RONO HILLS, 10 Jun: The botany department of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here on Friday launched a two-day workshop on ‘orchid culture’, with Khyanjeet Gogoi from the Orchid Society of Eastern Himalayas as the resource person.
Gogoi gave a lecture on the diversity of orchids in Northeast India, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, “and their economic prospect in uplifting the economic conditions of foriculturists.”
He emphasised on cultivating “suitable varieties for summer and winter season that can tolerate a wide range of variation in temperature due to their high demand in national and international markets.”
Gogoi also spoke about taxonomic identification of orchids and the appropriate methods of cultivating orchids, “particularly the type of potting materials to be used for ground and terrestrial orchids in a net house.” He also briefed the participants about the “physiological disorders due to wrong selection of potting materials.”
Gogoi, who maintains about 700 different varieties of orchids in his native place in Doomdooma (Assam) with his own resources, donated a few orchids for RGU’s orchidarium.
Research scholars, PG students and others attended the inaugural session.
