The director of Central Citrus Research Institute Dr. M.S.Ladaniya is also the officiating director of Central Institute of Cotton Research. He take the charge on 16th March 2017. Born on 12th January 1959 in Maharashtra, Dr. M.S. Ladaniya received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Horticulture with specialization in Fruit Crops from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 1982 and 1986, respectively. He joined ARS at IIHR, Bengaluru in June, 1986 and later shifted to NRCC, Nagpur in May 1987. He has made outstanding contributions in developing post-harvest protocols for fresh citrus fruits and has laid foundation of systematic post-harvest research on citrus fruits in 1987 at NRCC, Nagpur. On the basis of his pioneering research on mechanized handling of Indian citrus varieties, packinghouses including degreening, pre-cooling and refrigerated storage facilities are established in many parts of the country for Kinnow, Nagpur mandarin, acid lime and sweet orange. His contributions cover development of standards for fruit maturity, degreening, handling, packaging containers, modified atmosphere packaging and storage.
