The ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits organised its X Group Discussion from 28^th February – 3^rd March 2023 in virtual mode.  The event was inaugurated by Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Hort. Sci.), in the august presence of Dr. V. B. Patel, Asst. Director General (F & PC), Dr. Sudhakar Pandey, Asst. Director General (FVS & MP), Prof. (Dr.)  Sanjay Kumar Singh, Director, ICAR-IIHR, Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator (Fruits) Acting, Dr. Dilip Ghosh, Director, ICAR-CCRI, Dr. R. Selvarajan, Director, ICAR-NRCB,  Dr. Kaushik Banerjee, Director, ICAR-NRCG, Dr. Bikash Das, Director, ICAR-NRCL, Dr. T. Damodaran, Director, ICAR-CISH, Dr. Jagadesh Rane, Director, ICAR-CIAH, ICAR special invitees – Dr. M. R. Dinesh, former Director, ICAR-IIHR, and Dr. P. Padmanabhan, former Director (Acting), ICAR-NRCB.

In his inaugural address, the Chief Guest, Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, DDG (Hort. Sci.), ICAR alluded  whether increase in production and  productivity in horticulture is vis a vis the increased cost of production and safety of produce.  He further emphasised on reorientation of programmes for gender inclusiveness, and issues like deterioration of soil health and citrus decline. He also added that safety standards need to be met for both domestic and international markets.

The guest of honour, Dr. V. B. Patel while commending the excellent work of the project, laid stress on the timely registration of germplasm and to increase the publications. He appended that the technology should be disseminated through field days during the peak crop season. Dr. Sudhakar Pandey, the guest of honour, sought the attention on wilt disease complex in fruit crops. In his presidential remarks, Prof. (Dr.) Sanjay Kumar Singh, accentuated for more support in terms of finance and human resources for the germplasm maintenance under National Active Germplasm Sites. He prioritised on the production of clean planting materials and strict plant quarantine to curtail soil borne problems. Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator (Fruits), presented the project achievements for the period of the report (2021-2022) during the inaugural session.

During the four day deliberations, six crop production technologies viz., alleviation of soil moisture deficit stress in banana, nutrient management under HDP for sweet orange and acid lime, organic nutrient management technique in mandarin, bagging of litchi bunches for quality fruits and irrigation scheduling in guava. And five crop protection technologies viz., biological control of tea mosquito bug by Beauveria bassiana in guava, management of mango hoppers and thrips by oil-based formulation of Metarhizium anisopliae, sucking pest complex with botanicals, integrated management of pre and post-harvest diseases of mango fruits, episomal BSMYV tissue culture banana cv. Poovan were recommended. Also planned two new MLTs (one each in avocado and mango) in crop improvement, three in crop production (one each in guava, mango and sapota) and Artificial Intelligence powered decision support system in banana for leaf spot disease.

In the farmer’s interaction meeting, the issues related to Sigatoka leaf spot and wilt in banana, fruit drop in grapes, tea mosquito bug, canker and stylar end rot in guava, hoppers and powdery mildew in mango, viral diseases in papaya besides increased cost of potassium fertilizers and mango irregular flowering were discussed.

During the event, one book, five technical bulletins and six factsheets were released. Nearly 180 delegates from 49 participating centres across the country including farmers from southern states participated in the deliberations. The event was organised by Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator (Fruits) Acting with the support of Dr. S. Priya Devi, Principal Scientist and Dr. Sridhar Gutam, Senior Scientist and the staff of the Project Coordinating Unit.

(Source: Project Coordinator (Fruits), ICAR-AICRP on Fruits, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, Karnataka)

The ICAR-All India coordinated Research Project on Fruits organised its IX Group DIscussion during 8th to 11th March 2022 on virtual mode with the hosting support of ICAR-IIHR and ICAR-NRCB. The programme was inaugurated by Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science) and graced by the presence of Dr. Vikramaditya Pandey, ADG (Horticultural Science – I), ICAR; Dr. B.K. Pandey, ADG (Horticultural Science – II), ICAR, Dr. B. N. S. Murthy, Director, ICAR-IIHR, Dr. S. Uma, Director, ICAR-NRCB, Dr. Dilip Ghosh, Director, ICAR-CCRI, Dr. R. G. Somkuwar, Director, ICAR-NRCG, ICAR special invitees, Dr. B.M.C. Reddy, former Vice Chancellor, Dr. YSR Horticultural University and Dr. A. K. Misra, former Project Coordinator (Subtropical Fruits).

Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator (Fruits), presented the action taken report, and project achievements from the period of the report (2020-21) in the inaugural programme. During the inaugural address, Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, DDG (Hort. Science) stressed the need to approach horticulture as a multi-faceted enterprise. In the horticulture sector, he pointed out that there are a number of issues to be addressed and that a road map should be developed to get there. During the technical sessions, deliberations were conducted on work done during the period of report (2020-21), formulating the future work plan for the ensuing period (2021-22) and recommendation of validated technologies.

Banana variety Popoulu (AAB, Plantain) identified for higher yielding (57.06 t/ha) and dual purpose (dessert fruit as well as chips making purpose) is recommended for cultivation in Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, A.P., and West Bengal. Kaveri Kalki (NRCB selection-10) identified for higher superior fruits production and dwarf stature which can withstand high wind damage is recommended for high density planting in the agro-climatic region of Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. For commercial cultivation in non-traditional banana growing regions, while Monthan is recommended for vegetable purpose and Poovan for table purpose for commercial cultivation in Island; Grande Naine (G-9) is recommended for table and Monthan for vegetable purposes for commercial cultivation in Uttarakhand.

Validation of protocol for extending papaya seed viability in storage, canopy management in old and existing sapota orchards, standardisation of stage wise requirement of nutrients in Acid lime, March – April (Stage II) to November – December (Stage VI), fertigation scheduling for quality fruit production in Mango, Episomal Banana Mysore Streak Virus Free Tissue Culture Poovan, repellents viz., petroleum spray oil 2% @ 20ml/l (Punjab and Assam), Neem oil 1% @ 10ml/l (Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh) recommended for management of fruit sucking moth in Citrus. Foliar application of Azadirachtin 10000 ppm @ 3ml/l three times at monthly intervals from commencement of incidence is recommended for management of rugose spiralling whitefly in banana in Kerala and Tamil Nadu were recommended as valid production technologies for farmers to adopt.

In the future work plan in addition to the continuing programmes, banana varieties, NRCB-Sel 14, NRCB-Sel 18, CO3; litchi variety Swarna Madhu and papaya variety, C1-33 were recommended for Multi-location Trials (MLTs). The grape variety Monukka and clump management technology in banana were recommended as observation trials. Production technology like macro and micro nutrient fertiliser schedule for mango, and protection technologies like, management of shoot gall psylla and management of mealybugs using modified tree banding technology in mango were approved to be taken up under MLT.

In the open session the farmers from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, appreciated the production technologies like Integrated Nutrient Management in Citrus, Rejuvenation technology and Nutrient Management in Sapota and Micropropagation of Banana Technology. However, they expressed concern regarding fruit fly, fruit sucking moth, and Colletotrichum in citrus, Collar rot disease & PRSV in papaya, Eumusae leaf spot in banana as well as irregular flowering in mango in the recent growing season.

In the plenary session chaired by Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, DDG (Hort. Science), he opined to conduct a midterm review meeting for monitoring the progress of work. According to him, the technologies recommended should be re-attested by farmers so that they will be able to place even more trust in us. He also added that efforts should be made to double the exports of horticultural commodities.

by meeting the expectations of importing countries. The co-chair, Dr. Vikramaditya Pandey, ADG (Hort. Science – I), ICAR asked the young researchers to plan on the aspects of deficit physiology vis a vis climate change in perennial fruit crops and prepare for the future.  Dr. B.N.S. Murhty, Director, ICAR-IIHR, the host institute of the project, had urged the researchers to meticulously plan the long term experiments and validation of the results at various centres so that the gap between the expectations of farmers and the technology recommended shall be minimised.

The project coordinator read citations in honour of the superannuating AICRP (Fruits) scientists and declared the awards to best workers and centres. The Best Centre 2021 was awarded to Gandevi Centre under Navsari Agriculture University and the Second Best Centre 2021 to Kannara Centre under Kerala Agricultural University based on a continuous evaluation system developed at the Project Coordinating Unit.

The event was attended by 200 scientists and invitees from the ICAR/NARS system and was coordinated by Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator (Fruits) with the support of Dr. S. Priya Devi, Principal Scientist and Dr. Sridhar Gutam, Senior Scientist and the staff of the Project Coordinating Unit.