Coimbatore, Feb 24 : Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Vice-Chancellor, Dr N Kumar has been conferred the “Life time Achievement Award” by ICAR – National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli,
in the State.

The award was conferred during the 4-day International Conference on Banana– 2020, which concluded Monday, in recognition to his specific contribution to banana industry through systematic banana breeding program
which was started in TNAU during 1998.

This has led to the development of synthetic hybrids such as H. 212, NPH -02-01, H. 531 which are resistant to biotic stresses, of which H-212 was released as CO 2 for commercial cultivation during January this year, a TNAU release said Monday.

This is the first synthetic cultivar released in India with tolerance to nematodes and lesser incidence of Fusarium wilt with a yield potential of 32 t/ha. His work on standardization of fertigation technology in banana is widely
followed under precision farming by many farmers to maximize the yield.

The bio-priming technology developed in hill banana helps to have disease free plantations.