Personnel

Joined the Institute in 1989, his research area includes clonal selection, grafting, development of biclonal seed stocks, mechanization of cultivation practices, pruning and harvesting techniques and weed control. He has established a field tea germplasm and also a DUS test centre for tea at UPASI Tea Experimental Farm in Valparai. He has also established a germplasm site for different fruit crops to evaluate their suitability as inter crops in tea. Currently he is involved in developing a Package of Agronomic Practices on a Japanese model to suit Mechanization in south Indian Tea Plantation & Tea Genome Sequencing. He is also involved in a DBT funded research programme to develop tea clones resistant to major pest like Tea mosquito bug as well as drought tolerant tea clones. He is a recognized guide for the M Phil and Ph.D., programmes in the field of Plant Genetics by Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. He has published more than 200 research papers in peer reviewed journals.

Joined in the institute in 1987 in an ICAR project on the “bio-ecology of flush worm”. Later he worked in various Regional Centres and retired from the Regional Centre, Vandiperiyar as Sr.Advisory Officer in 2015. Currently he is working as Consulting Advisory Officer in the Regional Centre, Koppa.

Joined the institute during 1988 as Technical Assistant and he also served as a Advisory Officer in the Regional Centre, Meppadi, Wayanad. He had served ten years as Assistant Advisory Officer in the Regional Centre, Gudalur before he was promoted and transferred to Meppadi. He is currently working as Advisory Officer at Regional Centre, Gudalur.

Joined in UPASI TRF during 1988 and served as Chemist till 2011. Presently he is working as advisory officer, UPASI, Regional Centre Meppadi. He was involved in both research and analytical work. He was well versed in NABL accreditation programme of the chemical lab and standardized the procedures of BIS methods for quantification of agro chemicals. His area of interest is conducting experiment to evaluate various agricultural products, and to evaluate the productivity in tea besides its suitability for their application / adaptation.

Advisory Officer at Regional Centre, Coonoor since April 2020. After the Post-graduation in Chemistry, he started his career as a Production supervisor (Plant Incharge) in Ellak Chem Industries Pvt Ltd, Dharmapuri. After he served as an officer Production in Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, Mettur. Then he moved to Carboline India Pvt Ltd, Chennai as executive quality control. Finally, he joined as an Assistant Advisory officer at UPASI TRF, Regional centre, Coonoor in March 2011. He has completed his Ph.D. at UPASI Tea Research Institute in 2020 in Tea brew quality. He has held the Technical manager responsible for NABL till March 2020. He published more than 10 articles in reputed peer-reviewed international journals. At present, he is focusing on analytical and advisory services, Field and Factory trials related to nutritional and quality development at the regional centre, Coonoor and he is holding the responsibility of Quality Manager for NABL since April 2020.

Completed his Master Degree in Botany specialization in Microbiology at the American College, Madurai. He has joined the service to UPASI Tea Research Foundation as Assistant Advisory Officer in Regional Centre, Munnar during the year 2007 and he is in Advisory Officer of UPASI Regional Centre, High Range from 2015. He has conducted different types of field experiments and evaluated number of agro products. He is specialised in tea planting and tracing out contour lining for replanting and replacement planting. He has the special skills in imparting practical and in-house training on various aspects of cultural operations on tea to the field Executives, staff and workers.

Joined UPASI on 25 June 2012 as Asst. Advisory Officer. He has completed his Master in Organic Chemistry from Kerala University. Before joining UPASI, he worked as senior research fellow in various research institute viz Central Coir Research Institute and Indian Cardamom Research Institute. He served as an analyst in the NABL accredited laboratory Regional Centre Vandiperiyar. Currently he is focusing on Analytical and Advisory Services.

Entomologist and Head in the Division of Entomology. He has completed his doctoral degree from M.G. University Kottayam. Besides, he worked at St. Xavier’s College, Aluva, in the DST-sponsored Major Project and Rice Research Station Moncompu, Alleppey on Rice Pests under All India Coordinated Project on Rice Improvement Program (AICRIP) by ICAR. His area of research includes crop protection, insect behaviour, taxonomy, and systematics, etc. He has more than 10 years of research experience in the field of entomology and has published 18 articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals. After joining UPASI TRF, he has completed one NTRF-funded project (Development, characterisation, and evaluation of microbial agents and their novel bioactive metabolites for the management of pests and disease in tea). Currently he is handling one private funded project (Evaluation of biological formulations against major pests of tea) and two NTRF-funded projects, namely “AI Based Imaging Solution for Detection of Pest Attack in Tea Leaves Using Aerial Imaging” and “Unravelling the pesticide resistance mechanisms of tea mosquito bug through integration of genomics and metabolomics approaches.”

Joined as a Chemist in Chemistry Division since August 2020. After the Post-graduation in Chemistry, he started his career as a Soil and Sugar Chemist (Asst. Manager) in R&D Centre of E.I.D Parry India Ltd. (Sugar Factory), Karur for more than three years and relieved on 2013 for his doctoral programme.He has completed his Doctoral dissertation in Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai on February 2019 in the area of nanomaterials and their applications. Before entering the UPASI TRF, he worked as a National Post-Doctoral Fellow (under the scheme of DST-SERB, New Delhi) in Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. He published more than 12 number of articles in a reputed pre-reviewed international journal. Currently, he is focusing the field trials in organic/conventional tea gardens with soil amendments and foliar nutrients for thesustainable tea cultivations. He is also covering the research works which are related to the nano-fertilizers and their impacts in tea fields.

Tea Technologist and Head in Tea Technology Division at Regional Centre, Coonoor since May 2021. He joined the institute in 2007 as a Senior Research Fellow (2007 – 2012) and worked as Assistant Chemist (2012 -2020) and Chemist (2020- 2021) in soil chemistry division. He got his doctoral degree in the topic of “Studies on humic acid and its influence on tea” in the year 2016. He has been working with various departments like plant and soil chemistry department (2012-2018), pesticide residue department (2018-2020) and presently he is focusing his research on tea quality and manufacturing aspects. He has more than 14 years of experience in both research and analytical works and published more than 10 publications. His analytical experience involves analysis of soil and plant nutrients, agrochemicals, pesticide residues, heavy metals, tea quality and tea FSSAI parameters. Besides, he has been designated as a ‘Technical Manager’ to implement standards of ISO 17025: 2017 in our NABL accredited laboratory of Regional Centre, Coonoor.

Pesticide Residue Chemist& Head in Pesticide Residue Division since August 2020. He did his Doctoral dissertation (under the scheme of Chinese government Full scholarship (2010-2015) in Peking University, Beijing, Chinain the area of nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Further, he worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow for the period of two years (under the scheme of Shanghai government funding (2018-2020), China) in ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China. He published 2 articles in a reputed pre-reviewed international journal. Currently, he is focusing his research on the pesticide residues and heavy metals challenging the quality of domestic and exported teas of south India to maintain the standards of EU, Codex, Japan, EPA and FSSAI. He is also conducting residue studies on new pesticide molecules for registration purpose in tea as per the norms given by Central Insecticide Board of India (CIB) and Tea Board of India.

Joined the UPASI-TRF, TRI in 2010 and appointed as the Plant Pathologist of the division since Sep 2015. Currently handling three NTRF funded projects namely the effect of black tea against Breast Cancer, Biodegradation of agrochemicals and Microbial metabolites against tea diseases. He was honoured with the “Best Scientist Award” in the area of Plant Pathology and Microbiology by Nature Science Foundation. He served about ten years in UPASI TRF-TRI, in the field in tea disease and nutrient management (IDM & INM), new molecule evaluations and demonstration of beneficial microbes in the tea ecosystem. He is guiding three Ph.D. students under Bharathiar University.

Joined TRF as a Biotechnologist and Head of the Division of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology in May 2024. Prior to this, he held the position of Cell and Molecular Biology (Head) Research Scientist in BioMe Live Analytical R&D Centre, Karaikudi, India, for over two years. He has successfully completed his doctoral dissertation at the School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. He has published a number of articles in reputable, pre-reviewed international journals. His current research focus is on field trials of plant growth regulators in tea gardens for sustainable tea cultivation. Additionally, he is engaged in research that pertains to the targeted nature of transcriptomics, which enables the identification of novel transcriptional networks in complex systems and their impacts in tea fields.

Started his career in the Entomology Division of UPASI Tea Research Institute in 1983. He served as Advisory Officer and Senior Advisory Officer in the Regional Centres in Wayanad and Munnar. He also served as Assistant Director (Advisory Services) in the Regional Centre, Coonoor. He has a Masters Degree in Entomology from University of Madras. He is the first Ph.D from UPASI Tea Research Foundation affiliated to the Bharathiar University. He has over 28 years of research and advisory experience in UPASI Tea Research Institute. He has published more than 100 research papers in National and International journals. He is a member of the editorial board of Indian Society for Plantation Crops. Specialised in Entomology, his areas of research are organic farming, sustainable agriculture and IPM. He has been instrumental in getting GI certification for Nilgiri Orthodox tea.

Joined the TRF in May 2006 and before assuming the office of Director he served as Director (since June 2008), Joint Director and Additional Director of the institute. After his Post Graduate Degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Kerala University, he obtained Ph.D (Ag.) from Bose Institute, Kolkata University and specialized in Plant Biotechnology. He worked as a Scientist in Tropical Botanic Garden, Trivandrum for two years and then joined the R&D unit of M/s TATA Tea Limited in Munnar, Kerala where he worked for over 20 years both in their south and North Indian units. He served as a member of Board of studies for the Biotechnology Department in the Kerala University (1995-98) and in the Research Advisory Council of Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam (2004-06). Currently he is a member of board of studies in the Botany division of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and Biotechnology Division of KSR College, Thiruchencode. He is also a member of different committees of Tea Board. He has been conferred the fellow of the Indian Society of Plantation Crops for his outstanding research work in plantation crop. His field of interest is Agronomy, breeding and biotechnology of plantation crops. He has over 35 publications to his credit and co-guided two Ph.D students. He has been recognized by Bharathiar University, Coimbatore as a Research Guide leading to Doctoral Degree.

Served as Director of the institute from 1997-2008. He joined the institute in 1980 after six years of service as Scientist in the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. He obtained his Ph.D from the Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, affiliated to Madras University in 1976 under the able guidance of the world renowned Entomologist Prof. T. N. Ananthakrishnan Before becoming the Adviser (2008 – 2011) of the institute, he has served the TRI in different capacities such as Director, Joint Director, Assistant Director, and Head of the Division of Entomology. His pioneering work on shot hole borer management is a landmark in plant protection in tea. His studies on IPM further contributed to the reduction of pesticide load in tea in south India. Many of his findings and recommendations are widely adopted by the tea industry. He has successfully guided eight students for Ph. D. He has more than 200 publications and a couple of books to his credit. His monograph on “Pest management in tea” is an important source of reference on pests of tea in South India. He is member of different committees of Tea Board, Coffee Research Advisory Council and Bureau of Indian Standards. He is a Fellow of the Indian society for Plantation crops.

Joined the Institute as Director in 1995 and worked for a brief period of one year. He left the services to take over the prestigious post of Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore in 1996.

Served as Director of the institute during 1991-1995. He joined the institute in 1972 as Head of Botany Division and was later promoted to Deputy Director and Joint Director. He had done extensive work on clonal selection, harvesting, bringing up of young tea, nursery grafting and weed control. He retired from the services of UPASI in 1995.

Served as Director of the institute from 1988 to 1991. His contributions to the understanding of tea diseases are well known. He had also worked as Mycologist at the Tocklai Experimental Station, Jorhat and as Technical Advisor to Rallis Agrochemicals Research Station, Bangalore. In 1991 he retired from the services of UPASI.

Joined as Director of the institute in 1984, after serving as Agronomist, Soil Scientist and Dean of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. He left the services of the Institute in 1988.

A well renowned scientist and Director of UPASI Scientific Department joined the organization in 1958 as Plant Pathologist. He served in various capacities in the Department and he was Director of the Institute from 1974 to 1982. His most significant contribution is the development of control measures against blister blight, which was threatening the very existence of the tea industry in south India.

Joined the UPASI as a Botanist in 1948. He pioneered the work on tea clonal selection and vegetative propagation. His significant contribution to the tea industry is a set of outstanding tea clones combining high yields with quality, and resistant to drought and diseases. Many of these clones are extensively planted in south India. He was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer, later re-designated as Director of Research in 1965 and was principally responsible for the organization and development of the Research Station at Cinchona during its years of infancy.

Took over from Mr. Peter de Jong as the first Indian Chief Scientific Officer in 1957, to implement the expansion programme. As the first Entomologist in the Department from 1931, he saved the tea industry in south India from being completely swept out by the tea mosquito bug by introducing effective field control measures against this pest in the mid forties.

Joined as Chief Scientific Officer when the blister blight epidemic posed a serious threat to the tea industry. With great dynamism and farsightedness Mr. de Jong directed field trials for the economic control of the disease, also fostered laboratory investigation on copper fungicide formulations for comparative efficiency against the blister blight pathogen. His significant contribution was the publication on “Manuring of Tea in India compiling the essence of the departmental findings on potassium and other major elements in tea nutrition. Mr. de Jong did much ground work for the expansion of the Scientific Department.

Served as Chief Scientific Officer of the Department during the Second World War. As a scientist of unusual percipience, with thoughts as clear as a mountain brook, his monumental work on coffee leaf rust races is a household word among plant pathologists.

Appointed as Chief Scientific Officer in 1938 and served the Association with distinction during his tenure, with a break of five years when he was on active service. With his prime interest in agronomy he roused consciousness among the planters on the need to conserve and rehabilitate soils. As an agriculturist, he was the first to initiate a number of long-term field experiments on pruning, manuring and plant protection. He also published a number of helpful advisory circulars on various aspects of tea culture, clarified ambiguities and incorporated new working procedures.

The first Tea Scientific Officer of UPASI. He did pioneering work on tea chemistry with particular stress on tea tannins and adulteration of tea; on the latter subject, he published two excellent papers. Much ahead of his time and with very modest resources, he produced instant tea on bench scale. His work on tea waste as a manure was also an important contribution falling in line with the overwhelmingly manifest preference for organic manures.