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Varalakshmi B.

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Designation: 
Principal Scientist (Horticulture)
Division/Section: 
Division of Vegetable Crops
Specialisation: 
Horticulture (Vegetable Breeding- Gourds, Cauliflower & Leafy vegetables)
Qualification: 
M.Sc., (Ag.), Ph.D
Research Accomplishments: 

(During the Period of 2019-2023)

Ridge gourd:

  1. Ridge gourd hybrid, Arka Vikram has been approved for release and notification for Zone IV (Punjab, U.P, Bihar and Jharkhand) and VIII (Karnataka, TN & Kerala) by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Horticultural crops, New Delhi
  2. Ridge gourd variety, Arka Prasan and hybrid, Arka Vikram have recorded 18-20% increased yield over respective checks in Karnataka over two years, hence recommended for Karnataka State release by SVEC, UHS, Bagalkot, Karnataka.
  3. High yielding advanced breeding lines, with an yield potential of 30-34t/ha have been  developed
  4. Five advanced breeding lines having moderate resistance to ToLCNDV (VI ranged from 26 to 31) with a mean yield range of 11-17 t/ha were developed.
  5. Four downy mildew moderately resistant advanced breeding lines with the PDI ranging from 24-30 during two consecutive years were developed.
  6. Nine male sterile back cross populations of BC4, BC5, BC6 generations were advanced in different genetic back grounds (green/long/medium/short fruits).
  7. Two BC3F2 andro-monoecious populations and F2 populations of Arka Sumeet and Arka Prasan background were advanced.

Bitter gourd:

  1. High yielding selections (34-38 t/ha) and lines with high charantin content (1.134 µg/gm dwt) and high momodicin content (8.539 µg/gm dwt) were developed.
  2. Two advanced breeding lines with 32-34 t/ha yield in dark green fruit segment; one line with 28t/ha in the green long fruit segment; another line with 22t/ha in creamy white fruit segment; one line with an  yield of 16t/ha in the muricata segment were developed.

Other activities:

  1. Handling 2 DUS Testing projects funded by PPV&FRA, New Delhi as PI (Vegetable Amaranth, Palak and Ridge gourd) & Co-PI (Bitter gourd).
  2. Guided 4 Ph.D students of IARI-IIHR outreach campus in the field of Vegetable Science.
  3. Registered one powdery mildew resistant bitter gourd line, IIHR-144-1 with NBPGR
  4. Application for registration of Arka Vikram along with parental lines was submitted to PPV&FRA, New Delhi
Varieties / Technologies Developed: 

 

Released 10 varieties, out of which one hybrid got notified at national level for zone 4 & 8, five varieties got notified for Karnataka.  four varieties were identified for releas at Institute level.

  1. Arka Vikram  Ridge gourd F1 hybrid, early flowering hybrid (46 days for first picking),  green, long, tender fruits, excellent cooking quality, nutritionally rich in antioxidant activity and minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and manganese. Yields 34.0 t/ha in 120-135 days duration. Notified for cultivation in Punjab, U.P, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
  2. Arka Prasan is a ridge gourd, early variety (42-45 days for first picking), green, long, tender fruits, excellent cooking quality, nutritionally rich in antioxidant activity and minerals like phosphorus, Calcium and zinc. Yields 26.0 t/ha in 120-135 days duration, Recommended for Karnataka
  3. Vegetable Amaranth variety,  Arka Suguna: Multi-cut Amaranth variety, light green leaves and succulent stem, rich in calcium and iron, moderately resistant to white rust, yields 25-30 t/ha in 8 cuttings in 90 days duration. Notified for cultivation in Karnataka
  4. Arka Arunima, amaranth variety is fast growing multicut variety with purple colored leaves and stem. It has got excellent cooking quality and is rich in vitamins and minerals.  Resistant to white rust, yields 26-28 t/ha from 3 cuttings in 60 days duration.
  5. Arka Samraksha  is a pulling type amaranth variety, rich in antioxidant activity (499 mg AEAC units), low in nitrates and oxalates, yields 10-12 t/ha in 30-35 days. Notified for cultivation in Karnataka
  6. Arka Varna  is a pulling type amaranth variety, rich in antioxidant activity (417mg AEAC units), low in nitrates and oxalates, yields 10-12 t/ha in 30-35 days. Notified for cultivation in Karnataka
  7. Arka Vimal is an early cauliflower variety, has compact creamy white curds, good seed set under tropical conditions, curd yield 17-18 t/ha in 75-80 days, moderately resistant to downy mildew and Alternaria leaf spot.
  8. Arka Spoorthi is an early cauliflower variety, has compact white curds, good seed set under tropical conditions, curd yield 15-16 t/ha in 65-75 days, moderately resistant to downy mildew and Alternaria leaf spot.
  9. Arka Anupama is a palak variety, multi-cut type, late flowering, medium large, dark green, thick and  succulent leaves,  low in oxalates, yields 40t/ha from 4 cuttings in 75-80 days. Notified for cultivation in Karnataka
  10. Arka Isha, coriander variety is a high yielding multicut type. Plants are bushy, leaves broad and leaf lobes short. Late flowering (50 days after sowing). Yields 3.7 t/ha by pulling and 12.17 t/ha by cutting (3 cuts) with good  aroma. Keeping quality at Room Temperature is 3 days and at Low Temperature is 3 weeks without loosing its aroma when stored in polythene bags (100 PE Gauge).
Publications: 

 (Best 10/High Impact) 

  1. Varalakshmi B and Y Suchitha. 2016.  Inheritance of andromonoecy in ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.) L.  Current Science. 110 (11): 2060-2062(NAAS Rating 6.73)
  2. Varalakshmi, B and D. Krishnamurthy. 2017. Genotype × environmental interactions in ridge gourd genotypes for fruit yield and its contributing traits. Indian J. Hort. 74(2), June 2017: 220-226(NAAS Rating 6.16
  3. Varalakshmi, B.,  K S Sanna Manjunath and B Singh.  2018.  Stability Analysis for Fruit Yield and its Component Traits in Indian Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.) Varieties.  Indian J. Plant Genet. Resour. 31(1): 27-31(NAAS Rating 5.54)
  4. Nagesh, G.C. E. Sreenivasa Rao, M. Pitchaimuthu, B.Varalakshmi, D.C.Lakshmana Reddy, D.K. Samuel, A.Rekha and M. Krishna Reddy.  2018. Genetic analysis of resistance to watermelon bud necrosis orthotospovirus in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai]. Plant breeding. 137, (5): 814-822. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12639 (NAAS Rating : 7.66)
  5. Varalakshmi B., M. Pitchaimuthu and E. Sreenivasa Rao. 2019.  Breeding potential of Indian  ridge gourd germplasm for important horticultural traits. Indian J. Hort. 76(1), March 2019: 188-191 (NAAS Rating : 6.10)
  6. Kaur M., Varalakshmi B., Kumar M., Lakshmana Reddy D.C., Mahesha B. and Pitchaimuthu M. 2021. RGAP molecular marker for resistance against yellow mosaic disease in ridge gourd [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.]. J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 185-192.
  7. Manpreet Kaur,  B Varalakshmi, Manish Kumar, E Sreenivasa Rao, M.Pitchaimuthu, B Mahesha, R Venugopalan and  D C Lakshmana Reddy. 2021. Genetic analysis of yellow mosaic disease resistance in loofah. Australasian Plant Pathology. 50: 407–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-021-00787-z (NAAS Rating : 7.42)
  8. Manpreet Kaur, Varalakshmi, B., Pitchaimuthu, M. and Mahesha, B. 2021. Screening Luffa germplasm and advance breeding lines for resistance to Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. J. of Gen. Pl. Pathol. 87:287-294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10327-021-01010-z (NAAS Rating : 6.97)
  9. Varalakshmi, B., M Pitchaimuthu, E Sreenivasa Rao and P Chowdappa. 2022.  Inheritance of Resistance to Downy Mildew [Pseudoperonospora cubensis (Berk. and Curt.) Rostovzev.] in Ridge Gourd [Luff a acutangula (Roxb.) L.] Indian J. Plant Genet. Resour. 35(1): 21–26. DOI 10.5958/0976-1926.2022.00004.3
  10. Varalakshmi B and Rajasekharan P.E. 2022. Characterization, inheritance of male sterility and development of male sterile and maintainer lines in ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula (Roxb.) L.). J. Horti. Sci., 17(1) : 25-33

Books Chapter

 

  1. Prabahakara, B.S., L.B. Naik, N.Mohan and B.Varalakshmi, 2001. Peas and Beans. In Text Book of Vegetables, Tuber crops and Spices. Tech. Eds. S.  Thamburaj and Narendra Singh, ICAR, New Delhi
  2. Varalakshmi, B. 2008. “ Drumstick”.  In  Biodiversity in Horticultural Crops, Vol. II. Biodiversity of vegetables: edited by K.V. Peter. Delhi, Daya, 2008.
  3. Varalakshmi, B., Basella: 2007. In Under Utilized and Under Exploited Horticultural Crops. Ed. K.V.Peter. New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi, India, pp 247-254
  4. Varalakshmi, B. 2010. “Future Leaf Vegetables” In “Under-utilized and under-exploited Horticultural Crops” Ed. K.V.Peter. New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi, India
  5. Varalakshmi, B. 2014. “Vegetable amaranth” In "Handbook of Vegetables” (editors: K.V. Peter and P. Hazra) published by Studium Press, Houston, Texas, USA.
  6. Varalakshmi, B. 2014. “Bottle gourd”. In “Handbook of Horticulture”. Published by ICAR, New Delhi

 

Patents: 
Registered two elite Amaranth germplasm , IIHR-31 & 50 with NBPGR, New Delhi
Awards & Recognitions: 

 

  1. Best Poster award (II) was awarded to Varalakshmi B., H.B. Raghupathi, M. Pitchaimuthu, E. Sreenivas Rao, C.K. Sindhuja, A.N. Lokesha, V.M. Shilpashree and K.S. Shivashankar for the poster entitled “Development of superior advanced selections with high nutritional and nutraceutical properties in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)” In: International Conference on Vegetable Research and Innovations for Nutrition, Entrepreneurship and Environment (ICVEG-21)  held at IIVR, Varanasi from 14-16th December, 2021 organized by ICAR-IIVR & ISVS, Varanasi
  2. ‘Smt. Anne Shikhamany Memorial Best Paper Award’ for the year 2021 was awarded to  Kaur M., Varalakshmi B., Kumar M., Lakshmana Reddy D.C., Mahesha B. and Pitchaimuthu M. for “RGAP molecular marker for resistance against yellow mosaic disease in ridge gourd [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.]” which was published in Journal of Horticultural Sciences Vol.16(2) December 2021.
  3. Commendation Certificate and Medallion Award  during the Training programme on Advanced Course on “Human Resources Management in Agriculture” sponsored by ICAR and held at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. 
  4. PPV&FRA, New Delhi conferred 'Certificate of Appreciation during 2016-17
  5. Member of IIHR-EFC committee since 2020
  6. Meber secretary for VTIC from 2017-2020
Permanent Address: 
#1558/1, First Floor, 5th Cross, BSK 1St Stage, II Block, Bangalore-560 050
Address for Communication: 

#1558/1, Upstairs, 5thCross,IIBlock, Banashankari1stStageBangalore, Karanataka,560050

Email Address: 
varalakshmi.b@icar.gov.in
Telephone #: 
080-23086100 Extn 284