Zonal Research Station

Ganeshkhind, Pune

Establishment of Research projects

The existing Zonal Agricultural Research Station for Plain Zone of Western Maharashtra is located at regional fruit research station Ganeshkhind. This research station has great nostalgia. It dates back to 1873 when it was first established as "Ganeshkhind Botanical Garden". Later on, Department of Agriculture, took over the possession (1901) of the same and subsequently, on establishment of Agricultural College, Pune (1907) and inception of Horticulture Section by the Department of Agriculture (1921), this "Botanical Garden" was recognized/named as Ganeshkhind, Fruit Experimental Station (G.F.E.). Meanwhile, large number of non-plan research schemes viz., Vegetable Improvement Scheme, Papaya Breeding Scheme, Scheme on Agronomic Investigation on Vegetables along with Mali (Gardener) Training Center were started at Ganeshkhind and it was designed/recognized as "Regional Fruit Research Station (R.F.R.S.). In 1967 RFRS was transferred to MPKV, Rahuri . During 1975 AICRP on floricultural improvement was strated at Ganeshkhind by ICAR, New Delhi on the lines of AICRP in other crop throughout India.

Recently, the research station was adequately strengthen by ICAR with multi-discipilanary staff , insfrastructure and library facility under the programme National Agricultural Research Porject having Associate Director of Research as its zonal head The headquarter for Plain Zone of Western Maharashtra is located at Ganeshkhind with its Satellite Stations at ARS, Digraj, Niphad, Pimpalgaon and College of Agriculture, Pune-5. Associate Director of Research is, therefore, co-ordinating the research programmes at all stations in addition to the Research and allied activities of the Zonal headquarter.


Zonal Jurisdiction

The Western Maharashtra Plain Zone (WMPZ) is wider strip running parallel and to the eastern side of Sub-montane Zone and extends towards east upto the line where Scarcity Zone Starts. The jurisdiction of ZARS, Ganeshkhind comprises of 42 tahsil of 7 districts of the Western Maharashtra either total or part thereof. It includes Of the total geographical area surveyed by Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri through its four Agro-Climatic Zones, Pain zone constituents 14.51 % of the total area. The soils of the zone are predominantly shallow to medium deep and mostly suitable for kharif crops. The WMPZ receives an annual rainfall of 700 to 1250 mm high with variability in space and time. In the region only 13% area is under irrigation out of which 43% is under canal while 57% of the net irrigated area is by wells.

Mandate For Research

ZARS, Ganeshkhind comprise the following research schemes
  • National Agricultural Research Project (NARP)
  • All India Co-ordinated Floricultural Improvement Project (AICFIP)
  • Schemes for Research on Vegetable Crops (SRVC)
  • Regional Fruit Research Station (RFRS)
  • GaneshKhind Fruit Experimental Station (GFES)
  • Vegetable Research Schemes (VRS)
  • Agronomic Investigation of Few Important Vegetable Crops (AIV)
  • Papaya Breeding Schemes (PBS)
  • Training and visit Schemes
  • Gardeners Training Center
  • Refresher Training Center This research centre acts as lead functionary for irrigated fruit crops, vegetables, flower crops, micro biological research, biological control of pests and diseases and verification functionary for the crops like cereals, pulses, oilseeds together with a cropping systems research, micro-nutrient research and post harvest technology. The well established and renowned nursery unit of this ZARS is also supplying quality planting material to the farmers not only in the State but also to the farmers of other States.

    Objectives

  • Yield and quality improvement in fruits like grapes, pomegranates, guava, sapota, fig by way of seedling selection, clonal selection, grafting, budding and breeding.
  • Development and standardization of agro-techniques for fruits, vegetables and floriculture crops.
  • Integrated pest and disease management of fruit crops and vegetables.
  • Evolution of seedless grape varieties, resistant to powdery mildew, downy mildew and anthracnose.
  • Okra breeding for resistant to yellow vein mosaic virus.
  • Collection, maintenance and assessment of germplasm of french bin, red pumpkin, okra and pea.
  • Physiological studies for attributing higher yield in fruit and flower crops.
  • Investigations on physiological disorders in fruits and flower crops including pink berry problem in grapes.
  • Use of plant growth regulators for improvement of quality and yield of flowers.
  • Multilocation testing of improved varieties/promising cultures in pulses and oil seeds.
  • Identification of high yielding varieties in paddy, sorghum, pearl millet with multiple disease resistance, non shading, non lodging and of desired duration to fit in different cropping sequences.
  • Development of vegetable based cropping sequences under irrigated conditions.
  • Post harvest handling, processing and storage studies like packaging, transportation and preservation in different horticultural crops.
  • Marketing studies in respect fruits, vegetables and flowers.
  • Collection, maintenance and evaluation of various fruits and flower crops.
  • Establishment of tissue culture, mist house, poly house in fruits and flower crops for seed production.
  • Protected cultivation of rose, carnation and gerbera for domestic and export purposes.