Dr Ranganathan Chithiraichelvan

                           Ph D, ARS (Retd), FSPH
                

                              Professor  Emeritus
                   

                    BEST Innovation University

Dr Chithiraichelvan has made notable contributions in the field of Horticultural Sciences, particularly the Fruit Science. He has devoted much of his research career on development of production technology for several fruit crops, namely grapes, mango, papaya, mandarin orange, rambutan, annona, aonla and also black pepper. He has also spent more than a decade, as a trainer in the management of agricultural research.

 

His career spans over 36 years as a scientist of the Agricultural Research Service of ICAR, followed by a decade in agricultural education in private universities.

 

Dr Chithiraichelvan, as Head of the Central Horticultural Experiment Station at Chettalli, Kodagu in Western Ghats, initiated an effective project on Rejuvenation of Coorg mandarin, which was one of the pride of Coorg, became totally devastated by the Citrus Greening disease. He reached out to several planters and helped revive Coorg mandarin by extending disease free planting material, produced by growing mother trees under protected cultivation in poly-houses and also improved cultural practices. He introduced newer crops to the region and is a member of the team responsible for releasing two varieties of rambutan, Arka Coorg Arun and Arka Coorg Peetabh. He also worked on Black pepper and took part in development of Arka Coorg Excel, a pepper variety better than Panniyur-1 and suitable for the Coorg region.

 

He was a member of the exploratory team which visited Andamans and the North East and located three native species of mango. He also worked out the growth pattern in edible fig and off-season cropping in Arka Sahan sitaphal. One of his noteworthy training program was Indo-African International Training Program on “Quality seed and planting material” for participants from 11 African countries. Dr Chithiraichelvan has been active in nutrition management of several fruit crops and a pioneer in adapting DRIS norms for fruit crops.

 

He has also developed CAI modules and Decision Support System for mango propagation at NAARM, Hyderabad.  He has been an expert in video communication with training at Cornell University and University of Nebraska and produced more than fifty instructional videos and three commercial/instructional videos for CPCRI and the then PDBC.

He has visited several research institutions in USA, Israel and Lithuania.

He is a member of International Society of Horticultural Sciences, Life member of Horticultural Society of India, Indian Society for Arid Horticulture and Society for Promotion of Horticulture.

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