INDIAN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCERANCHI CHAPTER

Addressing the World Soil Day celebration at Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi on 5th December, 2015, Hon’ble Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sri Radha Mohan Singh emphasized the role of earth

in human life. Due to our greed’s, we have started using various chemicals in discremately and made the soil sick. The soil health card is test based report of your field which provides you information about the requirement of soil nutrient and recommendations for a batter farming, keeping the soil healthy.

The event was organized by Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Cooperation, Government of Jharkhand. The Minister also released a book entitled “Status and Management of Soil Health” penned by Dr. D. K. Shahi and Dr. B. K. Agarwal, Professor, Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry, BAU and

distributed soil health cards to the farmers of Ranchi, Khunti and Lohardaga districts of Jharkhand. Sri Randhir Kumar Singh, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture, Govt. of Jharkhand also addressing the event.

Welcoming the guests, Secretary Agriculture Dr. Nitin Madan Kulkarni highlighted the use of Soil health card to deciding the exact use of fertilizers including other essential nutrients.

The huge gathering was also addressed by Dr. George John, Vice Chancellor, BAU, Hon’ble MP of Ranchi Sri Ram Tahal Choudhary, Hon’ble MLAs Dr. Jitu Charan Ram and Mrs. Gangotri Kujur also addressed the gathering. Director Agriculture, Govt. of Jharkhand proposed the vote of thanks.

Soil Health Card Mission launches from Jharkhand

VOL . : 10 SSAC NEWS LETTER OCTOBER, 2016

International Workshop on Soil Health

The International Workshop on Soil Health was organized by Department of Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry, Birsa Agricultural University,

Ranchi in collaboration with Cornell University, Ithaca, USA on 12-13 Jan, 2016. Over 250 scientists, extension specialists and agricultural administrators from different parts of India and abroad participated in the workshop and shared their views during technical sessions of workshop.

The Inaugural session was presided over by Dr George John, Vice-Chancellor of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, India while Prof. Harold van Es, President, American Society of Soil Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA was the Chief Guest.

Prof Harold van Es Professor of Soil Science and Water Technology at Cornell University, USA emphasized that healthy soils are essential for better human

and animal health because water quality and nutrient availability in farm crops are very much dependent on soil health.

Dr. George John in his inaugural address said that we have been disrespectful to the soil since long but the mother earth has been forgiving us. The ambitious Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme launched by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India is probably the

World’s largest programme aimed at improving soil health but SHC is only like a medical prescription and would not serve the purpose unless medicines (nutrients) as prescribed are taken in proper dose. “The University is keen to have long term association with Cornell University for soil health management” he said.

Dr. D. K. Shahi, Chairman, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi welcomed the guests. Dr. B. K. Agarwal, Organizing Secretary extended the vote of thanks.

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Indian Society of Soil Science, Ranchi Chapter organized guest lecture on “Revamping Soil Testing Research and Services: Present Status and Future Strategies” on 30th August, 2016. Dr. B. S. Dwivedi, Head, Division of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural

Research Institute, New Delhi was the guest speaker. Dr. Raghava Thakur, Dean Agriculture was the Chief Guest on this occasion. Dr. D. K. Shahi, Chairman, SSAC briefed about the background and significance of Soil Testing Research and Services.

Dr. Dwivedi explained that inadequate and imbalanced fertilizer use, incomplete fertilizer perceptions, poor soil testing services, low use of organics, clean cultivation (residue remove/burnt), excessive tillage, poor land leveling, ignoring principles of crop rotations, monoculture cropping, lack of awareness among farmers and fertilizer policies are the causes of soil health deterioration. He said that soil testing is time- tested based tool for fertilizer recommendations. Till date, the results are impressive. Soil testing does change the fertilizer rate applied and increase the yields and its quality. It requires consistent effort to ensure that appropriate soil test methods and fertilizer prescription approaches. Dr. B. K. Agarwal, Chief Scientist welcomed the guests and Dr. P. Mahapatra, Jr. Scientist gave the vote of thanks.

Lecture on Revamping Soil Testing Research and Services

Indian Society of Soil Science, Ranchi Chapter in collaboration with Indian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi organized 20th Dr. B. V. Mehta Memorial lecture on 27th September, 2016 at Dr. R. B. Prasad Memorial Hall, PBG, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi.

Dr. Muneshwar Singh, Project Coordinator, AICRP LTFE Projects, IISS, Nabibagh, Bhopal delivered the lecture on “Impact of Nutrient Management and Changing Climate on Carbon Sequestration: A Case Study of Long Term Fertilizer Experiment”.

Dr. Singh stressed the interference to sequester carbon, increase in primary productivity is essential. Application of nutrient increases the primary productivity which in turn favours residual biomass carbon in soil. Both soil and plant act as sink for carbon and help in mitigation of climate change. He also added that carbon assimilation in plant and sequestration, go hand in hand which is dependent on nutrient supply. Nutrient management encourages Carbon sequestration. Minimum threshold and saturation level of carbon differ with soil. Capacity of soil as sink for carbon depends on soil properties like clay and silt and climate related to rainfall and temperature.

Dr. Raghava Thakur, Dean Agriculture was the Chief Guest on this occasion. Dr. D. K. Shahi, Chairman, SSAC gave a brief sketch of Dr. B. V. Mehta in the field of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry. Dr. B. K. Agarwal, Chief Scientist welcomed the guest and the participants. Dr. P. Mahapatra, I/C LTFE Project gave a brief biography of speaker and Dr. Arvind Kumar, Asstt. Professor gave the vote of thanks. It was also graced by Dr. B.P. Singh, Former President, ISSS, New Delhi.

20th Dr. B. V. Mehta Memorial Lecture Farmers Trainings under TSP on STCR

Under TSP activities of AICRP– STCR project, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, BAU, Ranchi organized four training programmes on ‘Importance of soil

test to sustain crop production’, and Cropping system based nutrient management for crop quality’ from 8th to 28th March, 2016 to aware the tribal farmers and to promote balanced use of fertilizer in sustainable crop production. All together, 224 tribal farmers of Ranchi, Lohardaga and Khunti districts and 22 Govt. officials along with Panchayat representatives was attended the programmes.

Under TSP activities of AICRP– LTFE, Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, BAU, Ranchi organised three farmer-scientist interaction programmes on “Balanced

Use of Fertilizer for Long Term Crop Production” for tribal farmers of Ranchi and Lohardaga districts. The main objective of the programme was to aware tribal farmers of benefits of using biofertilizers, balanced use of fertilizers, importance of pests and diseases and their management for better crop production.

Farmer-Scientist Interaction Programme under TSP

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Soil Health Programmes organized at KVKs of Jharkhand State

Soil health programme were organized from 5th to 7th Dec. 2015 by the all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) under of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi and about 6161 soil samples were analyzed and 5768 soil health cards were distributed to the farmers with recommendation of fertilizers and manure.

Training Programme on Role of Secondary & Micronutrients

Under TSP activities of AICRP on Secondary & Micronutrient project organized two training programmes on “Role of Micronutrient on Soil, Plant & Human Continuum” for the tribal farmers of Ranchi & Lohardaga districts to

aware and popularize the micronutrient fertilizers use to sustain soil health and crop quality. The programme was organized at different Panchayat of Bero block of Ranchi on 20th Feb., 2016 and Bhandra block of Lohardaga district on 29th March,2016. Altogether, 108 tribal farmers benefitted from this programme.

PublicationsBooks

Shahi, D. K. and Agarwal, B. K. (2015). Status and Management of Soil Health of Jharkhand State, Published by SAMETI, Jharkhand.

Shahi, D. K. and Agarwal, B. K. (2015). Practical Manual on Soil Analysis (Chemical and Biological), Published by Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science & Agril. Chemistry, BAU, Ranchi, pp. 1-118.

Research PublicationsRoy, Trisha; Biswas, D. R.; Dutta, S.C.; Dwivedi, B.S. Lata; Bandyopadhyay,

K.K.; Sarkar, Abhijit, Agarwal, B.K. and Shahi, D. K. (2015). Solubilization of Purulia Rock Phosphate through Organic acid loaded nanoclay polymer composite and phosphate solubilizing bacteria and its effectiveness as P- fertilizer to Wheat. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science, 63 (3): 327-338.

Firdous, S. ; Agarwal, B. K. ; Kumar, Arvind; Wadood, A. and Shahi, D. K. (2016). Study of Translocation Pattern of Zinc at Different Growth Stages in Rice. Green Farming, 7: 1-4.

Gosh, A., Dwivedi, B. S., Meena, M. C.; Agarwal, B. K.; Mahapatra, P. ; Shahi, D. K. ; Salwani, R. and Agnihotri, R. (2016). Temperature sensivity of soil organic carbon decomposition as affected by long term fertilization under a Soybean based cropping system in sub-tropic Alfisol, Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment(Elsevier)- online published.

Sahoo, A. K. ; Nayak, S.; Mukhopadhya, S.; Banerjee, T. ; Singh, S.; Sarkar, D.; Sarkar, A. K.; Agarwal, B.K. and Shahi, D.K. (2016). Mapping of Block Level Soil Fertility Status of Dumka District, Jharkhand Using GPS and GIS. Indian Journal of fertilizer, 12 (7): 50-57.

Kumar, Arvind; Denre, Manas; Singh, Manoj Kumar and Agarwal, B. K. (2016). Efficiency of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars for Zinc Bio-fortification under Red and Lateritic Soil Condition, Oryza, Vol. 53 (1).

Kumar, Arvind; Dengre, Manas; Agarwal, B.K.; Kumar,Manish and Ojha, R.K. (2016). Agronomic Biofertification of Zinc in Indigenous, High Yielding and hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.) Cultivars. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 64 (1): 93-97.

Kumar, S. B.; Verma, D. K., Ansari, Mohammad Shamim; Giri, S.P.; Brajendra; Patel, Himanshu; Vishwakarma, A. K.; Singh, V.K.; Singh, Y.K. and Singh, Omkar (2016). Spectral reflectance patterns for identification of nutrient stress- a brief review, Progressive Research - An International Journal, 11 (1): 185-188.

Kumar, S.B.; Kumar, A. ; Kumar, M. ; Prasad Babu, M. B. B.; Sumanth Kumar, V. V. and Nagender, T. (2016). Evaluating crop biometrics by remote sensing techniques, Progressive Research- An International Journal, 11 (2): 971-973.

Kumar, S.B.; Kumar, A.; Kumar, M.; Prasad Babu, M. B. B.; Sumanth Kumar, V. V. and Nagender, T. (2016). Response of ratio vegetation indices of rice crop for nitrogen and tillage response, Progressive Research- An International Journal, 11 (2) : 974-976.

Kumar, S.B.; Kumar, A.; Kumar, M.; Prasad Babu, M. B. B.; Sumanth Kumar, V. V. and Nagender, T. (2016). Response of normalized difference vegetation indices of paddy under nitrogen levels and tillage practices, Progressive Research- An International Journal, 11 (2) : 977-979.

Kumar, S.B., Kumar, A., Kumar, M., Prasad Babu, M. B. B., Sumanth Kumar, V. V. and Nagender, T. (2016). Long term effect of fertilizer on soil physical parameters, Progressive Research- An International Journal, 11 (2): 1013-1015.

Minz, A.; Ekka, L. and Kumar, S. B. (2016). Effect of Sulphur on Growth, Yield, Nutrient Uptake and Quality Parameters of Linseed, Progressive Research – An International Journal, 11 (1): 231-233.

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NET (Soil Science) cleared by PG students during 2015- 2016

Name of student M.Sc. / Ph.D.

Mr. Asian Minz Ph.D.

Mr. Nishant Kumar M.Sc. (Ag)Ms. Swati Singh Ph.D.

RANCHI CHAPTER OF INDIAN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE

Linkages• International Plant Nutrition Institute, Canada- India Programme• Cornell University, Ithaca, USA• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi• National Bureau of Soil Science & Land Use Planning, Nagpur• Central Research Institute for Dry land Agriculture (CRIDA- ICAR), Hyderabad• Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Cooperation, Govt. of Jharkhand• ICAR- RCER Regional Centre, Palandu, Namkom, Ranchi

Biofertilizer ProductionBiofertilizer production unit of the department produced 62,425 pkts. (100 gm) of Rhizobium culture, 23,073 pkts. of Azotobacter culture, 21,201 pkts. of PSB culture and 65 pkts. (1 kg) of Blue Green Algae and generated revenue of Rs. 3,91,090.00 during Nov.2015 to Sept., 2016.

Organic Manure Production

Organic manure production unit of the department produced 8,880 Kg of value added Vermi-compost and earthworm and generated revenue of Rs. 1,13,760=00 during Nov. to Sept., 2016.

Soil Testing Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry is a Nodal Centre for Soil Testing of the state. The department has developed its own “Soil health Card” for facilitating and promoting the use of soil amendments for reclamation of acidic soils for improving soil fertility and productivity. Altogether, 2,375 soil samples were received from farmers of different districts of the state and were analyzed for soil pH, O.C., Avail. N, P, K, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn, and Soil Health Card sent to concerned farmers with fertilizer recommendation as per their need. The revenue generated by soil testing unit is Rs. 1,22,000.00 during Nov.2015. to Sept., 2016.

Soil testing laboratory of KVKs of the state are analysed 5,773 soil samples and covered about 172 villages of the state during Nov., 2015 to Sept., 2016 and 41,668 SHC distributed among farmers.

New Project Proposal submitted

A Collaborating Project on “Crop Intensification through Rice- fallow Management in Eastern & North Eastern States” has bean submitted by ICRISAT, Hyderabad to ICAR, New Delhi for approval. Dr. B. K. Agarwal and Dr. D. K. Shahi, Chairman (SSAC) have been proposed as Key scientists from BAU, Ranchi. BAU will be one of the collaborating institutions from the Eastern India.

A new project on ‘Mapping of Soil Acidity and Nutrient Status at Block Level of Gumla, Sahibganj, Pakur and West Singhbhum districts, Jharkhand using Geo - informatics for Optimum Land Use Plan’ in consultation with NBSS & LUP, Kolkata with budgetary estimate of Rs. 2.49 Crores submitted to Govt. of Jharkhand under RKVY Project (2016-17).

Distinguished Visitors• Prof. Harold Van Es, President, American Society of Soil Science,

Cornell University, Ithaca, USA

• Dr. Phil Frost, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA

• Dr. A.K. Singh, Ex- DDG (NRM), ICAR, & Vice-Chancellor, RVSKVV, Gwalior (M.P.)

• Dr. Soumitra Das , Director, International Zinc Institute- India Programme, New Delhi

• Dr. Adrian M. Johnston, Vice- President, IPNI- India Canada Programme, Canada

• Dr. S.K. Singh, Director, NBSS & LUP, Nagpur, Maharashtra

Award/RecognitionDr. A .K . Sarkar Former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture received Platinum Jubilee Award during the 80th Annual Convention of Indian Society of Soil Science at UAS, Bangalore , India for outstanding contribution in Soil Science.

Dr. B. K. Agarwal received ‘Best Participant Award’ during ICAR sponsored short course entitled Advances in Nanotechnology for Agriculture and its Allied Branches at College of Technology & Engineering, MPUA & T, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Dr. B. K. Agarwal and Dr. Rakesh Kumar have been elected as Councillor for ISSS, New Delhi for the year 2105 and 2016

Published by : Dr. D. K.. Shahi, Chairman, Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi-8340006 (Jharkhand)

Tel Fax : 0651-2450621, E-mail : chairmansoilbau@gmail.com/dksbau@gmail.com

Compilation & Editorial AssistanceShri Ajay Kumar

President Dr. D.K. Shahi

Vice-President Dr. A. Wadood

Secretary Dr. B.K. Agarwal

Joint Secretary Dr. S.B. Kumar

Treasurer Dr. Arvind Kumar

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