R.
Krishnamurthy
Rajagopalan Krishnamurthy (born 27 March 1928) is 2 Hybrids developed in the private
one of the authorities on cotton research in India. He is a
prolic Indian plant breeder who introduced a myriad of
cotton varieties for commercial cultivation.[1] He served
in the Department of Agriculture of Tamil Nadu for one
decade and almost 28 years in Indian Council of Agri-
cultural Research (ICAR). He has released as many as 6
varieties from G. Hirsutum, two from G. Barbadense and
three hybrids during his tenure in ICAR Service. All of
them are prominent and accepted by the farmers as well
as the textile mills at Tamil Nadu and elsewhere. He com-
pleted B. Sc.(Agri.) and M. Sc. (Agri.) in plant breeding
and genetics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore. He is also the Research Director - Cotton
of Rasi Seeds Pvt. Ltd.
1 Famous varieties
1.1 Suvin cotton
Suvin is the Jewel in the Indian cotton crown. The king
of cotton and Indias pride. Suvin variety was released
in 1979 by cross breeding Sujatha (Indian cotton vari-
ety) with St.Vincent (Sea-Island cotton variety). Suvin
is the nest cotton being produced in India and has no
parallel and alternative in the world today. It is the only
commercially available ber in the world with spinabil-
ity up to 240s count. The highest production of Suvin
was 36,000 bales (170 kg), achieved in the year 1989-90.
However, the production of Suvin has depleted steadily
over the years and currently stands at 300 MT i.e. around
1250 bales.[2]
1.2 Other varieties
Other varieties include b[3][4]
MCU-5 (VT) in 1982
LRA-5166
LRK-516
Surabhi
Sujata
sector
Responsible for developing and releasing 43 cotton
hybrids.
Under the Bt cotton Programme, involving
Bollgard-1 and Bolgard-2 genes, 14 Bt cotton
hybrids have been released for the North, Central
and South zones of India & Bt hybrids have been
released through other cotton seed companies in
the country.
3. 20 Bt cotton hybrids are at advanced stages of testing,
while 6 Bt hybrids are awaiting approval for commercial
release. During 2007, 9 Bt hybrids were proposed for
RGGM trial all over the country.
3 Awards and accolades
Ra Ahmed Khidwai Memorial prize, for the bi-
ennium 196667 for outstanding contribution in
the eld of Plant Breeding (December, 1973)ICAR
Award for Team Research in Agriculture for the
biennium 197576, for signicant contributions to
Cotton Improvement (January, 1976), The Indian
Merchant Chamber Award for the year 1974, for
the outstanding contribution in the eld of Agricul-
ture (February, 1976) Award by the Federation of
Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New
Delhi for outstanding contribution in the area of life
sciences including agriculture (1977)SIMA Cotton
Development and Research Association, Coimbat-
ore, for excellence in Cotton Development and for
outstanding contribution for the development and
releasing of high yielding medium staple Cotton va-
riety, LRA-5166. (1988), Rao Bahaddur Ramanath
Iyer Award, 199091, by ISCI, Mumbai. For out-
standing contribution in the eld of Cotton Breeding
and Genetics. (1992)
ABLE Award, for excellence in Agriculture Sci-
ences (2007).
Honorary Fellowship to Sri. R. Krishnamourthy, by
ISCI on 16 June 2007.
Sri. Krishnamourthy has been continuously in-
volved in Cotton research for more than 5 decades
1
2 5 REFERENCES

and whose Research output has been commercial-

ized extensively. Cotton hybrids developed by him
have beneted the nearly 1 to 1.5 million farm-
ing community, during the Non-Bt cotton days and
1.5 to 2 million farmers during the introduction of
Biotech Cottons, in India. The cottons have impres-
sive yield advantage compared to other hybrids and
accomplished a peak coverage of 21,200 km dur-
ing 199798 and 2,760,000 acres (11,200 km2 ) dur-
ing 200607. The sizable coverage led to an addi-
tional cotton production of 3,000,000 bales in the
country, which accounts for approximately 30% of
cotton production.

Out of the 62 Bt cotton hybrids approved by the

Regulatory Authority for Commercialization in In-
dia, 21 Bt cotton hybrids have been developed by
Sri. Krishnamourthy, under the Rasi Seeds banner.
Constituting 33.9% of the total Bt cotton hybrids re-
leased for commercialization, they occupy 29% of
the hybrid cotton area in India.

Rasi seeds have bagged, DSIR National Award for

R&D eorts in Industry (2005) in the commercial-
ization of Technologies Acquired from others.
ISCI Awards, published on June 16, 2007, by the
Journal of ISCI, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019.

4 Publications
He has published over 35 research papers in journals of
high repute.

Krishnamurthy, R Breeding for Fibre Quality Im-

provement of Cotton (2007)

5 References
[1] Campaign against Bt cotton is motivated, says research
scientist. The Hindu. April 16, 2007. Retrieved 5 De-
cember 2010.

[2] Speciality Cotton (Organic, Suvin and ELS) (PDF). Min-

istry of Textile - Government of India. Retrieved Decem-
ber 5, 2010.

[3] Bureau (April 13, 2007). Public-private partnership may

help reach seed tech to farmers. Coimbatore: Business
Daily from THE HINDU group of publications. Retrieved
5 December 2010.

[4] Cultivating ryot amiability. biospectrumindia.com. July

11, 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
 3

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