(Run by Adhiyamaan Educational and Research Institutions – AERI Trust)
Permanently Affiliated to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University & Approved by Government of Tamil Nadu ICAR – NAEAB ACCREDITED INSTITUTE
The Division of Plant Protection encompasses Agricultural Entomology, Plant Pathology, Plant Nematology and Sericulture. The main vision of the Plant Protection division of ACAR teaching, research and extension activities. Plant Protection plays a vital role in fulfilling targets of crop production. The thrust areas of plant protection are encouragement of Integrated Pest Management, Integrated Diseases Management, Integrated Nematode Management ensuring availability of safe and quality pesticides for sustaining crop production from the ravages of pests and diseases. The objectives of Plant Protection Division are,
The Department of Agricultural Entomology under the Division of Plant protection of Adhiyamaan College of Agriculture and Research is now completing seven years (as on November, 2022) of unique activity imparting to undergraduate students teaching, research and extension on Agricultural Entomology and also advisory services to farmers. The Unit has begun with Fundamentals of Entomology and taxonomic studies on various insects and then drawn to the studies on management of beneficial and harmful insects with special emphasis on sericulture, apiculture and pest management of field and horticultural crops. Insect museum at ACAR established aims to create interest and curiosity among the undergraduate students. Further, a bio-control production unit is started which involves in mass culturing of bio-control agents viz., Trichogramma, Bracon and Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. Apart from that, the department is maintaining beekeeping with six Indian honey bee colonies to provide agricultural education to the student’s during the classes and also trainings to rural youths and the progressive farmers.
Our Unit has well furnished facilities to meet the requirements to impart knowledge on Agricultural Entomology to under graduate students. Our laboratory comprises of 320 insect collection boxes, 120 insect display box, two storing cabinets, more than 50 wet preserved specimens, 11 compound microscopes, 55 dissection microscopes, weighing balance, pH meter, refrigerator, beekeeping equipments, silkworm rearing appliances, by-products of sericulture and lac insect products, Pesticides containers, insect traps, lab chemicals, Soxhlet apparatus and glass wares.
The Unit of Agricultural Entomology established a bee keeping unit (six Indian honey bee colonies) which focuses on providing knowledge to the students and farmers on bee keeping. There are five important species of honey bees; the rock bee (Apis dorsata), Indian bee (Apis cerana indica), little bee (Apis florae), European or Italian bee (Apis mellifera) and Dammer bee / Mosquito bee (Meliponairri dipennis). Under the Sweet revolution, the focus is on bee keeping through scientific methods and the production of quality honey and other bee hive products. The Sweet Revolution is related to increasing the income of India’s small and marginal farmers. Though the honey bees are best known for their economic role in nature, it is to pollinate hundreds and thousands of flowering plants and assure setting of seed or fruit. Honey bee pollination also improves the quality of produce. The potential benefits due to bee pollination, is in the form of increase in yields of various crops. In addition, it does not require huge investments, infrastructure or even fertile land to start bee farming in India. In agriculture, honey bees do not compete with the crops for resources. On the other hand, it helps in increasing the agricultural productivity.
The Unit of Agricultural Entomology has established the Biocontrol unit in 2021 at Adhiyamaan College of Agriculture and Research. The main aim of Biocontrol unit is to provide knowledge to the undergraduate students through teaching and culturing on Trichogramma, Bracon and Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. Moreover, awareness on Entomophages is given to the farmers.
Sericulture is under the Division of Plant Protection; it primarily caters to knowledge of undergraduate students through teaching. Basically, sericulture is an agro based cottage industry suitable for all the land holders. Contrasted with agriculture crops, sericulture provides more employment round the year and extremely labour intensive, low capital investment, short conception period; high profit oriented and less input indoor activity that gives frequent periodicity of high economic returns to the rural farm families. In India, there are four types of silk like Mulberry silk, Tasar silk (temperate and tropical), Muga silk and Eri silk. In Tamil Nadu, among the districts Krishnagiri is a hotspot site of mulberry bivoltine raw silk production because of prevailing blessed agro-climatic condition. The district has Tamil Nadu Sericulture Training School, Central Sericultural Germplasm Resource Centre and P2 Eri Silkworm Seed Production Centre, Central Silk Board, Hosur, Krishnagiri district. Separate land is maintained for mulberry garden at the college for educational purpose and also having a small scale rearing shed for about 100 dfls capacity.
Sericulture facilities & tools include rearing tray, incubation frame, black boxing cover, bed cleaning nets, plastic tray, bamboo Mountages, plastic Mountages, leaf chopping board, knife, rotary Mountages etc.
Plant Nematology is under the division of Plant Protection, mainly focusing on imparting knowledge to the undergraduate students through teaching. Tamil Nadu is the first state to realize the vitality of nematodes in the Agricultural and Horticultural crops. Krishnagiri district particularly Hosur and Shoolagiri have an intensive cropping system to cultivate vegetables viz., Tomato, Brinjal, Bhendi, Beans, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Beetroot, Carrot and Potato etc. This site highly infested by the root knot and cyst nematode in vegetables. The Nematology section creates awareness of nematodes to the farmers and also to give remedy on how to control nematodes in the field level.
Nematology unit has a well equipped laminar air flow chamber, sieves, slides, Hemocytometer, Stereomicroscope, Autoclave, preserved specimens, chemicals and glassware.
Plant Pathology mainly deals with the diseases of Agriculture and Horticultural crops and their management. This unit is connected with cultivation of mushroom, bio-control agent production, disease forecasting, post harvest disease management, agrochemicals, seed pathology and virology. The laboratory is well equipped with instruments like audio visuals, herbarium collections, pathogen preserved slides, diseases cycle chart, plant diseases chart, laminar airflow chamber, autoclaves, compound binocular microscope, compound binocular light microscopes, stereo zoom microscope, image analyser, hot air oven, centrifuges, microwave oven, electronic weighing balance, colony counter, incubators, refrigerator, chemicals and glass wares. The unit is equipped with a mushroom cultivation shed for production of mushroom, Final year students are involved in mushroom production and mass multiplication of biocontrol agents every year for their course of experiential learning.
The Division of Plant Protection and Unit of Plant Pathology, located in B block, engages in a multidisciplinary approach to control crop diseases and related activities like the mushroom cultivation (Pleurotus sajor caju & Pleurotus djamor) and (Agaricus bisporus) as part of the agriculture course curriculum in 2017. Mushroom production in Hosur area is more suitable due to the moderate climatic condition (Maximum temperature-250C and minimum temperature-160C, and maximum Relative humidity-85 per cent in Athimugam) and farmers have taken up the production of oyster and button mushroom and established a successful enterprise in and around this area. Hence mushroom unit was established at ACAR involving in the cultivation of both oyster and button mushroom. We are also providing good quality of mother spawn of white oyster, yellow oyster and blue oyster mushroom to the needy mushroom farmers. In addition, we also providing mushroom cultivation training programme for rural unemployed women’s to Rural Youth Farmers Community enhance the economic status.
Commercial production of Bio control agents is also included for the benefit of students of B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture degree program. Use of Chemical pesticides for the control of plant diseases causes phytotoxic effects in plants and also makes the soil unfit for cultivation. Biological control is the effective alternate approach for the management of plant diseases. These beneficial microorganisms did not cause any ill effects to plants; environmentally safe and also involved in plant growth promotion activities. Bio control agents viz., Trichoderma asperellum and Bacillus subtilis were isolated from the rhizosphere soil and establishment of bio control unit is under progress in our campus.
