Scientist Profile

Dr V. Kasthuri Thilagam

Dr V. Kasthuri Thilagam

Senior Scientist (Soil Science) - Division of Crop Production
ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute Coimbatore -641007, India Phone: Office: 0422-2472621 Extn: 327 kasthurisk@gmail.com

Research Interest

  • Soil fertility
  • Nutrient management
  • Soil and water Conservation
  • Nutrient modelling
  • Watershed management
  • Remote sensing and GIS

Current focus

  • Characterization of waterlogged soils
  • Management of alkaline soils for sugarcane production
  • Soil fertility management
  • Management of Sugarcane trash
  • Soil Carbon Sequestration strategies

Significant contribution

  • Modelling nutrient movement in agricultural watershed for reducing water pollution
  • Assessment of carbon sequestration under different soil and water conservation structures
  • Evaluation of ecosystem services from natural resource conservation and management
  • Cover crops for soil health management under potato- carrot cropping sequence
  • Characterization of waterlogged soils under sugarcane

Technology Developed

  • Sugarcane settling transplanting technology (Co developer)
  • Integrated nutrient management package for sugarcane in calcareous soil (Co developer)
  • Efficient and Economical way of Nutripriming of Sugarcane Single Bud Setts (Co developer)
  • Soil Smart Sugarcane Management System (Sosmart) software with site specific nutrient and irrigation management for sugarcane (Co developer).
  • SIS (Soil Inference System) software for soil constraint management for sugarcane cultivation (Co developer)

Outreach and Extension

  • World Soil Day : Organised world soil day 2022, 2023 and 2024
  • Conducted Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) in Thiruvannamalia District
  • Conducted Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (VKSA) in Coimbatore District.

Radio talk delivered

  • A talk delivered on the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification and Droughts and broadcasted on 17.06.2024 in All India Radio, Coimbatore
  • A talk / discussion on Caring for soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage” on the occasion of World Soil Day 2024 broadcasted on 05.12.2024 in All India Radio, Coimbatore
  • Radio talk on Water conservation in All India Radio on the eve of rivers day broadcasted on 28.09.2023
  • Radio talk on Soil and Water : a source of life in All India Radio broadcasted on world soil day 2023 (05.12.2023)
  • Indian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi
  • Soil Conservation Society of India, New Delhi
  • Indian Association of Soil & Water Conservationists, Dehradun 
  • Association of Agrometeorologists
  • Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers, New Delhi
  • Association of Global Groundwater Scientists (AGGS)
  • Society for Sugarcane Research and Development, Coimbatore
  • Society for Sugar Research and Promotion
  • Academy of Natural Resource Conservation and Management (ANRCM), Lucknow
  • The Society for Science of Climate Change and Sustainable Environment, New Delhi

Awards

  • SCSI Leadership award 2020 from Soil Conservation Society of India New Delhi 
  • Achiever Award 2021 from the Society of Advancement of Human and Nature (SADHNA), Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
  • Dr. K. K. Krishnamurthy and Dr. G. Selvakumari Gold medal award for the BEST Ph. D STUDENT in the department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, TNAU, Coimbatore.
  • Best Research Paper for the year 2021-  “Effect of geo-textiles on runoff, soil loss, soil quality and vegetation in slopping lands of Western Ghats of India” by S. Manivannan, OPS Khola, K. Kannan, V. Kasthuri Thilagam and P.K. Choudhury published in Indian Journal of Soil Conservation (Volume 49 No. 1, April, 2021) 
  • Received best paper award for the paper on “Characterization of waterlogged soil under sugarcane cultivation for their hydraulic properties and nutrient status” by V Kasthuri Thilagam V., Vennila, A. and C. Palaniswami in 32nd National Conference on “Soil, Water and Energy Management for Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood Security” organized by Soil Conservation Society of India, New Delhi at Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture &Technology, Kanpur, during 18-20 October, 2024.
  • Kasthuri Thilagam,V., S Manivannan (2025). Climate Change Implications on Soil Health and Agronomical Interventions to Increase Soil Carbon Sequestration under different Landuses. International Journal of Environmental & Agriculture Research (IJOEAR), 11 (6):124-130.
  • Vennila, A., S. Anusha, C. Palaniswami, P. Malathi and Kasthuri Thilagam (2025). Sugarcane Settling Transplanting Technology for Improving Yield and Profit Maximization. RASSA Journal of Science for Society 7(1): 1-7. DOI: 10.5958/2583-3715.2025.00001.8
  • Kasthuri Thilagam V, Manivannan and R. Srinivasan 2024. Morphological Characterization of an Agricultural Watershed using Geospatial tools for effective Planning of Engineering Structures. Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability 2023, 11 (1): 49-56.
  • Manivannan, S., Kasthuri Thilagam., Ravindra Yaligar and K N Manoj. (2024). Crop planning using innovative trend analysis of 62-years rainfall data. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 94 (7):774-779.
  • Vennila, A.,  P. Malathi Riya Augustin,  Kasthuri Thilagam,  C. Palaniswami,  R. Viswanathan (2023). Efcient and Economical Way of Improving Sugarcane Settling Vigour by Mechanized Priming of Single Bud Setts with Nutrients. Sugar Tech. 
  • Panwar, P.; Machiwal, D.; Kumari, V.; Kumar, S.; Dogra, P.; Manivannan, S.; Bhatnagar, P.R.; Tomar, J.M.S.; Kaushal, R.; Jinger, D.; Pradip Kumar Sarkar, L. K. Baishya, NP Devi, Vijaysinha Kakade, Gaurav Singh, Nongmaithem Raju Singh, S. Gojendro Singh, Abhishek Patel, P. S. Renjith, Sharmistha Pal, V. K. Bhatt, N. K. Sharma, O. P. S. Khola, Sheetal K. Radhakrishnan, V. Kasthuri Thilagam, L. Bhutia, Kouberi Nath, Rekha Das, Dhiman Daschaudhuri, Arun Kumar, G. S. Panwar, S. V. Dwivedi, Sanjeev Kumar and B. K. Singh. Sustainable Water Harvesting for Improving Food Security and Livelihoods of Smallholders under Different Climatic Conditions of India. Sustainability 2023, 15(12) 9230.
  • Kasthuri Thilagam, V.; Manivannan, S.; Khola, O.P.S (2023) Deriving Land Management Practices for Reduced Nutrient Movement from an Agricultural Watershed Using the AGNPS Model. Sustainability 2023, 15(5),
  • Kasthuri Thilagam, V., Manivannan, S., Vaishnavi N. A. and Ravindra Yaligar (2022). Climate Change Impact on Forest Cover: A Critical Review. International Journal of Environment and Climate Change. 12(11): 431-441.
  • S., V. Kasthuri Thilagam and Ravindra Yaligar (2022). Climate change impact on water resources in Indian river basins: A review. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 21 (1) : 76-85
  • Manivannan, S., O.P.S. Khola , K. Kannan, Kasthuri Thilagam and P.K.Choudhury. 2021. Effect of geotextiles on runoff, soil loss, soil quality and vegetation in sloppy lands of Western Ghats of India. Indian Journal of Soil Conservation. 49 (1): 1-11
  • Manivannan, S, P.S. Khola, K. Kannan, H.C. Hombegowda, D.V. Singh, P. Sundarambal and V. Kasthuri Thilagam. 2021. Comprehensive impact assessment of watershed development projects in lower Bhavani catchments of Tamil Nadu. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 20 (1): 66-73.
  • S., O P S Khola., K Kannan., P K Choudhury and V Kasthuri Thilagam (2018). Efficacy of open weave jute geotextiles in controlling soil erosion and its impact on hill slope stabilization. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 88 (5): 679–84.
  • Debarup Das, Amaresh Kumar Nayak, Kasthuri Thilagam, Dibyendu Chatterjee, M. Shahid, Rahul Tripathi, S. Mohanty, Anjani Kumar,  B. Lal,  Priyanka Gautam, B.B. Panda, S.S. Biswas (2018).  Measuring potassium fractions is not sufficient to assess the long-term impact of fertilization and manuring on soil’s potassium supplying capacity. Journal of Soils and Sediments (Online).
  • S, V. Kasthuri Thilagam and O.P.S. Khola (2017). Soil and water conservation in India: Strategies and Research Challenges. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 16 (4): 312-319.
  • Sushmita Munda, A. K. Nayak, P. N. Mishra, P. Bhattacharyya, Sangita Mohanty, Anjani Kumar, Upendra Kumar, M. J. Baig , Rahul Tripathi, Mohammad Shahid, Totan Adak, and Kasturi Thilagam (2016). Combined application of rice husk biochar and fly ash improved the yield of lowland rice. Soil Research, Vol. 54 (4): 451-459.
  • Rahul Tripathi, A.K. Nayak, Pratap Bhattacharyya, A.K. Shukla , Mohammad Shahid , R. Raja , B.B. Panda , Sangita Mohanty , Anjani Kumar , Kasthuri Thilagam. (2014). Soil aggregation and distribution of carbon and nitrogen in different fractions after 41 years long-term fertilizer experiment in tropical rice–rice system. Geoderma, 213: 280–286.
  • Kasthuri Thilagam. V and R. Sivasamy (2013). Role of Remote Sensing and GIS In Land Resource Inventory- A Review. Agri. Reviews, 34 (3): 223-229.
  • Kasthuri Thilagam,V., Lalitha and R. Natesan (2011). Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustaining Cauliflower Productivity – A Review. Agri. Review, 32 (1): 26 – 31.
  • Lalitha, M., Kasthuri Thilagam, V., Balakrishnan, N., Mansour, M., 2010. Effect of plastic mulch on soil properties and crop growth – A review. Agric. Rev. 31, 145–149.
  • Kasthuri Thilagam, and R. Natesan (2009). Fertilizer prescription equations for desired yield targets of cauliflower under integrated plant nutrient system based on targeted yield model. Agricultural Science Digest. 29(4):250-253.

Book Chapter

  • Kasthuri Thilagam V.,Manivannan, R. Srinivasan. 2024. Role of Zinc Nutrition in Sustainable Vegetable Production.  Sukumar, E., Vinothkumar, K., & Manickavasagan, A. (Eds.). Zinc: Early Development, Applications, and Emerging Trends (1st ed.). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003412472
  • Manivannan, S., Khola, O.P.S., Kasthuri Thilagam, V. (2023). Comprehensive Impact Assessment of Watershed Interventions in South Pennaiyar Catchment of Tamil Nadu, India. Recent Progress in Science and Technology Vol. 5, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.9734/ bpi/ rpst/v5/8033F. ISBN: 978-81-19102-15-0.
  • Vennila, A., Kasthuri Thilagam and C. Palaniswami. 2023. Precision water and nutrient management in sugarcane. In: Technologies for sugarcane production (Eds.) D. Puthira Prathap, K. Mohanraj and G. Hemaprabha. ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. (ICAR-SBI Training Series: 2023/E/02) pp: 52-69. (ISBN:978-93-85267-39-0)
  • Palaniswami, C., Kasthuri Thilagam. and Vennila, A. 2023. Application of remote sensing and decision support system in sugarcane agriculture. In: Technologies for sugarcane production (Eds.) D. Puthira Prathap, K. Mohanraj and G. Hemaprabha. ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. (ICAR-SBI Training Series: 2023/E/02) pp: 94-103. (ISBN:978-93-85267-39-0)
  • Kasthuri Thilagam V., Manivannan (2022). Soil management interventions for climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. In: Community Based Climate Risk Management Through Watershed Development (Eds) Vanitha S. M, Renuka Rani B., Kannan K., Hombegowda H. C., Sundarambal P. and Jamanal S.K. published by National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, India. Pp: 82-90. (ISBN: 978-93-91668-06-8).
  • Vennila, A., Kasthuri Thilagam and C. Palaniswami. 2022. Integrated nutrient management for Sugarcane (Tamil). In: Handbook on Sugarcane (Eds.) T. Rajula Shanthy, G.Hemaprabha,  R. Viswanathan and C. Palaniswami published by ICAR -Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. pp:  85-93. (ISBN: 978-93-85267-35-2).
  • Kasthuri Thilagam.V.,Manivannan and O.P.S. Khola (2019). Impact of Soil Erosion And Nutrient Management Practices on Surface Water Quality in Nilgiris District. In Current Trends and Challenges in Sustainable Agriculture (Ed.) A. Raja Rajan S. Mani K. Vinoth Kumar B. Muthuraja and G. Yoganathan published by Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Coimbatore. P :5-8 (ISBN: 978-93-5351-321-4)
  • Kasthuri Thilagam, V (2018). Integrated nutrient management for sustainable soil health management. In Manivannan.S, V. Kasthuri Thilagam, Balaji Kannan and G.Thiyagarajan. Integrated Watershed Management (Tamil), Thannambikai Publication, Coimbatore (ISBN 978-93-87314-60-3). Pp. 118-124.
  • Sangita Mohanty, A.K. Nayak, P. Bhattacharya, Anjani Kumar, Kasthuri Thilagam and Annie Poonam (2012). Nitrous oxide emission from rice and rice based production system and its mitigation strategy. In: Bhattacharya, P., Nayak, A.K., Raja, R. and Rao, K.S. (Eds.). Climate change: Green-house gas emission in rice farming and mitigation options. Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, India. pp. 51-62.