The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : `Check pollution to minimise impact on biodiversity'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 30, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`Check pollution to minimise impact on biodiversity'

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, OCT. 29. The president of Indian Botanical Society, R.S. Tripathi, has called for coordinated efforts in plant sciences research to make it more useful to society.

Inaugurating the three-day national symposium on `Recent Trends in Plant Sciences' and the 27th annual conference of Indian Botanical Society (IBS) at Sri Krishnadevaraya University near here today, he said research in plant sciences has been helping the society understand biodiversity and deal with it better.

He opined that coordinated efforts in scientific research in various disciplines would make plant sciences more useful to the society.

Plant sciences had been playing a vital role in the country's progress.

Prof. Tripathi cautioned against the adverse impact of industrial and fossil, fuel-borne pollution on bio-diversity. He stressed the need for checking pollution to minimise its impact on bio-diversity.

Appeal to farmers

Stating that exotic weeds like parthenium were on an aggressive growth in the country, the Professor from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, said such weeds were the sources of various pest and virus attacks on crops. Such weeds needed collective efforts for eradication.

He appealed to the farming community to use more and more organic fertilizers as they go deep into the soil and help the crops (plants) grow better. He also urged the farmers to shun monoculture of crops as it would lead to loss of micronutrients in the soil on a large scale, he explained.

The secretary of IBS, S.V.S. Chauhan, the Vice-Chancellor of SKU, Md. Iqhbal Ahmed, the Rector of SKU, Bash Mohiddin, the organising secretary of the symposium, T. Pullaiah, and others also spoke. Plant scientists from several universities of the country are participating in the symposium.

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