Jorhat based Assam Agricultural University scientist Pranab Dutta has done a hat trick by winning two national awards and a fellowship to Auckland, in quick succession.
Dutta who is a scientist at the Nanolab of the department of plant pathology, Assam Agricultural University has been awarded young scientist award for meritorious services in plant pathology from Navasari Agricultural University, Gujarat at the national symposium on “Sustainable management of pests and disease in augmenting food and nutritional security, held from May 22-24 this year.
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Following this he bagged the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Scientist award from Society of Tropical Agriculture, during 9th International Conference on Agriculture, Horticulture and Plant Science at Himachal Pradesh, India held on June 27 and 28.
Recently he has been selected for the International Fellowship under National Higher Education Programme (NAHEP) funded by World Bank and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to work at the University of Auckland, New Zealand to work on Application of Nanotechnology in Agriculture under the mentorship of Dr Melanie Kah.
Excited about his research prospects on nanotechnology at Auckland, Dutta said that for so long he had been working on effects of nanoparticles on plant cells but now he would be studying the effects of these nanoparticles on mammalian cells.
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Dutta has produced several bio-formulations which deal with a number of diseases in tea and other plants.
Green Biotech Eco Solutions Private Limited, Manipur has bought four such bio-formulations.
Dutta said that he and his team here had produced seven liquid bio-formulations which had found favour during trials in different tea gardens in the state.
Management of a few tea gardens have found that these bio-formulations proved to be more effective in controlling pests and pathogens than the chemical ones.