A farmer surveys a paddy field in early grain-fill — the moment where matrix decisions matter most.
CROP × DISEASE MATRIX

Master Crop, Disease & Product Mapping — 4-State Field Data

In four states, across twelve principal crops, against forty-three named pathogens and pest complexes, every Paramverse Bio product has a position. This master matrix is how we know what to recommend when an agronomist scans a field at 6 a.m. — and how a Kisan Prescription gets written before the sun is overhead.

Why a matrix, not a catalogue

Most biocontrol catalogues are organised around product. You open a brochure, the brand name sits on the cover, and the relevant crops and diseases are listed in small print on the back. That logic works for procurement. It collapses in the field.

A farmer in the Vidarbha cotton belt does not start the morning by recalling which microbial isolate she might purchase. She starts with what she sees: leaf curl on three lines of plants, a pattern of chlorosis spreading along the row, a stand-density problem after the last shower. She needs an answer organised the way the problem presents itself — crop × stage × symptom × product, not product → maybe-relevant-to-your-crop.

This matrix is the inversion. Twelve crops on one axis, the pathogen and pest complexes most likely to show up across our four-state pilot on the other, and every Paramverse Bio product positioned at the intersection where it has measurable field efficacy.

The twelve crops, and why these twelve

Four states. Twelve crops. We did not select the crops by acreage alone — we selected them by the intersection of three filters: significant area under cultivation in our pilot states, documented chronic biotic stress that synthetic chemistry has been managing imperfectly, and an export or premium-domestic market where EU MRL compliance matters.

StateCrops in matrixWhy selected
MaharashtraCotton, grapes, pomegranate, soybean, sugarcaneVidarbha cotton crisis; Nashik export-grade grape belt; pomegranate bacterial blight epidemic in Solapur
GujaratGroundnut, cotton, cumin, castorSaurashtra groundnut Aspergillus contamination — direct export gating; cumin wilt is an unsolved problem
Madhya PradeshSoybean, wheat, cotton, pulsesMalwa soybean girdle beetle + charcoal rot; Bundelkhand pulse pod-borer
KarnatakaMaize, tomato/chilli, arecanut, ragiMaize Fall Armyworm devastating Belagavi; Ganoderma wilt in coastal arecanut; chilli black thrips

The forty-three targets

For each crop the matrix lists a primary disease/pest complex and a secondary list of opportunistic infections. We restrict the "primary" list to targets that meet three tests: yield loss documented above 8 % under untreated conditions in our four states; existing chemical control either failed, gated by EU MRL, or under regulatory review; and a biological mode-of-action exists at agronomically deliverable cost.

A short selection from the primary list, by way of illustration:

CropTargetRAKSHAK optionStage window
CottonPink bollwormVAJRANSH (Metarhizium anisopliae 1.15% W.P)Square initiation → boll formation
CottonFusarium wiltMRIDAJ (Trichoderma viride 1% W.P) — seed treatmentSowing → 30 DAS
GrapesPowdery mildewKALVIR (Bacillus subtilis 1.5% A.S)4-leaf → veraison
PomegranateBacterial blight (Xanthomonas)TEJAJ (Pseudomonas fluorescens 2% A.S)Flowering → fruit set
SoybeanCharcoal rotHRITAJ (Trichoderma harzianum 1% W.P)Seed treatment + flowering soil drench
GroundnutAspergillus (aflatoxin)HRITAJ + TEJAJ stackPegging → maturity
MaizeFall ArmywormVAJRANSHV3 → tasselling
ArecanutGanoderma wiltHRITAJ — soil applicationPre-monsoon + post-monsoon

The full matrix lists every intersection for every target. We do not publish it open-access — it is distributed to certified Doctor of Soil agronomists, FPO managers and authorised distributors as a working sheet, kept current with quarterly field amendments. The extract above is sufficient to demonstrate the underlying logic: each cell is a defensible recommendation, not an aspirational suggestion.

How the matrix was built: methodology in brief

Three inputs feed every cell.

Field trials. Each candidate product is run through a minimum of three growing seasons across a minimum of two agro-climatic zones before it earns a matrix entry. The trial design is RBD (Randomised Block Design) with chemical-standard and untreated checks. Efficacy is recorded against the named target, plus yield, plus harvest residue.

Strain-level performance data. A Trichoderma viride is not a Trichoderma viride. We carry strain-level performance characterisations: thermal tolerance ceilings, salinity tolerance bands, sporulation kinetics at field temperature. Our indigenous TNAU and ITCC strains carry higher tropical resilience than the typical imported reference strain (see Tropicalized vs. Imported Strains).

Regulatory and residue gate. Every recommendation must pass through the EU MRL gate for export crops and the FCO / CIBRC gate for domestic registration. A product that demonstrates field efficacy but exceeds residue thresholds at recommended dose does not enter the matrix.

What the matrix is not

It is not a substitute for a soil test. It is not a substitute for an agronomist's eye on the actual field. It is not a static document — pathogen complexes shift, resistance emerges, new strains come online. The matrix is quarterly-amended and version-controlled. The current public version is dated February 2026, version 1.4.

"A matrix doesn't replace judgement. It compresses what takes a season to learn into something a junior agronomist can carry in a back pocket. The judgement still happens in the field."

Access

Full matrix is distributed under the Doctor of Soil protocol. Request access via /contact/ or reach out to your nearest Paramverse Bio distributor with your FPO or institutional credentials.

References & further reading

  1. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), All India Coordinated Research Project on Biological Control of Crop Pests, Annual Report 2024-25.
  2. CIBRC, Major Pests and Diseases of Notified Crops in India, Bulletin Series 2024.
  3. TNAU Agritech Portal — Plant Pathology section, Crop-wise disease inventories (accessed Jan 2026).
  4. ICRISAT, Field Trial Protocols for Tropical Biocontrol Agents, 3rd ed.