Department of Soil Science and Water Management Neri,Hamirpur (HP)

Dr Rakesh Sharma
Associate Professor & Incharge

The department of Soil Science and Water Management came into existence in 2017 under the aegis of College of Horticulture & Forestry, Neri, Hamirpur and M.Sc. and Ph. D. degree programme was started in 2017 and 2023, respectively.
The department caters the need of undergraduate teaching in Horticulture, Forestry and Biotechnology streams and as well as teaching and postgraduate levels research in the field of Horticulture and Forestry. This disciplinary area is among the developing fields with the goal to train students for academic and scientific appreciation, and to enable them to carry independent research. This is critical component of modern production system of horticultural, forestry and other crops which supports applied studies at both graduate and postgraduate level.
The faculty of the department has been engaged in teaching, research and extension activities. The faculty of the department has handled fifteen (15) externally funded projects of Department of Space, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare and HP Department of Environment, Science and Technology, RKVY (GOI) as PI/Co-PI. Department in its journey of over 5 years has been able to generate useful human resources for the country in the form of 20 M.Sc. students.

Mandate

To impart education undergraduate and postgraduate levels for generating quality human resources in the field of Soil Science.
Curricular and strategic research for assessment of soil and plant health and characterization of soils in sub-tropical region.
Transfer of technology to the farming community on efficient nutrient and water management, natural/organic farming and bio-fertilizers techniques for sub-tropical horticultural crops.

Strengths

Quality research and education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the field of Soil Science with special emphasis on sub-tropical crops.
Well equipped and state of the art laboratories for facilitating education and research in the subject of Soil Science.

Academics

The department offers degree programmes for:

M.Sc.(Agriculture) Soil Science
Ph.D. Soil Science

Academics Achievements

Mr Rishabh Pawar, a post graduate student of the department has qualified ICAR-SRF Examination in the year 2020 and is pursuing his higher degree from a reputed institution.
Ms. Isha Thakur earned Best Thesis Award for research on Natural Farming by Society for the Advancement of Human and Nature (SADHNA), Solan (HP) in 2020.
Mr. Rishabh Pawar received Best Thesis Award by Agricultural Technology Development Society, UP in 2020.
More than 8 alumni got selected for jobs in public and private sectors including State Dept. of Horticulture, Dept. of Agriculture, IARI New Delhi, IHBT-CSIR Palampur (HP), MNCs related to fertilizers and seeds etc. in the country.

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PG reseach lab

Performance of french bean under different bioorganic nutrient sources

Research

Thrust Areas

To work on soil and plant health assessment and management in sub-tropical horticultural crops.
To characterize soils under different land use systems in sub-tropical region.
To delineate nutrient deficiency/sufficiency areas under horticultural crops in sub-tropical region.
To standardize integrated nutrient management technologies for horticultural crops.
To develop and promote natural/organic farming in sub-tropical horticultural crops.

Ongoing Research Projects

All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Fruits (HCR-197-63) funded by ICAR from 2018 onward. (Long term)
Development of fruit-based crop modules and production of feathered plants to generate technical know-how for extension of area under fruits in frost and non- frost subtropics of Himachal Pradesh (HMS-593-63) funded by Department of Agriculture (RKVY), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh for ₹ 148.0 lakh.
Development of package of practices for subtropical fruit crops (CS04 package) under HPSHIVA funded by Department of Horticulture, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh for ₹ 66.5 lakhs.

Research Achievements

Geospatial soil fertility map of Bilaspur and Una district has prepared for future crop planning in horticultural crops.
Nutritional survey of vegetables and fruits growing areas has been carried out for delineation of nutrient deficient/sufficient areas for adoption of appropriate nutrient management practices.
Application of jeevamrit along with vermicompost proved better for obtaining higher yield of french been (42.2%), okra (21.3%) and pea (20.5%) as well as the improved the soil health and higher net returns over recommended practice of fertilization.
Integration of 75 per cent recommended dose of NPK with VC @ 15 kg tree-1 + jeevamrit @ 6.6 per cent at one-month interval has found best in obtaining maximum growth and yield parameters as well as yield of peach crop and this combination also improves the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil after harvest over recommended practice of fertilization.
Conjoint application of fertilizers and vermicompost gave higher yield of brinjal and cauliflower as well as improved the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil over 100 % NPK Integration of 75 per cent RDF and poultry manure @10 t ha-1 proved better for obtaining higher yield and economic returns from okra crop under low hills subtropical zone of Himachal Pradesh.

Extension

To transfer the latest developed technologies to the farming community on nutritional and water management aspects of fruit and vegetable crops production through different communication means viz. training camps, awareness camps, demonstrations, diagnostic field visits, exposure visits, farmer-scientists interactions, consultancy services through mobile advisory, live phone in programmes and radio talks etc.

Extension Activities

The department has successfully organized more than 10 training camps on micro-irrigation in horticultural crops in which more than 290 farmers participated.
More than 5 exposure visits have been organized.
Faculty of the department has delivered 15 radio talks and more than 200 lectures in different on and off-campus training programmes.
The scientists have published 10 extension publications in hindi/english for the farmers.

Training on Microirrigation

Awards/Recognitions

Dr Rakesh Sharma received an appreciation letter from the Director of Research, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni Solan (HP).
Dr Anil Kumar, recipient of Adarsh Vidya Sarswati Rashtriya Puraskar by Global Management Council, Ahmedabad.
Best trainees appreciation letter in Winter School organized by Division of Soil Biology, Indian Institute of Soil Science (ICAR), Bhopal (MP).
Dr Swapana Sepehya honored with Young Soil Scientist Award-2020 in 4th International conference on “Global Approaches in Natural Resource Management for Climate Smart Agriculture (GNRSA- 2020 during Pandemic Era of COVID-19” held on February 26–28, 2021 at Shobhit Deemed University, Modipuram, Meerut, UP, India