Prayagraj,

25 July (HS): On the 36th foundation day of Uttar Pradesh Agricultural Research

Council, Lucknow, under the Agricultural Scientist Samman Yojana 2024-25,

SHUATS student Dr. Lalit Kumar Verma was awarded the best PhD thesis award in

the Agricultural Scientist Samman Ceremony and National Seminar organized at

the Indian Sugarcane Research Institute, Rae Bareli Road, Lucknow.

SHUATS

is dedicated to excellent research based on agricultural priority, in which

students, farmers, scientists and researchers are benefited. The university

management including Director Research Prof. Samuel Deepak McCarty

congratulated Dr. Lalit Kumar Verma for this excellent achievement.

The

chief guest in the said program was Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chairman

Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Guest of honor Dinesh Pratap Singh.

Dr. Lalit Kumar Verma's thesis was titled 'Response of vegetative growth, yield

and fruit quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grafted on wild brinjal

(Solanum melongena L.) rootstock'. His advisor was Dr. Vijay Bahadur.

Dr.

Lalit in his research found that grafting in vegetables, a recent popular

method among vegetable growers worldwide has emerged as a promising technique

for increasing productivity in vegetables along with enhancing tolerance to

biotic and abiotic stresses. Grafting is beneficial against fusarium and

bacterial wilt pathogens. It reduces the absorption of unwanted agrochemicals.

He took 4 wild brinjals as rootstocks namely Solanum torvum, Solanum violaceum,

Solanum xanthocarpum and Solanum incanum and 3 tomato varieties as scion. In

conclusion (Grafting of Kashi Anupam on Solanum torvum was found to be the best

in terms of yield (70-40 quintals per hectare) and fruit quality of tomato.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi