PUNE: In a bid to develop a sustainable technology for sugarcane farming, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Deccan Sugar Technologies Association (DSTA).
Agricultural productivity and sustainability has to be enhanced without perpetuating any ecological damage. The continuous use of chemical fertilisers has showed adverse impact on agriculture, environment and economy as well.
A study by DSTA has revealed that sugarcane farmers from Maharashtra are facing severe problems in sugarcane growth, soil salinity, drought, fungal diseases and recently introduced devastating spodeptera infestation. Due to these problems, the yield of sugarcane has drastically reduced.
In order to pool the respective expertise both CSIR-NCL and DSTA have jointly taken up the initiative to develop sustainable technologies for beneficial application in the above mentioned issues by using natural preparations. The identified potential strains are scaled up, mass multiplied and formulated using cell protectants and the production technology will be transferred as an output of this project, stated CSIR-NCL scientists.
They have also explained that natural plant-microbe-environment interactions can be utilised in many ways for enhancing crop productivity. Rhizosphere-associated microbes play a key role in plant growth promotion by protecting plants.