VIJAYAWADA: Dr A Vishnuvardhan Reddy, who will be completing one year in office as the vice-chancellor of Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU) has brought in a sea of changes in spheres of both academics and research, besides vastly improving the infrastructure of the varsity, which saw it jump from 31st rank to 13th rank among the 74 agriculture universities in the country.
Under his leadership, ANGRAU has released 455 crop varieties/hybrids so far in cereals/millets (occupying 95% area in the State), pulses (occupying 60 % area in the State), oilseeds (occupying 50 % area in the State), commercial crops and others which are being cultivated in various parts of the country as well.
The varsity has developed 22 improved varieties of various field crops during 2020. Twelve improved varieties of rice (4), pulses (3), sugarcane (2), foxtail millet (2) and finger millet (1) were released at the State level. At national level, 10 improved crop varieties of rice (3), pulses (2), groundnut (2), finger millet (1), horse gram (1), tobacco(1) were released. It has received two patents.
Most important input in agriculture is seed. The University has produced 21,021 quintal of breeder seeds and 22,043 quintal of foundation seed in 2020-21, totalling to 43,064 quintal. The seed was further supplied to farmers. Compared to the seed supplied to farmers in 2019-2020, this year saw a steep increase of two and half times as a total of 16,000 quintal was supplied during 2019-2020. A target of 1 lakh quintal of seed is set for 2021-22.
He was also instrumental in the development of SOPs for drone spraying in agriculture for pesticides, and micro-nutrients for nine major crops like rice, cotton, maize, black gram, red gram, bengal gram, groundnut, sorghum and sugarcane. During the pandemic, online classes were conducted for the UG/PG and Ph.D students. Guest lectures were organized with illustrious faculty.