ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute

Important

Dr. B. Augustine Jerard

Project Coordinator (Palms)

Division

PC Cell - AICRP on Palms

Designation

Project Coordinator (Palms)

augustinejerard.b@icar.gov.in

pcpalms.cpcri@icar.gov.in

Phone

Mobile

94470 64463

Qualification

M.Sc (Hort), Ph. D (Hort)

Specialization

Horticulture, Breeding, Plantation Crops

1 Over 25 years of research experience at Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Fiji in coconut, arecanut, cocoa, fruits, vegetables, tuber crops, floriculture particularly on genetic resources management, breeding for varietal development, application of biotechnological tools, crop production technologies, cropping and farming systems, soil and moisture conservation and product diversification.
2 Contributed to establishment of National and International Coconut Gene Bank at Karnataka and managed World Coconut Germplasm centre, Port Blair. Worked on seed and quality planting materials of coconut, arecanut, cocoa, fruits, and forest trees
3 Undertaken coconut germplasm exploration, conservation and utilization in India and Fiji. Collected and conserved over 102 accessions of coconut and arecanut collected from A&N Islands, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and Maharashtra. Seven unique coconut, two Noni and one Brinjal accessionsidentified and registered with ICAR-NBPGR.Besides, collected and conserved over 350 accessions of horticultural crop accessions, crop wild relatives from Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
4 Contributed to development and release of Twenty-two coconut varieties / hybrids (seven tall, ten dwarf and five hybrids) for commercial cultivation in different coconut growing regions of the country of which 11 are Gazette notified. Six coconut varieties have been commercialized. Contributed to establishment of several coconut and arecanut seed gardens in the country.
5 Recognized as International coconut expert and deputed by ICAR through ITEC-MEA to serve as Coconut Expert to Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Fiji for one year and prepared the coconut industry plan for Fiji.

1 Dr. C. S. Venkataram Memorial Award by Indian Society for Plantation Crops during the biennium 2015-2016 presented during the International PLACROSYM XXII held on 15th December 2016 at ICAR- Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, Kerala
2 Dr. C. S. Venkataram Memorial Award by Indian Society for Plantation Crops during the biennium 2017-2018 presented during the PLACROSYM held on 6th March 2019 at Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka
3 FELLOW of Indian Society for Plantation Crops for the outstanding research in plantation crops awarded in 2019
4 Vice President, Indian Society for Plantation Crops (2019-2021)
5 President, Indian Society for Plantation Crops (2022-2023)

Total Publications

220

Selected Publications

Sl.No

Publications

Jerard, B.A., Rajesh, M.K., Elain, S.E., Sajini, K.K., Shafeeq Rahman, Fayas, T.P and Anitha Karun. (2013). Scope of novel and rare bulbiferous coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 61:1- 6,

Jerard B. A., Rajesh M. K., Regi Jacob Thomas, Niral V., Samsudeen K. (2017). Island Ecosystems Host Rich Diversity in Coconut (Cocos nucifera): Evidences from Minicoy Island, India. Agricultural Research, 6(3):214–226.

B. Augustine Jerard, V. Niral, K. Samsudeen, R.V. Nair, C. Jayabose and George V. Thomas. (2015). Development of a Dwarf x Tall coconut hybrid 'Kalpa Samrudhi'. Journal of Plantation Crops, 43(1):46-52.

B. A. Jerard, V. Damodaran, V. Niral, K. Samsudeen, M.K. Rajesh and M. Sankaran (2013). Conservation and utilization of soft endosperm coconut accession from Andaman Islands.Journal of. Plantation Crops, 41(1):14-21.

Rajesh, M.K., Nagarajan, P., Jerard, B. A., Arunachalam V. and Dhanapal, R. (2008). Microsatellite variability of coconut accessions (Cocos nucifera L.) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Current Science 94(12): 1627-1631.

K. Devakumar, V. Niral, B.A. Jerard, C. Jayabose, R. Chandramohanan, P.M. Jacob (2010). Microsatellite analysis of distinct coconut accessions from Agatti and Kavaratti Islands, Lakshadweep, India. Scientia Horticulturae, 125: 309–315.

MK. Rajesh, BA. Jerard, P. Preethi, Regi Jacob Thomas, TP. Fayas, KE. Rachana, Anitha Karun (2013). Development of a RAPD-derived SCAR marker associated with tall-type palm trait in coconut. Scientia Horticulturae, 150 (4): 312-316.

Rajesh, M. K, Jerard, B.A., Preethi, P, Regi Jacob Thomas and Anitha Karun. (2014). Application of RAPD markers in hybrid verification in coconut. Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology, 14: 36-41.

M. K. Rajesh, K Samsudeen, B.A. Jerard, P. Rejusha and Anitha Karun. (2014). Genetic and phylogenetic relationships of coconut populations from Amini and Kadamat Islands, Lakshadweep (India).Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, 26(10): 898-906.

V. Arunachalam, B.A. Jerard, V. Damodaran, M.J. Ratnambal and P. M. Kumaran (2005). Phenotypic diversity of foliar traits in coconut germplasm. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 52:1031-1037.

M. Sankaran, V. Damodaran, DR. Singh and B. A. Jerard. (2012). Vivipary in Cocos nucifera L. var. Andaman Green Dwarf.Current Science, 25 (10): 1139-1140.

Muliyar Krishna Rajesh, Sunil Shivaji Gangurde, Manish Kumar Pandey, Vittal Niral, Raju Sudha, Bosco Augustine Jerard, Ganesh Navanath Kadke, Abdulla Sabana, Kilingar Subrahmanya Muralikrishna, Kukkamgai Samsudeen, Anitha Karun and Thottethodi Subrahmanya Keshava Prasad. 2021. Insights on Genetic Diversity, Population Structure, and Linkage Disequilibrium in Globally Diverse Coconut Accessions Using Genotyping-by-Sequencing. OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, 25 (12): Published Online: 8 Dec 2021, https://doi.org/10.1089/omi.2021.0159

Preethi, P., Shafeeq Rahman, S. Naganeeswaran, • A. A. Sabana, K. P. Gangaraj, B. A. Jerard, V. Niral, M. K. Rajesh (2020) Development of EST-SSR markers for genetic diversity analysis in coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) Molecular Biology Reports, 47: 9385–9397, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05981-8.

Devakumar, Regi Jacob Thomas, M. K. Rajesh, B. A. Jerard, R. V. Nair, Jayadev, P.M. Jacob, V. A. Parthasarathy (2011). Analysis of population structure in resistant and susceptible palms of coconut root (wilt) disease Indian. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 81(6):487-93.

V. Niral, K. Devakumar, TS. Umamaheswari, S. Naganeeswaran, RV. Nair and B. A. Jerard. (2013). Morphological and molecular characterization of a large fruited unique coconut accession from Vaibhavwadi, Maharashtra, India. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant breeding, 73(2): 220-224.

Anitha Karun, Sajini, K.K., Niral, V., Amarnath, C. H., Remya, P., Rajesh, M.K., Samsudeen, K., Jerard, B. A. and Florent Engelmann (2014). Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) pollen cryopreservation. Cryoletters, 35 (5): 407-417.

Rajesh, M. K., Sabana, A.A., Rachana K.B., Shafeeq Rahman, B.A. Jerard and Anitha Karun. 2015. Genetic relationship and diversity among coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) accessions revealed through SCoT analysis. Biotech 3, 5(6): 999-1006.

K. Abirami, K. Sakthivel, N. Sheoran, V. Baskaran, R.K. Gautam, B. A. Jerard and A. Kumar, 2018. Occurrence of anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum siamense on dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) in Andaman Islands, India.Plant Disease. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-18-1489-PDN

Perumal, P., De, A.K., Mondal, S., Ravi, S., Sawhney, S., Sarkar, G., Bera, A.K., Malakar, D., Kumar, A., Singh, L.B., Zamir Ahmed, S.K., Muniswamy, K., Jerard, B.A. and Bhattacharya, D. (2021). Tri‐model therapy: combining macrocyclic lactone, piperazine derivative and herbal preparation in treating hump sore in cattle. Veterinary Sciences (MDPI), 8(2)(27): 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci8020027.

Pooja Bohra, Ajit Arun Waman and Jerard B. A, 2019. Accelerating regeneration of threatened wild banana (Musa paramjitiana L.J.Singh) endemic to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India., Current Science, 116(11):1792-1794.

Pooja Bohra, Ajit Arun Waman and B.A. Jerard, 2020, Seed germination and storage studies in seed fertile Musa indandamanensis and its conservation. South African Journal of Botany, 128: 161-166.

Jaisankar, I., Srividhya, S., B. Augustine Jerard and Manasseh Moses, E., (2020). Seed microstructures of the Andaman padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides). Current Science, 119(3): 562-566.

Iyyappan Jaisankar, R. Jayakumara Varadan, Bosco Augustine Jerard, Ganguly Nabanita, Muthu Rajkumar, Ayyam Velmurugan, S. K. Zamir Ahmed, Ezekiel Manasseh Moses (2022). Natural regeneration potential of Andaman Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides) in sustaining the tropical forests of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India. European Journal of Forest Research, 141: 535–546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-022-01458-4.

Iyyappan Jaisankar, R Jayakumara Varadan, S Vijayakumar, Nitiprasad Namdeorao Jambhulkar, Bosco Augustine Jerard, Nabanita Ganguly, Muthu Rajkumar, Ezekiel Manasseh Moses, Putcha Simhachalam (2021). Efficacy of Clonal Propagation in Andaman Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides): Augmenting Conservation of an Endemic Ornamental Timber Species of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India. Forest Science, Vol. 67(5), P: 537–549. fxab029, https://doi.org/10.1093/forsci/fxab029

Ritto Paul, Jiji George, Rajesh, M.K, Jerard B. A. and Niral, V. (2008). Genetic Diversity in Yellow dwarf populations of coconut assessed using RAPD markers. Indian Journal of Horticulture., 65(1): 60-64.

1	Dr. C. S. Venkataram Memorial Award by Indian Society for Plantation Crops during the biennium 2015-2016 presented during the International PLACROSYM XXII held on 15th December 2016 at ICAR- Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, Kerala
2	Dr. C. S. Venkataram Memorial Award by Indian Society for Plantation Crops during the biennium 2017-2018 presented during the PLACROSYM held on 6th March 2019 at Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka
3	FELLOW of Indian Society for Plantation Crops for the outstanding research in plantation crops awarded in 2019
4	Vice President, Indian Society for Plantation Crops (2019-2021)
5	President, Indian Society for Plantation Crops (2022-2023)

Quick Links

Important

Notifications

Dr. B. Augustine Jerard

Project Coordinator (Palms)

1	Over 25 years of research experience at Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Fiji in coconut, arecanut, cocoa, fruits, vegetables, tuber crops, floriculture particularly on genetic resources management, breeding for varietal development, application of biotechnological tools, crop production technologies, cropping and farming systems, soil and moisture conservation and product diversification.
2	Contributed to establishment of National and International Coconut Gene Bank at Karnataka and managed World Coconut Germplasm centre, Port Blair. Worked on seed and quality planting materials of coconut, arecanut, cocoa, fruits, and forest trees
3	Undertaken coconut germplasm exploration, conservation and utilization in India and Fiji. Collected and conserved over 102 accessions of coconut and arecanut collected from A&N Islands, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and Maharashtra. Seven unique coconut, two Noni and one Brinjal accessionsidentified and registered with ICAR-NBPGR.Besides, collected and conserved over 350 accessions of horticultural crop accessions, crop wild relatives from Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
4	Contributed to development and release of Twenty-two coconut varieties / hybrids (seven tall, ten dwarf and five hybrids) for commercial cultivation in different coconut growing regions of the country of which 11 are Gazette notified. Six coconut varieties have been commercialized. Contributed to establishment of several coconut and arecanut seed gardens in the country.
5	Recognized as International coconut expert and deputed by ICAR through ITEC-MEA to serve as Coconut Expert to Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Fiji for one year and prepared the coconut industry plan for Fiji.