To raise castor productivity by working closely with farmers, Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), the national body of the vegetable oil industry, will establish 200 model farms for castor cultivation in five districts of Gujarat, which accounts for 80% of castor production in India.
These model farms, on 3-4 bighas, will be developed in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Junagadh and Kutch.
Scientists from University of Hyderabad, India have found that castor bean plants could help in remediation of areas where soil has been highly polluted with heavy metals due to industrial pollution.
Castor plants growing in these areas absorb toxic heavy metals from soil. Hence, castor bean plants can be grown in such polluted lands and over a period of time the levels of heavy metals can be reduced in the soil.
Research reports stated that when the castor bean plants growing in industrial areas were tested, roots of the plants were seen to contain lead in as high as 19.53 milligrams per gram of the root. Even leaves and stem of the plant were found to be containing lead but in smaller quantities.
Evogene Ltd. has signed an agreement between its wholly owned subsidiary Evofuel Ltd. and Insolo Agroindustrial S.A. for the selection and optimization of Evofuel’s propri
etary castor bean varieties in Insolo farms.
The two-year collaboration will examine the sustainability and adaptability of the growing castor varieties in the farms. The two companies will jointly evaluate the economic and agronomic benefits of castor seed varieties in this area, selecting the best varieties and developing the agronomic know-how to integrate the castor seed varieties into Insolo’s production system.
This study evaluated the mycorrhizal colonization of four cultivars of castor bean in five different agricultural soil types collected from different locations of Mahabubnagar District, India. Among four cultivars of Castor, Kranthi is the best supporting one in clay type of soil, which is the most widely, used cultivar in Mahabubnagar. Its mycorrhizal colonization was found to be the maximum in comparison with other cultivars in different soil types which are most effective in increasing the height, dry weight and yield of plant.
In this article, castor historical research information is compiled and the tremendous future potential of the plant is studied.Topics discussed in this review include: (i) germplasm, genetics, breeding, biotic stresses, genomesequencing, and biotechnology; (ii) agronomic production practices, diseases, and abiotic stresses; (iii) management and reduction of toxins for the use of castor meal as both an animal feed and an organic fertilizer; (iv) future industrial uses of castor including renewable fuels; (v) world production, consumption, and prices; and (vi) potential and challenges for increased castor production.
Read the article from :https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/pdfs/104/4/853
In 1950’s, castor was a crop of low value and was primarily grown in dry areas of Andhra Pradesh, a state in southern India. But over the years, the center of castor production has shifted to Gujarat, a state in western India. Interestingly enough, most of the increase in castor production has come from Gujarat where this crop has become a major cash crop in the farmers’ portfolio.
In this article (http://bit.ly/12ElJ4R), various policy parameters which enabled castor crop to become an economic success in Gujarat were studied. The policy overview suggests that the success was a combination of a good breeding program, a good extension model, coupled with access to well-developed national and international markets.
Read More: http://bit.ly/12ElJ4R