Raising of Seedlings of vegetables through traditional system of nursery raising in soil beds is not generally recommended owing to their vulnerability to damage to their root and shoot system at the time of uprooting for transplantation.Therefore, a method of nursery raising was developed in which off season vegetables were raised in small polythene bags with soil and compost as a media.However, this practice is quite labour intensive and space consuming. Moreover during transplantation, the crop in the main field requires large quantity of media and does high damage to the rooting media. Besides this, the material is not eco-friendly.To solve this issue, Center for Protected Cultivation Technology under IARI developed a technology in which seedlings are rased in multi celled plastic plug trays by using mixture of coco peat, vermiculite and perlite as soilless media in 3:1:1 ratios on volume basis. This technique is not only efficient in vigorous root development but also suitable for avoiding damage to root and shoots of the seedlings at the time of transplanting. This technique is economically viable for the small and marginal farmers because farmers can grow large quantity of seedlings as per requirement during off season thus fetching good prices in the market. The plug tray technology was initially pilot tested in priority western districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura and Darjeeling in the North as a part of Horticulture Special Program under WBADMIP for small and marginal farmers in the Project command area. After observing the farmer's response in those areas, the technology has been included in the horticultural program in rest of the districts.
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| A Plastic Plug Tray Nursery in Purulia distt. |
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| Filling the Plastic Trays with Coco-peat and vermicompost |
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WUA members from Bankura Distt
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Further adding innovation to the technology, Uttar Dinajpur DPMU has come up with Egg cartons as a replacement to plastic plug trays for seedling raising. Unlike plastic plug trays, Egg trays are easily available in the villages and are made of biodegradable material making it easy for disposal. Based on the traditional knowledge of the farmers and availability of ingredients locally, Paddy husk ash, cowdung and neem cake has been used while preparing the soilless media instead of vermicompost and coco-peat.
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| Seedlings in Egg Plug Tray |
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| Seed Germination in the Egg Plug Tray |
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| Female WUA members transplanting seedlings from Egg Plug Tray in Uttar Dinajpur |
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