Pudia soundal: a new high yielding psyllid tolerant quality tree fodder

摘要

Subabul is one of the highly drought resistant tree fodders rich in protein. Its large scale cultivation was started in Tamil Nadu during 1979 with the introduction of improved cultivars like Hawaiian Giant and Giant lpil lpil from Australia and thecrop spread very fast in Tamil Nadu. However, in 1988, a new pest psyllid Heteropsylla cubana appeared first in the east coast of Tamil Nadu and slowly spread westwards and northwards and devasted many areas. Insecticidal control could not be recommended since the produce is used as a green fodder for cattle and hence studies on identification of resistant lines was initiated and resulted in the introduction of a highly psyllid tolerant variety Pudia Soundal which is more suitable for the dry areas andwaste lands for augumenting fodder production. About 110 Leucaena accessions were received from CSIRO, Australia and was maintained at the Department of Forage Crops, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. These were screened for the pest reaction over four years. Five Leucaena diversifolia and two L. leucocephala types were identified as tolerant to the psyliid. Out of these, L. diversifolia. K. 186 (F.D. 1423) was selected as the best with high fodder yield and resistant to psyllid attack compared to the control variety Co 1. BaSed on the consistent performance in the station trials for four years, it was proposed for Adaptive Research Trials (ART) in seventeen districts of Tamil Nadu covering 39 trials from 1995 to 1998.