The Deputy Director General Horticultural Science, ICAR, Dr Anand Kumar Singh visited ICAR Directorate of Floricultural Research, Pune on 24.02.2023. During his visit, Dr Singh monitored the infrastructural facilities of DFR including laboratories and newly developed farm office cum field laboratory building at Hadapsar campus and reviewed the work done by the DFR scientists. Dr K V Prasad, the director of the institute explained about the ongoing research programmes of the institute and presented a video on research and product development work. Dr.Singh interacted with scientific, administrative and technical staff of the institute and suggested some potential areas of the research work aligned with the national priorities.
Dr Singh suggested to concentrate on high value flower crops considering the acreage of crops and work towards solving the emerging problems of the farmers. He advised to work on development exportable varieties of roses, photo-insensitive varieties of chrysanthemum and lutein rich marigold. He called up the scientists to identify crops for captive cultivation for dry flower making preferably using native flower crops, isolation of pigments and nutraceuticals from flower crops, pollinator’s conservation and eco-friendly pest management etc. Dr Singh also suggested developing scientific collaborations with nearby national institutions and universities to develop joint projects to attract more research funds from external funding agencies.
Dr. Kaushik Banerjee, Director, National Research Centre on Grapes, Pune was present during the visit and also participated in the scientific interactions.
Read more: https://dfr.icar.gov.in/Content/Pdf/DDG_visit_ICAR_news_24.02.2023.pdf
Original link: https://dfr.icar.gov.in/
