
Seedlings Growing in Nursery
|
The total area of the nursery is 1.8 ha. It is rectangular in shape. Topography of the nursery site may be described as flat. The soil is loamy sand. At the nursery site salty ground water is available at a depth of about 40 meters. Topsoil depth is about 2 meters, below which lies 'murrum'. Elevation of the nursery site is slightly lower than some of the surrounding areas,
|
because of that sometimes flooding of the nursery occur during the high rainfall days. Though at Jodhpur days with high rainfall are very-very limited and hence above-mentioned flooding during rainy season is not a very serious problem but an important lesson in site selection of the nursery has been learnt.
Infrastructure Facilities At ICFRE-AFRI Model Nursery - Following infrastructure facilities are available at the ICFRE-AFRI Model Nursery:
|
Shade Houses: Total eight number shade houses using agro net (70:30) on angle iron structure have been constructed to moderate the effect of natural influences like scorching sun light, strong wind, frost, torrential rain etc. on the seedlings raised in the nursery.
Overhead Sprinkler System: All the above-mentioned shade houses are equipped with overhead sprinkler system to facilitate proper and uniform irrigation of the seedlings. The overhead sprinkler system is flitted with a sand filter and wire mesh filter to ensure clogging free uninterrupted supply of the irrigation water.
|

Poluhouse at AFRI Nursery |
Compost Unit:A compost unit consisting of manually operated chaff cutter and a compost bin having dimension of 7m x 3m has been constructed. It is being utilized to conduct various experiments for standardization of the methods for production of compost from locally available materials in the arid and semi arid region, including byproducts and wastes from the agriculture sector. Compost Unit is based on the aerobic methods of the compost production.
|
Water Storage Tank:Five number underground water storage tanks having total storage capacity of 1.15 lakh liters have been constructed. These tanks can provide a buffer stock for three days when nursery is operating at its full capacity, to meet any exigency encountered during any temporary disruption of the water supply to nursery.
|
Water Pipeline:A 2" dia water pipeline along with necessary pump and pump house for supply of water to the nursery from the AFRI main campus has been provided.
|
Potting Media Mixing Unit : A diesel engine operated potting media mixing unit has been procured for proper mixing of the different ingredients used for preparation of the nursery potting media to ensure production of homogenous potting media.
|
Root Trainers Blocks:Roots trainers blocks of three different capacities viz. 150 cc, 250 cc and 300 cc along with their stands are available at the AFRI Model Nursery.
|
Raised Bed Structure: Four number raised bed structures of the dimension 10 m x 1 m x 1.8 m are available in the AFRI Model Nursery. These are brick structure with iron mesh top. These have been constructed to provide a platform for keeping of polybag seedlings to induce air pruning.
|
Transportation Stand:In order to ensure easy transportation of the root trainer raised seedlings from nursery to the plantation site, with minimum damage to them AFRI Model nursery has been provided with twelve number transportation stands.
|
Working Shed: AFRI model nursery is provided with a working shed where laborers engaged for non site-specific jobs can perform their duties.
|
Transportation Trolleys: Presently, AFRI model nursery is provided with two number transportation trolleys. These trolleys are used to transport seedlings from shade houses to trucks for loading on them and also for transportation of root trainers blocks, potting media ingredients and other materials from one place to another place located within the nursery.
|