Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor Dr. Z. P. Patel graced the inaugural function of four days 3rd Asian Congress on the topic ‘Plant Pathology: Plant and Soil Health Management for a Better Tomorrow’ of Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology (ISMPP), Udaipur as Guest of Honour on February 07, 2024. The Asian Congress is being jointly organized by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar (SDAU, S.K. Nagar), Gujarat and ISMPP at the Sardarkrushinagar from February 07-10, 2024.
Dr. R. M. Chauhan, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, SDAU was the President of the function; Dr. C.D. Mayee, Former Chairman, ASRB, New Delhi, President, South Asia Biotechnology Centre and President, Indian Society for Cotton Improvement, Mumbai was Chief Guest. Dr. A.N. Mukhopadhyay, Former Vice-Chancellor, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat (West Bengal); Dr. S.S. Chahal, Former Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan); Dr. R. Sarada Jayalakshmi Devi Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor ANGRAU, Guntur (A.P.) as Guest of Honour; Dr. Lalit Mahatma, President, ISMPP, Udaipur and Associate Director of Research, NAU, Navsari and Dr. Pokhar Rawal, Secretary, ISMPP and Professor & Head, Department of Plant Pathology, MPUA&T, Udaipur.
Hon’ble VC in his inaugural address sensitized the participants to work on Area wide Integrated Plant Disease Management and Integrated People Management so that the disease management practices can be applied on the wide area for the efficient and effective crop disease management. He also discussed about the development of disease calendar based on the crop phenology as well as use of Biochar for the soil health management and climate smart agriculture.