Kulandaivelu Velmourougane

• Ph.D (Microbiology)
• Principal Scientist at Central Institute for Cotton Research

Millets are climate-resilient crops that alleviate malnutrition and improve food security in several developing countries. Although sporadic reports on the nutritional aspects of millets are available, comprehensive data on the effects of millet cultivation on soil health in rainfed calcareous Vertisol has not yet been studied. With this research g...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) constitute an important component of plant-soil-microbiome interactions. However, the soil VOCs diversity of cotton species has not been studied so far. With this research gap, this work was conducted to profile soil VOCs diversity among wild and cultivated cotton species. Widely used plasticizers such as dibutyl p...

Fertilizers and plant protection chemicals have played crucial role in modern agriculture. However, their excessive and imbalanced use over decades has resulted in the degradation and deterioration of soil health. The sustainability of agricultural systems largely depends on improving soil health. In this context, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (...

Although several intercropping systems have been reported for cotton, the effects of legume under high-density planting systems on soil biology and nutrient availability in rainfed Vertisol have not yet been studied. With this research gap, we performed a comprehensive evaluation of different legumes (black gram, cluster beans, cowpea, green gram,...

Sucking pests cause significant yield and quality loss in cotton. Farmers largely depend on conventional insecticides to manage them. Continuous use of pesticides resulted in pest resistance to insecticides, resurgence of minor pests, decline of natural enemies and increase in environmental pollution apart from escalating cost of production. Althou...

Book Description: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are considered enormously important in contemporary agriculture and horticulture due to their important role in nutrient, biotic and abiotic stress management apart from enhancing plant health and soil fertility, etc. AMF is one of the important fungi for soil aggregation, which helps in drought...

Global warming and its effect on soil health are a potential threat to global agriculture with regard to providing ecosystem services to the ever-growing population. Climate change-induced soil degradation and subsequent crop loss lead to unfavorable effects on food security and economic issues, besides resulting in competition for available land r...

Microbial biofilms are a recent innovations in bioinoculant technology, owing to their diverse agronomical advantages to soil and crop health under climate change situations. However, biofilms and their effect on innate plant defense enzyme activities have been less investigated. This study centred toward evaluating the effects of Azotobacter chroo...

In the Indo-Gangetic Plains, extensive crop residue burning (CRB) of wheat stubble is done during the month of May. Soot emitted following CRB, a serious environmental pollutant, affects cloud properties. Though important, it is poorly understood as an ice nucleating particle. During the summer season, on 13 May 2020, an unusually heavy rainfall ev...

Among the agricultural commodity, cotton consumes 8.5% of NPK fertilizers. However, the amendments of micronutrient fertilizers are not a common practice under rainfed vertisols, and their deficiencies hamper cotton productivity. A field experiment was conducted in Bt-cotton hybrid (Rasi-659 BGII) with a customized micronutrient fertilizer combinat...

Soil compaction is a major physical constraint in cotton production. At present, no information is available on the effects of compaction on the root growth and root anatomy of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Therefore , we studied the effects of subsoiling (shallow (SSS) and deep (DSS)) and crop rotation (pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)-cotton (PCR) an...

Field trials were conducted to study the effects of microbial biofilm-based formulation (MBF) as seed treatment, soil application, foliar spray, and seed + soil + foliar application (SSF) on cotton growth and soil health at ICAR-CICR, Nagpur, and Coimbatore. Overall, the inoculation of MBF as SSF significantly enhanced the cotton growth, root attri...

Cotton stalks, remaining after the cotton is harvested, are considered waste material and disposed of by burning. Presently, the supply of good quality manure, such as farmyard manure (FYM) is low. Thus, recycling of cotton stalks as compost can reduce the dependency on FYM apart from reducing inorganic fertilizer use and soil health enhancement. S...

Microbes and their products play a key role in complementing chemical fertilizers, plant protection chemicals by eliciting defense mechanisms in crop plants, thereby providing immunity and resistance against diverse stresses. Among the different environmental technologies used to mitigate climate change, several microbiological interventions are pr...

In India, there are no exploitable potassium (K) reserves and the entire demand of K fertilizers is met by imports. Though Indian soils are naturally rich in K, plant K requirement is partially fulfilled owing to their slow release rate. Application of potential K solubilizing bacteria can improve K solubilization and its availability. We conducted...

Purpose No attempts were made to analyze the diversity in soil and plant biology of wild cotton species (WCS) and cultivated cotton species (CCS), so far. Our study aimed to understand the differences in soil biological, plant biochemistry, and defense enzyme activities among the ten WCS and four CCS. Methods We studied the differences in soil bio...

Growing live mulch between the wide-row spaced transgenic Bt cotton hybrids is a low-cost option to control weeds compared to the use of plastic mulch. However, nothing is known about their effects on soil biology. Therefore, soil samples were collected from a long-term field study (2014–15 to 2018–19) to investigate the soil biological activities...

Cotton is an important natural fibre crop, which provides fibre, oil and feed to the society. Cotton stalks and cotton gin trash are the major on-farm and off-farm by-product in cotton cultivation, respectively. It is estimated that on an average, 2-5 tonnes of cotton stalks are generated from one hectare of a cotton field depending upon the variet...

In recent years, sustainability of agricultural systems has become an important issue all over the world. Maintaining soil health under intensive land use is a major challenge for the sustainable use of resources in the developing world. Assessing land use-induced changes in soil properties is essential for addressing the issue of agro-ecosystem tr...

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum, non-selective, contact herbicide, dominating the global pesticide market and the most widely used agricultural chemicals worldwide, to manage pre-and post-emergence weeds. Despite the fact that glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides are widely used, and claimed as a "once in a century herbicide", there remains ex...

Cotton stalks, remaining after the cotton is harvested, are considered waste material and disposed of by burning. Presently, the supply of good quality manure, such as farmyard manure (FYM) is low. Thus, recycling of cotton stalks as compost can reduce the dependency on FYM apart from reducing inorganic fertilizer use and soil health enhancement. S...

The persistence, survival, and availability of the applied agri-inputs (water, fertilizers, and other soil/plant amendments) including microbial inoculants in the rhizosphere of crop plants have become a major problem in agriculture. Rhizosphere engineering is an innovative approach through which the soil biophysical properties are modified to infl...

The hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae causes serious crop losses in rice. As phyllospheric microbes share a common habitat with this foliar pathogen, they can be deployed as the change-agents for engineering desired phyllospheric microbial communities to inhibit the disease progression. Comparative evaluation of a set of native micr...

Exogenous addition of growth stimulants or other chemicals to soil-less medium is a common practice for enhancing biomass and productivity, and a promising amendment option can be cyanobacteria, a ubiquitous group of photosynthetic, plant growth promoting and agriculturally beneficial microorganisms, used as biofertilizers in agriculture. The perfo...

Leaching of fertilizer N as nitrate pollutes groundwater. Further, surface-applied fertilizers can be lost through runoff following water erosion and contaminates surface water bodies. Quantity of N lost through leaching and surface runoff would depend on the agro-ecosystem. The probable safe limit of nitrates in-1 groundwater based on available li...

Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) and Trichoderma viride (Tv) represent agriculturally important and beneficial plant growth promoting options which contribute towards nutrient management and biocontrol, respectively. When Az and Tv are co-cultured, they form a biofilm, which has proved promising as an inoculant in several crops; however, the basic aspe...

Microbial biofilms are gaining importance in agriculture, due to their multifaceted agronomic benefits and resilience to environmental fluctuations. This study focuses on comparing the influence of single inoculation ‐Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) or Trichoderma viride (Tv) and their biofilm (Tv‐Az), on soil and plant metabolic activities in wheat a...

Availability of nutrients in soil plays an important role in the productivity and quality of flowers in chrysanthemum. A set of novel biofilm inoculants- Anabaena-Azotobacter, Anabaena-Pseudomonas fluorescens (An-Psf) and Anabaena-Trichoderma (An-Tr) were applied as carrier based dry formulation or soil drench and their performance compared in two...

Severity of plant diseases is often influenced by the availability of nutrients, particularly N; however, its effect on the phyllosphere microbiome in foliar pathogen challenged plants is less investigated in rice. The tripartite interaction among the fungal pathogen (Magnaporthe oryzae), rice cultivars (basmati and non-basmati, blast resistant or...

Cotton is an important fibre crop of global significance and economy. For an effective control of bollworms, transgenic Bt cotton was introduced on a commercial scale in 1996, with an aim to reduce pesticide consumption. Presently, transgenic cotton is grown on 24 million hectares which occupies 14% of global acreage planted to transgenic crops (18...

Plant and microbes interact with each other and with other fauna and flora in the environment, and these interactions are modulated by abiotic factors. The rhizosphere is one of the active zones for such activities, which facilitate nutrient transformations and cross talk among beneficial and pathogenic flora and fauna. The net results are manifest...

Cotton is an important fibre crop of global and economic significance. For effective control of bollworms, transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton was introduced on a commercial scale in 1996, with an aim to reduce pesticide consumption. Presently, transgenic cotton is grown on 24 million hectares, which occupies 14% of global acreage planted...

Phototrophic biofilms are complex conglomerations of light-driven microorganisms as autotrophs with heterotrophs embedded in a mucilaginous matrix comprising EPS (extracellular polymeric substances), attached to a solid surface. EPS provide structural and functional integrity and is essential for the physico-chemical and biological properties of th...

AimsEstablishment of inoculated biofilms on root surfaces and their effect on plant enzyme activities and nutrient availability in the rhizosphere are less investigated. Two beneficial inoculants- Trichoderma spp. and Azotobacter spp., and the biofilm developed using them as partners, were evaluated in chickpea crop. The hypothesis tested was that...

Rice paddies are man-made, cross-over ecologies of aquatic and terrestrial systems, which favor the proliferation of characteristic microbial communities. Moisture regimes under flooded and different levels of irrigation such as in direct seeded rice (DSR) and system of rice intensification (SRI) lead to modulation in crop physiology, soil nutrient...

The effect of growth media manipulation on the in vitro biofilm forming ability of Azotobacter chroococcum MTCC 25045 and Trichoderma viride ITCC 2211, both as individual cultures and co-culture was evaluated for 16 days. Growth curves (Bioscreen C lab system) and type of microbial population (planktonic and biofilm) helped to validate the aggregat...

Aim: The effects of L-amino acids on growth and biofilm formation in Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) and Trichoderma viride (Tv) as single (Az, Tv) and staggered inoculated cultures (Az-Tv, Tv-Az) was investigated. Methods and results: A preliminary study using a set of twenty L-amino acids, identified six amino acids (L-Glu, L-Gln, L-His, L-Ser, L...

The abundance of phyllosphere bacterial communities of seven genotypes of rice −ADT- 38, ADT-43, CR-1009, PB-1, PS-5, P-44, and Pusa Basmati was investigated, in relation to nutrient dynamics of rhizosphere and leaves. P-44 genotype recorded highest pigment accumulation, while genotypes CR-1009 and P-44 exhibited most number of different bacterial...

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are important structural components of biofilms. In the present study, the EPS in biofilms developed using two agriculturally beneficial organisms- Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) and Trichoderma viride (Tv) were quantified and characterised. Time course experiments were undertaken to optimize the EPS yield of...

Microbial biofilms are a fascinating subject, due to their significant roles in the environment, industry, and health. Advances in biochemical and molecular techniques have helped in enhancing our understanding of biofilm structure and development. In the past, research on biofilms primarily focussed on health and industrial sectors; however, latel...

A basic assessment of soil health is necessary to evaluate the degradation status and changing trends following different land uses and management interventions. The earliest recorded agricultural activity describes attempts to improve soil properties and crop productivity through application of manures, ash, minerals and other amendments. It is im...

This chapter reviews various reports relevant to a wide array of sustainability challenges faced by different stakeholders along the coffee production chain. As an example, particular emphasis is laid on India, which is one of the major coffee producing and exporting countries in the world. Coffee cultivation faces different challenges at different...

A study was undertaken with an objective of evaluating the long-term impacts of organic (ORG) and conventional (CON) methods of coffee farming on soil physical, chemical, biological, and microbial diversity. Electrical conductivity and bulk density were found to increase by 34% and 21%, respectively, in CON compared to ORG system, while water holdi...

There are no comprehensive reports available on impact of shaded and un-shaded coffee agrosystems on soil biology and microbiological processes. The present study compared the changes in soil biological and microbiological attributes along with coffee quality under different levels of shade and elevation for coffee in India. Significantly (p < 0.05...

Current status of land/soil resources of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is analysed to highlight the issues that need to be tackled in near future for sustained agricultural productivity. There are intra regional variations in soil properties, cropping systems; status of land usage, groundwater utilization and irrigation development which vary acro...

Land evaluation is carried out to assess the suitability of land for a specific use. Land evaluation procedures focus increasingly on the use of quantitative procedures to enhance the qualitative interpretation of land resource surveys. Conventional Boolean retrieval of soil survey data and logical models for assessing land suit-ability, treat both...

The sustenance of food and nutritional security are the major challenges of the 21st century. The domestic food production needs to increase per annum at the rate of 2% for cereals and 0.6% for oilseeds and pulses to meet the demand by 2030. The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR) are the two major food production zones of t...

Five benchmark soils, namely Fatehpur (Punjab) and Haldi (Uttarakhand) non-sodic soils, Zarifa Viran (Haryana), Sakit and Itwa sodic soils (Uttar Pradesh) representing Trans, Upper, Middle and Central Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) were revisited for studying the morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils at low and high management levels...

Soil information system in SOTER (soil and terrain digital database) framework is developed for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and black soil regions (BSR) of India with the help of information from 842 georeferenced soil profiles including morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils in addition to the site characteristics and climatic...

Land-use planning is a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use is shaped by society–nature interaction, in land-use planning different components/facets play a significant role involving soil, water, climate, animal (ruminant/ non-ruminant) and other...

Land-use planning is a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use is shaped by society-nature interaction, in land-use planning different components/facets play a significant role involving soil, water, climate, animal (rumi-nant/non-ruminant) and other...

Land-use planning is a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use is shaped by society–nature interaction, in land-use planning different components/facets play a signifi-cant role involving soil, water, climate, animal (rumi-nant/non-ruminant) and othe...

Sustaining soil and land quality under intensive land use and fast economic development is a major chal-lenge for improving crop productivity in the develop-ing world. Assessment of soil and land quality indicators is necessary to evaluate the degradation status and changing trends of different land use and management interventions. During the last...

Crop simulation models have emerged as powerful tools for estimating yield gaps, forecasting production of agricultural crops and analysing the impact of cli-mate change. In this study, the genetic coefficients for Bt hybrids established from field experiments were used in the InfoCrop-cotton model, which was cali-brated and validated earlier to si...

Soil information system in SOTER (soil and terrain digital database) framework is developed for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and black soil regions (BSR) of India with the help of information from 842 georefer-enced soil profiles including morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils in addition to the site characteristics and climati...

Understanding the physical quality of soil that influ-ences its hydraulic behaviour helps in formulating appropriate water management strategies for sustain-able crop production. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s) is a key factor governing the hydraulic properties of soils. K s can be estimated through various techniques. In the present article...

In recent years, georeferenced soil information system has gained significance in agricultural land-use planning and monitoring the changes in soil properties/ soil quality induced by land-use changes. The spatio-temporal information on saturated hydraulic conductivity (sHC) and soil water retention–release behaviour is essential for proper crop an...

Land evaluation is carried out to assess the suitability of land for a specific use. Land evaluation procedures focus increasingly on the use of quantitative procedures to enhance the qualitative interpretation of land resource surveys. Conventional Boolean retrieval of soil survey data and logical models for assessing land suit-ability, treat both...

The present study documents the biological properties of the black soil region (BSR) of India in terms of cul-turable microbial population. Besides surface micro-bial population, subsurface population of individual soil horizons is described to improve the soil informa-tion system. An effort has been made to study the depth-wise distribution and fa...

Five benchmark soils, namely Fatehpur (Punjab) and Haldi (Uttarakhand) non-sodic soils, Zarifa Viran (Haryana), Sakit and Itwa sodic soils (Uttar Pradesh) representing Trans, Upper, Middle and Central Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) were revisited for studying the morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils at low and high management levels...

Current status of land/soil resources of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is analysed to highlight the is-sues that need to be tackled in near future for sus-tained agricultural productivity. There are intra-regional variations in soil properties, cropping sys-tems; status of land usage, groundwater utilization and irrigation development which vary a...

The sustenance of food and nutritional security are the major challenges of the 21st century. The domestic food production needs to increase per annum at the rate of 2% for cereals and 0.6% for oilseeds and pulses to meet the demand by 2030. The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR) are the two ma-jor food production zones of...

Comprehensive reports on land-use changes and their impact on soil biological properties, specifically microbial population in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, are lacking. Since IGP is the most fertile land, data on microbial population of IGP may contribute towards the evaluation of various soil quality parameters, disease suppression, or...

The articles presented in this special section emanated from the researches of consortium members of the National Agricultural Innovative Project (NAIP, Component 4) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. These researches have helped develop a soil information system (SIS). In view of the changing scenario all over the wo...

Comprehensive reports on land-use changes and their impact on soil biological properties, specifically microbial population in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, are lacking. Since IGP is the most fertile land, data on microbial population of IGP may contribute towards the evaluation of various soil quality parameters, disease suppression, or...

The present study documents the biological properties of the black soil region (BSR) of India in terms of culturable microbial population. Besides surface microbial population, subsurface population of individual soil horizons is described to improve the soil information system. An effort has been made to study the depth-wise distribution and facto...

Introduction of GM crops into agricultural production systems increased public concern and renewed interest in research on the possible environmental consequences of growing GM crops including human health and ecosystem functioning. Globally, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton occupies 15 million ha which comprised 43 % of the total cotton area of...

A study was undertaken in the established benchmark (BM) soil series in different agro-ecological sub-regions of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs), India with an objective to assess the urease activity and its kinetics at different soil depths. The urease activity declined with increase in soil depth in all the selected BM soils of IGP. The mean urea hyd...

Temporal dynamics of dehydrogenase (DHA) and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) during crop growing season were studied in the organic and conventional grown cotton on rainfed Vertisols. DHA and ALP activities were significantly (p<0.05) higher in soils of the organic plots compared to the conventional system. Peak DHA activity was observed 98 (40...

The presence of mycotoxins, mainly ochratoxin A (OTA), in coffee has been a major barrier of international trade, and greatly affects the economy of the producing country. Coffee beans are prone to mold contamination either during pre-harvest (farm level) or during post-harvest stages (e.g., drying, storage, or transportation). Considering the impo...

The present study documents the biological properties of the black soil region (BSR) of India in terms of cul-turable microbial population. Besides surface microbial population, subsurface population of individual soil horizons is described to improve the soil information system. An effort has been made to study the depth-wise distribution and fact...

Comprehensive reports on land-use changes and their impact on soil biological properties, specifically microbial population in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, are lacking. Since IGP is the most fertile land, data on microbial population of IGP may contribute towards the evaluation of various soil quality parameters, disease suppression, or...

Crop simulation models have emerged as powerful tools for estimating yield gaps, forecasting production of agricultural crops and analysing the impact of climate change. In this study, the genetic coefficients for Bt hybrids established from field experiments were used in the InfoCrop-cotton model, which was calibrated and validated earlier to simu...

Land-use planning is a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use is shaped by society–nature interaction, in land-use planning different components/facets play a significant role involving soil, water, climate, animal (ruminant/ non-ruminant) and other...