Horticultural director Nand Kishore said seven districts including Vaishali, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Samastipur, Katihar and Muzaffarpur have been identified for pilot projects to grow apples of the HRMN-99 variety suitable for subtropical and low-altitude cultivation. Plateau plains.

“We have arranged a sufficient number of plants of the HRMN-99 cultivar at the Vaishali National Nursery Centre of Excellence at the National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad for the launch of the pilot project on January 19. First, the plantation will be completed in After formal training, planting is carried out on 10 hectares of land in all areas,” says Kishore.

One of Vaishali’s Ranjit Kumar Singh, along with other friends in the Begusarai, Bhagalpur and Aurangabad districts, planted several HRMN-99 apple saplings brought from Himachal Pradesh three years ago.

“The saplings planted by Ranjit Kumar in Vaishali are already bearing fruit and can be picked by May-June,” said Rakesh Kumar, deputy director of the Horticulture Department, adding that plants in other areas are also in different stages of fruiting.

A plant scientist at Rajendra Prasad Agricultural University (RAU) in Samastipur said that molecular studies on the properties of HRMN-99 apples have been carried out and compared with the inspected varieties of the Gujarat Biotechnology Mission in Gandhinagar.

“This study confirms its diversity and advantages over other low-cold varieties Anna and Dorsett Golden,” the scientist said, adding that the apple variety can even grow at temperatures as low as 40 degrees Celsius.

The state government has also decided to provide farmers with subsidies for apple plantations of up to Rs 123,000 per hectare, almost half the estimated cost of Rs 246,000. The pilot project envisages training at least five farmers in each district before offering them to plant saplings. The bureau will also plant apples on 0.2 hectares of land at the Vaishali Centre of Excellence for training and demonstration purposes.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times