Adjustable trench-width: 10, 12 or 15 CM
9. Bucket tools or, in alternative, carbide bits with long carbide tip or mixed solutions
10. Rubber guard
11. Variable output from 60 to 100 linear meters per hour
12. Single auger to move the excavated ground
13. Safety bar and cleaning nail, 3rd wheel adjustable-in-height and lateral tool-box
14. Overall sizes: length 135 x width 68 x height 100 CM (75 CM when the handle-bar is folded back)
15. Running weight: 165 KG

This improved variety has been recently released for commercial cultivation by TNAU, Coimbatore, as `PPI (B) brinjal'. PPI (B) brinjal is a pure line selection from `Karungal local' of Kalkulam taluk in Kanyakumari district.

It is a high yielding long green variety suitable for cultivation in all the brinjal growing tracts of Tamil Nadu, especially Kanyakumari district, according to scientists.It has been found to do well in a wide range of soil and climatic conditions.

The new variety is an erect plant, with semi-spreading and determinate habit. It can grow to about 140 cm in height. Borne as solitary fruits, the oblong green fruits have minimum seeds, and no bitterness.

The fruits have good cooking quality. Each plant will bear 30 to 35 fruits. About 15 harvests can be had from this variety in a duration of 185 days, and the average yield of 45 to 50 tonnes per hectare can be got from the variety. The variety is moderately tolerant to Fusarial wilt disease. The fruit quality is good with less fibre, high protein, high vitamin A and vitamin C content. This variety will do well in well drained loamy soil enriched with organic manure. It can be grown in April-May and October-November seasons. About 400 g seeds will be needed to raise nursery to cover a hectare of main field.

The seeds should be ideally treated 4 g of Pseudomonos fluorescens and Azosprillum at 100 g per kg seed. About 100 sq. metre elevated nursery bed is sufficient to prepare seedlings to cover a hectare of main field. Roughly 200 kg of powdered neem cake should be added and 2 kg of Azospirillum should be applied for each hectare for getting good results from this variety. The variety responds well to regular irrigation and sound plant protection strategies using the botanical insecticides and beneficial microbes and friendly insects.

The two products, Aum Herbal Shakti and Aum Herbal Suraksha are non-toxic, biodegradable, environment-friendly and harmless to animals and humans. The herbal formulation consists of azadirachtin (neem) combined with alkaloids and extract of 15 herbs. The product can be crown sprayed, root drenched or stem injected. Once the tree has been cured, repeat spraying can be done once in two month to prevent recurrence. The treatment would cost Rs 33 for five consecutive applications. For preventive treatment, thereafter, it will cost Rs 6.6 per treatment.

A high-yielding, bush-type French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) highly suitable for cultivation in the high, middle and lower elevations of the Niligiris and other similar hilly tracts has been released for commercial cultivation by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, recently.

Developed at the Horticultural Research Station of TNAU at Vijayanagaram in Ooty, the new French bean yields attractive light green pods, which are highly fleshy and totally string less. It is a pure line selection from the accession PV-15 among the 33-germplasm types maintained at the Horticultural Research Station. The new variety performed well in all the field trials and it has been released as French beans "Ooty (FB-2)". The pods have excellent cooking quality and it has been found to have good market preference.

The plants of Ooty (FB-2) have a vigorous growth habit, and grow to a height of 60 cm. Normally, the first white coloured flowers are borne in clusters of 4-5 at 45th day after sowing. It has a yield potential of 14.30 tonnes per hectare in a duration of 90 days. The variety is moderately resistant to major diseases like leaf spot, anthracnose and angular leaf spot. It is also moderately resistant to pests like pod borer and aphids.

It yielded 2.88 tonnes of copra per hectare, which is 53 per cent higher than that of West Coast Tall, and 95 per cent more than that of East Coast Tall. Its copra yield is 24 per cent higher than that of VPM-3. The oil yield from the new variety was 1.915 tonnes per hectare. For making one tonne of copra about 7,645 nuts of ALR (CN) 1 is required. The new variety is found to be moderately tolerant to major pests such as rhinoceros beetle, scale insects, mealy bug, eriophyid mite and red palm weevil as compared to the other ruling varieties. It is also moderately tolerant to diseases such as leaf spot and bud rot when compared to them.

It is highly suitable for raising in rainfed regions, and also comes up well in irrigated tracts. The variety does well in red sandy loam, laterite and alluvial soils. The best time for planting is June-July and December-January. A spacing of 7 m by 7 m is recommended to accommodate 175 plants in a hectare. Pits of 1 m by 1m by 1m should be dug, and filled up with well-decomposed farmyard manure and leaf mould. A nutrient dose of 560 g nitrogen, 320 g phosphorus and 1200 g potash should be applied for a five-year-old palm. For one year-old-palms a quarter of that dose is recommended, and it should be gradually increased every year. The crop will allow intercropping in the initial five years. Green manure crops can be raised and ploughed in-situ to increase the organic matter content in the soil. Manuring should be done when there is sufficient moisture in the soil. The variety responds well to regular irrigation, especially in summer.

Planting is done during monsoon the pit size should be 50 x 50 x 50 cms filled with red soil, river sand, FYM, at the ratio of 1:2:1. Plants planted at 1.5m between plants and 2.5m between rows at 2650 plants/Ha with 10 per cent on mortality, 30 per cent thinning in 2nd year, 20 per cent thinning in 5th year, 25 per cent in 1st harvest in the 10th year 20 cuft round logs/ trees at Rs. 150/cuft and 15 per cent in the final harvest in the 15th year 30 cuft round logs/ tree at Rs. 200/cuft. The two most common diseases which affect the tree are root rot and heart rots. They are effectively controlled with the usage of 1 per cent bordeaux mixture, Rhizobium, Phosphobacteria and VAM. Caterpillars and grasshoppers occasionally cause problems. They can be controlled by usual methods. Regular pruning of branches makes it grow straight. It can be grown with other shade resistant medicinal plants (Gymnema Sylvestre) black pepper, for interim returns.