Diseases and Management of Crops under Protected Cultivation

In the last, but not the least, I welcome
all our students and staff, press and media and
others who are present in the hall and made
the necessary arrangements for this inaugural
session.
Ladies and gentlemen, the department
of Plant Pathology was created and accredited
by ICAR in 1961 and ever, since the
Department has had a strong commitment too
and history of sound education, research and
extension in Plant Pathology. Dr. Y.L. Nene
was the first Head of the Department of Plant
Pathology. Under his capable leadership, the
department expanded to include many
dedicated and extraordinary faculty members
including, Dr. R.S. Singh and Dr.
Mukhopadhyay whose programmes made the
Department the recognized leader in the
country. The next generation of faculty
members like the first responded to the
changing needs presented by the modern
agriculture. At present the Department includes
08 professors, one senior professor as Emeritus
Scientist and one as honorary professor, one
honourary professor from INRA, France, 06
Associate Professors and 05 Assistant Professors
with 14 technical and 08 supporting staffs. The
entire staff upholds the Department’s
commitment to education, basic and applied
research and extension.
The Department has a well-knit under
graduate (U.G.) and post graduate (P.G.)
programme with updated and modern course
curricula. It offers 06 U.G. and 36 P.G.
courses. A broad range of carefully designed
courses complimented by lectures in other
Departments appropriately address the
academic needs of the students. The great
diversity in areas of expertise and interests
present in the Department, leads to diversity in
thesis titles. So far about 335 M.Sc. and 195
Ph.D. students have earned degrees from the
Department.
The Department is actively engaged in
the research work on both fundamental and
applied aspects in the domains of ecology of
soil borne plant pathogens, epidemiology and
forecasting, biological control and IPM
including small farms technologies, molecular
diagnostics, pathogen population biology, seed
pathology, fungicides, nematology,
phytovirology, phytobacteriology and biology
as well as technology of mushroom production.
The distinguished faculty of the
Department has brought in a number of
national and international research grants
besides a series of AICRPS. For a number of
AICRPs such as those of Maize, Oilseeds,
Potato, and Seeds the faculty members of the
Department render services as the Project
Coordinators also.
Over the years, the trained and
accomplished faculty members as well as
students while addressing current issues in
Plant Pathology have won over 50 national
and international awards. Individual staff
members within the department have long
been recognized for their leadership role in the
science of Plant Pathology. By way of their
contributions many faculty members of the
Department have earned International
positions. Also a number of faculty members
have served as president, vice presidents, and
zonal president of several professional
societies
The Department has a unique
distinction of producing 60 books published by
not only Indian but also reputed international
publishers. This is besides a series of
technical bulletins, lab manuals, compendia
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