OUAT to grow seedless cucumber, tomato

| | BHUBANESWAR | in Bhubaneswar

The Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) here is working to develop seedless cucumber and tomato varieties with high colour content in coming days.

University Vice-Chancellor Prof Surendranath Pasupalak informed this at a State-level Research and Extension Council meeting held on Thursday.

He said the OUAT would develop a centre of excellence in the market intelligence research, which would be first-of-its-kind in eastern India.

He said the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) would reorient activities to concentrate more on crop diversification, formation of FPOs, processing and value addition and marketing.

Inaugurating the event, Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Principal Secretary Dr Saurav Garg suggested utilizing the presence of VAWs in the grassroots as a means to disseminate technologies and information to the farmers. He urged upon OUAT to take necessary research activity for development of suitable pulses varieties for draught, disease and cold tolerance.

Regarding extension activities, Extension Education Dean Prof PK Roul informed that 31 KVKs operating under the OUAT in 28 districts have taken several interventions in the areas of technology assessment, refinement and demonstrations.

Research Dean Dr LK Babu informed that the OUAT has been successful in releasing one bottle gourd variety and submitting proposals for release of verities in different crops like cotton, rice, maize, groundnut, niger and turmeric.