Srinagar: KVK-Ganderbal distributed SKUAST-K developed mineral mixture among the progressive dairy farmers and farmwomen of Repora, Watlar and Waliwar villages of Ganderbal district.
In all 38 farmwomen and 18 farmers were provided the mineral mixture free of cost under the day long field programme of the Kendra on Monday, a statement issued here said.
According to Principal Investigator of the Project for development of Area Specific Mineral Mixtures for Kashmir Valley and Ladakh, Dr A.M Ganai, the mineral mixture has been developed specifically for Ganderbal region at the first instance and was distributed among dairy farmers for preliminary field evaluation.
Dr Parvaiz Ahmad Reshi, Subject Matter Specialist (Animal Science), KVK-Ganderbal and Co-Principal Investigator of the project on the occasion highlighted the importance of minerals in animal production, health and reproduction.
While highlighting the importance of mineral mixtures developed by SKUAST-K, Dr Reshi said that mineral deficiency and toxicity is strictly an area specific problem and hence need to be developed with different composition in different geographical areas.
Reshi claimed that the mineral mixture developed under the project is lower in cost and is expected to show encouraging field results as compared to the mineral mixtures imported from outside.
To mention, Animal Nutrition Division of SKUAST-K is handling an Ambitious Externally funded RKVY Project since 2013 for Development of Area Specific Mineral Mixtures under which Mineral mixture of different composition will be developed based on the soil, grass and animal blood survey studies. Under the project mineral mixures for Ganderbal and Kupwara districts have been already prepared and for other districts the preparation is under process.
