The
research station was initially under the Regional & District Research Station of Govt.
of Assam which was handed over to Assam agricultural university in the
year 1973 and came under the
administrative control of AAU, Jorhat. Thereafter,
in 1983 a sub project under NARP (National Agricultural research programme was
sanctioned to strengthen this station. In the year 2022 November, Regional Agricultural Research Station has
been renamed as AAU-Zonal Research Station, Diphu which has been catering to
the agricultural research and development following the needs of people of the
three hills district of Assam viz., Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima
Hasao in many different aspects of agriculture within the district. The station
is located 3.5 Km north of Diphu town and lies 25052.080’N latitude
and 93036.686’E longitude.
AAU-ZRS
has two campuses, one is old office campus presently known as KVK, Karbi
Anglong campus with a land area of 5.5 hectares. The other campus is new office
campus with an area of 6.83 hectares. A horticulture sub-station at Natun
Laikul near Haflong, Dima Hasao was established for conducting for researches
on high altitude areas for horticultural crops. The total area of Natun Laikul
farm is 13.4 ha.
OUR MISSION
To
conduct applied research for the improvement of crops and cropping systems,
cropping practices, farming systems, improvement of shifting cultivation, soil
and water conservation, etc. this includes development, testing and
verification of new technologies on rice, maize, toria, sesame, fruit crops,
vegetables, spices, plantation crops, mushroom, millets, honey bee cultivation,
local garlic, broom grass and indigenous underutilized horticultural crops.
GENESIS OF AAU-ZRS DIPHU
AAU-ZRS,
Diphu is headed by the Chief Scientist, who is the Drawing and Disbursing
Authority of the station. Presently research is being undertaken in six
disciplines viz., Agronomy,
Agricultural Economics, Entomology, Horticulture, Plant Pathology and Soil
Science. A team of 7 scientists with the support from 2 field assistant and 1
laboratory assistant is working hard to evolve and test new varieties of crops,
their production technology, profitability and acceptability of new
technologies and marketing, etc.
Due
to wide variation in topography, the entire hill zone experiences different
climate in the different parts. There is a wide range of disparity in
distribution of rainfall from place to place. Kheroni area of West Karbi Anglong
district and Dhansiri area of Diphu sub division Karbi Anglong district are known as rain shadow area.
Similarly, Dyangmukh area of Dima Hasao district falls under dry belt. The
people of the hill zone grow diverse crops. The major crops are Rice, Maize,
Sesame, Ginger and turmeric. The climate of these zones is favourable for some
of the horticultural crops like pineapple, banana, arecanut, coconut, mandarin,
citrus and passion fruit.
The
station has so far developed six rice varieties, one sesame variety and two
chilli varieties through its breeding programme. Rice variety Haccha occupies a
considerable area as ahu rice while
other varieties like Inglongkiri, Rongkhang and Dehangi due to their drought
resistance ability are gaining popularity as direct seeded ahu. For sali season (Wet
land) two new rice varieties that can grow under organic condition are namely
Langpi and Diyung recommended for hill zone. Sesame variety AST-1 was developed
for commercial oil production. The variety with high yield and oil content
found suitable for hill cultivation upto 30% slope. Bireek-1 and Bireek-2 are
the two chilli varieties developed at this station, suitable for jhum land
situation. A number of rice varieties were identified and recommended for this
zone.
