- All India Coordinated Research Project on Sorghum, ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad bagged the prestigious "Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding All India Coordinated Research Project Award 2019" during ICARs 92nd Foundation Day celebrations held on 16 July, 2020 ::
- Call for applications for Cohort 7 under RKVY RAFTAAR scheme ::
- International Year of Millets (IYoM) 2023 - News
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses webinar on implementation of Budget in agriculture sector ::
- India is celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’. ICAR has taken up ’75 lecture series’. The scientists, students or other interested audience may click this link to follow URL for joining any lecture ::
- Advertisement no 01/2019 for filling up the post of Assistant may be treated as cancelled due to administrative reasons ::
- Kharif Agro Advisory ::
- ICAR-NAHEP in collaboration with the Crop Science Division of ICAR is organizing Hackathon Kritagya- a National Level Agtech Hackathon on “Speed breeding for Crop Improvement.::
Scientific Staff

Dr. A V Umakanth
Discipline: Plant Breeding | Designation: Principal Scientist | At IIMR Since: 1997
Email: umakanth@millets.res.in | Mobile: 09441980980
Profile video Click hereAcademic Qualifications
Degree | Institute/ University | Year of completion | Subject(s) with major field |
---|---|---|---|
Ph D | Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India | 1997 | Genetics and Plant breeding |
M.Sc. (Ag) | Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India | 1993 | Genetics and Plant Breeding |
B.Sc. (Ag) | Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India | 1991 | Agriculture sciences |
Employment Record & Experience (Starting from the present position)
Designation | Organization | Institution & place of posting | Period (From-to) |
Duration (years, months) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Principal Scientist | ICAR | Directorate of Sorghum Research, Hyderabad | 2012- Till date | |
Senior Scientist | ICAR | Directorate of Sorghum Research, Hyderabad | 2006 - 2012 | 6 Yrs |
Scientist | ICAR | National Research Center for Sorghum | 1997-2006 | 9 years |
Current responsibilities:
- Genetic enhancement of sweet sorghums for high stalk, sugar, juice and ethanol yields
- Genetic enhancement for high biomass accumulation rate in sweet and high biomass sorghums
- Development of low lignin-high biomass sorghums through introgression of brown midrib genes suitable for second generation biofuel and bioenergy production
- Development of pest and disease tolerant sweet and dual-purpose sorghum genotypes which can be used as quality forage
- Liaison with the industry for promoting sweet and high biomass sorghums as effective feedstocks for biofuel production
- Coordination of sweet sorghum research as Principal Investigator under All India Coordinated Sorghum Improvement Project
Recent major contributions:
- Developed CSV 43 BMR(JaicarNutrigraze), the first brown midrib sorghum variety in India released during 2019 for cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jharkhand
- Associated in the development and release of grain sorghum varieties viz., CSV 36 (JaicarHeera), CSV 39 (JaicarSona) and single-cut forage sorghum variety CSV 38F (JaicarHariyali) during 2019.
- Developed the Single-cut forage variety CSV 32F which has been released during 2015 for the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
- Developed the dual-purpose variety CSV 27 released during 2012 for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana under rainfed condition in Kharif season
- Developed the kharif grain sorghum genotypes CSV 20 and CSH 23 which were released and notified for All India cultivation during 2009 and 2005 respectively
Recent awards and recognitions:
- Fellow of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, New Delhi
- Fellow of the Telangana Academy of Sciences, Hyderabad
- Certificate of Excellence for the year 2019 for “Sweet and High Biomass Sorghum and Biofuel Research” by ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research
- Councillor for “Forage Research” Journal published by Indian Society of Forage Research
- Reviewer for National and International journals
Current collaborative activities:
- o Collaboration exists with NSI, Kanpur, IICT, ICRISAT, JNTUH, IIT-M, ICT-Mumbai and other private partners in promoting sorghum as an efficient feedstock for 1st and 2nd generation biofuel production
Recent most significant publications:
- Gopalakrishnan, S and Srinivas, V and Ashok Kumar, A and Umakanth, A V and Addepally, U and Rao, P S . 2020. Composting of Sweet Sorghum Bagasse and its Impact on Plant Growth Promotion. Sugar Tech. 22(1):143–156
- Anil Kumar G S, Vinutha K S, Devendra Kumar Shrivastava, Jain S, Syed B A, Gami B, Marimuthu S, Yuvraj A, Yadava H S, Srivastava S C, Yadagiri K, Ansodariya V, Prasuna P, Vishwanath J, Anand S R, Abhishek Rathore, Umakanth A V, Srinivasa Rao P 2018. Identification of Ideal Locations and Stable High Biomass Sorghum Genotypes in semiarid Tropics. Sugar Tech. 20(3):323–335
- Rajendrakumar P, Hariprasanna K., Madhusudhana R, Umakanth A.V, Elangovan, M &Seetharama N. 2017. Molecular characterization of parental lines of post-rainy sorghum using simple sequence repeat markers. Journal Of BioScience And Biotechnology, 6(1), 49-57
- SupriyaMathur, Umakanth A V, Tonapi V A, Rita Sharma and Manoj K. Sharma 2017. Sweet sorghum as biofuel feedstock: Recent advances and available resources. Biotechnol Biofuels 10:146
- Praveen M, Anurag Uttam G, Suneetha N, Umakanth AV, J.V. Patil, Madhusudhana R. 2015. Inheritance and molecular mapping of Rf6 locus with pollen fertility restoration ability on A1 and A2 cytoplasms in sorghum. Plant Science, 238:73-80
Other professional activities
- Life Member, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding
- Life Member, Society for Millets Research, Hyderabad
- Member of various institutional support services
Dr. A V Umakanth