Three-day ISAE convention from today

Ludhiana: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) will organise the 49th Annual Convention of Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) and symposium on "Engineering Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Processing" from February 23-25. The programme will be jointly coordinated by the ISAE and the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, PAU. Scientific sessions, including lead papers as well as key note addresses by national and international speakers of repute will be organised. Individual research papers will be presented in two categories, namely, oral and poster paper presentations.

Dr JS Mahal, Dean of the college and convener of the programme, said agricultural engineering is poised to gain great importance in the years to come. India is a growing market for food products and food processing sector is one of the largest sectors in the country in terms of production, growth, consumption and export, he added. Thus, the properly developed agro-processing sector can make India a global player for marketing and supply of processed food, feed and other plant and animal products, he said. 

Two varsity scientists take part in global conference

Two scientists of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Dr HS  Rattanpal, senior horticulturist, and Dr Sandeep Singh, assistant entomologist, participated in the "International Conference on Citriculture: Challenges and Management" at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, Pakistan, from February 11-13. Both the scientists are working on citrus in the Department of Fruit Science, PAU. The Department of Horticulture, Bahauddin Zakariya University organised the conference, wherein more than 200 scientists from Pakistan, India and China took part. 

Dr Rattanpal presented his oral paper on advanced techniques in micro-propagation of rough lemon while Dr Singh presented his oral paper on management of fruit flies with bait application technique on kinnow. Both the scientists were members of international steering committee of the conference. Dr Rattanpal co-chaired the session on citrus breeding while Dr Singh co-chaired the session on plant protection. Dr Singh was also a member of the poster evaluation committee for selection of best poster. A special visit to a local citrus processing unit and citrus orchards was also organised during the conference. — TNS