Dr. Leslie, C. Coleman, Imperial Mycologist and the first Director of Agricultural Department of erstwhile Mysore state in 1908, undertook comprehensive studies on pest and diseases of important crops of the state. His pioneering work on the cause and control of koleroga of arecanut, coffee rust and sandal spike besides introduction of Bordeaux mixture to tackle the disease problems marked the beginning of Plant Pathology. Teaching of Plant Pathology was started in 1913 at Hebbal Agricultural School and a full fledged department of Plant Pathology came into existence in 1946 with the establishment of Agricultural College at Hebbal. The postgraduate programme leading to Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Plant Pathology was started with the launching of the University of Agriculture Sciences, Bangalore in 1964. The department is offering courses to B.Sc. (Agri.), B.Sc. (Ag. Maco & Coop.), B.Sc. (Seri.) and B.Tech (Ag. Engg.) at UG level and M.Sc. (Agri.) and Ph.D at PG level under Semester system. The department offers advanced courses in Immunology and Serology, Physiological Plant Pathology, Molecular Plant Pathology, Mycology, Virology, Bacteriology and Nematology. The faculty comprising of experts in the above fields conduct basic, advanced and problem oriented research pertaining to the various facets of plant diseases. The Department was headed by eminent Plant Pathologists viz., Dr. H. C. Govindu (Mycology), Dr. K. G. H. Setty, (Nematology), Dr. V. Muniyappa (Virology) and Dr. A. N. A. Khan (Bacteriology). Since inception of the department in the University, as many as 107 Ph.D and 396 M.Sc.(Agri.) students have been awarded degrees besides, Six Ph.D students of this department namely, Dr. V. Muniyappa, Dr. K. Balaraman, Dr. Srikant Kulkarni, Dr. A. N. A. Khan, Dr. K. S. Shankarappa and Dr. C. N. Lakshminarayana Reddy have been awarded with prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru award by the ICAR for their outstanding research theses in plant pathology. At All India level, in ASRB selections, several Alumni of this department have been selected as ARS scientists.

The department has received funds and technical assistance from various international organizations such as Ford foundation, Rockefeller foundation, PL.480, UNDP/ICAR, DFID, DBT, DST etc., in the fields of Fungal Pathology, Plant Virology, Plant Bacteriology, Plant nematology and Nano technology. The research grants are also being received from the ICAR, National Horticultural Board, National Horticultural Mission, State Plan Research Grants and also from the private firms. The department has upgraded laboratory facilities in recent years with the funds provided under DST FIST and RKVY programmes. The infrastructure, equipments and other lab facilities have been strengthened through funding from ICAR, DST, DBT, NHM, RKVY, NAIP and also State funded projects. The department is equipped with a Biocontrol Laboratory, Plant Health Clinic and Molecular Diagnostic Labs. As a result, the department is catering to the needs of the farming community and various agro based industries of Karnataka with respect to the diagnosis and management of various diseases on several crops. Three tomato cultivars viz., Nandi, Vybhav and Sankranti resistant to Tomato Leaf Curl Virus and one pigeon pea sterility mosaic resistant variety, ICP 7035 have been developed and released for cultivation from the department.

Major activities of the department include disease diagnostic service to the farmers, testing of tissue culture planting material for virus diseases, adaptation of e-surveillance and forewarning system for issuing early advisory on diseases in selected crops of Karnataka and production of bioagents. The department is also being accredited by DBT, Government of India for certification of tissue culture derived plants of different species. The department has developed an IPM portal (www.ekrishiseve-uasb.com) which consists of Apps for crop management and expert system for the benefit of various stake holders in agriculture. Using the mobile Apps the farmers and field workers can consult with the experts in the department. The department is also responsible for post entry quarantine (PEQ) activities.

Vision of the department is to strengthen graduate students with skills in Plant Pathology besides hands on training and motivating postgraduate students to pursue quality research to cater crop protection needs of the farming community. The department is striving to upgrade itself as “Centre of Excellence in Plant Pathology” at the national level.

Dr.N. Nagaraj
Professor and Head
Department of Plant Pathlogy
UAS, GKVK, Bangalore - 560065
+91-80-2333 0153 Extn. 294
+91-98456 13401