Mysuru  – The Plant Genome Saviour Community National Award will be presented to Dr. C.N. Mruthyunjayappa of city at a function to be held on Apr. 19 at 11 am at Motihari  in Champaran district of Bihar.

Dr. Mruthyunjayappa retired as the Medical Superintendent of JSS Hospital, Mysuru, about two years back and is residing at Srirampura in city.

This award is presented by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) annually on the basis of short-listing and site- verification of the applications received from the community of farmers/farming community-based organisations who have a long track record for conserving plant agro-biodiversity.

He has grown over 200 varieties of plants which was inspected by the award selection committee. Dr. Mruthyunjayappa, who was intimated on his selection for the award on Apr. 7, has already left for Bihar and is expected to reach today. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh, a memento and a citation.

‘Vaidya Ratna’ awardee Dr. Mruthyunjayappa and his wife Sudha have raised varieties of fruits, most of them exotic and exclusively grown in specific regions across the globe, in the front and backyards of their house built on a 120×90 ft plot. Both, students of Botany, have mastered the art of grafting and are successful in growing different species of fruits on a single plant.

Their lemon tree bears more than a dozen varieties of citrus fruits that have their origins from Kodagu to China and from Darjeeling to Switzerland. The plum, peach, apricot  and apple —  all are grown on one tree.

Their garden boasts of 10 varieties of jackfruit, some of them gumless, 10 varieties of mango, over a dozen varieties of guava, some weighing over a kilo and a half, mulberry, dragon fruit, fig, almond, butter fruit, plum, pistachio,  apricot, rose and the list goes on.

The couple, for whom grafting is a passion, keep searching on websites for new fruit plant species and are ready to fly to any corner of the globe just to get a scion (a detached living portion of a plant)  to graft it on a tree in their garden. So far, they have travelled to more than 100 countries in the last five decades.

Their wonder garden attracts more than a dozen species of birds every day. No visitor to their house goes empty-handed as the couple not only serves them the fresh and organically grown fruits but also gifts them a basketful.