ICAR-NRCB

Dr. M.S.Saraswathi

Division

Crop Improvement

Specialization / Discipline

Tissue culture and Molecular Biology

Area of Interest

Tissue culture and application of molecular markers in crop improvement

Publications

105

Qualifications

Ph.D.

Saraswathi.MS@icar.org.in
saraswathimse@gmail.com

Current Institute Projects:

Improvement of cv. Grande Naine (Cavendish - AAA) for Fusarium wilt resistance through non-conventional breeding (PI)
Development of trait specific markers for fusarium wilt resistance through association mapping studies in banana (Musa spp.) (PI)
Improvement and management of banana genetic resources in Indian Subcontinent (Co-PI)
Production of doubled haploids for improvement of bananas (Musa spp.) (Co-PI)
Identification of resistant gene candidate(s) in banana for race-1 and tropical race 4 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.cubense (Co-PI)

Current External Projects:

PPV&FRA, New Delhi - Framing crop specific DUS guidelines for Banana (Musa spp.) (PI)
BRNS, Mumbai - High-throughput screening for induced mutations in banana cv. Grand Naine (AAA) with Fusarium wilt (TR4) resistance

Developed a dwarf banana mutant TBM 9 (Kaveri Vaaman) in collaboration with BARC, Mumbai.
Variety specific tissue culture protocol has been developed using various explants like shoot tips, cormlets and male flower buds.
Low cost tissue culture protocol has been developed for commercial varieties.
Developed a model for Soil-less acclimatization in banana that could reduce the cost and hardening duration.
Developed macropropagation techniques in commercial banana varieties using steam sterilized suckers.
Shoot tip and ECS based methodology for the successful creation of Fusarium wilt resistant mutants in banana cvs. Rasthali and Grand Naine
Standardized protocol for the Genetic fidelity testing of tissue culture plants and services are offered under contract services which is contributing significantly for the institute revenue generation
Developed DUS guidelines for banana and plantain and till date we have registered ICAR-NRCB variety Kaveri Sugantham and five farmers varieties with PPV&FRA, New Delhi.
Contributed for the establishment of exclusive gene banks for indigenous, exotic germplasm and crop wild relatives.

HSI Award (2018)
CHAI Fellow (2018)
Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award (2009)
Thiru. T. Gopalan Nair memorial medal
Indo-American hybrid seeds medal

Saraswathi M.S., Bathrinath M., Kannan G., Karthi C., Mahendran, J., Sankar C., Durai P andUma, S. 2024. Production of quality planting material in commercial banana cvs. Rasthali (Silk, AAB) and Neypoovan (Neypoovan, AB) through farmer-friendly macropropagation technique and their field evaluation. South African Journal of Botany 167 (2024) 410418.
M.S.Saraswathi, D.Sharmila Gayatri Durairajan, A.P.Salini, R.Soundaryan, P.Durai, A.Chandrasekar, M.Jayakumar, and S.Uma. 2023. Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationship among the Major Banana Varieties of North‐Eastern India Using ISSR, IRAP, and SCoT markers. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-023-01420-7.
Gandhi Kannan, Marimuthu Somasundaram Saraswathi, Raman Thangavelu , Parasuraman Subesh Kumar, Murugesan Bathrinath, Subbaraya Uma, Suthanthiram Backiyarani, Arumugam Chandrasekar and Thumballi R Ganapathy. 2022. Development of fusarium wilt resistant mutants of Musa spp. cv.Rasthali (AAB, Silk subgroup) and comparative proteomic analysis along with its wild type. Planta. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-022-03860-z
Kavitha, N., Saraswathi, M.S. , Kannan, G., Bathrinath, M., Backiyarani and S. Uma, S. 2021. Development of direct regeneration protocol for mass multiplication of variety Udhayam (Pisang Awak, ABB) using different explants. Scientia Horticulturae. 290: 110506
Saraswathi Marimuthu Somasundaram Uma Subbaraya Sharmila Gayatri Durairajan Soundaryan Rajendran Jithu Gopalakrishnan Bahrudeen Shahul Hameed Durai Palani Backiyarani Suthanthiram. 2019. Comparison of two different electrophoretic methods in studying the genetic diversity among plantains (Musa spp.) using ISSR markers. Electrophoresis 40 (9): 1265-1272

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Dr. M.S.Saraswathi