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    Diamond Jubilee of ICAR-CTCRI @2023

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    One Earth. One Family. One Future

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    World's only one research institute doing research exclusively on tropical tuber crops

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    Development of strategies and products for managing pests and diseases affecting tropical tuber crops

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    Collection and conservation of germplasm and improvements of different tuber crops.

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    Developing new agro techniques for tropical tuber crops in different agro climatic regions

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    Value addition and post harvest processing of tropical tuber crops.

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    Transferring the technologies to the clienteles

Patent for Chinese potato size-based grader developed by CTCRI

A power operated size-based Chinese potato (koorka) grader and a method of grading thereof developed by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) in Thiruvananthapuram has been granted patent by Indian Patent Office. T. Krishnakumar, Scientist is the lead inventor of the technology along with M.S. Sajeev, Principal Scientist; C. Pradeepika, Scientist; R. Muthuraj, Principal Scientist and D. Jaganathan, Senior Scientist. Working on the principle of rotating motion of the grading unit through a prime mover the Chinese potato grader sorts the tubers into four different size classes; small (below 20 mm diameter), medium (20.1-30 mm), large (30.1-40 mm) and very large (above 40 mm), most common commercially marketed tubers in India. The prime mover works with an electric motor with a gear box (25:1) to reduce the speed. With rotational speed of the grading drum and guiding roller of 10 and 1100 rpm respectively, it works on a single phase with 0.75 kW per hour power consumption with an average power cost of Rs. 5 per hour. Grading efficiency is 96 percent.

Patent granted to e Crop, IoT device for smart farming

Electronic crop (e-Crop), an IoT device for smart farming developed by Thiruvananthapuram based ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) has been granted patent by Indian Patent Office. E-Crop is an electronic crop simulator that simulates crop growth in real-time based on weather, soil moisture and nutrient status; calculates nutrient and water requirements and generates agro-advisory for the crop at a daily time scale. This crop simulation model-based device gives periodical advices as SMS to the growers about water and nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) requirements. Dr. Santhosh Mithra, principal scientist is the inventor of the technology. e-Crop based smart farming (e-CBSF) has been successfully field-demonstrated for cassava, sweet potato, elephant foot yam and banana and growers could achieve higher yields with a saving on nutrients and water upto 50 percent due to more knowledge-intensive management of spatial and temporal variabilities of soil and plant properties. Reducing yield gap and improving nutrient use efficiency pay rich dividends to the farmers besides significant savings on costly inputs thereby reducing carbon footprint and global warming. Most important aspect of this device is its generic nature which enables us to adapt it to any field crop and efforts in that direction in collaboration with Kerala state department of agriculture and farmers welfare and many other state departments and ICAR institutes; IIT, Palakkad; Digital University, Kerala and Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), Kottayam are in progress.

ICAR-CTCRI signed MoA with M/S White Powder ME Unit

The ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with M/s White Powder ME unit of Kudumbasree Mission located at Koolangadi, Malappuram for transferring the technology for production of healthy noodles from cassava. ICAR-CTCRI will provide handholding support to the Kudumbasree Unit for one year for commercial production of the noodles. These cassava noodles are gluten-free and enriched with high protein and dietary fibre. The technology was developed by the ICAR-CTCRI team led by Dr. G. Padmaja, Principal Scientist and Head (Retd) along with Dr. M.S. Sajeev, Principal Scientist and others. This product is designed as a “healthy alternative” to suit the changing food habits of children who are inclined to consume more junk foods than traditional foods. This licensing is a part of ICAR-CTCRI’s “Eat Healthy, Live Healthy” (Aarogyathode Bhakshikkuka, Aarogyathode Jeevikkuka) programme which aims to develop and popularise healthy alternatives to junk foods, G. Byju, director, CTCRI said. G. Byju and Suhara KM, President White Powder ME exchanged the MoA in a function held at CTCRI.

PUBLICATIONS

CTCRI Vision 2050 provides an oppurtunity to evaluate the relevance of tropical tuber crops in food security by introspecting the accomplishment and visualizing the challenges this sector may face in future. It also critically examines possible scenario of operating environment.