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| Title |
Scaring the Crows and Trapping the rats: learning from the farmers of palladam block,coimbatore district, tamil nadu |
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1. Cow dung cake as rat burrow fumigant
A cow dung cake is kept in a mud pot which has a hole on its side. The cow dung is ignited and the mouth of the pot is closed and kept over the entrance of the rat’s burrow. A hole is made in the pot, such that the smoke enters the burrow and suffocate the rats inside and kill them.
2. Soaking sorghum seeds in cow urine
Seeds of sorghum are soaked in cow urine to induce drought tolerance. Sometimes they are treated with salt solution before sowing, to ensure better germination.
3. Plastic to Scare Crows
A polythene sheet is tied to a long pole and placed in the centre of the field; the sheet flaps and flutters in the breeze and sound that is produced wards off birds.
4. Coating of redgram seeds with red soil
Red soil is moistened and mixed with seeds of red gram (Cajanus cajan) and dried before storing them. This protects the grain from storage pests during prolonged storage. It also facilitates easy separation of kernal.
5. Castor Crop as border crop in cotton field
To attract Spodoptera litura, castor is grown on borders of cotton fields. (The adult moths are attracted to lay eggs on the under surface of castor leaves in preference to cotton; the newly hatched larvae can be collected and destroyed).
6. Night fire to prevent Red Hairy Caterpillar
There is a practice of using fire near groundnut fields in order to get rid of Red Hairy Caterpillar. (We learnt about this through personal communication by Dr N K Sanghvi that same practice has also been tried in Andhra Pradesh by several NGOs. :Ed.). |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 5(3):13, 1994 |
