Professional Information
Area of specialization	Physiology of Tropical root and tuber crops
Area of interest	Abiotic Stress Physiology
Number of institute projects completed	7
Technologies developed	Rapid multiplication technique for Yams Developed a rapid multiplication technique using two node vine cuttings for production of seed tubers in three species of yams viz., Dioscorea alata, D. rotundata and D. rotundata. The technique was found economically feasible and acceptable to farmers and is useful for production of disease free planting material from virus indexed plants.
	Method for breaking dormancy in Amorphophallus corm for off-season commercial production Developed a heat treatment technique by exposing the corm to 45oC for 9 hr /day for 3 weeks induced early sprouting and thus enabling 30 days early planting of the crop which facilitates harvest by 30 days early than normal time. Thus, planting and harvesting can be advanced by 2 months per two crops and repeating the technique continuously for 3-4 years, year round production of small corms is possible. This technique combined with use of 125 -175 g planting material facilitates off-season commercial production of small corms of 1-1.5 kg size.
	Developed low cost technique for storage of cassava stems (planting material) In East Godhavari Dist. of Andhra Pradesh, cassava is planted in June and harvested between mid January and mid March and stored horizontally in bundles under the tree shade for a period of 3 to 5 months under hot and dry weather conditions. Under such conditions stems perish with a loss of 40-60%. Therefore, in order to extend the shelf-life of cassava stems, I (as PI) along with the co-PI developed a low cost zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) was at ARS Peddapuram to store cassava stems. By this method 60-70% of stems could be preserved in three varieties viz., Sree Prakash, H-165 and Sree Jaya.
	Technique developed for early flower induction in cassava Some of the cassava genotypes do not readily flower for breeding purposes. Developed a technique to induce early flowering in cassava. By exposing cassava plants to day/night temperature of 19/15oC, plants produced flowers and fruits at 5-6 months after planting as against 10 months under ambient conditions. This technique is useful for flower induction in cassava.
	Rapid multiplication technique for dasheen taro (Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta) In dasheen taro, 250 size of cut corms are used as planting material. I (as PI) developed microsett technique using apical and big size buds of 2.0-2.5 g for rapid multiplication of dasheen taro. In this method the multiplication ratio increased from 4 to 35 per 1 kg of tubers. The corm yield was 15 – 18 t ha-1 and on par with traditional method.