FM University starts research project on ‘Pan, Dhan, Mina’ – Times of India

Santosh Kumar Tripathy, vice-chancellor of the university, said this integrated project is a part of a social outreach programme to help the local farmers while conducting research on these aspects. “We have already started these project works in our campus. Professors of two concerned departments are working on this,” he added.

Surjendu Kumar Dey, professor of Environmental Science department of the university, who is in the charge of Pan project, said Pan is a cash crop in Bhogarai and Baliapal blocks of Balasore district. “There are many varieties of Pan in Odisha and several of them are found in Balasore. Under this project, we will conduct a survey and collect Pan varieties for our research study. We will also cultivate some of these varieties of Pan in our campus for study purposes,” he added.
He said they will develop a germplasm conservatory and conserve germplasms of Pan. “We will study these varieties and try to find out qualitative components of the plant. If we get good qualities like the disease tolerant aspect of a Pan variety, we will develop new varieties with this quality through tissue culture. We will also try to create biopesticide to control pests in Pan cultivation. It will help farmers too. We will also find out the medicinal quality of the plant. It is in the planning stage,” he added.

Elssa Pandit, associate professor of bioscience and biotechnology department, in charge of Dhan project, said they have already developed paddy saplings inside the campus for research works. “When I was working in the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) Cuttack, I was among the developers of 12 varieties of paddy. I want to use my expertise in this project and help the farmers here,” she added.

She said aerobic rice can be grown on less water. “Farmers are not aware about these varieties. We want to create a centre here and develop varieties of paddy to help the farmers in increasing their income,” she added.

Bhaskar Behera, head of biotechnology and zoology departments of the university, said they have started working on the aspect of ‘Mina’. The university has already made a pond ready for this project. Three more ponds will be prepared for this purpose. The university has already signed a memorandum of understanding with ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) Bhubaneswar and ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) Kolkata for training and research works.

“These two institutions will provide training and equipment through our university. We have already provided training to schedule caste farmers of Balasore on fish farming. We have plans to give more training to SC and ST farmers. It is a part of our social outreach programme. Besides, we are conducting research on varieties of fish seen in the coastal part of Balasore,” he added.