Dr. R Selvarajan Assumes Office as New Director of ICAR-NRCB

Dr.R Selvarajan has assumed the charge of the Director of ICAR-NRCB (Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Research Centre for Banana), at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, with effect from December 8, 2022.

The latter holds a doctorate in plant virology, has been a part of various research projects in the field and has published a total of 84 papers yet. His salient research works consist of studies regarding genomes sequencing of the banana bunchy top virus, banana bract mosaic virus, banana streak Mysore virus, and banana streak OL virus among others.

Following are several key studies done by Dr. Selvarajan:

1. Coat proteins of BBTV, BBrMV, BSMYV, and CMV were expressed in the bacterial system and produced polyclonal antisera for diagnosis

2. PCR, RT-PCR, Multiplex PCR, NASH, and ELISA-based detection technologies have been developed for the detection of banana viruses

3. Developed virus genome derived promoter constructs, RNAi constructs for using replicate gene of BBTV, RNAi constructs for multiple virus genes (BBTV, CMV, and BBrMV) besides rep and cp gene construct for BBTV

4. Developed 13 transgenic lines of Hill banana resistant to BBTV through Agrobacterium mediated genetic transformation

5. Developed management technology for bract mosaic virus disease

6. As accredited Molecular Virology lab virus testing is being done for TC banana plants
His current research project is regarding Molecular approaches to understand the host-virus-vector-environment interactions and RNAi for the management of banana viruses (PI).

About ICAR-NRCB:

According to the institute’s official website, ICAR-NRCB was founded on August 21, 1993 in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu to boost the output and productivity of bananas and plantains using mission-mode fundamental and strategic research techniques.

Crop Improvement, Crop Production, Post-Harvest Management, and Crop Protection are the four main thrust areas of study that the center focuses on. Physiology, biochemistry, entomology, nematology, fungal, bacterial, viral pathology, tissue-culture, biotechnology, soil science, nutrient management, entomology, nematology, and post-harvest technology studies are all conducted in its well-equipped labs.