By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 25 Jan: A five-member team (4 offline and 1 online) of scientists, comprising Dr Rakesh Kumar, Dr Mahesh Gupta, Dr Mohit Sharma, Dr Bhavya Bhargava and Dr Rakshak Kumar (online) from the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, visited Swami Rama Himalayan University, Jolly Grant, on 23-24 January in furtherance of the MoU signed between CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, and SRHU, Dehradun. Presentations were made by the IHBT team on their current R&D protocols developed, patents obtained and technology transferred to multiple stakeholders including many startups, companies, farmers and clusters pan India.
The major focus was on sharing of end-to-end technologies developed under CSIR Floriculture Mission Phase II; CSIR Aroma Mission Phase III; Organic Farming; Food & Nutraceuticals; and Bio-process technology for Bioactive Medicinal and Aromatic plants. The SRHU team shared its core R&D interests; assistance in cluster development for good quality local spices i.e. Haldi, Kesar, Hing and Ginger; their quality assurance and processing for marketing through the Rural Development Institute’s field units and Toli campus, Pauri Garhwal; floriculture, and local fruit-drying technology such as for apples being an integral part of the process.
The Vice Chancellor of SRHU advised focus on 4-5 areas for effective ground-level implementation. He suggested sharing of knowledge by IHBT for setting-up the Herbal Garden being developed by the Himalayan School for Pharmaceutical Sciences (HSPS) in an area of five acres within the campus for growing a variety of local herbs. A project for growing Shiitake mushroom by training of suitable researchers at IHBT; exchange visit of scientists from SRHU to IHBT in mid-April, 2024; and training of faculty & research fellows at IHBT were also agreed to.
