MRIDAPARIKSHAK

In India there are about 1200 soil testing laboratories which are not sufficient to cater Soil Testing needs of farming community. As a result the farmers dont get soil test reports in time i.e. before application of fertilizers during Kharif and Rabi seasons.  Due to lack of proper guidance, they resort to indiscriminate use of fertilizers. To overcome limitation of soil testing laboratories a need was felt to find an innovative technology, which can quantitatively measure soil parameters in fast mode and can be taken farmers doorsteps at a cheaper cost. In this direction, the Indian council of Agriculture Research, New Delhi thought it is appropriate to develop an instrument that could meet the needs of famers in soil testing. As such, the ICAR - Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal was given the responsibility to develop a technology which assumed shape as Mridaparikshak – Digital Minilab that could address the problems of farmers.

LIGHT TRAP

Insect pests cause enormous losses to crops. Sole reliance on the application of chemical pesticides has led to several side effects like resurgence of pests, resistance to pesticides and outbreak of secondary pests coupled with problems of environmental pollution. To overcome these problems, eco-friendly integrated pest management (IPM) technology has been advocated. Light trap is one of the important IPM tools. Light traps are the most widely used visual traps for the agriculture insects pests and have been particularly important in surveillance programme and monitoring of the seasonal appearance of many species of moths, hoppers, beetles etc.