Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 15: The 10th Asian PGPR Society India Chapter National Conference on “Fostering PGPRs for Secondary Green Revolution towards Soil and Crop Health Management” was inaugurated today at the Auditorium of CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Canal Road, Jammu.
The three-day event (15-17 September 2025) is being jointly organized by the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-J), the Asian PGPR Society and its Indian Chapter for Sustainable Agriculture.
Prof B N Tripathi, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu and Chief Patron of PGPR-2025, presided over the inaugural ceremony. The event was graced by Dr Vishnuvardhana, Vice Chancellor, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, Karnataka as chief guest.
In his presidential remarks, Prof B N Tripathi emphasized the transformative role of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs) in enhancing soil fertility, reducing dependence on chemical inputs and driving a sustainable “secondary green revolution.” Stating that the first Green Revolution made India self-sufficient in food production, but it also left negative environmental impacts, he stressed that the next revolution must be biology-driven rather than chemical-driven, utilizing soil microbial consortia and bio-formulations.
Dr Vishnuvardhana emphasized the importance of field-level application of microbial technologies for farmer welfare. He stressed the need for a policy framework that supports PGPR adoption and reiterated the conference theme, “Biosolutions for the Secondary Green Revolution.”
The guest of honour, Dr Zabeer Ahmed, called for stronger academia-industry partnerships to develop scalable PGPR solutions, noting the rapid growth of the global PGPR market and the urgent need to integrate new and conventional practices at the farm level.
Prof M S Reddy, Founder & Chairman of the Asian PGPR Society, described PGPRs as natural tools for resilient and profitable agriculture, advocating their use as a sustainable solution to abiotic stresses, nutrient-use efficiency and climate change adaptation.
Earlier, Prof S K Gupta, Convener of the conference and Director Research, SKUAST-Jammu, underlined the importance of PGPR research in addressing the challenges of sustainable agriculture.
Dr Brajeshwar Singh, Professor & Head, Division of Microbiology, SKUAST-Jammu, gave an overview of the conference.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof Sanjay Guleria, Dean, Faculty of Basic Sciences, SKUAST-Jammu.
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