Trichy scientists win national honours

Three scientists attached to the Trichy-based National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB), were honoured with fellowship awards by the Association for Improvement in Production and Utilization of Banana (AIPUB) recently, at a function held in Maharashtra.

"I feel elated. It means more credits and more feathers in our cap," said M M Mustaffa, director of NRCB.

The three scientists, R Thangavelu, who works on various aspects of disease management of bananas, B Padmanaban, principal scientist (agricultural entomology) and V Kumar, who started his career as a horticultural scientist at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research in Bangalore in 1991, joined the NRCB in 1996.

Mustaffa said 10 scientists were recommended by the screening committee to AIPUB for the fellowship award that was presented at the national-level. The NRCB bagged three of them at a national conference on bananas with the theme "Adaption to climate change for sustained production of banana," held in Maharashtra. NRCB had earlier bagged four awards in 2008.

Thangavelu had already received the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru award for the best PhD research in crop protection in 2003. He was also awarded the long-term overseas biotechnology fellowship in 2006, and worked in Brisbane, Australia for his post-doctorate on 'fusarium wilt' in 2007-2008. He was also awarded the best writer award in 2010 by the then Tamil Nadu chief minister for his book on bananas in Tamil.

Thangavelu developed a spray schedule for the effective management of eumusae leaf spot disease in bananas, which is being followed in all banana-growing states in India. Thangavelu said his area of specialization was the screening of germplasm, for their resistance to diseases, molecular characterization of various pathogens of banana and non-chemical method of management of diseases that affect bananas.

Kumar had standardized technology for organic banana production, high-density planting, drip techniques and integrated weed management for enhancing the production and productivity of different commercial cultivars of banana.

Padmanaban commercialized the "beauveria bassaiana," a method that helps avoid the accumulation of fungicides on crops, as well as in the environment without use of chemicals. Called technology in a carry bag, the liquid is applied on the stem for effective control of banana weevils and aphids.