A poultry disease prevention laboratory will be created at Namakkal, said Dr S. Ayyappan, Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), last week, reports The Hindu.

Speaking after inaugurating a Farmers' Training Hostel at the Madhavaram campus of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), Dr Ayyappan said the laboratory would be set up jointly by the TANUVAS and ICAR. He added that the monthly stipend for B.VSc students provided by the ICAR would be increased from the existing 400 rupees (INR) to INR1,000, he said.

Speaking at the programme, P. Thangaraju, Vice-Chancellor, TANUVAS, said the university received financial assistance to the tune of INR223.3 million, with which 32 research programmes were being carried out. In the current year alone, eight research programmes had been initiated at a cost of INR26 million, he said. The ICAR should help the poultry exporters in Namakkal to get the 'Quality Certificate' from the Centre, the Vice-Chancellor appealed.

Addressing the industry-institute meet function of the 27th annual conference and national symposium of Indian Poultry Science Association (IPASCON 2010), Dr Ayyappan said the lab would be set up at an estimated cost of INR10 million and ICAR was ready to finance it. The lab would monitor diseases that affect the poultry sector, including pesticide and antibiotic residues.

In his special address, V. Gnanaprakasam, former Vice-Chancellor, TANUVAS, said that the need of the hour was to introduce a five-year business management course with poultry production course to take care of manpower supply.

R.P. Singh, Director, ICAR, Izat Nagar, said that a one-year diploma course for 10 Plus-Two students will be introduced to create mid-level technicians.

D. Chandrasekaran, professor and head of the department of animal nutrition, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal, urged the officials to increase the students' intake or start new veterinary colleges to meet the manpower shortage, concludes the report in The Hindu.