During the last sixty years or so the field of Cotton research and production technology has reached new horizons especially in the areas of Cotton Improvement and Plant Protection through newer and more efficient technologies. Improvement in Cotton has provided more convincing evidence and definite use of biotechnology in India which has resulted in increasing the production and is next only to China in production. Dr. G.K. Koutu has been engaged in research with special emphasis on generating material that has been widely used across the country to develop high yielding varieties and hybrids with very high yields and excellent fiber properties. Dr. P.P. Shastry is known across the country for his pioneering work on New Wilt of Cotton. Dr. D.K. Mishra, Professor & Head Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, JNKVV, Jabalpur has a distinguished academic record. He has been engaged in research and teaching. Dr. K.C. Mandloi has been one of the stalwart cotton breeders of the country. The first naturally colored cotton variety in the G. hirsute category in India is an unpatrolled contribution in the field of eco friendly production of cotton in the country. This publication is a compilation of almost all the developments in cotton production technology in India. Chapters II and III have been devoted for crop improvement covering development of intra-hirsute hybrids and straight varieties both in G.hirsutum and G.arboreum categories. The IVth chapters deals with the cultivation practices and the technologies evolved in the field of production technology. The Vth chapter covers seed production technology. Two chapters have been exclusively devoted for transgenic cotton and issues related with biosafety of transgenic cotton. Since New Wilt has been one of the biggest constraints in hybrid cotton cultivation, one chapter deals with this problem in sufficient detail. Organic cotton cultivation is gaining a strong foothold in the country and therefore it was felt necessary to deal this subject separately. Similarly, naturally colored cotton has been dealt in a separate chapter. During the last decade, fiber quality has become the main focus both for cotton breeders and exporters as well. This aspect along with bye-product utilization has been focused in the XI and XIIth chapter.
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Dr. Ganesh Kumar Koutu, Ph.D, is Principal Scientist,Plant Breeding and Genetics at JNKVV, Jabalpur,Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Koutu has obtained his B.Sc.(Ag.)in 1981, M. Sc.(Ag.) Plant Breeding and Genetics in 1983 and Ph.D. Plant Breeding and Genetics in 1988-89 all from JNKVV, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Koutu has joined his service as Assistant Cotton Breeder at Main Cotton Research Centre JNKVV, Khandwa. Dr. Koutu has served more than 20 years in cotton research and development. He has been engaged in cotton research with special emphasis on generating materials that has been widely used across the country to develop high yielding varieties of G. hirsutum and G. arboreum, hybrids with very high yields and excellent fibre properties. He has been associated in the developmentof first naturally coloured cotton variety JCC-1 in the G. hirsutum in India. He has to his credit the development of arboreum varieties Jawahar Tapti, and JK 5, intra-hirsutum hybrid JKHy3 and hirsutumvariety JK 4. He has more than 60 research papers in his credit in journals of national and international repute and has authored several bulletins. He is a member of the general body of MP Science andTechnology, Bhopal and is also member of scientific advisory committee, Climate Change Board, Government. of MP, Bhopal. He is currently working as In-charge National Seed Project, JNKVV,Jabalpur.
Dr. P.P. Shastry born on 4th June, 1955 in Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Shastry did his schooling at Jabalpur and obtained an Honours degree in Microbiology from the University of Bombay in 1975. He did his Post Graduation in Plant Pathology from J.N. Agricultural University, Jabalpur in 1979. He started his career in the Department of Plant Pathology, JNKVV, Jabalpur in June 1980. He initially worked on betelvine focusing his attention on identification of strains and pathogenesis of Xanthomonas campestris pv. betlicola. He joined the College of Agriculture at Khandwa in 1989 and as a part of his doctoral work began working on the New Wilt of Cotton completing his Ph.D.programme in Plant Pathology in 1993 from JNKVV, Jabalpur. His pioneering work on understanding the intricacies of New Wilt has been widely appreciated. It was for this work that he was honoured with the prestigious HEXAMAR Award in 1993 jointly by the Plant Protection Association of India and the Hexamar Agricultural Research Foundation. His research paper on New Wilt was adjudged as the best research paper of the year published in Indian Journal of Plant Protection in 1995 and was honoured with the Smt. Sarada Memorial Award. He has extensively worked on another emerging problem of cotton-Myrothecium leaf blight. It was under his leadership that the Cotton Group at Khandwa was honoured by the District Administration in 2006 for their exceptional contribution in boosting the Cotton production and productivity. He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian Psychopathological Society, New Delhi in 1987 and the Fellow of the Plant Protection Association of India, Hyderabadin 2001. He was the Councilor of the Plant Protection Association ofIndia (2000-03) and at present is the Councilor of the Cotton Research & Development Association, Hisar. Although Dr. Shastry is basically a Plant Pathologist, he has shown immense interest and has worked in close association of Plant breeders. Apart from assisting in developing several varieties of cotton, he has to his credit the development of anarboreum variety JK-5 with excellent fibre properties. Dr. Shastry was closely associated with the introduction of Bt Cotton in Madhya Pradesh and has been sensitizing all the stakeholders in Madhya Pradesh on various biosafety issues. He has recently (2009) visited the United States to study biosafety issues in genetically engineered crops. He has more than 50 research papers to his credit published in Journals of National and International repute and has authored several technical bulletins. He is a member of the Governing Body of the Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology and is also amember of the State Biotechnology Coordination Committee of Madhya Pradesh. He is currently working as Dean, College ofAgriculture, Khandwa under RVSKVV, Gwalior and is also the Head,Main Cotton Research Station, Khandwa.