STAFF REPORT IBD: The research phase of seven projects initiated by the Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB) has successfully been completed.

“The strategy to demonstrate the technology to farmers is under process and will be launched very soon,” said PARB Chief Executive Dr Mubarik Ali while chairing the 31st executive committee meeting here last week.

Briefing about the progress of research projects, Dr Mubarik Ali said that these seven projects included a four-year project “Standardisation and popularisation of direct seeding to increase rice productivity and resource conservation”.

The standardisation of the technology in terms of seed operations like soaking and drying, seed rate, number and intensity of irrigation, weedicide control, and variety for DS technology has already been completed during the last two-years experimentation at RRI-KSK.

This project will decrease the cost of rice cultivation by Rs 3000-4000 per acre at current input-cost on account of saving in transplanting operations. In addition, DS will save 50 percent of water, and increase the yield by 10-15 percent.

Similarly, another project is on “Insecticidal Bioactivity of Essential Oils of Local Medicinal Plants against Insect Pests of Stored Wheat”.

Third project is “sugar cane plant improvement through traditional and modern breeding technologies”, he said.

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