Krishnaswamy Ramiah MBE (15 April 1892 – 3 August 1988) was an Indian agricultural scientist, geneticist, parliamentarian and the founder director of Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack,[1] credited with introducing systematic hybridisation programmes in rice breeding in India.
[3] Ramiah, born in 1892,[2] started his career, in 1914, as a member of research staff at the Paddy Breeding Station in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
[1] In three years time, by 1917, he produced new crossbreeds of rice though pure line selection and breed improvement.
[2] Later, he introduced systematic hybridisation programmes, known to be the first Indian scientist to pursue such a protocol in rice breeding.
He was reported to have contributed to the FAO sponsored Indo-Japonica Hybridization programme[1] which yielded the nitrogen responsive rice varieties of Mahsuri, Malinja, ADT 27 and Circna, the first two released in Malaysia, the third in India and the last one, in Australia.