Annual Congress - Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, Peradeniya:

Farmers banking on hi-tech research

Peradeniya special corr.

The 21st Annual Congress of the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA), University of Peradeniya, will be held on Thursday and Friday at the Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Gannoruwa, Peradeniya.

The chief guest is Prof. Michael Emes, Dean, Graduate Studies, School of Biological Science University of Guelph, Canada. Dr. (Mrs) J. P. Eeswara is the present coordinator of the Annual Congress 2009.

Prof. A.L.T. Perera is the present director of the Institute. The Annual Congress provides a forum for budding scientists to present their latest research findings to the scientific community in Sri Lanka. The paper presenters get an opportunity to enrich their research by interacting with the eminent scientists through discussion, debate and getting feedback in the respective disciplines in agriculture and allied subjects.

Mrs. I. Mudannayake, librarian of the PGIA, and a member of the Congress Organizing Committee, points out that the broad objective of the Congress is to accumulate new knowledge and expand the knowledge base of agriculture research. The knowledge generated by original research depicts the intellectual pursuits of scientists in the country. Majority of the research that will be presented at the congress, address practical problems and concerns of the agriculture sector of the country.

Forty-six research papers will be presented at the Congress covering broad subject areas such as Agronomy and Crop Management, Genetic Resources and Conservation, Food and Nutrition, Water Resources and Water Quality, Waste Management and Energy, Agricultural Extension, Marketing, Sustainable Land Management, Post-harvest Technology and Process Engineering, Animal Genetics and Animal Feeds, Insect Pest Management and Molecular Taxonomy.

A kaleidoscopic view of the research papers which are lined up for presentation endorses the interdisciplinary nature of current agriculture research in the country.

There will be four research papers related to Medical and Health Sciences. ‘Nutritional Status and Disease Prevalence of Elderly Population in Elderly Homes in Kandy,’ ‘Maternal Anthropometry as a Predictor of Birth Weight’, Nutritional Status of under five-year-old children in Weeraketiya’ and ‘Investigating Tank Bulk Cow Milk for Aflatoxin M1’ are among the research papers at the Congress. Environmental pollution caused by urbanization and industrialization has become a great threat to people and the natural habitat of Sri Lanka.

There is an increasing number of research papers on environmental issues to be presented at the Congress.

Environment

The research topics include ‘Capacity Mobilisation of Solid Waste Management in Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha’. ‘Developing Cement Blocks out of Textile Waste’, ‘Open dump Simulation for Estimation of Pollution in Wet Tropical Climates’, ‘Production of Biogas from Paddy Straw using Landfill Bioreactors’, ‘Converting Dumpsite Quarry into a Landfill Bioreactor in Thirrupperumthurai, Batticaloa Municipal area’, Designing a Landfill Bioreactor in Sammanthurai area’ and ‘Land fill Bioreactor as Municiple Solid Waste’.

It is a known fact that intensified agricultural practices cause broader environmental harms and the agricultural scientists and policy makers are more concerned about sustainable agricultural development with environmental protection.

There will be a number of research papers presented on topics such as ‘Socio-economic study on the practices of Soil Conservation in Kurundu Oya Catchment Area’. ‘Biophysical and Socio-economic factors for Land degradation Kandeketiya Area’, ‘Risk Assessment of Wild Cinnamon Species in Sri Lanka.

Home-gardening has been identified as one way of mitigating environmental harms caused by agricultural practices.

There will be two research papers on ‘Home Gardening’ at the Annual Congress. Agricultural extension programmes assist farmers to improve their knowledge and capacity. ‘Cyber Extension’ introduced by the Dept. of Agriculture in 2004 is becoming an effective mode of communication. A research will be presented at the Congress on ‘Evaluation of Computer-based Learning Materials for Information Dissemination in Sri Lanka’.

In addition to the above topics, there will be a number of papers on topics such as ‘Impact of Tsunami and Security situation on Marine Fishes of Trincomalee’, ‘Crop Diversification and Income Inequality in Irrigation Systems,’ Storate quality of Apple’. ‘Fertilizer Requirements of Okra’, ‘Effect of rice variety on Rice based Composite Flour’, ‘Big onion production using Local True Seeds’, ‘Production and Performance of Village Pigs’ ‘Growth hormones for Sangamneri Goats’, ‘Insecticide efficacy of Leaf Mite’, ‘Customer Satisfaction in a Five Star Hotel’ and ‘Trough Withering of Tea’.

Three invited presentations are also included among the Congress presentations. Prof. Jenny Jobling Adjunct Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney, Australia will make a presentation on ‘Fresh Food Nutrients: Labelling and Physiology’. Dr. W. L. Sumathipala, National Ozone Unit, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, is making a presentation on ‘Climate Change Associated Problems and Sustainable Development’. Dr. Rohan Rajapakse, Executive Director, Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy, will make a presentation as an invited speaker, at the closing ceremony of the Congress.

All research papers presented at the Annual Congress will be published in the journal entitled “Tropical Agricultural Research’ the official organ of the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, Peradeniya.