JNTBGRI have developed three new hybrids of the Pitcher plant or Monkey cup (Nepenthes), a carnivorous plant that traps insects and small rodents and feeds on them.
Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) here have developed three new hybrids of the Pitcher plant or Monkey cup (Nepenthes), a carnivorous plant that traps insects and small rodents and feeds on them.
The institute is justifiably proud of its Nepenthes collection of 20 species brought from far and wide. Of the 140 species of Nepenthes distributed across the world, mainly in Madagascar, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Australia, only one — Nepenthes khasiana — is known to occur in India, in the Khasi and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya.
Plants of Nepenthes are usually climbers, growing several metres in length and straggling over low bushes and trees in forest areas. The leaves of the plant get modified into a pouch-like structure with a lid on top. The pouch produces enzymes that can kill insects and even small rodents. The trap is often colourful, attracting prey. The slick coating on the upper part of the trap makes escape nearly impossible for the prey.
According to C. Sathish Kumar, scientist, Orchid Biology and Conservation unit, JNTBGRI, Nepenthes and other carnivorous plants such as Aldrovanda, Dionea, Drosera, Sarracenia, and Utriculariaattract, kill, and digest insects to derive nitrogen required for their growth.
Dr. Sathish Kumar said the initial results of the breeding experiments with Nepenthes were exciting. “For the first time in India, we have developed a few wonderful hybrids.”
The collection of carnivorous plants is the highlight of Plant Wonders, a children’s education programme conducted by the JNTBGRI. “Understanding the basics of plant sciences will have to be a priority in this changing world when forced extinction of species is happening at a faster rate than ever. How many of the species on the earth today will be seen by our children or grandchildren is anybody’s guess. Botanical gardens will act as Noah’s Ark, arresting the extinction and saving some species for posterity.”
The JNTBGRI has drawn up plans to supply Nepenthes plants to students under the programme.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / T.NandaKumar / Thiruvananthapuram – July 28th, 2014
In an attempt to attract new generation farmers, the Agricultural Research Centre of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) at Anakkayam near here has decided to try its hand at aquaponics – an ancient method of farming vegetables and fishes together practised by ethnic groups in Mexico and China.
The centre has successfully cultivated tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, chilli and paddy via the soil-free method in which fish excreta is used as fertilizer. In fact, it began a second round of cultivation two weeks ago. Aquaponics is a portmanteau of words aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil).
Researchers at the centre used 12 units made of PVC pipes in which vegetables are grown. The units are placed inside a polyhouse situated close to a pond that holds about 3,000 varieties of fishes. The saplings or seeds are planted in small disposable fibre vessels filled with sponge-like pith particles of coconut husk. The vessels are then placed on small holes in PVS pipes. Water from the pond, carrying fish excrement is always circulated through the pipes and the plants grow in a hydroponic bath of flowing water enriched with minerals.
Farm officer at the centre E Jubail said the method is ideal for farming in populated areas and is cost effective. “No chemical fertilizers are used in the method as it would kill the fishes. This ensures that the crops are organic,” he said, adding that the method does not call for the use of pesticides and consumes less water compared to traditiional farming methods.
The plan is to introduce the method to farmers and visitors at the centre besides providing provide assistance to set up the system at their farmhouses.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kozhikode / by T P Nijish, TNN / July 02nd, 2014
Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar. File photo
Thrissur:
Groups of elephant lovers have submitted a proposal to the central government to set up the country’s first elephant hospital and a diagnostic laboratory here.
The proposal was submitted this month to Minister of Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar when he visited the Sree Krishna Temple in Guruvayoor near here.
Elephant veterinarian Jacob Cheeran said that such a hospital would be the first of its kind in the country. He said the medical facility was necessary as the majority of the over 500 captive elephants in Kerala will soon be over 50 years of age.
“The proposal suggests a treatment facility for 10 elephants at a time which is required to treat elephants affected by chronic diseases like foot rot and so on.” Cheeran said.
“The diagnostic laboratory is to support the field veterinarians in early diagnosis of specific diseases like tuberculosis and infections in elephants,” he added.
Temple authorities in Thiruvambady, Paramekkavu and Guruvayoor and the Kerala State Elephant Owners Multipurpose Cooperative Society joined hands to support the proposal.
The proposal also suggests that both the hospital and the laboratory should be located on a five acre plot of land at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University campus at Mannuthy near here.
Thrissur district has the maximum number of captive elephants in Kerala, with the famed Guruvayoor temple alone having 59 elephants.
Cheeran said that in recent years there has been a drastic decline in the number of captive elephants in Kerala due to increased death rate of the elephants and the restrictions in import of captive elephants from the north-eastern states.
The elephant hospital is expected to cost Rs.10 crore including the running costs for three years.
“Even though many field veterinarians are engaged in treating elephants in almost all districts in Kerala, there is no centralised specialist healthcare support,” Cheeran said.
” Since Thrissur is centrally located, transporting sick elephants from any place in the state is also easy,” added Cheeran, who has been to elephant hospitals in Thailand and other parts of the world.
State Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar said that they will do their bit to take up the proposal with the central government.
source: http://www.beta.english.manoramaonline.com / ManoramaOnline / Home> News> Kerala / by The Correspondent / Thursday – July 10th, 2014
The Greater Cochin Development Authority’s Laser Park at Rajendra Maidan to be inaugurated in August.— Photo: Vipin Chandran
Mayor cries unauthorised construction
As the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) is all set to inaugurate its laser show project at Rajendra Maidan, the Kochi Corporation has termed it an unauthorised construction.
N. Venugopal, GCDA chairman, said that the project would be inaugurated in the last week of August.
At the same time, Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany said that the Kochi Corporation has not issued permission for setting up the Laser Park at Rajendra Maidan.
For any project to be approved by the Kochi Corporation, the project proponent should submit the documents pertaining to the ownership of the land along with the project details. In this case, the GCDA has not produced any documents to prove the ownership of the land, he said. The Authority has not obtained the permission from the Kochi Corporation, he asserted.
At the same time, Mr. Venugopal maintained that the Authority had submitted the documents pertaining to the ownership of the land. The Government had assigned the land to the Authority earlier. The Authority proceeded with the work after the expiry of the mandatory time for clearing the application. The municipal laws say that one can proceed with the work if the local body fails to respond within a specific time, Mr. Venugopal said.
An inspection by the Town Planning Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation had earlier revealed that the Authority was proceeding without the mandatory permission from the local body. Hence, it was a case of unauthorised construction, said a member of the Committee. Meanwhile, the CPI (M) leadership in the Corporation council said that it will fight any move to usurp the public space, especially Rajendra Maidan.
K.N. Sunilkumar, the Parliamentary Party secretary of the CPI (M), said that the party was for protecting the public spaces in the city. The Kochi Mayor had earlier assured the council that all documents pertaining to the project will be placed before the council. Mr. Venugopal maintained that the free access to the site would not be curbed and the laser show will be held only after 8 p.m., the closing time of the park.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by K. S. Sudhi / Kochi – July 11th, 2014
Visitors take a look at the mangoes displayed at the Kerala Mango Festival in the city on Thursday. / Photo: K.K. Mustafah / The Hindu
Open to the public from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., the festival will conclude on June 29.
The event is anything but “mango-licious.” The heady aroma of ripe mangoes and the fruit slices offered to tickle the taste buds proved irresistible to Kochiites who visited the second edition of the Kerala Mango Festival held here on Thursday.
The four-day long event under way at the St. Michaels Church Hall in Chembumukku exhibits over 1, 500 varieties of the king of fruits. One can have the pick of mangoes in various shapes and sizes with colours ranging from red and peach to golden and green. Apart for the quintessential varieties in Kerala and other States, the event features mango varieties from various foreign countries including Brazil, Thailand, Australia and Pakistan. Also on display at the festival are some of the rare varieties of mangoes including Angurdhana, the smallest mango weighing just 2 grams and the 2-kilogram Mabali mango.
Organised by the Greenvalley public School in Kothamangalam, the event aims at providing the public with an opportunity to get a look and feel of the king of all fruits. ‘The objective is to give the public an idea about the different mango varieties and thereby help elevate its status from a mere seasonal produce,” said Pradeep Kuriakose, festival director.
The organisers also said mangoes displayed at the festival were farm fresh. They had taken care to ensure that no artificially ripened mangoes were brought to the festival venue.
Besides providing an opportunity to see the exotic varieties, the event also promises to be a fun package with events, including mango eating competition and other cultural programmes.
Open to the public from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., the festival will conclude on June 29.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – June 27th, 2014
It’s no secret that seaweeds offer an array of therapeutic possibilities, taken internally or applied externally. Now these magic weeds have again proved their worth by effectively fighting arthritis.
Scientists at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), which comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), have developed a cost-effective nutraceutical product called ‘Green Algal Extract’ (GAE) for arthritic patients.
The institute claims it to be one of the best substitute to anti-inflammatory drugs, which are usually prescribed for arthritis, as it has no undesirable side-effects.
Synthetic anti-inflammatory drugs like paracetamol are usually prescribed for arthritis. But if used for a prolonged period, it could result in grave side-effects. But this product will not have serious repercussions, said K K Vijayan, principal scientist and head of marine biotechnology division, CMFRI. GAE is made from the extract of anti-inflammatory ingredients from seaweeds. Since seaweed farming is not that rampant in the state, the required constituents are obtained from the east coast area of the country.
“Places like Mandapam and Rameswaram where its industry thrives have contributed immensely to provide the needed ingredients,” Vijayan said. The product is marketed in tablet form. One tablet will contain 500 mg and has to be taken for three months to get the desired result. Exhorting its success, the technology of the product has already been transferred to a Hyderabad-based company. “Soon the product will be in the market at a competitive price,” the official said. The idea to develop a vegetarian product struck when the CMFRI’s another nutraceutical product ‘Cadalmine GMe’ became an instant hit. It is made by extracting anti-inflammatory ingredients from mussels.
But prior to it, there was already a mussels-based product called ‘Seatone’, manufactured by a New Zealand-based company circulating in the market.
“But the price was huge. One tablet costs around `30. Hence we thought of producing a similar product especially because North Kerala thrives in mussel farming,” he said.
The product proved to be much more effective than ‘Seatone’. “Since it became a hit, requests poured in for a vegetarian product. Eventually our research led us to seaweeds,” he said.
source: http://www.m.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Kerala / by Shalet Jimmy / Kochi – June 23rd, 2014
The Ernakulam District Panchayat is set to establish the first super specialty veterinary hospital in the state at Puthencruz in the eastern part of the district with the support of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).
The hospital costing Rs 5 crore will be set up on an 83 acre plot and will have a sub-centre of the KVASU to give training to personnel. The district panchayat would mop up Rs 4 crore from various local self-government institutions including the Kochi Corporation and municipalities to set up the hospital while the KVASU would contribute Rs 1 crore for it, said Eldhose Kunnappilly, district panchayat president.
He said that the KVASU had been entrusted with the task of preparing the plan for the building of the hospital. “A team from the district panchayat will visit the Wayanad and Thrissur veterinary hospitals to study the facilities there by July end and I have already spoken to the KVASU Vice-Chancellor Dr B Ashok in this regard to proceed with the work which is expected to start in four months,” said Eldhose.
There will be an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a newborn care centre, labour room and also wards to admit animals for treating them. The hospital will have an ambulance. An Animal Birth Control (ABC) wing also will function to bring stray animals and sterilize them and then return them to the place from where they were brought.
Eldhose said that an animal protection bhavan too would be opened at Maradu to co-ordinate animal protection activities of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals (SPCA).
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / Vinod Nedumundy / June 15th, 2014
The biodiversity-rich Western Ghats have sprung yet another botanical surprise. A two-member team of researchers from the Calicut University has discovered a rare flowering plant species belonging to the Araceae family from the Western Ghats.
Researchers, K M Manudev, a PhD student of the botany department and his guide Santhosh Nampy, came upon the plant belonging to the Arisaema genus (commonly known as Cobra Lilly for its flowers resembling snakes ready to strike) during their scientific expedition to Oosimala Top in Valparai on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
The work was undertaken as part of a three-year project on revision of Arisaema in India. They have named the new plant species ‘Arisaema madhuanum’ after their teacher and mentor, P V Madhusoodanan, former professor and head of the department and presently professor emeritus at the Malabar Botanical Garden, Kozhikode.
The plant was found in the margins of evergreen forests situated at an elevation of 1,300 metres above sea level. The discovery has been published in the latest issue of the Edinburgh Journal of Botany, published by the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
According to the report, Arisaema madhuanum, is a dioecious, perennial herb around 115cm tall. It differs from the other species in the same genus (Arisaema) in having a male spadix with subulate neuters, a wide-mouthed spathe tube and by the erect to arching limb with a narrow base.
The researchers found a cluster of 31 plants in the locality including two fruiting plants. The female plants were robust and larger than male plants. The flowering and fruiting has been observed during the onset of monsoon.
Manudev said that the plant like other Arisaema species has the potential to be developed as an ornamental plant due to its unique and intriguing flowers, with some varieties highly priced in European countries.
Nampy said that the discovery has once again highlighted the need for the protection and regeneration of the biological treasure trove of the Ghats. ”
The rare species found in undisturbed shola forests and that too above 1300 metres elevation could face habitat loss due to climate changes and human interference.
Of the total of 48 species of Arisaema found in India, 21 species are found only in the Western Ghats,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / K R Rajeev, TNN / June 18th, 2014
Niravu farmers rely on traditional methods to keep pests away. Frontyard of Babu’s house, packed with creepers. / Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup / The Hindu
A look at life in Niravu, a resident’s association in Vengeri, that swears by its organic produce
Walls are sparse here. Hop, jump, climb up, slide down and one has crossed umpteen plots, a few houses and many gardens; not prim, puny ones, but gardens where grass is unruly, foliage thick and free. Niravu in Vengeri may well be the most well-known resident’s association in Kozhikode. It is our flagship – for organic farming and community living. The media sets aside many column space for its initiatives, ministers throng it, to inaugurate, applaud and proclaim it as a model worth emulating. It is a tax-paying resident’s association with a membership fee of Rs.10.
Amidst the fuss and the media attention, life goes on quietly here. What continues is the hamlet’s quiet determination to keep working, unmindful of distraction. People are comfortable with the attention and are keen to teach, but their beliefs are firm-footed. From a community that grew vegetables it needed; executed stringent methods for plastic disposal and ventured into entrepreneurship that was eco-friendly, Niravu, and, consequently, ward 10 which houses it and the neighbourhood it belongs to, is dreaming big. Niravu is set to take its locally produced vegetables to a larger market. Steps for it began with the launch of an official website – www.niravu.com. Supported by NABARD, the Niravu farmer’s club will take their surplus vegetables to the market by Onam. The association has taken a building on rent at Tali where Niravu LED lights are already on sale.
New step
Niravu’s decision to be a market presence is another small step in a long journey. “We do not believe in sudden leaps, but small steps,” says Babu Parambath, project coordinator. The residents meanwhile, 117 households to be precise, of which 85 are actively into kitchen gardens, are getting ready to produce a larger volume of vegetables. Till now, they took home what they grew, gave neighbours and loyal customers the rest. As part of its new initiative, Niravu will also collect vegetables from farmers whose produce has been verified and confirmed to be organic. Rules are stringent, says Babu, “Every vegetable at the shop will have a slip with the farmer’s name and place. So customers can get the produce tested too.” Niravu’s vegetables have already been given a zero-pesticide certificate by the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram.
On a regular working day, it is largely quiet in the Niravu locality. “About 50 per cent of the families are double income ones,” says Babu. The obvious query is immediately answered. “We devote just half an hour each morning and evening to the plants. Except for potato and onion, I don’t buy any other vegetables,” he says. Most households boast a small patch and one sees the last remnants of a recent harvest. At Babu’s house, long beans and bitter gourd creepers make a canopy. On it hang, stray, lonely vegetables, left to ripe. Each season is an experiment and at Babu’s house, under a rain sheet, is an army of mud pots in which spinach seeds are sown. “We are planning more rain sheets in the community,” he says.
According to Babu, the new initiative plans at generating income with vegetables. “We believe a family will earn anything between Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 10,000 a month,” he says. It helps that most families have their strengths. Though at Babu’s house one finds an assortment – long beans, bitter gourd, spinach, bush pepper, ginger and more – his specialty, he says, is tomatoes. For Ramlath next door, it is fat bitter gourds. For Reeja Sathyan, little away, it is coloccasia. For Aruna, the homemaker, it is broad beans, and for Geeta Devadas, the one-and-a-half-feet long egg plant.
A few hundred metres away, at Asha Gopalakrishnan’s house is a cowshed, where a Kasargod dwarf, a gift from the Jaiva Karshaka Sangham, rests. It is from here that the organic nourishment for the plants – dung and urine – is collected. Outside the shed, is a small collection of large cans filled with cow’s urine. “Not a drop is wasted,” says a proud Babu. While the urine is given to neighbours for free, a basket of cow dung comes at Rs. 50. “The money goes for maintenance; they need to keep the cow’s surroundings clean”. In turn, the cow grazes in the vast spread of green, munching pesticide-free grass.
The community farmers mostly rely on traditional methods to keep pests away. A popular one is a mixture of cow’s urine and garlic juice. The best pest control methods evolved on default. Ramlath’s plump bitter gourds were a result of a can without a lid. While others sprayed their garlic mixture, she kept the large can with the mixture covered by a mosquito net under the gourd creeper following instructions to keep it in the shade. With the strong garlic smell never leaving the surroundings, pests were always at bay and her gourds healthy and large.
With the vegetables in place, seeds are what Niravu is turning its attention to. Geeta brings out small, polythene bags and paper parcels with an array of egg plant seeds. The ripe vegetables collected from neighbours are diligently deseeded and seeds sold for approximately Rs. 20 a pouch. The collected revenue is distributed among those who supplied ripe vegetables. “Last time, at an exhibition, we sold seeds worth Rs. 12,500 in two days,” says Babu. “Here, we have no ego,” Babu explains the spirit behind Niravu. There are no fixed dates for the 21- member executive committee to meet. “Whenever a need arises – once, twice or thrice a week — we meet at somebody’s sit-out and discuss and take decisions over tea. It helps that no posts in the committee are permanent. The president and secretary are chosen for a year. If their performance is exemplary, they get one more. All our roles are well-defined. We are clear in our minds about how to go ahead,” says Babu.
The Niravu Story
Niravu’s story is of the commitment of a few individuals and the support of generous government and quasi-government bodies and educational institutions. It began with what is now a well-documented survey, of the 1,824 houses in Vengeri ward in 2006. It was found that of the seven cancer patients in the ward five were women. “More number of women, cancer patients set us thinking. Doctors remarked that women were more in contact with pesticide-laden vegetables. Each time they washed and cleaned them, traces of pesticides entered their blood stream through little cuts and scratches on their hands,” says Babu.
Thereon began a community’s attempt to reclaim a way of life they had abandoned. Senior citizens who had long left agricultural work were called back to guide youngsters with their traditional wisdom on agriculture. Though Niravu, the informal community, was around since 2006, it became a residential association in 2009. To get their first patch of vegetable garden, the residents ventured out wide and far. All those who married into and out of Vengeri searched for seeds in their new and old neighbourhoods. Many vegetables found its way back to the Vengeri gardens, so too four varieties that were not known to have grown here before – square beans, elephant-trunk okra, medicinal ash gourd and the one-and-a-half-feet long egg plant, now commonly known as Vengeri brinjal. At Niravu, now about 30 acres of land is set aside for organic cultivation. Spare patches of land are devoted to paddy. Niravu and Vengeri first ventured beyond vegetables, when they were lead by their councillor K.C. Anil Kumar to harvest paddy in a 12-acre out-of-use land. The naysayers were many, warning them about the impossibility of paddy without fertilisers, labour crunch and non-availability of seeds. But the councillor stood firm, unearthed old seeds from distant relatives and went to sow the seeds, recollects Babu. Labour came in from the girls of Providence Women’s College who got the land ready for paddy. “Seeing them, our own children couldn’t stay away. Old timers polished their old sickles and joined in,” says Babu. Niravu could always garner attention and support. District administration officials and cultural representatives have always espoused Niravu’s cause, making themselves present at all functions. It was so when they sowed and reaped their first harvest, so too when they found a novel way to oppose protesting Bt Brinjal — by growing one lakh saplings of their indigenous variety. In 2013, the agriculture department supplied to 27 families that cultivated vegetables on over two cents of land with requisites – buckets, spade, drums etc. The CWRDM pitched in with workshops: one on water and soil conservation and another on organic farming. Niravu’s Jalasree and Jaivasree project were commended by the Department of Environment and Climate Change. At Niravu, they moved beyond farming. They have a system in place to dispose plastic waste. Four times a year, cleaned plastic and bottles, segregated and stored, are deposited at a designated place and taken to the recycling plant at West Hill.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by P. Anima / Kozhikode – June 13th, 2014
Living the life of an ascetic is not that easy. But for P Gopalakrishna Swami, who started the Jyothipeetom Ashram on the Thirichittapara hilltop at Thannimoodu near Nedumangadu, life has been a series of challenges for the last 33 years. One may not find anything to be excited about the ascetic in him but his hard work in developing the rocky hilltop into a garden of rare species of trees would leave anyone wonderstruck with admiration for the 78-year-old man.
The real wonder remains with his selection of rare species of trees and medicinal plants. ‘Athi’, ‘Ithi’, ‘Kunthirikkam’, ‘Veppu’, ‘Aryaveppu’, ‘Njara’, Bamboo, ‘Karpooram’, ‘Sampranimaram’, ‘Njaval’, ‘Elanji’, ‘Erukku’, ‘Plassu’, ‘Vellanochi’, ‘Kadukka’, ‘Nelli’, ‘Pulinchi’, ‘Garudakodi’, ‘Parpadakamaram’, ‘Nagagandhi’, ‘Punna’ are some of the exotic species forming the lush green cover on a major part of the rock. Sandalwood, red sandalwood, ‘Neelakadampu’, ‘Arassu’, ‘Kallarassu’, ‘Kattikodi’ (the plantwhich dilutes water), ‘Kallal’ and even foreign plants like African cherry and ‘Rudrakasha’ have been grown at the site. Scores of other medicinal and fruit trees offer food to the monkeys that inhabit the area and keep the tree-lover company. “I purchased one acre of land on the hilltop and a pond was made to store rainwater. Over 150 loads of rock were used to level one side of the terrain and two to five feet of earth was spread over the entire area to prepare the ground,” he recollects. Around 16 years ago, a Hanuman temple was also constructed at the site.
As the rocky hilltop was not conducive to growing even common garden plants, his effort was to develop a layer of earth on the rock surface to allow the tree saplings to sprout roots and hold firm against the whistling winds on the hilltop.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by N V Ravindranathan Nair / June 05th, 2014
