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भाकृअनुप - केंद्रीय रोपण फसल अनुसंधान संस्थान
ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute
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Dr. Murali Gopal

Head, Division of PB & PHT

Physiology, Biochemistry, Harvest & Post Harvest Technology

Head, Division of PB & PHT

murali.gopal@icar.gov.in

04994-232894 ext 225

PhD

Soil Microbiology

·         Unraveled the culturable/unculturable bacterial diversity of coconut leaf vermicomposting through pyrosequencing.


·         Standardized vermiwash production from coconut leaf vermicompost


·         Established the positive impact of coconut leaf vermicompost and vermiwash on soil health and fertility.


·         Promoted coconut leaf vermicomposting technology in coconut growing states in India through supply of nucleus earthworm culture.


·         Collected & screened more than 1000 PGPR isolates from coconut, arecanut and cocoa for bio-inoculant development.


·         Initiated allelopathic interaction studies in coconut based cropping system.


·         Recovered Oryctes virus from Lakshadweep Islands and Metarhizium anisopliae for bio-control of coconut insect pest.

·         NAIP Intl. Training Fellowship Award in Mol. Microbial Taxonomy - Univ. of Georgia, Athens, USA, Aug-Nov. 2010.


·         Rothamsted International Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award – 2007-08, Rothamsted Research, UK.


·         ICAR Outstanding Interdisciplinary Team Res. Award in Agrl. & Allied Sciences for the biennium 2005-06.


·         Best Poster Award – Intl. Conf. on Microbial Diversity: Current Perspectives and Potential Applications – Uni. of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi, April 16-18, 2005


·         MASHAV, Israel, Scholarship Award for undergoing graduate course in ‘Biotech. in Agrl. – Plants & Microorganisms’ at Hebrew Uni. of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agrl., Food &   Environ. Quality Science, Rehovot, Israel- Jan-March 2004.


·         Best Poster Award - National Conf. on Coastal Agrl. Res., ICAR Res. Complex for Goa , Old Goa, 6-7 April 2002.


·         NET-ICAR Award – 1993, by ASRB, New Delhi.


·         Gold Medal Award for Outstanding Academic qualifications in the M. Sc. Microbiol. at IARI, New Delhi, in 1992.


·         DST/DBT/INSA/CSIR Intl. Travel Grant Awards to attend Intl. Conferences in Australia (2005) and Switzerland (2011).


·         ICAR Jr. & Sr. Fellowship Award for doing M.Sc (1989) .& Ph. D (1991) in IARI, New Delhi.

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12


Sl.No
Publications
1

Thomas, Litty; Gupta, Alka; Gopal, Murali; George, Priya and Thomas, George V. 2011. Efficacy of rhizosphere Bacillus spp. for growth promotion in Theobroma cacao L. seedlings. J. Plantation Crops 39: 19-25

2

Thomas, Litty; Gupta, Alka; Gopal, Murali; George, Priya and Thomas, George V 2010. Plant growth promoting potential of Bacillus spp. isolated from rhizosphere of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.). J. Plantation Crops, 38 (2): 97-104

3

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka; Palaniswami, C; Dhanapal, R and Thomas, George V. 2010. Coconut leaf vermiwash: a bio-liquid from coconut leaf vermicompost for improving the crop production capacities of soil. Current Science, 98:1202-1210.

4

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka; Sunil, E & Thomas G. V. 2009. Amplification of plant beneficial microbial communities during the conversion of coconut leaf substrate to vermicompost by Eudrilus sp. Curr. Microbiol. 59: 15-20.

5

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka; Arunachalam, V & Magu, S.P. 2007. Impact of Azadirachtin an insecticidal allelochemical from neem, on soil microflora, enzyme and respiratory activities. Bioresource Technology 98: 3154-3158.

6

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka; Sunil, E & Thomas G. V. 2006. Allelopathic effects of root and leaf leachates of coconut on selected beneficial microorganisms from coconut rhizosphere. Allelopathy Journal 18: 363-368.

7

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka & Thomas, G. V. 2005. Prospects of using Metarhizium anisopliae to check the breeding of insect pest, Oryctes rhinoceros L., in coconut leaf vermicomposting sites. Bioresource Technology 97: 1801-1806.

8

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka & Nair, R.V. 2005. Variations in hosting beneficial plant-associated microorganisms by root (wilt) diseased and field tolerant coconut palms of West Coast Tall variety. Current Science 89: 1922-1927.

9

Gopal, Murali;Gupta, Alka & Magu, S.P. 2003. Effect of Fluchloralin, a pre-emergence herbicide, on nitrogen fixation and plant growth promotion by rhizobia and fluorescent pseudomonads in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merill.). Tropical Agriculture 79: 401-404

10

Gopal, Murali & Gupta, Alka. 2002. An opportunistic bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, may limit the perpetuation of Oryctes virus in Oryctes rhinoceros L. population. Biocontrol Sci. Tech. 12: 507-512.

11

Gopal, Murali; Gupta, Alka; Sathiamma, B. & Nair, C.P.R. 2002. Microbial pathogens of the coconut pest Oryctes rhinoceros : influence of weather factors on their infectivity and study of their coincidental ecology in Kerala, India. World J. Microbiol. Biotech. 18 : 417-421.

12

Gopal, Murali; Saleena, A.& McCoy, C.W. 2002. Study of the microflora associated with the coconut eriophyid mite as a preliminary step towards pathogen isolation. Current Science 82 : 22-24.