About The Project
National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in February, 2011.This project is to develop and popularize climate resilient technologies in agriculture. The output of the scheme will help the districts and regions prone to extreme weather conditions like drought, flood, frost, heat waves, etc. to cope with climate variability.
Objectives
- To enhance the resilience of Indian Agriculture covering crops, livestock and fisheries to climatic variability and climate change through development and application of improved production and risk management technologies.
- To demonstrate site specific technology packages on farmers’ field for adapting to current climate risks.
- To enhance the capacity of scientists and other stakeholders in climate resilient agriculture research and its application.
About Us
The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) is a premier Institute conducting basic, strategic, anticipatory and applied research on various aspects of fruits, vegetable, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants and mushrooms. The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) is one of the Core Centres of NICRA with the mandate
“Evaluation of Horticultural crops – Tomato, Mango and Banana for Tolerance to climatic stresses and genetic enhancement of tolerance.”
Infrastructure
- Plant Phenomics Facility
- Photosynthesis system
- Line Quantum Sensor
- Spectrophotometer
- Root Imaging System
- Environmental Growth Chamber
- Free Air Temperature Enrichment (FATE) Facility
- CO2 and Temperature Gradient Chamber (CTGC) Facilit
Research Activities and Deliverables:
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Activity |
Deliverables |
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Evaluation of horticultural crops, Tomato, Mango and Banana for tolerance to climatic stress and genetic enhancement of tolerance. |
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Pest and disease dynamics, changes in crop-pest/pathogen relationships, changed profile of insect pests and emergence of new bio types due to climate change. |
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Adaptation and mitigation through enhanced water productivity, nutrient use efficiency, conservation agriculture and agro-forestry system |
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Technology demonstration through transfer of technology Division of Core Institutes |
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Achievements so far
Work was initiated to develop facilities like plant phenomics, FATE, CTGC, and environmental control chambers. The equipments like Chlorophyll Fluorescence System, Line Quantum Sensor with data logging, U.V. Visible Spectrophotometer etc., were procured.
The work was initiated on aspects like, phenotyping and genetic enhancement for imparting tolerance to high temperature and limited and excess moisture stress conditions in tomato and banana. About 43 genotypes of tomato were evaluated for drought tolerance. Grafting technique using brinjal root stocks for improving tolerance to flooding in tomato was initiated. In banana a total of 28 drought related gene specific primers were used for cDNA to analyze expression pattern in Grandnaine (AAA) and Elakkibale (AB) banana.
Mango phenology work was initiated. Standardized Thermal Day Degrees (TDD) under laboratory conditions for tomato pests were assessed based on the threshold temperatures available in the literature for the specific pest. Surveillance of mango insect pests in different geographical regions was recorded along with prevailing climatic conditions. The mango fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis peaked in June (1309 per trap) to July (1091 per trap) coinciding with active mango cropping period. A roving survey was under taken for the mango orchards located in Karnataka. The Black Banded disease, Leaf Blight and Mango Malformation that were minor earlier have become serious now.
The broad-bed and furrows system was developed by cut and fill method in an area of one hectare to mitigate flash flood effects and drought on vegetable crops. Work on conservation horticulture practices in mango and carbon sequestration studies were initiated.
Isolation of drought tolerant microflora was carried out from the rhizospheric soil samples obtained from cultivated/ non cultivated plants growing in stresses eco-systems, with a special emphasis on the Christmas cactii (Opuntia leptocaulis) a desert plant.
Videos
Events /News
Technology Demonstration:
Demonstrations on climate resilient technologies of the institute under soil and water stress/scarce conditions were undertaken in different vegetable and fruit crops during the period.
- Farmers Awareness Programme on Climate change and its relevance in horticultural crops on 29-10-2011
Thematic Group Meeting on Horticulture and Carbon Sequestration on 27-07-2011:
A group meeting was organized at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru campus under NICRA project on 28.7.2011 to review and fine tuning the programme under the project. Dr. M. Maheswari, Principal Investigator and Dr. N.N. Reddy from CRIDA also participated in the meeting.
Team Members Associated with the Project
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Division |
Name of the Scientist |
Email ID |
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Plant Physiology & Biochemistry |
Dr. R. M. Bhatt (PI) |
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Dr. V. Ravindra |
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Dr. K. K. Upreti |
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Dr. K. S. Shivashankar |
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Dr. R. H. Laxman |
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Vegetable Crops |
Dr. A. T. Sadashiva |
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Dr. S. ShankarHebbar |
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Plant Pathology |
Dr. A. K. Saxena |
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Fruit Crops |
Dr. Y. T. N. Reddy |
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Dr. A. Rekha |
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Entomology |
Dr. Abraaham Verghese |
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Dr. V. Sridhar |
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Dr. KamalaJayanti |
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Soil Science |
Dr. A. N. Ganeshmurthy |
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Dr. G. Selvakumar |
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TTC |
Dr. S. D. Doijode |
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Dr. B. Balakrishna |
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Dr. Saju George |
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Biotechnology |
Dr. K. V. Ravishankar |
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AICRP Tropical Fruits Cell |
Dr. Prakash Patil |