‘Tech can aid in developing pest-resistant plants’

LUCKNOW Technology can help in development of pest-resistant plants, said experts at the Fourth International Plant Physiology Congress (IPPC-2018) that began on Sunday.

The programme is jointly organised by CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute and the Indian Society for Plant Physiology (ISPP).

In the key note address, Prof Peter Waterhouse from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia discussed the technology related to the development of pest-resistant plants.

He said it was possible through Ribonucleic acid interference (RNA) interference and citing his work on cotton boll worm he explained the method. Prof Peter Waterhouse is one of the pioneers in this field.

Indian Society for Plant Physiology (ISPP) also awarded medals to two young scientists Dr Rohit Joshi from JNU, New Delhi and Dr Ranjit Ranjan from IARI, New Delhi and two senior scientists Dr Girdhar Pandey, DU, New Delhi and Dr Nataraja Karaba, UAS, Dharwad.

Prof SK Sopory, ex-VC of JNU and a well known plant scientist was the chief guest. In his address Prof Sopory shared his 50 years of experience in plant physiology research.

He highlighted technological developments in the plant physiology research and discussed some of his key success ideas.

Nine lead lectures and 24 other session lectures were conducted during the day by experts through three concurrent sessions.

Prof SK Barik, director, CSIR-NBRI discussed the plant defense mechanisms through secretion of various chemicals and proteins.

Prof Ute Hoecker from Cologne University, Germany highlighted the molecular mechanism related to the growth and developments of plants by light.