The Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, paid respects to its former Director K. Gurumurthi, 81, who passed away at private hospital in the city early on Wednesday. IFGTB faculty and staff remembered his contributions to forestry research and the efforts for the establishment of the institution in a condolence meeting held on Wednesday.
As a forestry scientist specialised in physiology and biotechnology, Gurumurthi championed clonal forestry, overcoming challenges like the lack of domesticated varieties, leading to tremendous productivity improvements in the forestry sector. He researched biomass energy plantations, adventitious root initiation, and tissue culture of forest trees, paving the way for large-scale clonal propagule production.
He established model tree propagation complexes, clone banks, and modern biotechnology facilities at IFGTB. Gurumurthi developed and popularised clonal forestry methods for industrially important tree species like eucalypts, teak, neem, bamboos and casuarinas, introducing these to State forest development corporations and laying the groundwork for high-yielding forest tree varieties now available to farmers.
He guided 25 Ph.D scholars and played a pivotal role in certification of tissue culture raised plants throughout the country by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, under the programme National Certification System for Tissue Culture Raised plants.Â
Published – November 27, 2025 07:03 pm IST
