Objectives

The major mandates of this research station are

• Supply of quality planting material of high yielding varieties developed from various research institutes including TNAU
• To devise new technologies for planting, nutrient and water management, pest and disease management etc.
• To provide industrial and marketing support for profitable farming of acid lime
• To provide training and imparting information on profitable citrus culture to farmers

In Tirunelveli and Tenkasi  districts, acid lime is traditionally grown in Kadayam, Puliiangudi, Sivagiri, Vasudevanallur,Manur, Cheranmahadevi and Sankarankovil areas for decades. So, the research station on citrus, established at Vannikonenthal village of Manur Taluk, Tirunelveli District will address all the biotic and abiotic problems in acid lime.

Though India is the largest producer of acid lime in the world, most of the farmers do not have thorough knowledge about acid lime cultivation and are not aware of using good quality planting materials. They also lack marketing information and the requirements of fruits for value added industries. These problems all necessitate the need for making them aware of good farming practices from field selection, planting with quality seedling material, irrigation scheduling, training and pruning, pest and disease management, market forecast, harvesting, grading and post harvest management on scientific lines so that they can be fetch a better price and also benefit the end user. Taking in to consideration of the above and also the importance of this crop in this district, a separate research station exclusively for taking up in depth research on acid lime was established at Vannikonenthal village of Manur taluk, Tirunelveli District