Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Booh, Tarn Taran organized a one day Refresher training course on ‘‘Advances in fodder production to ensure year round fodder availability for dairy animals’ for field functionaries and official of Department of Agriculture and Punjab Dairy Development Board of district Tarn Taran on 27th February 2018 at its Campus. The training was attended by 24 officials including Block Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Development Officer, Agriculture Sub Inspector, Block Technology manager, working under State Department of Agriculture and ATMA Scheme and PDDB, Tarn Taran. The main emphasis of the programme was to address the issues related with fodder production and preservation. Navjot Singh Brar, Assistant Professor (Agronomy) and Course Coordinator formally welcomed the delegates arrived from different blocks of Tarn Taran. He
shared his view on new technology of fodder crop production and their beneficial impacts, fodder productivity and quality. He further discussed about the judicious use of pesticides in fodder crops and also highlighted the importance of hay and silage making to ensure year round fodder availability to dairy animals.
Dr Anil Kumar emphasized that sole application of chemical fertilizers in imbalanced manner and more than recommended doses in fodder crops not only deteriorating the soil health but, also inducing adverse impact on crop productivity, contaminating water bodies and also affecting animal health. Dr Kumar stressed on balanced fertilization and judicious use of organic and inorganic source of the nutrients for sustainable fodder production. He further discussed the potential of organic sources of nutrients in supplementing nutrient needs of the fodder crops and their beneficial effects on soil properties.
Dr Balwinder Kumar, Deputy Director (Training) of KVK discussed about advance technologies to increase the quality of the fodder crops and various cropping systems to insure the continuous availability of quality fodder throughout year. The participants appreciated the efforts of the KVK Scientists for organizing refresher course.