Browsing by Author "Abeysekara, N.N.R."

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    Comparative Efficacy of Selected Insecticides in Comparison with Chlorpyrifos to Control Tobacco Cutworm (Spodoptera litura)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Weerawansha, A.N.R.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.; Ranawana, S.R.W.M.C.J.K.
    Cigarette tobacco production is done by the registered farmers of Ceylon Tobacco Company for a pre-trade agreement while other types are grown purely on freelance basis and hence cigarette tobacco production has a better accountability. It is a great matter of concern that, tobacco plant is susceptible for cutworm damage during its life cycle eventually making inconsistent production. It causes a considerable damage to the tobacco plant particularly in the vegetative growth. The cutworm damage is more severe in the field level and in many cases it is present in the nursery level too. The Ceylon Tobacco Company has clearly discovered the demerits of the prevailing pest and chemical control has been playing a leading role for a long period of time as it has become more successful in its efficacies. The company commonly uses Chlorpyrifos 40 EC, a broad spectrum contact insecticide, which belongs to the chemical group of Organophosphate. Direct application of organophosphate insecticides including Chlorpyrifos is toxic and causes environmental pollution. In the environment, the organophosphate insecticide residues and the degraded ingredients pollute the soil, water, air and food. These compounds harm not only non beneficial insects but also beneficial insects, beneficial soil organisms and other animals including human beings. Therefore, usage of Chlorpyrifos is supposed to be phased out from the tobacco cultivations in the island wide. The objective of this study was to find a possible alternative to Chlorpyrifos to reduce environmental toxicity.
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    Determinants of Exit of Barn Owners from Flue Cured Tobacco Farming in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2012) Abeysekara, N.N.R.; Jayamanna, G.G.M. D.T.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.; Jayamanna, G.G.M. D.T.
    Tobacco is a well-known cash crop cultivated in different areas and it contributes more to the Sri Lankan agriculture. Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) is the monopoly holder of the cigarette tobacco business in Sri Lanka. There are two types of cigarette tobacco termed as air cured tobacco and flue cured tobacco. Flue cured tobacco is cured through heat stream while air cured tobacco is cured from air. The success of the business depends on the relationship between the CTC and the barn owners. Barn owners are the people who have direct contact with the CTC and they have barns to cure tobacco leaf. When consider the barn owners, their state of functionality (weather they continuously function-CF, Random Function -RF or Exit -EX) towards the business is a considerable factor to be studied. When analyzing the data base of barn owners’ involvement to the business, it can be revealed that, even though there is a better accountability for cigarette tobacco production in the existing business context, considerable percentage of registered barn owners are exit from the business. The objective of the study is to find out the determinants of the exit of the barn owners from flue cured tobacco farming
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    Effect of Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels on Development of Nicotine in Flue Cured Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Chamil, R.M.C.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.; Ranawana, S.R.W.M.C.J.K.
    Note: See the PDF Version The tobacco plant is one of the very few crops entering world trade entirely on a leaf basis. It is the most widely grown commercial nonfood plant in the world (Akehurst, 1981). The botanical genus Nicotiana contains over sixty four species. Nicotiana tobaccum is the source of commercial tobacco, which is a member of the family Solanaceae and it is grown as an annual crop for its leaves. Tobacco is the common name of the plant Nicotiana tabacum and to a limited extent of Nicotiana rustica. Cigarette tobacco production in Sri Lanka is done by the registered farmers of Ceylon Tobacco Company for a pre-trade agreement. Nitrogen fertilizer plays a crucial role in tobacco production and large and quality production keenly depends on applied nitrogen fertilizer. However, existing nitrogen fertilizer levels have not fully met the yield forecasting and other cost compensating objectives. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of nitrogen fertilizer level on the nicotine development of flue cured tobacco and to investigate the best application time of fertilizer on the vegetative growth of flue cured tobacco.
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    Effective Decomposition of Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum) Waste Using Bacteria Earth Worm Combination
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Peragasthenna, D.S.; Herath, H.M.S.K.; Chandrasena, G.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.
    Compost preparation is the promising tool for solve the waste accumulation of most industries. Synthetic fertilizer is the most crucial factor for the bad health infection of the human diet balance. Compost production is the best solution against for the synthetic fertilizer usage at commercial crop cultivation industries (Wijewardane. 2008). Production of compost under home garden level and commercial level has increased as attached by new rules and regulation. Certain productions have been adopted against the chemical or the synthetic fertilizer utilization and thus minimized the health hazard and environment pollution. It is also expected to cater the year round farmer requirement through usage of socially acceptable fertilizer. Commonly Sri Lankan farmers used to practices different traditional methods for the compost production. This research little deviated due to utilization of tobacco waste as agro industrial surrogate for compost production considering nutritional value. Therefore tobacco waste should not be burnt anymore without having a proper use due to its inherent conversion ability to compost (Akehurst. 1981). As an industrial waste, tobacco dust and stem are cheaper materials, which are produced from through the manufacturing process of cigarette blenders. Tobacco waste, which has a potential to use as an alternative growing medium or composting matrix, is readily available. Hence, this research was conducted to evaluate the decomposing performance of tobacco waste which could be used as a growing medium or composting matrix following heap method and vermi composting method. Methodology Five different composting types were considered as five treatments (1) treatment 1 (T1); Paddy straw; cow dung; Gliricidia; old compost with top soil; grass and dried leaves mixed in the ratio of 2:3:1.5:1.5:1:1,(2) treatment 2 (T2); tobacco dust; tobacco stems; cow dung; green leaves and paddy straw mixed in the ratio of 7:1.5:0.5:0.5:0.5, (3)treatment 3 (T3); tobacco waste; paddy straw; molasses; cow dung; top soil; grass; and rock phosphate mixed in the ratio of 5:3:0.5:0.5:0.4:0.4:0.2,(4)treatment 4 (T4); tobacco waste; green leaves; paddy straw; dried leaves; grass; and CaO mixed in the ratio of 6.5: 1: 1: 0.5: 0.5: 0.4: 0.1, and (5)treatment 5 (T5); tobacco waste; effective microorganisms; cow dung; and paddy straw in the ratio of 8.5: 0.5: 0.5: 0.5. In second experiment different combination of composting arrangement were consider as four treatments including; treatment 1 (T1); Tobacco waste with Eisenia fetida, treatment 2 (T2); Tobacco waste with Eisenia fetida + pseudomonas sp (5 g), treatment 3 (T3); Tobacco waste with Eisenia fetida + pseudomonas sp (10 g), Tobacco waste with Eisenia fetida + pseudomonas sp (15 g). In third experiment which useful for the microbial breakdown of nicotine compounds in tobacco waste and isolated by microbes which are available in tobacco plant parts and five different parts were used for isolation. Such as leaf parts, stem parts, tips, waste and leachates. During the composting, the pH and temperature at different locations of the heap was monitored every 2 days in the first week and every 7 days thereafter. The temperature of each heap was measured in the following locations: top of the heap, 130cm from the base of the pile; middle of the heap, 75 cm from the base of the heap; bottom of the pile, 30 cm from the base of the pile; surface of the heap, and 5 cm from the surface of the heap.
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    Evaluation of the Adoption Behavior of Barn Automation Technology in Flue Cured Tobacco Industry in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Perera, R.A.D.M.; Dharmadasa, R.A.P.I.S.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.
    Note: See the PDF Version Tobacco is a well-known profitable cash crop cultivated in different areas of Sri Lanka. Curing considered as the one of the major process in primary processing of tobacco. Curing of tobacco is done in barns. It was stated that stabilization of the barn in given temperature till end of each stage is extremely important to obtain desired characteristic. There are lots of drawbacks observed in manual barn controlling. To overcome these constraints after several years of successful experimentation one farmer introduced an automated furnace in year 2001. Introducing of an automated furnace was recognized as a revolutionary change by the experts of the tobacco industry. Therefore company expected to grater adoption rate with in a shorter period. Population of barn owners in flue cured tobacco industry is about nearly 2000 (BAT leaf system). However, the automated furnace has only adopted in 54 barns up to now. Therefore even after four years of implementation the expected progress in adoption to the technology has not met. Therefore this study was conducted to evaluate the different dimension of adoption behavior and identifying the determinants of non-adopter’s intention to use the automation technology.