Junagadh witnesses ‘National Conference of Plant Physiology – 2013 on “Current Trends in Plant Biology Research” at Junagadh, 13-16 December, 2013
A four-day national conference of Plant Physiology-2013 (NCPP-2013) on “Current trends in plant biology research” was organised jointly by the Directorate of Groundnut Research (DGR) and Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) from 13-16th December, 2013 at Junagadh in association with Indian Society for Plant Physiology (ISPP), New Delhi. During the inaugural session on 13th December, Prof. Swapan Kumar Datta, DDG (CS), ICAR, New Delhi was present as the chief guest while Dr. K.C. Bansal, Director, NBPGR, New Delhi was present as the Guest of Honour. The inaugural session was chaired by Dr. N. C. Patel, Vice-Chancellor, JAU, Junagadh. Dr. C.J. Dangaria, Director of Research, JAU, Junagadh was also among the dignitaries seated on the dias. While welcoming the participants and guests, Dr. J.B. Misra, Director, DGR apprised them of important personalities and historical importance of Junagadh. Dr. Madan Pal Singh, Honorary Secretary, ISPP presented an overview of the Conference and Society.
In his inaugural address, Prof. S.K. Datta, mentioned about the importance and role of Plant Physiology in the present scenario of agricultural and plant biology research and emphasized the importance of modern biotechnological research approaches to tackle the issues concerning agricultural research in the country. He wished the conference would come up with suggestions that would guide the future course of research in plant biology. Dr. K.C. Bansal, stressed on the importance of research in the areas of plant physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology. He outlined the achievements made in the areas of modern plant biology research and the future areas for cutting-edge research.
The Chairman, Dr. N.C. Patel, Vice-Chancellor, JAU, Junagadh in his address highlighted the importance of plant physiology and the significant achievements made by JAU in various fields. He urged the participants to have a glimpse of various departments and available facilities for gaining an insight of research work being carried out in Junagadh Agricultural University at Junagadh. Later in the evening the participants enjoyed the cultural programme full of dance, music and humour.
About 450 participants comprising of academicians, researchers, private sector and entrepreneurs participated in the inaugural function of the conference. During inauguration, the souvenir of NCPP-2013 covering messages from the Hon. President of India, Governor of Gujarat, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Agricultural Minister of India, the Director General of ICAR, Deputy Director General of ICAR, and luminaries like Dr. MS Swaminathan, Dr. SK Sopory, Dr. AK Tyagi, Dr. NC Patel, a 978 page proceeding book (in electronic form), Research accomplishment of Basic Sciences unit of DGR, Junagadh and a book on Recent Advances in Crop Physiology were released. The event was covered by a large number of media persons─ both from print and electronic. All the information's of the conference is available on the web: www.ncpp13.nrcg.res.in.
During this four day event, 3 memorial Award lectures and 25 invited lead lectures were delivered, and 62 oral presentations were made by the eminent scientists. The conference covered six thematic areas during the technical sessions, viz., i) Climate change, abiotic and biotic stresses, ii) Photosynthesis, growth and productivity, iii) Mineral nutrition, microbial interactions and biofortification, iv) Plant growth regulators and agrochemicals use in agriculture and horticulture, v) Flowering, tree physiology and quality control of fruits and vegetables and vi) Seed and post-harvest physiology, functional food and neutraceuticals. More than 300 poster presentations were an added attraction for researchers and research scholars representing various thematic areas. Two special sessions, one on management of abiotic stresses and the other for young scientists besides a panel discussion on GM crops were also held.
On 14th December, the panel discussion on GM crops was chaired by Prof. S.K. Sopory, Vice-Chancellor, JNU, New Delhi while Dr. A.K. Tyagi, Director, NIPGR, New Delhi Co-chaired the session. Scientists were nearly unanimous on the issue of continuation of research for developing GM crops to tackle such problems which were otherwise not possible through conventional approaches.
The plenary session was chaired by Dr. P.S. Deshmukh, former Head, Plant Physiology, IARI, New Delhi, who mentioned that all the thematic areas of the conference were well deliberated upon. The Chairmen and Co-Chairmen of the various sessions indeed did a commendable job. Dr. Deshmukh hoped that the experienced gained by the participants would help pursue their research work with a renewed vigour and also open new vistas. The conference was concluded on 16th December 2013 with a fervent vote of thanks by Dr. A. L. Singh, the Organising Secretary of the Conference.
