An Internship Report

On

3 Months WEP

At

Warm Temperate Horticulture Centre

Kirtipur, Kathmandu

I.S.C.AG 3rd Year

Postabahadur Bogati Polytechnic Institute

Batch (2077-2079)

(2080/03/06 -2080/06/05)

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Name:

Roll No. Institute

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At first, I would like to thank God for keeping me safe and healthy till now. And my family for their
help and support.

Feeling lucky to be the part of Postabahadur Bogati Polytechnic Institute, I would like to express my
special thanks and gratitude to our respected teachers and college management committee of our
respected teachers including our Principal Mr. Kapil Pandey, plant science co-ordinator Mr. Janarjan
Adhikari, agriculture instructor Mrs. Ashmita Bajagain, Mr. Sudeep Chaudhary and other teachers
for providing very important knowledges, time and inspiring to make us qualified technician by
providing very pleasant and comfortable environment for studying 3 years of course in Diploma in
Agriculture (Plant Science).

I am pleased for getting chance to meet respected personalities and professionals who lead me
through this WEP period. I would like to express my heartly and grately acknowledgement to the
Head of Office of Warm Temperate Horticulture Centre Mr. Padam Prasad Adhikari, Agriculture
Extension Officer Lekhraj Dhakal, Soil Scientist Mr. Jeevan Subedi (Supervisor), Horticulture
Development Officers Mrs. Shova Bhandari Tara Sharma and Mr. Gaganshingh K.C.for providing
us good guidance during this three months period.

My heartly acknowledgement to all the other members of Warm Temperate Horticulture Centre for
guiding us towards the right path and sharing their knowledge with us. I felt proud to be a part of
Warm Temperate Horticulture Centre.

A warm thanks to all the B.Sc.Ag brothers and sisters as well as all the friends who have came to the
site from different places.
I want to express my hearty gratitude towards National Youth Council and Postabahadur Bogati
Polytechnic Institute for conducting three days training program which was conducted from
2080/03/21 to 2080/03/24.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1

1.1. WEP...............................................................................................................................1

1.2. Platforms for WEP.........................................................................................................1

1.3. Objectives of WTHC.....................................................................................................1

1.4. Details of activities and fuctions of the centre..............................................................2

1.5. Major winter fruits and their varieties produced ..........................................................2

1.6. Major dry fruits and their varieties produced ...............................................................3

2.OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................4

2.1. General Objective..........................................................................................................4

2.2. Specific Objective..........................................................................................................4

3. ACTIVITIES........................................................................................................................5

3.1. Transplantation..............................................................................................................5

3.2. Practiced Cutting...........................................................................................................5

3.3. Morphological study of Fruit Fly (Dorsophila melanogaster)......................................6

3.4. Drenching......................................................................................................................6

3.5. Application of pesticides...............................................................................................6

i. Glyphosate........................................................................................................................6

ii. DM-45.............................................................................................................................7

3.6. Soil pH test...................................................................................................................7

3.7 Media preparation for tissue culture...............................................................................7

i. Growing media for Kiwi (K1)..........................................................................................7

ii. Growing Media for woody plant.....................................................................................8

 3.8. Data Collection in Nursery............................................................................................9

3.9. Grafting........................................................................................................................10

3.10. Application of micronutrients....................................................................................11

3.11. Sand sterilization.......................................................................................................12

3.12. Intercultural Activities...............................................................................................12

i. Weeding..........................................................................................................................12

ii. Irrigation........................................................................................................................12

iii.Removing suckers.........................................................................................................12

4. CHALLENGES/LIMITATIONS.......................................................................................14

5. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................15

6. SOME GLIMPS OF WEP ACTIVITIES..........................................................................16

 LISTS OF TABLES

Table 1 Materials Required for preparing K1 media .............................................................. 9

Table 2 Materials used for preparing woody plant media....................................................... 9

Table 3 Data Collection of successful and unsuccessful grafted plants................................ 11
Table 4 Data Collection of Grafting...................................................................................... 12
 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. WEP
Work Experience Program (WEP) is the informal job experience that the students should
perform to acquire practical knowledge in the real field during the certain period of time. the
technical education is not completed only gaining theoritical knowledge that's why practical
work experience is almost necessary to enhance the quality technical education and to produce
skillful qualified and dynamic technicians.

1.2. Platforms for WEP

I had selected WTHC for WEP with the aim of getting more practical knowledge and skills fur
further betterment in the field. The centre was established in 2019BS with the joint efforts of the
then government of Nepal and India. It was then named as "Kathmandu Reseach Garden"
(Kathmandu Anusandhan Bagaicha). It's name and functions have been changed at different
times and now it's name is Warm Temperate Horticulture Centre (WTHC). This centre is located
in Kirtipur Munacipality Ward No. 09 at Kathmandu district. The centre is located at 27- 4017"
to 27- 4032 North Latitude and at an altitude of 1277 metres above sea level (the office building
is at 1303 metres). It has a total area of 21 ha of land and currently 16 ha is in it's use while 5 ha
of land is occupied by Armed Police Force Nepal, Kirti Bihar and fumigation Chamber. Among
16 ha, 10ha ha of land has been used for fruit orchard, 2.7 ha for nursery (fruit), 3.7 ha for office,
road and garage.

1.3. Objectives of WTHC

 Producing quality plants of different varieties of temperate and citrus fruits and selling
them to farmers.
 Providing technical services to the farmers in the command area of the centre and other
who come to center with problems.
 Conducting fruit related training and providing technical support for technology
dissemination.
 To provide technical services to the farmers in the area.

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1.4. Details of activities and fuctions of the centre
Various activities related to fruit production, technology development and technical services are
being conducted in the centre. The main activities related to fruit production and technology
development at the centre as follows:

 Citrus and temperate fruit garden management, plant production and promotion
 Citrus and temperate fruit plant production and distribution.
 Fruit quality, diseases/insects, soil laboratory testing and technology recommendations.
 Studies on production of fruits and garden management
 Collecting, promoting and selling of exotic plants and selling seasonal and perennial
ornamental plants.
 Production technology testing and technical services at farmer level for high value fruits
and ornamental flowers.
 Acts as a resource centre for quality seedlings and rootstock seeds of citrus and fruits.
 Produce vermicompost and manure and sell and distribute to farmers.
 Bringing out publications for dissemination of advanced technology.

1.5. Major winter fruits and their varieties produced and sold at the centre (sold from
Poush 16 every year)
 Japanese Pear (Hosui, Choguro, Sinko, Farping local)
 Japanese Persimmon (Jero, Fuyu)
 Peach (Worien, Texas)
 Plum ( Maithali, Greengej)
 Kiwi ( Heward, Alisan)
 Pecanut ( Mahan, Mohak, Chokta)
 Walnut ( Thinsel)
 Grapes ( Himrod, Stuwin) etc

1.6. Major dry fruits and their varieties produced and sold at the centre (sold from Jestha
16 every year)
 Mandarin (Unsu, Yesoda ponchan, Ota ponchan, Local mandarin)

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 Lime ( Sunkagati 1, Sunkagati 2, Terhathum local)
 Sweet Orange (New tarakko, Local)
 Kumquat ( Golo, Lamcho)
 Avocado
 Pumello (Local)

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 2.OBJECTIVES

2.1. General Objective

 To gain knowledge and experience about the daily official work and technical activities
of the WEP site

2.2. Specific Objective

 To be exposed to the latest advancements and technologies in the field of agriculture
 To relate school studies with a workplace
 To be familiar about farmer's problems at personal level
 To develop the personal knowledge and capacity building

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 3. ACTIVITIES

3.1. Transplantation
The process of taking seedling from one field and implantanting it in another field is commonly
known as transplanting.

We had transplanted Trifoliate (wild variety of orange) and Kiwi. For transplanting, we had
taken a polybag of size 15*27cm and was half filled with compost soil. After that, seedling of
kiwi or trifoliate was kept and a small amount of water was added to maintain required moisture
for root part. Then the poly bag was completely filled with compost soil up to the neck. At last,
light irrigation was provided with the help of rose can.

3.2. Practiced Cutting

A cutting is a vegetative plant part which is severed from the parent plant in order to regenerate
itself, thereby forming a whole new plant.Cutting can be of root cutting, stem cutting, and leaf
cutting.

We had practiced cutting on rose so stem cutting was done. For this, healthy and disease free
stems were selected and are cut with the help of secateur. The stem should be cut in such a way
that there should be at least two buds and the distal end should be cut circular while the proximal
end should be slanted so that there would be greater surface area for absorption of water and
other essential nutrients and also for enhancement of roots. The distal end should be covered
with wax in order to prevent it from infection. All the leaves should be cut down so that the
absorbed nutrients can be used to grow new leaves.

Now the cuttings should be planted 45º to the soil. The proximal end of the cuttings can also be
provided with 'Rootex Hormone' for early germination of root. The success of propagation can
be observed when the plant starts bearing new or tender leaves or it can be said that a cutting
requires 4-6 weeks or even more to be propagated.

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3.3. Morphological study of Fruit Fly (Dorsophila melanogaster)
Fruit fly is a serious insect pest of fruit and vegetables. A fruit fly goes to a complete
metamorphosis in it's short life from egg to several larva instars to pupa and then to adult. The
life cycle completes within 10 days.

We had collected eggs of fruit fly from infected cucumber and kept in a container having soil.
The eggs were 0.5mm in length. After 24 hours, the eggs get hatched into tiny larvae. The larvae
went through three growth instars . After 5 days, the larvae pupated. After few days, pupa got
converted into flying adult.

The female fruit fly has ovipositor but the male doesn't. From this male and female friuit flies
can be identified.

Control Measures For Fruit Fly

 Collect infested and fallen fruits and burn in plastic bag until the larvae got killed.
 Do not throw infested and fallen fruits in the soil ans soil is the medium for their growth.
 Change the sowing date as the fly population is low in hot dry conditions.
 Cue lure can also be used
 Insecticides like malathion and dichlorvus can be used to control fruit flies.

3.4. Drenching
Drenching means to make something extremely wet. The main objective of drenching is to
reduce the chance of root rot and also to control soil diseases.

We had practiced drenching in seedlings of persimmon which were being raised in polybag. For
drenching, 2gm calcium hypochlorite (Ca(ClO2)) per litre of water was required. There, we had
taken a bucket of 50 litre so we had to weigh 100gm of calcium hypochlorite and mixed
carefully with the use of plastic gloves in hand and mask in face. After then, we sprayed the
mixture with the help of rose can.

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3.5. Application of pesticides

i. Glyphosate
Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide that means it kills all types of weeds.

Generally, 10 ml of glyphosate per litre of water is used. We had taken a plastic drum of 300 litre
and was filled with water. There, we added 3 litre of glyphosate. Then we sprayed the herbicide
with the help of sprayer and tractor. Sticking agent was also added at the rate of 1ml per litre as
it was rainy season and rain was likely to wash the herbicide. Sticking agent helps to stick the
herbicide to the leaves of plant even if rainfall occurs.

It took about 1 week to show the result.

ii. DM-45
Dithane M 45 is broad spectrum fungicide and controls many fungal diseases in field crops,
fruits and vegetables.

We had used DM-45 in the orchard of avocado. We had taken a plastic drum of 300 litre and
filled with water. Then, 600gm of DM-45 was added and stirred carefully. And then we sprayed
the fungicide with the help of sprayer. The main aim of spraying DM-45 was to control leaf
blight in avocado.

3.6. Soil pH test

pH is a figure expressing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a logarithmic scale on which 7
is neutral, lower values are more acidic and higher values more alkaline.

At first, we had collected 5 soil samples randomly from a field. The soil was wet so we had left it
for 5 days to become shade dry. After 5 days, the soil samples were finely grinded separately in
grinder. After that, all the powder were mixed. 10gm of fine soil powder was taken in a beaker
and 25 ml of distilled water was added and stirred with the help of glass rod. Then, the mixture
was left for 1 hour without disturbance. After 1 hour, table pH meter was first kept in buffer
solution of 4 and 7 to check whether the pH meter was correct or not. Then pH of soil was taken
and the pH meter read the pH of soil to be 5.75. Thus, the soil sample was found to be acidic in
nature.

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3.7 Media preparation for tissue culture
Growing media refers to a substance through which roots grow and extract water and nutrients.

i. Growing media for Kiwi (K1)

We had prepared growing media for micropropagation of Kiwi (K1). The growing media K1
helps to develop shoot portion whereas K2 helps in developing root. At first the root or tip
portion of kiwi was kept on K1 media and when it got it's shoot part developed, the lower portion
of the shoot was cut down and then kept in K2 media.

Table 1 Materials Required for preparing K1 media

Name Composition (For 1 lit)

Stock A 100 ml (10%)
Stock B 1 ml (0.1%)
Stock C 10ml (1%)
Stock D 1 ml (0.1%)
KI 1 ml (0.1%)
Myoinositol 0.1 g (0,1%)
Sucrose 30 gm ( 3%)
Agar 8 g (0.8%)

ii. Growing Media for woody plant

Table 2 Materials used for preparing woody plant media
8
Chemicals g/lit
Ammonium nitrate 0.4
Calcium chloride 0.072
Calcium nitrate monohydrate 0.386
Magnesium sulphate 0.18
Potassium phosphate monobasic 0.17
Potassium sulphate 0.99
Boric acid 0.0069
Copper sulphate pentahydrate 0.00005
EDTA 0.0373
Ferus sulphate heptahydrate 0.027
Molybdic acid (Sodium salt) 0.000213
Zinc sulphate heptahydrate 0.0086
Myoinisitol 0.1
Nicotic acid 0.0005
Pyridoxine HCl 0.0005
Thymine HCL 0.001
Glycine 0.002
Mangenese sulphate monohydrate 0.0223
Sucrose 30
Agar 8.85

After mixing all the above chemicals and nutrients in distilled water of 1 litre, pH was
measured.The pH should be between 5.6 to 5.8. If the pH is below 5.6, NaOH should be added
and if the pH is more than 5.8, HCl should be added until the pH reaches between 5.6 to 5.8. The
pH of prepared media was 5.6 so nothing was added.

Then the media was allowed to heat and boil and then it was kept in autoclave and oven dried
glass jars upto the mark in the base. Then again the glass jars were made airtight and again
autoclaved to sterilize them.

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3.8. Data Collection in Nursery
In nursery, there were many different plots for different grafted plants of fruits. We had to collect
data on grafted Kiwi, Persimmon, Apple, Pear, Plum and Peach. We had to count total numbers
of grafted fruit plants then their success number and calculate the unsuccess grafted plants. The
main aim of data collection was to compare the success rate of grafting in fruit plants.

Table 3 Data Collection of successful and unsuccessful grafted plants

Kiwi Persimmon Apple Pear Plum Peach

Total grafted 999 2585 1334 6479 479 823
Unsuccessful 163 206 40 450 33 97
Successful 836 2379 1294 6029 446 726
Success rate 83.68% 92.03% 97% 93.05% 93.11% 88.21%

From the table above, it was found that the success rate of grafting in apple was significantly
high with success rate of 97% where as that of kiwi was lowest with success rate of 83.68%.

3.9. Grafting
Grafting is the act of placing a portion of one plant ( bud or scion) into or on a stem, root or
branch of another (stock) in such a way that a union will be formed and partners will continue to
grow.

This was a research work of a brother of M.Sc.Ag from TU. For this we had collected 300
trifoliates (wild variety of mandarin and rootstock for all the citrus) of pencil sized (Shrawan 15).
The main aim of this research was at what height the grafting should be done to obtain high
success rate. And also whether the local variety would give the satisfying result or the unsu
variety. That's why, the trifoliates were arranged in such a way that the 300 trifoliates were
divided into 5 main groups containing 60 trifoliates in each group. Then first group of trifoliates
were marked at the height of 4cm, second group at 8cm, third group at 12cm, fourth at 16cm and
the last fifth group at 20cm. Now the main group of trifoliates were sub-divided into 2-2 groups

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containing 30-30 trifoliates. One group of trifoliates having marking on 4,8,12,16 and 20cm
should be grafted with the scion of unsu variety and the other with local variety.

Side grafting was practiced on trifoliate. The scion from local and unsu mandarins were selected
and cut. Each scion contained at least 2 buds. And they were given shape. They were kept at
water in a jug so that there would be no moisture loss. The trifoliates were also cut from middle
at a depth upto 1 to 2 cm and grafting was done as mentioned above.

The data were collected at a 15 days interval whicj is given below:

Table 4 Data Collection of Grafting

Shrawan 31

Variety No. of succeded graftings at height of

4cm 8cm 12cm 16cm 20cm
Unsu 15 19 19 20 13
Local 11 20 19 22 9

Bhadra 13

Variety No. of succeded graftings at height of

4cm 8cm 12cm 16cm 20cm
Unsu 19 24 26 24 26
Local 28 30 29 27 29

Bhadra 28

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Variety No. of succeded graftings at height of
4cm 8cm 12cm 16cm 20cm
Unsu 19 24 26 24 26
Local 28 30 29 27 29
From the above table it, can be concluded that, at 12cm, the grafting in trifoliate as a root stock
and unsu as a scion was found to be more successful where as in local variety, it was more
successful at the height of 8 cm.

Comparing between unsu and local varieties, it can be concluded that, the success % in local
was higher than unsu with 82% where as that of unsu was lower with only about 72% of success
rate.

3.10. Application of micronutrients

The nutrients which are required in large amount for growth is simply known as macronutrients
an those nutrients which are required by plants in trace amount for the normal growth is known
as micronutries.

We had sprayed NPK + micronutrients in grafted kumquat with the help of sprayer. For small
seedlings, 1ml micronutrients + 1gm NPK per litre of water was sprayed where for bigger or
developed plants, 2gm micronutrient + 2 gm NPK was used. The main aim of spraying
micronutrients + NPK was that it would contribute to the healthy growth and development of
plants, prevent diseases and develops immunity to fight against diseases.

3.11. Sand sterilization

The process of making something free from bacteria or other living micro-organisms.There are
various methods of sterilization like autoclave, filtration, pasteurization, washing, solarization
etc.

We had practiced washing drying and solarization for sand sterilization. There were altotal 5
carries of sand in the polyhouse. Those sands were carried and put in buckets of 50 litre upto the
half. Then they were washed with clean water for 10 to 15 times. After washing, the sand was
sun dried and again kept back in the carries.

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3.12. Intercultural Activities

i. Weeding
Weeding is the process of removing unwanted plants from the field. Weeding can be done
mannually or by the use of chemicals.

We had performed mannual weeding in various fruit crops like citrus, kiwi, and fruit nursery.
The main aim of weeding was to improve soil conditions by reducing evaporation from the soil
surface, improve infiltration of rain or surface water, reduce competition of weeds for light,
nutrients and water.

ii. Irrigation
Irrigation is the supply of water to land or crops.

We had irrigated different citrus, graftings and other fruit plants. Irrigation was generally done at
a one day interval. The main aim of proving irrigation was to provide sufficient moisture for the
growth and development of plants/seedlings and roots.

iii.Removing suckers
Suckers means the plant growth that develops from the rootstock of a plant that has undergone
grafting.

We had removed all the suckers from the grafted plants. The tender suckers were removed
manually where as abit developed suckers were removed with the help of secateur to prevent
smearing on plants. Suckers must be removed because by removing suckers, plants can spend
energy on developing new shoots from scion. This also causes the stems to grow thicker and
firmer.

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 4. CHALLENGES/LIMITATIONS

 Limited time frame to learn and understand the works and activities conducted at that site
 Monetory issues were the main challenges during our OJT/WEP to accomodate ourselves
in completely new environment
 We were instructed to work as a labour instead of gaining more technical knowledge and
skills at the site.

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 5. CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, this internship has been an excellent and rewarding experience. I can conclude that
there have been a lot I've learnt from my work at WTHC. Observation and learning of different
varieties of fruits, preparation of media for tissue culturing, research project on grafting,
morphology study of insect, sterilization, application of different chemicals etc were the
activities where I got opportunity to explore more. Two main things that I've learned are the
importance of time management skills and self-motivation.

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6. SOME GLIMPSE OF WEP ACTIVITIES

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 6. SOME GLIMPSE OF WEP ACTIVITIES

Fig 1. Transplanting cuttings Fig 2. Transplanting trifoliate

Fig 4. Spraying micronutrients

Fig 3. Irrigating trifoliate

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 Figure 6. Data collection on graftings
Fig 5. Weeding

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