Success story

• Established nursery of permanent forage grasses (Napier bajra, Setaria, Guini) at Dhaulakuan and distributed their root- slips and seed in Himachal and Uttrakhand States.   

• Established the Buffalo Research Farm at HAREC, Dhaulakuan (Year-1989), the very first in the state.

• Established the Vermicomposting Research Unit at Dhaulakuan in the year 1998, the very first ever in the University and produced a tones of Vermiculture (Eudrillus euginae) and distributed in the entire state through state department of agriculture, H.P. during the year 2001 to 2010. Good quality vermicompost and vermiculture are being supplied regularly on requisitions.

• Established a ‘Model Organic Farm’ in 2 ha area in Dhakhwala Unit of Research Farm in the year 2005 with the financial help of “National Center for Organic Farming”, the first ever in the University.

• Developed the fool proof technology for the control of Rhizome Rot problem in ginger  (1999 to 2002) by the team of Scientist of HAREC, Dhaulakuan and it was demonstrated on a larger scale in the district Sirmour as well as in the state that helped to revive the ginger cultivation in the region.

• The very popular and immune varieties of different crops viz., DK-1 (Toria); HPW-211 & HPW 236 (Wheat); HQPM-1 (Maize); Him Mash-1 (Urdbean); C-475 & C-519 (Cowpea); Him Chana-1, Him Chana-2, GPF-2 & Him Palam Chana-1/DKG 986 (Chickpea); Markandey (Lentil); COJ-64 (Sugarcane) etc. developed and released from this station have contributed a lot in the total food grain production scenario of the state and are still in cultivation.

• Being the oldest, the largest and fully irrigated outstation farm of the University, HAREC Dhaulakuan has the distinction to produce more than 400 quintals of breeder and truthfully labeled seed annually for the crops of Wheat, Rice, Chickpea, Blackgarm, Greengram, Horsegram, Cowpea, Lentil, Sesame, Mustard and millets for further multiplication by the State Deptt. of Agriculture.

Control of Karnal bunt of wheat with Tilt – Success story (2008-09)

Paonta valley of District. Sirmour is known for the production of wheat seed in the State. Maximum certified seed is produced by the registered growers and supply to state Department of Agriculture to meet the seed requirement of other districts. During 2003-04, there was a serious occurrence of karnal bunt disease, resulted complete failure of seed production program in the valley and registered growers have to bear heavy losses as karnal bunt infected seed was not procured by the State Department of Department. Food Corporation of India also refused to purchase karnal bunt infected wheat for consumption purposes.  Farmers were hesitated to take up seed production programme and Agriculture Department has to import wheat seed from other states to meet the requirement for the next crop season. Hill Agricultural Research & Extension Centre, Dhaulakuan developed chemical control of karnal bunt and recommended two sprays of Tilt 25 EC @ 0.1%, first spray suggested at flag leaf stage followed by another spray at 50% emergence of ear heads. This technology has been completely adopted by the farmers to combat the threat of karnal bunt. Seed production in the valley has been revived and registered growers harvested rich dividends by adopting this technology.

Two sprays of Tilt                               Two sprays of Bavistin                                              No sprays     

(Management of karnal bunt and powdery mildew with Tilt 25EC @ 0.1%)

Wheat varieties (HPW 211 & HPW 236) resistant o yellow rust: Success story (2008-09)

During the year 2008-09, yellow rust appeared in large areas of Punjab, Haryana and H.P. causing huge losses. Consequently, surveys were conducted by the Scientists of this Station in villages of districts Sirmour & Solan. In Sirmour district, 60S to 90S reaction was recorded on varieties WH 711, UP 2338 and HS 295. Similarly in Solan district incidence varied from 5S (PBW 550) to 80 S(WH 711). The reaction on PBW 343 was 60 S. At our farm at Dhaulakuan, earlier resistant varieties PBW 550 (80 S) and DBW 17(40 S) succumbed to this disease. The then Project Director (Wheat), Dr. Jag Shoran visited the station in March, 2009 and critically observed the incidence of disease on all Wheat varieties. Under such circumstances, two varieties bred at the station namely HPW 211 (20 S) and HPW 236 (5 S) showed better degree of resistance besides their high yield potential. Further, these these varieties remained free from brown rust. The variety HPW 236 was also grown at Bajaura where it proved to be potential both from yield as well as disease resistance points of view.  Based on its performance in farmers field under On Farm Trials, Haati Kisan Sangh demanded its FLD,s from the then Hon’ble Vice Chancellor which were conducted in Shillai area during the year, 2009-10. Both of these varieties are resistant to yellow rust (5S-10S) and moderately resistant to powdery mildew (scoring from 3 to 5). On the other hand the scoring of powdery mildew on most of the releases varieties is 9.

HPW 211 (Resistant to yellow rust and other diseases)

HPW 236 (Resistant to yellow rust and other diseases)