My Contribution

MY CONTRIBUTION

MY CONTRIBUTION IN STATE / NATIONAL PRIORITY AREAS IN AGRICULTURE

State priority areas:

To be among India’s most prosperous states
To exhibit highly inclusive growth pattern
To be India’s leading state in social development with highest Human Development Index
To provide the best infrastructure services in India
To be one of the top three preferred investment destinations in Asia.
To be known as India’s innovation hub and knowledge capital
To ensure peace, security and prosperity for all citizern
To preserve and care for its ecology and heritage
To actively address the causes of vulnerability of the State and peole
To nurture culture of responsive and transperant governance.

-The Hindu March 23, 2012

Government to accord highest priority to agriculture

Focus on improving productivity by adopting scientific agronomic practices

According to her, the focus was on improving productivity by adopting scientific agronomic practices, popularising better water use, farm mechanisation and strengthening the post-harvest infrastructure and agro-based industries. Stating that these initiatives would certainly ensure a second green revolution, she asked the Collectors to play a pivotal role by working closely with the farmers and ensure the government's goal of tripling their income in five years

In short the National / State priority areas in Agriculture

Adopting scientific agronomic practices to “double the agricultural production and triple the farm income”.
Popularizing better water use
Farm mechanization
Post harvest technology
Agro-based industries
Skill building and employment generation in Agriculture

My entire scientific career revolves around these priority areas (Post harvest technology, Agro-based industries, Skill-building and employment generation) of Agriculture as stipulated by State and Central Government. My significant contribution in these areas will tell upon how I work for my vision for my country through my service in my bellowed Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

Contribution on Research

Post Harvest Technology

I started my research on Post-Harvest Technology as soon as I joined as Assistant Professor (Entomology) in the All India Co-ordinated Harvest and Post Harvest Technology Scheme of ICAR in the year 1986.

The research work on this line was intensified by myself right during my Ph.D career as (Year 1991-1993) a part time student of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

Even before this, I had an inclination towards design and development of simple gadgets for insect pest management. It may be evident of the following documents:

My M.Sc.(Ag.) thesis was on "Light traps for management of major pests of rice in field".
The work I did was on 'light traps' design and its application in monitoring and mass trapping insects in rice fields.
Though the work was very simple, I considered that as a stepping stone for all the research ideas and success I achieved later on in my career and I strongly believe that my research at M.Sc.(Ag.) level is the basement of the building which I plan to construct in my beloved country, activity in that building will be for the betterment of the globe. ie., Towards clean grain (Insect Free) revolution through eco-friendly ways.
I was taken to tears when my above belief was authorised by the International forum. The document supporting this is as follows :

My name was recommended by Dr.David Pimentel (Former Scientific Advisor to Honourable President of USA and notable IPM specialist of the world and Professor, Entomology Cornell University, New York) for writing a chapter in 'LIGHT TRAP' for Encyclopedia of Pest Management brought out by M/s. Dekker Publication, New York, during 2002. Thus my specialization on the above concept is continuous and will be continued till my life with the objective of spreading the Indian technologies developed by myself across the globe.

Contribution on Education

Throughout my service, I am involved in UG and PG teaching especially the following courses which form a part of my specialization.

UG Course : 1. Pest of field and Horticultural Crops and their Management

2. Principles of Agricultural Entomology

3. Applied Entomology

PG Course : 1. Stored Product Entomology

2. Insect Behaviour

Impact created on Agricultural Education

TNAU stored grain insect pest management kit

TNAU is one of the pioneering institutes in India in the development of detection devices for stored grain insects. These devices exploit the wandering behaviour of the insects and help in timely detection of insects in stored produce leading to timely control. These include TNAU probe trap, TNAU pit fall trap, two in one model trap, indicator device, Automatic insect removal bin, UV-light trap technology, TNAU egg removal device and TNAU trap for warehouse. These devices have been widely used in many places and have received State and National recognitions. Hence, I developed a “KIT” named as TNAU-Stored Grain Insect Pest Management Kit containing prototypes of all the devices along with a CD-Rom about the devices and how to use them. This kit will be of great use in popularization of the technologies across the country. The kit will be an ideal “hands – on training” tool for Education, Extension centers (KVK, Plant clinic, save grain centers) and also for private ware housing. This TNAU kit is the first of its kind in the world. Around 250 Agricultural Colleges / KVK’s in India uses this kit for teaching in UG/PG programme and training scientists, farmers and other end users.

A simple and rapid technique named cup bioassay to determine if natural products are repellent or attractive to stored product insects was developed during my training in Cereal Research Center in Canada. This has been included in post-graduate curriculum.

Mohan, S. and Paul Fields 2002. A simple technique to assess compounds that are repellent (or) attractive to stored product insects. Journal of Stored Product Research. 38: 23-31.

This technique developed by me has been quoted by more people (cited 20 times) across the world.

New Technique developed for Post Graduate Teaching

New areas of Research in PG Education

TEN new research projects were undertaken through M.Sc.(Ag.) and Ph.D students during the year 2001-2012. I have guided so far NINE M.Sc.(Ag.) and THREE Ph.D. Students. The projects were based on the expertise received through my trainings in Canada as well as my knowledge on the trapping science for management of stored product insects.

Post Graduate Students Guided

Ph.D.

Studies on the development and testing of newer strategies for the management of Stored Product Insect Pests, Pretheepkumar, P., 2004
Studies on toxicity and effects of transgenic Bt cotton (Bollgard II) on Helicoverpa armigera. Jayaprakash, S.A., 2011.
Evaluation of Bt transgenic cotton (Bollgard and Bollgard II) against Pink Bollworm, Pectinnophora gossypiella, Sunders (Gelichidae; Lepidoptera). Nandhini. S., 2014.
Development of Eco-friendly pest management system for stored turmeric. Abburi Rajesh, 2016.

M.Sc.

Studies on the biology and management of Groundnut bruchid. Carydon serratus Oliver Ranga Rao, A.V.S., 2000.
Investigations on the repellency of pea products against Stored Product Insects, Pratheepkumar, P. 2001.
Studies on Pheromone traps for Management of Insects Pests for Stored Paddy, Pavan Kumar, 2001.
Development and assessment of new techniques for the management of Stored Product Insect Pests, Brabeen Anusha, M.Sc.(Ag.), 2006.
Investigations on the egg removal device for pulse beetle (TNAU Patent, 198434) for other important Pests of Storage Grains, Jayaprakash, S.A., 2008.
Development and testing of ecofriendly pest management technologies for insects attacking non-allopathic products in storage, Divya, S., 2009.
Studies on Detection and Management of Stored Product Insect Pests of Cocoa beans, Shrikant, 2011.
Studies on TNAU patented devices (TNAU egg removal device and TNAU Stack Probe Trap) in wheat stacks in warehouse. Hategekiman, A., 2012.
Studies on the commercial model of TNAU Insect Egg Remover Device (Indian Patent Number 198434) for the management of the the ground nut bruchid, Careydon serratus (Olivier) and the rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica. Priyatharsini. R., 2014
Studies on stored product insect pests in Moringa oleifera Lam. leaf powder. Revathi Santhiya. P., 2015
Studies on the major stored insect pest of dried chillies (crushed chillies). Abhijith, N. 2016.

Achievement in Rural Agricultural Education

Besides being useful to the farmers, households and warehouse managers, my TNAU Insect trap technologies paved way for kindering the scientific temper of school children in Tamil Nadu leading to winning of Gold medals from GOI, Intel and WIPO by the school children. Impressed upon by these creative activity by the school students of Tamil Nadu, I was appointed as the Chairman of the Committee to revamp and revitalize the Agricultural School Education in Tamil Nadu. I feel this is the greatest achievement in my life as School Education is very important in shaping the future of the student community. As “Chairman” I made significant reforms in Agricultural education in Tamil Nadu Schools. The old curriculum structure which was in practice in Tamil Nadu around last 20 years was revamped and a common text book, Agricultural Practices I and Agricultural Practices II (for 11th and 12th standard schools) was introduced in the year 2010-11, 2011-12 respectively. First time in the curriculum Practical Guide was introduced for 11th and 12th standards in Tamil Nadu.

The greatest advantage of the present syllabus is that the students who are going to pass out during 2012 June will have more practical knowledge on Agriculture, Veterinary, Horticulture, Fishery, Forestry and Agricultural Engineering. Whereas, old curriculum students do not have these facilities. So there will be good competition, hence our “Rural Students” are expected to perform very well in the Degree / Diploma Programme equal to their counterparts from 11, 12 standard Science students in Agriculture and Allied Subjects. This is a revolutionary step in Rural Agricultural Education I made as Chairman.

Because of this a great door has been opened for our rural students who mainly study Agriculture in their +1 and +2 level to become future VETERINARY DOCTORS of our country.