The City-based integrated pest management firm Sri Biotech Pvt Ltd has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Spice research of Kozhikode to formulate bio-logical pesticides for cash crops like spices.Dr KRK Reddy, winner of the Bharatratna Dr Visweswaraya Award and CEO of Sri Biotech, tells Sandeep Saykar about the company's aproach towards biological pest control and its future plans. Excerpts:

What are the products your company has developed through the tie-up?
We have developed a fungal formulation against the insect pests of spice crops like chilli, cardamom, turmeric etc. The Indian Institute of Spice Research had isolated and developed a strain of the fungus Trichoderma harianum, and we have developed a suitable formulation to make it available in powder form for agricultural part of application. Spice crops from an important part of the country. We hope that our products will help reduction in the use of chemical pesticides and enhanced production. We have also made bacterial formulations available in the market for building resistance to blight and blast diseases in these cash crops.

Do you plan to diversify into other areas?
Veterinary diagnostics is another area we will be looking at. We plan to start our research next year to identify potential products. Biocontrol agents for aquaculture are also in the pipeline. We have recently launched plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. it might take two years before we launch a product in veterinary diagnostics space.