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<span>Dr. V.S. Seshadri is one of the earliest Cucurbit Breeders of the country, having a long association with the improvement of muskmelon, watermelon and cucumber over a span of nearly five decades. He was intimately connected with the identification of high yielding quality varieties in muskmelon (Pusa Madhuras)and watermelon (Sugar Baby). In 1969, on FAO Fellowship, he worked on seedless watermelon at US Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, Charleston (SC) and this work was later on published as a Technical Bulletin of USDA, and also at US Horticultural Field Station, La Jolla (California) with Dr. T.W. Whitakerin U.S.A. His research achievements at IARI included detailed studies onthe several aspects of the crop plant muskmelon like production (F 1)breeding, resistance to diseases, phylogeny, sex mechanism, etc. For thefirst time in India, monoecious stocks were developed in muskmelon, which were later used in the evolution of F1 hybrid 'Pusa Rasraj' identified by All Indian Coordinated Vegetable Improvement Project at National level. Gynoecious sex form in muskmelon was isolated and gynoecious parentsin tropical cucumber were also developed. He was associated in the development of CGMM virus resistant lines in muskmelon. His interest inthe domestication and adaptation of introduced vegetable crops in India resulted in a comprehensive analysis of the history and the course of diversification of several introduced vegetable crops, for the first time. He specially studied on the diversification of muskmelon in India with investigations on the cytogenetic aspects, electrophoretic variation, genetic divergence, oil content in seeds and sex mechanism in both dessert andnon-dessert forms. He continued his interest in research on Vegetable Crops actively with Indo-American Hybrid Seeds (P) Ltd, as a Consultant and Associate Director (R&amp;D) for nearly 10 years. His publications exceeded over 125 with several research articles, reviews, popular notes, national and international symposia presentations and chapters in books like"Vegetable Crops in India" (eds. T.K. Bose and M.G. Som), "Plant Breeding"(ed. V.L. Chopra) and "Cucurbits" (eds. N.M. Nayar and T.A. More). His research paper on cucumber (with his associates) was selected for Harbhajan Singh Award for 1991. He is a Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and Indian Society of Vegetable Science and Member of Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative, U.S.A (1980-1989). </span>
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<span>Dr. T.A. More is an eminent Horticulturist of India of National and International repute presently working as Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, Rahuri, Maharashtra since December 2010. Earlier he worked as Director, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh; Director, Central Institute for Arid Horticulture, Bikaner,Rajasthan; Director of Research, Dr. BSKKV, Dapoli, Dist.Ratnagiri, Maharashtra; Dean &amp; Director of Instructions;Director of Extension Education, Associate Dean; Founder Director of Centre for Advanced Studies in Horticulture (Fruits), Professor and Head, Department of Horticulture in Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, Rahuri, Maharashtra for 11 years, and in the Division of Vegetable Crops,IARI, New Delhi as Scientist S-1 and Senior Scientist for 18 years. Dr. More's contribution in the field of Horticulture is immense. He has developed a total of 37 varieties/F1 hybrids in Horticultural crops (muskmelon, cucumber,watermelon, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourd, Frenchbean, Dolichos bean, onion, brinjal, gladiolus, betel vine, pomegranate, beraonla and kokum) which have been developed and released at national as well as state level. He is a pioneer in the country for development of monoecious and gynoecious lines in muskmelon, tropical gynoecious lines in cucumber and CGMMV resistant lines and multiple disease (CGMMV,downy mildew, powdery mildew and Fusarium wilt) resistant lines in muskmelon. By exploiting the monoecious line in muskmelon and gynoeciousline in cucumber as female parents, two F 1 hybrids - Pusa Rasraj of muskmelon and Phule Prachi of cucumber also were developed and released Dr. More has wide international exposure and visited U.S.A., Israel, Japan,Australia and Uganda. In U.S.A., he has done Post Doctorate research for more than two years with internationally known cucurbit breeder Dr. H. M.Munger on cucurbit breeding, and also with Dr. D.H. Wallace on physiological-genetical aspects of flowering in French bean and pollen-stigma interaction and intercellular recognition mechanism in relation to self -incompatibility in Brassica. Dr. More has also worked with Dr. Y. Cohen ofBar Ilan University, Israel under Indo-Israel Joint Research Project on"Enhancement of muskmelon resistance to diseases via. breeding" for 4 years. Dr. More has 160 research publications to his credit, done teaching in Horticulture for 25 years at IARI and MPAU, and has guided 33 Ph. D. and M.Sc. students. Dr. More has been decorated with a number of prestigious awards like Dr. Harbhajan Singh Award - A Gold Medal, Dr. Kirti Singh Gold Medal for Vegetable Science; Uttam Chand Memorial Silver Medal; Silver Jubilee Citation and Memento, Certificate; Technical Education Book Publication - Award; Baliraja: V.G. Raul Pustak Vikri Purskar; National Overseas Scholarship to Study Abroad - Award and Samaj Gaurav Purskar. He is Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Indian Society of Vegetable Science, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and Hi-Tech Horticultural Society, Meerut. E-mail: tamoreta@rediffmail.com </span>