The Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR), Puttur, organised a training for farmers on canopy management in the cashew orchard of Venugopal Kedilaya at Shibara near Puttur recently.
As cashew trees grow extensively covering vast area, effective management of tree canopy is very important in harvesting a better crop, a release from the directorate said.
A team of scientists from the directorate, comprising Principal Scientist (Horticulture) J. Dinakar Adiga, Scientist (Horticulture) Muralidhara B.M., Scientist (SPM and AP) Manjesh G.N. and Scientist (Agricultural Extension) Aswathy Chandrakumar visited the cashew orchard of Navneet Farms to advice on canopy management practices in cashew as well as other fruit crops.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Adiga highlighted the basic training practices as well as pruning practices to bring young cashew plants to proper shape for better penetration of sunlight and air.
Mr. Muralidhara explained how to prune the plants right from beginning of the plantation as well as at the time of pruning for various cashew varieties.
This was followed by actual on-farm demonstration of canopy management in the farm. Field workers in the farm were asked to demonstrate the technique of canopy management before the scientists for fine tuning their acquired knowledge. The time and extent of pruning for harvesting scion sticks were also explained in detail as requested by field workers.
