Venkatrao K. Badami

Venkata Rao Krishnaji Badami (12 January 1888 – c. 1950) was an Indian agronomist and a pioneer of plant breeding.

Working in the Mysore Department of Agriculture, he was among the first to produce groundnut hybrids[1] and to make use of X-ray induced mutations in the search for useful variations for breeding sugarcane varieties in 1933.

"[4] He travelled around Europe and met Herman Nilsson-Ehle in Sweden and Wilhelm Johannsen in Denmark.

Similar experiments had failed elsewhere and Badami attributed his success to the use of seeds from homozygous sugarcane lines.

[7] Sir John Russell, noted in his 1937 report on crop research in India that "Dr Badami is an ingenious investigator with a flair for this type of work.