CUTTACK: A multidisciplinary team of scientists from ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack led by Dr Amaresh Nayak bagged the Nanaji Deshmukh ICAR Award for outstanding interdisciplinary research in agriculture at the 93rd ICAR Foundation Day function held virtually on Friday.
The scientists have adopted a multi-pronged strategy in the area of optimisation of nitrogen (N) for rice involving 4Rs (right dose, right time, right source and right method of application) nutrient stewardship, identifying factors responsible for enhancing N use efficiency of rice and developing fertilise-responsive rice varieties.
Scientists Sangita Mohanty, Rahul Tripathi, Mohammad Shahid, Upendra Kumar, Jitendriya Meher, Shyamaranjan Das Mohapatra, Dibyendu Chatterjee and Anjani Kumar from soil science, plant breeding, entomology and microbiology departments were part of the team.
A mobile application on fertiliser calculator developed by NRRI has also facilitated rice farmers to apply appropriate nutrients and the app has been downloaded by more than 46,000 users from over 176 countries, Dr Nayak said.
The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, certificate and citation. Union Ministers of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Railway and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Fishery Purusottam Rupala and Director of ICAR-NRRI Dr Dipankar Maiti were present.