Dr. M. Balasundaran

Dr. M Balasundaran, Scientist-F and Programme Coordinator, Forest Genetics and Biotechnology Division superannuated from the Institute on 31st March 2010, after serving the Institute for 31 years. His area of specialization was biotechnology and molecular biology as well as soil microbiology and plant pathology. He initiated and organized the new biotechnology laboratory and a state of the art molecular biology laboratory at KFRI. During the early years of service, he concentrated on diagnosis/control of non-fungal diseases such a sandal spike and developed immunological and molecular techniques for early detection of the disease. He took leading role in identifying eucalypts and acacia provenances suitable for Kerala and in developing disease resistant and fast growing clones of these species which wee later planted by Forest Department and Hindustan Newsprint Ltd. The technology of aerobic composting using forest weeds for mass production of compost was standardized and the technology successf