The post of head of station was vacant after the retirement of K S Ananda on April, 30, 2018. C T Jose and S Elain Apsara were acting heads of the station from then till date.
A release from the institute stated that Rajesh has made significant contributions to the field of molecular biology and biotechnology, with particular reference to coconut and arecanut, in the areas of tissue culture, the application of molecular markers, genomics and transcriptomics. He was involved in the development of tissue culture protocols for coconut from plumular explants.
He has identified molecular markers linked to the tall/dwarf trait in coconut and arecanut and has developed molecular marker panels for hybrid purity assessment in these two crops. Rajesh has undertaken sequencing, assembly, and analysis of the nuclear and organellar genomes of the Chowghat Green Dwarf (CGD) cultivar of coconut, which possess enhanced disease resistance, and categorised the repertoire of resistance gene analogues (RGAs) in the CGD nuclear genome, the release added.
He was also part of the team involved in the development of ‘
Kalpasree
’ variety of coconut (possessing enhanced resistance to root (wilt) disease), identification of markers linked to sex determination in palmyrah, development and validation of EST-SSR markers in coconut and cocoa, development of ‘Coconut Artificial Pollination Management System’, development of inoculation assays for studying the interactions of coconut and arecanut with
Phytophthora
spp. and standardization of pollen cryopreservation protocols in coconut and arecanut. He has published more than 125 research papers and authored eight books.
He is the son of Late MK Nair the former Director of CPCRI and Late M J Ratnambal, former principal scientist of CPCRI. Rajesh has served in various capacities in the Indian Society for Plantation Crops. He has served as Secretary, ISPC and Editor of JPC for two terms.
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