Romance to Remember:
A Journey of 4 Decades
Suresh Pande
Principal Scientist (Pathology)
Event: Seminar
Venue: CF Bentley Conference Center
Date: 12 April 2013
• Passion for nature
• Passion to profession
• Return to mountains
• Mountains to tropics
• Stint in the desert
• Ahead of time
• Acknowledgement
In this Journey:
In the lap of nature
Harcourt Butler
Shimla
Walking to school
The First Lesson
From the first time that I can remember, I was passionately
fond of Nature.
Oh ! It used to make me mad with joy when I saw the clouds
come up in the sky one by one.
I felt, even in those early days, that I was surrounded with a
companionship very intense and very intimate, though I did
not know how to name it.
I had such an exceeding love for Nature that I can not think
in what way to describe it; but she was with me, and always
revealing to me some fresh beauty.
That’s how perhaps I learnt my first lesson of science.
ARS 1977-80: IARI, Delhi- VPKS, Almora
Rust, Bunt, Smut: Wheat, Barley, Oats, and Triticales
Blasts: Rice, Finger millet and other minor millets
Foliar diseases: Vegetables and legumes
Mountains to Tropics: ICRISAT 1980-2013
Focus: HPR, On-farm, Capacity building
Crop Period Disease Region
Sorghum 1980-1990 SDM, Charcoal rot,
Anthracnose
Asia, Western Africa
Southern Africa
Millet 1980-1990 Downy mildew Western, Southern Africa
Finger millet 1980-1990 Blast Eastern, Southern Africa
Groundnut 1990-2000 Rosette, Foliar Western Africa
Chickpea 1990-2013 Wilt, Root rots, Foliar Asia
Pigeonpea 2000-2013 Wilt, Sterility mosaic,
Phytophthora blight
Asia
Golden Era: Opportunities
• Chickpea and pigeonpea diseases
• Changing scenario of diseases / pathogens
• Climate change and emerging diseases
• New science tools and plant pathogens
• Legumes in RWCS: IGP & RRFL
• Succession and mentoring
Chickpea area expansion in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh from 2008-09 to 2011-12.
State
329.28
803.03
728.00
1520.62
Area(ha)
RRFL: IPPPT– On-Farm
IPPPT expansion at targeted village/ district/state : 2008-09 to 2011-12
Before IPPPT
After IPPPT
Chickpea area expansion at individual house hold
RRFL: IPPPT– On-Farm
Rajesh Dixit (farmer) Bahuribandh (village), Rewa (District), MP
Example: JAKI 315 (30kg seed = 10t)
I Chickpea in RRFL of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh: IPPPT
Isolate : Most virulent
Platform: Illumuna Hi Seq200
Seq. Coverage 378.6x
Assembly size (Mb) 64.3
Total contig length (Mb) 61.9
Scaffolds 1241
Contigs 3899
Contig N50 (kb) 69
GC (%) 47.97
Predicted protein-coding
genes
18104
tRNAs 302
SSR 1464
Transposable elements 4.48%
Gene Statistics of Foc
F. oxysporum f sp. ciceris
Whole genome sequencing
0 h 2 h 24 h
Total Gene expressed in each event during conidial morphogenesis
12679 12387 1291712888
F. oxysporum f sp. ciceris:
Transcriptome analysis
6 h
Comparative gene expression between events