The Center for Conservation Research provides free melons for Alcorn students and employees
The Alcorn State University Center for Conservation Research will distribute several varieties of melons free of cost to Alcorn students and employees. To receive yours, visit the Extension and Research Complex September 16, 2014, from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. The melons will be distributed on a first come first served basis.
The Center directed by internationally renowned agricultural scientist and associate professor, Dr. Girish K.S.Panicker, has received a $498,561 grant from the USDA for conducting research on 103 varieties of melons from around the globe.
The grant entitled, “Mining the Melon Gene Pool to Breed Novel Morphotypes for Dissemination into Small Farms through a Participatory Selection Approach”, is in its second year of research, preparing for dissemination in the 2015-2016 academic year.
As principal investigator, Panicker says he was inspired to write the grant because “it is common knowledge that obesity is one of the largest health challenges facing this country now, with almost 13 million children and 78 million adults in the U.S. being obese.”
