Assam: Training on plant propagation, cultivation held at Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga (Assam) [India], October 5 : A training was conducted on propagation and cultivation of plant species at Kohora of Assam's Kaziranga National Park on Friday.
These plant species include Schumannianthus dichotomus (Vern: Patidoi/ Patitara/ Murta) and Costus speciosus (Jamlakhuti).
Schumannianthus dichotomus (Patidoi) grows well in inundated lands and can be a good alternative to replace the use of plastic. It is extensively used for mat-making and other fine woven products.
Similarly, Costus speciosus (Jamlakhuti) grows very well in the state of Assam and has high medicinal and cosmetic value. Both species also have very high carbon storage potential and are hence important for climate change mitigation.
The training was organized by ICFRE-Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat in collaboration with State Forest Department and Assam Agroforestry Development Board, Government of Assam.
The training was conducted by Dr Prosanta Hazarika (Project Investigator), as resource person. The other resource persons of the training was Dr. Tajum Doni, Scientist C and Protul Hazarika, CTO, RFRI, Jorhat.
The training was a part of the project 'Sustainable management of Non Timber Forest Produce through conservation and value addition( AICRP 29)'.
A total of 47 trainees including forest frontline of Golaghat Social Forestry Division, Village EDC members, a few progressive farmers & social workers from Bokakhat, Jakhalabondha and Karbi Anglong attended the training program.
Sonali Ghosh, Field Director of Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve said that, the technology for propagation and cultivation of both the species will help to enhance the livelihood and economy of the local people as Kaziranga is a tourist hub.
Ritu Paban Borah, DFO Social Forestry Division, Golaghat appreciated the research works and this technology transfer trainings and urged the trainees to identify potential bioresources of their own area for conservation, cultivation and livelihood enhancement besides these two species too.
Among other dignitaries Dr. Arun Vignesh, DFO and Dy Director, KNP in his address expected that this training will excel the working skill of the forest functionaries and create an arena to the farmers for enhancing their livelihood through cultivating the superior germplasm of both the NTFPs.

In the inaugural session 2 Technical Brochures on 'Propagation and cultivation of Costus speciosus' and Propagation and cultivation of Schumannianthus dichotomus' were also released .
In the training session Dr Tajum Doni, Scientist-C, presented on 'Propagation and cultivation of Costus speciosus' and emphasized on needs of propagation and cultivation of this medicinal NTFP species for livelihood, enrich community health and conservation.
Dr Prosanta Hazarika, in his presentation, described the evaluation process of superior germplasm by ICFRE-RFRI, Jorhat and the techniques for propagation of Schumannianthus dichotomus through single node cuttings of primary (bulbus) and secondary branches with the help of 200 ppm rooting hormones of NAA and 300 ppm IBA.
Both the resource persons described the suitability of cultivation of Costus and Schumannianthus in agroforestry system, including techniques of selection of suitable site, soil condition time of planting, spacing, fertiliser application, management of planting, time of harvesting, identifying character of mature plant for harvesting, scientific methods of harvesting, etc.

Protul Hazarika, CTO and Dr Tajum Doni, Scientist C practical demonstrated by hands-on training on collection of branch cuttings, preparation of cuttings and sealing, preparation of ppm solution of rooting hormones, treatment of cuttings with the hormone, application of fungicides and planting the cuttings in polybag filled with standardized growing media, after care of cuttings etc.
They also described on the macro proliferation techniques for production of large scale seedlings.
Dr Hazarika also informed the trainees that establishment of two demo plantation area as conservation site for superior germplasm of Patidoi at Oriole Park, Rajabari and Jamlakhuti at Memorial Park Kohora are in progress in collaboration with Social Forestry Division.
He urged the farmers to collect these superior germplasm from these two germplasm conservation site for cultivation in near future.