Dr. V Murugappan, Former Director (SCMS), TNAU delivered the 11th Dr. B Ramamoorthy Memorial Lecture 2022 on 'Conceptual Framework of Soil Fertility Management in Tamil Nadu – Developing Stories to Strengthen Successes and Rectify Failures' and briefed the gathering on the present status of soil fertility in Tamil Nadu and India and advances in soil testing methodologies.
Coimbatore: To commemorate World Soil Day, the 11th Dr. B Ramamoorthy Memorial Lecture was organised by the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, TNAU in Coimbatore on Monday.
Dr. V Geethalakshmi, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU in Coimbatore, Dr. R Santhi, Professor and Head, Department of SS&AC, TNAU, Coimbatore and President, ISSS Coimbatore Chapter chaired the memorial lecture. Dr. N Maragatham, Dean (CSW) & Director (DNRM) i/c, TNAU, Coimbatore in her felicitation speech highlighted the importance of Soil Test Crop Response-based fertilizer recommendation.
Dr. V Murugappan's commendable contribution towards advancement of different aspects of Soil Science in different capacities as Professor and Scheme-In charge(AICRP-STCR) and Director (SCMS), TNAU, Coimbatore was also highlighted.
Dr. V Geethalakshmi, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU in Coimbatore in her presidential address, pointed out that soil nutrient loss is a major soil degradation processes for food security and sustainability all around the globe. She mentioned about the theme for World Soil Day 2022 and highlighted its campaign of 'Soils: Where Food Begins' which aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, increasing soil awareness and encouraging societies to improve soil health. "Soil should be handed over to our younger generation just as we got it from our ancestors," she reiterated.
Dr. V Murugappan, Former Director (SCMS), TNAU in Coimbatore delivered the 11th Dr. B Ramamoorthy Memorial Lecture 2022 on 'Conceptual Framework of Soil Fertility Management in Tamil Nadu – Developing Stories to Strengthen Successes and Rectify Failures' and briefed the gathering on the present status of soil fertility in Tamil Nadu and India and advances in soil testing methodologies.
Dr. V Murugappan also highlighted the importance of fertilizer recommendation based on Agroecological zoning. Through proper planning execution, Agroecological zoning within each Agroclimatic zone can be completed in a short span of time because the resource, manpower and time required is only to dig out data from the existing soil survey reports and assemble it on a digitized map of each zone.
Such technology-oriented products for use for technology generation and extrapolation can alone reverse the existing trend of declining crop productivity. Further, balanced fertilizer recommendation based on soil testing, results in more efficient use of plant nutrients by crops. Passing on a healthy soil production system to posterity is ensured.
The Vice-Chancellor released the book titled 'ICAR AIRCP- Long Term Fertilizer Experiments' and distributed certificates to the prize winners of various competitions conducted on World Soil Day 2022. An awareness rally was held by PG and Ph.D students of the Directorate of Natural Resource Management was organised by the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, DNRM, TNAU, Coimbatore.
Commencing the celebrations of the World Soil Day, Dr. V Geethalakshmi, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU, Coimbatore flagged off the rally from the TNAU campus.
Further, an awareness training program on 'Safe Use of Pesticides' was organized in collaboration with CORTEVA Agriscience India Pvt. Ltd., Telengana. The faculty, PG and Ph.D students of the Directorate of Natural Resource Management participated in the training program. Dr. R Shanmugasundaram, Professor (SS&AC) and Vice-President, ISSS, Coimbatore Chapter, brought the event to a close with the vote of thanks.