Parent Teacher Meeting

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development arranged a parent's teachers meeting on 15. 06. 2024. The main agenda for organizing the parent teacher meeting was to to have a clear-cut transparency between parents and administration, in addition to this to show case the academic performance of the students. Dr. Sr Mercy P. ThePrincipal, Mr. Jagadeesh member of the Global Professional studies, Senior Faculty Members of our college and Agriculture Teaching faculty members were interacted with the parents of I and II B.Sc Agriculture students. Dr. B.B.R.G. Vijayalakshmi the HOD of Botany and Agriculture given a presentation on the Different Agricultural Activities done by our students and explained about the field visits that we conducted for practical demonstration to our students.

Puddling of Rice

To learn and promote cultural techniques, marketing skills of cereals and entrepreneurial abilities among students, Agriculture department started the production of Rice crop in an area of 1.5 acres in college fields. In the cultivation process of Rice, the 1st step to be followed is Puddling. Puddling is done on 24.07.2024, Puddling is done normally to create suitable soil environment for seed development and easy transplanting of seedlings of rice by enhancing soil water evaporation and breaking down and dispersing of soil aggregates into micro aggregates and smaller particles. A tractor was arranged for the puddling process in which 2 rounds of cultivator is adopted then 2 rounds of Rotovator and 2 rounds of puddler is adopted for complete puddling process. This activity helped the students to get practical skills as the practical skills are important for students to learn because they help them apply theoretical knowledge to real-world situations.

Parthenium Eradication Program

Students from B.Sc. Agriculture of St. Theresa college, Eluru along with the teaching faculty Conducted a Parthenium Awareness Week on 20.08.24. Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) known popularly as Gajar gras or Congress grass or Famine weed due to its resemblance to carrot plant and its dominance character as a ubiquitous invasive weed. This grass is an exotic weed came to India from North American countries through wheat grains. Now it is spread in around 35 million hectares of land area and seriously affecting crop production, livestock and human health. It affects livestock by reducing their appetite, feed intake, different allergic conditions thereby decreasing milk yield, altering milk taste, causing deleterious health. In human being, it causes skin irritation, allergies, dermatitis, eczema, stomach pain, itching etc. It dominates crops and causes many adverse effects for reducing growth, maturity and production potential of crops. In this regard, the awareness programs focused on elimination of the weed from the human habitations for a better health. Dr. B.B.R.G. Vijayalakshmi, HOD of Botany and Agriculture also spoke on the occasion and highlighted that such awareness activities are very important to manage and control of the invasive weed. She highlighted the importance of the topic and gave a brief overview about the parthenium weed.

Mushroom production unit

Students from B.Sc. Agriculture of St. Theresa’s college, Eluru has setup a mushroom production unit. Mushrooms are known to offer a variety of dietary and therapeutic uses in addition to being a strong source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Students have grown Oyster mushrooms which helps manage cholesterol levels in the blood. Mushroom cultivation is an economically feasible biotechnological process for the conversion of various lignocellulosic wastes. Students have been trained by the faculty members of agriculture department by following all the steps like compost preparation, filling of compost, sowing mushroom spawn, process of casing, and finally harvesting of crop. They offered the harvested mushrooms to vice principal sister Maria Christia, HOD’s of various departments and to faculty members. In this training, the students gained practical experience and learned how to grow mushrooms in controlled environments.

Guest Lecture

Guest lecture was conducted by the department of Agriculture and Rural Development on 26th September 2024 from 11:30 to 1:00 pm. Chief guest Dr. Kadhar valley sir, Mr. Jagadeesh sir and Dr. Lakshman Swamy sir has taken the lecture on future aspects and opportunities of Agriculture department for the 1st and 2nd years Students in the media room. After the lecture, the students were given time to interact with him. Students felt that the session was more informative and interactive. At the end of the guest lecture, two students gave their feedback, and explained how they were benefited.