NEW DELHI, 20 October 2023: A path-defining memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau, Uttar Pradesh and Plasma Water Solutions India Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of a fast emerging US Ag Tech company, Plasma Water Solutions Inc.
The agreement was signed by Dr. Chinnusamy Viswanathan, JD(R), ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director, ICAR- IISS, Mau & Ms. Pragya Kalia, MD, PWS India in the presence of Dr. Shiv Kumar Yadav, Principal Investigator & Principal Scientist, Division of Seed Science and Technology (DSST), ICAR-IARI, Dr. Sangita Yadav, Principal Scientist, DSST, ICAR-IARI and Dr. Pramod Kumar, In-charge PME Cell, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi.
Plasma Water Solutions proprietary breakthrough cold-plasma technology converts water from any source, in continuous flow & real time to Plasma-ized WaterTM (PW). PW technology is used for seed treatment, crop spray and irrigation to enhance productivity through faster and more efficient germination, accelerated growth, preventing the transmission of plant pathogens and enhancing stress tolerance during the crops cycle. Under this MOU, IARI and IISS of ICAR will undertake standardization of seed treatment (ST) in various crops, validating the standardized ST in demonstrations/field trials at different locations and generating data under the research project entitled "Standardization, Performance Evaluation and Field Demonstrations of PW Treatments for Enhanced Planting Value in Wheat, Mustard, Lentil, and Tomato crops against heat stress and normal conditions."
Complimenting the two teams from Germany, Robert Hardt, President and CEO, Plasma Water Solutions Inc, said, "ours is a science based technology & we believe in continuous refinement by joining hands with the leading science & research institutes globally keeping customers at the centre of all our R&D efforts. We are extremely proud to be associated with the Apex organisation, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in India & wish to see this working in favour of Indian farmers."
Enhancing productivity in the most climate smart sustainable manner is a key objective of IARI. We look forward to work on this tech along with PWS India to study the utility of PW technology to enhance crop productivity sustainably, said Dr. Chinnusamy Viswanathan, Joint Director (Research), ICAR-IARI, New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Pragya Kalia, MD, Plasma Water Solutions India, said, "this is a strategic step towards making our technology effective for small farmers of India. Through ICAR partnership, we would not just validate & demonstrate benefits of our tech for natural farming & productivity but also standardize the applications considering various agro-climatic conditions & local practices."
Image credit: plasmawaters.com
