PAU students bring laurels

Ludhiana, July 30

Shailza, a PhD research scholar at the department of floriculture and landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has been awarded the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Fellowship by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, to pursue her PhD research on “Salt stress induced morpho-physiological, biochemical and anatomical changes in ornamental trees and its amelioration with salicylic acid”. The fellowship consists of Rs 31,000 plus 4,000 HRA per month, with a contingent grant of Rs 20,000 per annum.

Another PhD scholar, Lalit Kumar Rolaniya, at the department of agronomy, has been appointed as a scientist by the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB). He had secured first rank in the field of agronomy. In his PhD research, he worked on “Developing water and energy smart portfolios for sustainable cereal based systems under conservation agriculture practices in North-West Indo-Gangetic Plains”, under the guidance of KS Saini, senior agronomist, in association with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), PAU. He had also been awarded the INSPIRE (DST) Fellowship.

Of his research findings, two major cropping systems have been recommended. The first system is seeded rice-wheat, which improves the system productivity about 2.35 per cent with savings of 47 per cent water and 20 per cent nitrogen over a conventional rice-wheat cropping system. The second system is the maize-wheat raised on permanent beds, which improves system productivity about 9 per cent with saving of 53 per cent applied irrigation water and 20 per cent nitrogen over conventional maize-wheat system.

Baldev Singh Dhillon,Vice-Chancellor, and GK Sangha, dean of postgraduate studies congratulated both students for their achievement. —TNS