Information on Agriculture, Horticulture, Agricultural technology,Animal husbandry and Forestry

  STERILIZATION OF RICE STRAW MUSHROOM We can grow mushrooms in several mediums such as -Rice straw , Cotton waste , Banana leaves , Sugarcane trash , Wheat , Water hyacinth etc .   RICE STRAW MUSHROOM   : Rice straw mushroom ( Volvariella volvacea  ) has distinct flavour , pleasant test and very rich in protein content . It is considered as one of the easiest way to cultivate mushrooms due to it's short production duration . TYPES OF STERILIZATION  Hot water Sterilization  Cold water Sterilization Autoclaving Formaldehyde treatment Bavistin treatment  Among these Cold water Sterilization is the easiest to do . REQUIREMENTS FOR COLD WATER STERILIZATION Tank  Rice straw ( 1ft or 1.5ft ) Clean water Lime  PROCEDURE: Tie 5-6 bundles together so that rice straw bundles  won't float in the water  . Fill the tank ( size of tank may vary according to the straw amount , for 50-60 bundles a tank of 5ft × 2ft will be enough ) with fresh ...

FLOWER DROP IN CUCUMBER : If you are having flower drop problem in your cucumber plant then you must identify that those flowers which are dropping are male flowers or female flowers .              Male blossoms falling from cucumber plants is normal . Female flowers falling / dropping  from plants indicate that  something  is preventing successful pollination . REASONS OF FLOWER DROP : Pollination problem :  A cucumber plant drops it's flower if the flower is not well pollinated . It diverts all it's energy to a flower which is likely to produce many offsprings . So there's flower drop due to lack of pollination . Cucumber flowers generally get pollinated by Bees and bumblebees . More the no of bees and bumblebees more will be the pollination and less flower drop . Rot and fungal growth . High temperature  Lack of  humidity in air . Low organic matter . Pathological infections ( powde...

                Agro- climatic zones of India          The country has been divided into 15 agro climatic regions according to homogeneity in agro-characteristics such as soil , topography , rainfall , temperature , cropping and farming systems and water resources . 1. Western Himalayan Region:          It consists of three sub zones         1- Jammu and Kashmir         2- Himachal Pradesh         3- Uttarpradesh Hills  Himalaya Region consists of skeletal soils of cold region , mountain meadow soils ,podsolic soils and hilly brown soils . They have steep slopes , undulating terrain,silty loam type soil .This region is more prone to erosion hazards and slips and slides . Crops like rice , maize , millets , wheat and barley are grown here but productivity level is lower than that of the all Indian average . Highe...

Soil structure:-  The arrangement of primary particles (sand ,silt,clay), secondary particles ,and voids into definite patterns under certain field conditions. It  denotes How the particles and aggregates are arranged , their shapes and sizes . How the voids and spaces are arranged , their shapes and sizes . Importance of soil structure :- The amount and nature of porosity in soil are influenced by it . Water and air permeability into soil is governed by it . It influences soil water relationship , growth of microorganisms ,water holding capacity ,soil drainage and availablity of plant nutrients . Management of soil structure:- Management of soil structure leads to improvement of soil structure . The general principles are :- To ensure least destruction of soil structure the tillage should be done at optimum moisture conditions . To minimize the loss of aggregate stabilizing organic substances minimum tillage should be done. To mitigate t...