Pathology Research

1. BIOCONTROL

• Induction of defense-related proteins and chemicals by fluorescent pseudomonads

• Basic research on biocontrol agents for effective utilization in ecofriendly disease management

• Improving the fitness of biocontrol agents by selection

• Integration of candidate biological control agents under integrated disease management for the management of economically important crop diseases

• Quality control and registration of new biocontrol agents

• Strategies to promote commercialization of bioagents viz., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma Viride

• Popularization of biocontrol agents

2. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

• Isolation of α-Glucosidase gene from Trichoderma viride for management of rice sheath blight pathogens

• Exploitation of chitinase gene for the management of rice sheath blight and sheath rot

• Agrobacterium mediated or biolistic gene transfer of Xa-21 of BLB of rice

• Cloning of PR-5 (TLP) protein for resistant to rice sheath blight

• Elicitor of Rhizoctonia solani induced PR-proteins (PR-2 and PR-3)

• Genetic improvement of bio-control agents viz., Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens

3. EPIDEMIOLOGY AND DISEASES FORECASTING

Studying the epidemiology of economically important diseases of Tamil Nadu

Developing forecast models for the important diseases

4. MUSHROOM

• Cultivation technology developed for oyster mushroom, paddy straw mushroom and button mushroom.

• Conducting training on “Mushroom cultivation” to farmers every month.

• Production and distribution of spawns and mother spawns to farmers

• Strain improvement of mushrooms using biotechnology

5. POST HARVEST

• Post harvest losses of mango, banana and vegetables

• Standardization of early detection of post harvest diseases

• Management of post harvest diseases using non –chemical methods especially with the botanicals

6. SEED PATHOLOGY

• Monitoring and Identification of important seed-borne pathogen in crop plants

• Losses due to seed-borne pathogen

• Disease-free seed production of fruits, vegetable and crops

• Mycotoxins and their management

7. VIROLOGY

• The virology division of this department was started as early as 1960 with the development of infrastructure facilities like automated glass house, electron microscope etc.

• Identification, characterization and biodiversity of new virus diseases affecting major crops (Rice, pulses, oil seeds, vegetables and flowers)

• Diagnosis of virus diseases (includes immuno and molecular diagnosis)

• Epidemiology and Management of virus diseases using

• Using botanical pesticides (Antiviral principles)

• Chemical control of Vectors transmitting virus diseases