PAU Bags Best Centre Award of AICRP In Weed Management

Ludhiana, May 5, 2016: The Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has been conferred with the “Best Centre Award” of All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Weed Management for the year 2015-16. The award has been bestowed on PAU in recognition of its outstanding contributions to the weed management in the Punjab state. The team of PAU agronomists comprises Dr M. S. Bhullar, Senior Agronomist; Dr Simerjeet Kaur, Assistant Agronomist; Dr Tarundeep Kaur, Assistant Agronomist; Dr Navjyot Kaur, Assistant Plant Physiologist and Dr Pervinder Kaur, Assistant Chemist Residue. The award was presented to the PAU agronomists during the 23rdAnnual Review Meeting of AICRP-Weed Management, held on April 28-30, 2016 at Jalgaon, Maharashtra.
Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU and Dr Balwinder Singh, Director of Research, PAU congratulated the AICRP team and Head of the Department for this achievement.
The citation by the Director, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur reads the AICRP-Weed Management is in operation at PAU, Ludhiana since 1978. Over the years, the PAU centre has made significant contributions to the weed management and developed improved technologies for minimizing yield losses due to weeds and for improving agricultural productivity. The centre has developed 18 recommendations on weed management in crops like wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, barley, soybean, turmeric, carrot and potato. Besides, it has been involved in designing of lucky seed-drill with automatic spray attachment. These technologies have been well-adopted by the farmers, which led to the significant increase in productivity and profitability. During the last five years (2011-2015), the centre conducted all the experiments allotted under network trials and submitted quality data to the annual reports. Under extension activities, the centre conducted several trainings, farmers’ field days, Partheniumawareness programmes and delivered radio talks. Collaborative projects with national and international institutions were also undertaken. The centre has published 39 NAAS rated research papers out of which 13 have NAAS score >6.0. Besides, it has to its credit the publication of 25 extension articles, four research bulletins and two each of book chapters, technical bulletins, teaching manuals and extension leaflets. It has also presented 29 papers at conferences/symposia.