The products, developed by the college’s division of crop physiology, will likely be commercially launched in a year
The SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, a unit of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, will soon launch crop growth promoters in the “SRM” brand for lady’s finger (okra/bhindi), chilli, black matpe (urad) and groundnut.
“The crop-specific promoter formulations aim to enhance physiological traits such as photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient uptake, stress tolerance, and overall biomass accumulation, leading to improved yield and crop resilience,” college dean M Jawaharlal told businessline.
All the four products are cost-effective for farmers, he said, adding that the college would tap various channels to market these products.
SRM College of Agricultural Sciences Dean M Jawaharlal
The products, developed by the college’s division of crop physiology, will likely be commercially launched in a year, once the institution gets the required clearance from various government authorities.
Collaborative research
“We have applied for patents for these products. Our applications are pending,” said R Nagajothi, P Chandrasekaran, Assistant Professor in Crop Physiology.
The innovative products, which help in increasing the yield of these crops by 20-30 per cent, have been formulated through collaborative research and development efforts, said P. Chandrasekaran, also Assistant Professor in Crop Physiology. The college’s professor of Crop Physiology, H. Vijayaraghavan, was the project consultant for this initiative.
The integration of physiological principles with field applicability ensures that these products are scientifically sound and agronomically viable, offering promising solutions to sustainable crop production, said Jawaharlal.
Nagajothi said the lady’s finger crop suffers from macro and micronutrient deficiencies (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, iron, manganese and boron). This affects the normal plant growth and development, ultimately decreasing yield and quality.
Chillies’ problems
Farmers, aiming for higher yield, use extra dose of fertilizers and hormones causing environmental hazards besides spending extra money. The growth promote has exclusive blend of nutrients, antioxidants and growth regulators, the college said.
This has resulted in higher yield at an increased frequency. It also helps the crop withstand abiotic and biotic stresses, said the dean.
In the case of chillies, the crop faces problems such as lower yield and poor quality, besides poor fruit setting, flower dropping, pests and diseases. The fruit’s maturity is inconsistent.
The college has developed an exclusive foliar tonic combining nutrients, hormones and vitamins that can augment yield and quality of chillies. This improves fruit weight and length, controls flower and fruit drop, besides improving the yield.
Expanding institution
In case of black matpe, the SRM College of Agricultural Sciences has come up with a blend of nutrients and regulators that decreases flower drop, improves flower and pod setting besides making it drought tolerant. It increases the yield of the seed, besides that of the crop.
The crop growth promoter for groundnut improves pollination, pegging of flowers, the seed size and drought tolerance.
Set up in 2018 within the SRM Institute of Science and Technology Campus at Kattankaluthur in Chennai suburbs, it shifted to the current premises at Baburayanpettai in Chengalpattu district, about 115 km from Chennai, in March 2021.
Spread over 400 acres, the College of Agricultural Sciences now offers four-year graduate honours courses in agriculture and horticulture. It offers seven post-graduate courses in different agricultural branches and three in various horticulture branches. The college also offers Ph.D courses in agronomy, genetics and plant breeding and fruit science.
(The writer visited the campus at the college’s invitation)
Published on July 21, 2025
