R. Krishnamourthy

R. Krishnamourthy.

Early Education, in Plant Breeding ; Cotton fascinated him the most :

Born on 27th, March, 1928, Sri Rajagopalan Krishnamourthy completed B. Sc.(Agri. )and M. Sc. (Agri.) in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Tamilnadu agricultural University, Coimbatore. Served in the Department of Agriculture Tamilnadu for one decade and almost 28 years in ICAR. He is now Working at, Rasi Seeds Co; Pvt. Ltd; as the director. He was a prolific breeder, and introduced myriad of Cotton varieties for commercial cultivation. He has released as many as 6 varieties from G. Hirsutum, two from G. Barbadense and three hybrids during his tenure in ICAR Service. All of them are prominent and accepted by the formers and as well as The Textile mills at Tamilnadu and else where.

The famous Varieties, that brought name and fame to Sri. Krishnamourthy :

1. Among Varieties : MCU-5 (VT), LRA-5166, LRK-516, Surabhi, Sujata, and Suvin.

2. Among hybrids, Savita, Surya, and HB-224 are the prominent ones.

He has published over 35, Research papers, in the Journals of high repute.

Hybrids developed in Private sector under his stewardship:

1. Responsible for developing and releasing 43 Cotton hybrids. 2. 2. Under the Bt Cotton Programme, involving Bollgard-1 and Bolgard-2 genes, 14 Bt cotton hybrids have been released for North, Central and South zones of India. & Bt hybrids have been released through other Cotton Seed companies in the Country.

3. 20 Bt cotton hybrids are at advanced stages of testing, while 6 Bt hybrids are awaiting approval for Commercial release. During current year (2007). 9 Bt hybrids have been proposed for RGGM trial all over the country.

Recipient of awards and accolades:

1. Rafi Ahmed Khidwai Memorial prize, for the biennium 1966-67 for outstanding contribution in the field of Plant Breeding (December, 1973)ICAR Award for Team Research in Agriculture for the biennium 1975-76, for significant contributions to Cotton Improve ment (January, 1976), The Indian Merchant Chamber Award for the year 1974, for the outstanding contribution in the field of Agriculture (February, 1976 )Award by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi for outstanding contribution in the area of life sciences including agriculture (1977)SIMA Cotton Development and Research Association, Coimbatore, for excellence in Cotton Development and for outstanding contribution for the development and releasing of high yielding medium staple Cotton variety, LRA-5166. (1988 ), Rao Bahaddur Ramanath Iyer Award, 1990-91, by ISCI, Mumbai. For outstanding contribution in the field of Cotton Breeding and Genetics (1992 )

2. ABLE Award, for excellence in Agriculture sciences (2007)

3. Honorary Fellowship to Sri. R. Krishna mourthy, by ISCI on 16th, June, 2007.

Sri. Krishnamourthy has been continuously involved in Cotton Research, for more than 5 decades, whose Research output has been commercialized extensively. Cotton hybrids developed by him have benefited nearly, 1 to 1.5 million farming community, during Non Bt cotton days and 1.5 to 2 million farmers during the introduction of Biotech Cottons, in India. The cottons have impressive yield advantage compared to other hybrids and accomplished a peak coverage of 21,200 km². During 1997-98 and convert|2760000|acre|km2 during 2006—07. The sizable coverage led to an additional cotton production of 3,000,000 bales in the country, which accounts for approximately 30% of cotton production.

Out of the 62 Bt cotton hybrids, approved by The Regulatory Authority for Commercialization in India, 21 Bt cotton hybrids have been developed by Sri. Krishna mourthy, under Rasi Seeds banner. Constituting 33.9 % of total Bt cotton hybrids released for commercialization and they occupy 29% of the hybrid cotton area in India.

Rasi seeds have bagged, “DSIR National Award for R&D efforts in Industry (2005) in the commercialization of Technologies Acquired from others.”

-ISCI Awards, published on June, 16th, 2007- by the Journal of ISCI, Matunga, Mumbai- 400 019.