Shimla (The Hawk): Pramod Sharma, Senior Scientist of Department of Fruit Science, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, has brought laurels to the university by bagging ‘Outstanding Young Researcher Award in PGPR’ for Sustainable Agriculture at the 7th Asian International Conference for Sustainable Agriculture held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. The conference was organised by the Asian PGPR Society (APSSA) and Malaysian PGPR Society held at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The conference theme was Regenerating Agriculture with Beneficial Microbes for Improving Crop Productivity and Safety. The conference was inaugurated by YB Datuk Seri Dr. Ronald Kiandee, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries, Malaysia and Dr MS Reddy, a renowned scientist.
The Society recognized the service, scientific innovations, and significant accomplishments of Dr. Sharma. The award was given during an impressive gala ceremony where more than 175 scientists from 65 different countries were present across the world. During the conference, Dr. Sharma was additionally awarded ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ for Oral presentation on a research paper titled ‘Impact of Zinc nano-fertilization and Zinc Solubilizing PGPR on production of strawberry’. Dr. Pramod Kumar, Dr. Naveen Chand Sharma, Simran Saini, Divya Joshi, Dr DP Sharma and D Balachander have undertaken the research. The conference covered the most recent scientific discoveries that decipher the role of beneficial microbes including rhizosphere microbiome research as opening up new paths for future agricultural research. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are the rhizosphere bacteria that have wider acceptability in fruit farming to enhance plant growth. UHF Vice Chancellor Prof Rajeshwar Singh Chandel congratulated Dr. Sharma for his efforts and achievements. The staff and students also congratulated Dr. Sharma.
