Class 10 student from Dakshina Kannada invited to attend GENIUS Olympiad in U.S.

Class 10 student from Dakshina Kannada invited to attend GENIUS Olympiad in U.S.

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, May 11, 2019: The GENIUS Organising Committee has invited a student from Dakshina Kannada to attend the six-day GENIUS International High School Project Olympiad on environmental issues at Oswego, New York, from June 17, 2019.

 

Amogha Narayana, a student of Class 10 at Alva’s English Medium High School, Moodbidri and a native of Puttur will attend the event to be held at SUNY Oswego University, New York.

GENIUS Olympiad, an international high school competition on environmental issues, is founded and organised by the Terra Science and Education and hosted by the State University of New York.

Mr. Narayana will present his project on eco-friendly bio-weedicide prepared from kokum fruit extract and soap nut.

Speaking about his project, Mr. Narayana told The Hindu that the liquid prepared from the outer shell of the kokum fruit and soap nut is a useful bio-herbicide. Spraying it controls the growth of all types of small weeds effectively before the strong root system is established. It can be used to control the growth of weeds in the front yard, backyard and kitchen garden. It is a good alternative to chemical weedicide. “Soil analysis proved that the product is completely eco-friendly and biodegradable causing no harm to human beings and next crop,” he said.

Mr. Narayana said that the impact of the spray can be seen in eight hours and small weeds can be completely destroyed in about five weeks. He said that one day he observed that there were no weeds under a heap of kokum fruits below a kokum tree. This inspired him to research and come out with the product. The same project has won several national awards such as the special award at IRIS National Fair, 2017, and Broadcom Masters International Award, U.S., 2018.

In addition, Mr. Narayana has also made a project on eco-friendly edible coating to extend the post harvest quality and shelf life of brinjal using bilimbi leaf extract. The coating can be applied on other vegetables to increase the post harvest shelf life, he said. This project has also won several national awards like the special award at IRIS national fair, 2018, and Ricoh Sustainable Development Award, 2019.

Mr. Narayana, son of Rajaram and Sudha Rajaram, both doctors at Darbe in Puttur, has also been invited by the ISRO to participate in its two-week residential programme, ISRO Yuvika 2019, in Bengaluru from May 12. This is a programme for schoolchildren aimed at imparting basic knowledge on space technology. He is one among three finalists from Karnataka who qualified to attend.