Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
THE Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) will hand over its collection of 610,000 varieties of crop germplasm -- the largest in the world -- to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, to ensure that plant breeders all over the world have equal accessibility to this valuable material. …
A NEW variety of a human-made cereal called triticale that is nutritionally superior to wheat will be planted in India's hilly tracts in the next rabi, or winter crop, season. Developed after 7 years of efforts by a team of scientists of the Delhi-based Indian Agricultural Research Institute, the new …
WHEN a ten year old boy in a remote Kerala village was spraying the Bordeaux Mixture, a concoction of lime and copper sulphate used as a fungicide, on jackfruit trees to protect it from wood-rotting mushrooms, he did it with all the care one could expect from a 10-year-old. Yet …
The proposal of the Holland-based company, Royal Van der Have, to set up a 100 per cent foreign-owned firm to conduct research in Indian seeds and develop new varieties has been rejected by India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on grounds that the proposal was against the guidelines of the …
BIOTECHNOLOGY has been occasionally caught giving itself a pat on the back and parrying questions of ethics by flaunting its effects on crop production, rice included. The information contained in this book is a first-hand account of the various directions in which rice biotechnology has grown, an overview of the …
SCIENTISTS at Delhi's Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have identified five wheat varieties developed in agricultural universities and institutes that are resistant to damage by birds, especially parrots. However, these varieties failed at pre-release trials and breeders are now trying to incorporate the bird- resistant property into other high-yielding wheat …
INDIAN scientists are trying to breed oilseed varieties with a lower content of harmful fatty acids and sulphur compounds. Says deputy director general for horticulture of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, K L Chadha, "Some Indian varieties of rapeseed and mustard may contain as much as 50 per cent …
VIRUSES plaguing crops may soon meet their nemesis in what may be described as kamikaze genes residing in carnations. Martin Hartley of the University of Warwick has inserted into the tobacco plant a suicide gene taken from carnations to test its efficacy (New Scientist, Vol 141, No. 1994). Hartley believes …
SCIENTISTS at the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have developed a rice plant that can yield 25 per cent more than existing varieties. The new variety, evolved by combining various samples of germplasm, is being tested and the crop is to be harvested in May. IRRI chief plant breeder …
TWO RESEARCHERS have produced genetically altered potato tissue that can detect compounds like alcohol and drug products in body fluids. Garry Rechnitz and Ae-June Wang of the University of Hawaii in Manoa say the tissue contains an enzyme that produces a fluorescent product when exposed to the target molecule (New …
How did you switch from mathematics to agriculture research? Since childhood, I was fond of growing crops and the yields were impressive. Kitchen garden and wasteland research gave me enough confidence to start experimenting with other crops. On the terrace of my house, I successfully raised sandal, which needs special …
THE INDIAN cotton crop, already attacked by several insects resistant to most insecticides, is now falling prey to a new insect -- the American serpentine leaf-miner. Scientists suspect this new threat, a native of southern USA, entered the country in 1990-91, probably from Kenya or Europe, along with chrysanthemum cuttings. …
THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system. The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according …
A GROUP of 20 scientists at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune has developed biotechnological tools to study the genetic diversity of rice. Says team leader P K Ranjekar, "We are interested in studying crops of special relevance to India, and so chose to work primarily on rice." In …
THE INDIAN pulse scene is witnessing a curious paradox. Thanks to the development of new varieties, in 1992-93, pulse production touched a peak of 14.6 million tonnes (mt). Imports have decreased substantially, from 1.3 mt in 1990-91 to some 300,000 tonnes in 1991-92. But, despite these achievements, experts caution that …
SAVE WILD peanuts, enrich your soil. That's the latest slogan being drummed out by agronomists across the world. They have found that wild peanuts, most of which come from South America, are well adapted to the poor acid soils of the tropics and prevent erosion because they tenaciously cling on …
CHEMICALLY treated tamarind seeds can provide an adhesive stronger than those commercially available, claim scientists of the College of Agricultural Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (Kisan World, Vol 28, No 8). Large quantities of tamarind seeds are available in India as a by-product of the tamarind pulp industry. When …
A computerised up-to-date information system will soon replace cumbersome files and harassed information officers at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The computerised information network, National Agricultural Research System (NARS), will encompass the activities of more than 25,000 scientists at 75 major agricultural research institutes, 27 universities and 1,000 …
SCIENTISTS are making headway in using genetic engineering techniques to develop commercial varieties of rice strains that are resistant to diseases. Initial trials by researchers in China and Japan of rice strains modified to fight the red stripe virus, which in southeast Asia has been known to destroy entire harvests, …
THE DAYS of the European corn borer, a notorious maize pest found in North America and Europe, seem numbered now that researchers have been able to inject into susceptible crops a gene fatal to the insect (BiolTechnology, Vol 11, No 2). But the gene, which has been taken from a …
