Ebook: Glimpses of the Agricultural Heritage of India

Dr Yeshwant Laxman Nene (son of Laxman and Laxmi Nene) was born on 24 November 1936 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. He obtained BSc (Ag) in 1955 (Gwalior), MSc (Ag) in 1957 (Kanpur), both from Agra University, and PhD in Plant Pathology (Plant Virology) in 1960 from the University of Illinois, USA. He was recipient of several medals, scholarships, and fellowships during the student career. Dr Nene was assistant, associate, and full professor and Head, Plant Pathology at GB Pant University of Agriculture, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India from 1960 to 1974. He founded the department of plant pathology. His major achievement was solving the mystery of “khaira” disease of rich, which had forced farmers of the region to give up growing rice. Dr. Nene discovered, for the first time in the world, that rice crop in fields could suffer from a deficiency of zinc and this deficiency was the cause of “khaira”. Bumper crops of rice could be raised in the region again. Since then zinc deficiency in rice was found to occur in many parts of India and several other countries, which resulted into increased yields of rice everywhere. In 1967, this work earned Dr Nene the International Rice Research Prize in a worldwide competition that was organized by the FAO to celebrate the “International Rice year 1966”. \

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