SOA students develop trichocards

BHUBANESWAR :  Students of Institute of Agricultural Sciences, SOA’s faculty of agricultural sciences, have developed trichocards in the laboratory. The trichocards will immensely benefit farmers as it could help them save their crops from harmful pests without using pesticide.

Trichogramma, primary parasitoids grown in the lab, are used to destroy the eggs of pests which cause concern for farmers. Dean of the institute Prof Bijay Kumar Sahu said farmers don’t need to use pesticides to save the crop as the natural procedure is far more cheaper and environment-friendly than using chemicals in the crop land. Each trichocard contains around 20,000 parasites and when released in the agricultural field, they attack the pests destroy them at the egg stage. This not only destroys the pest but also protects the environment by eliminating the need of pesticides, Prof Sahu said.

While a farmer would require to spend around Rs 5000 to spray pesticide in one hectare of crop land to fight the pests, the same could be achieved by investing 1/10th of that amount by deploying trichocards.
Head of Department of Entomology Dr Bijay Kumar Mishra said use of trichocards will help protect crops including cereals, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane. It is the most utilised biological control agent in the world, he added.