The first meeting of the X Research Advisory Committee was held during 22-23 November 2023 at ICAR-IISR. The RAC is headed by Dr. M.R. Dinesh, Former Director, ICAR- IIHR, Bengaluru.
Dr. S.K.Singh, Head, FHT, IARI, Dr. Madan Pal, Pr.Scientist, Plant Physiology IARI, Dr. Bir Pal Singh, Former-Director, CPRI, Dr. Sunil Pareekh, Pr.Scientist, NIFTEM, Sonipat, Haryana, Dr.Suresh Pal, Former-Director, NIAEPR, Director, IISR, Dr. Sudhakar Pandey, ADG, Horticultural Sciences, ICAR,
Mr Jayachandran, IMC Member and Dr.K.S.Krishnamurthy, Pr.Scientist, IISR, were the committee members.
The team began their visit by seeing the labs and facilities of the organization and having discussions the scientists. The formal proceedings began with an overview of the institute's achievements by Dr. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IISR Kozhikode. Dr. D. Prasath gave a brief summary about the salient achievements of AICRP on Spices. The RAC team reviewed the progress of research projects and gave pertinent suggestions for enhancing the efficiency of research. The RAC members deliberated on the research agenda for the institute and offered their insightful comments. The RAC stressed the need to develop strong capabilities in exploiting emerging tools for genetic manipulation, which can speed up the process of varietal development for specific objectives.
An innovative technology input developed by the institute, lime-based Trichoderma granular formation (Tricholime) was released during the inaugural session of the RAC. Apart from this, seven MoU’s for commercial planting material production were signed and handed over to the licensees. This include five licenses for IISR Chandra, the newly released black pepper variety and two licenses for nutmeg variety IISR Keralasree. The HRD cell's publication, "Abstracts of M.Sc. and Ph.D. dissertations on spice crops (2006-2022) undertaken at ICAR-IISR, Kozhikode" was released by the dignitaries.
