The monograph on Pongamia pinnata by Dr. M.V.R. Prasad is a significant contribution to the study of this species, as it outlines how to harness the plant's preventive and curative properties, as established by Ayurvedic medicine. The monograph also provides valuable information on the genetic improvement and plantation management of the Pongamia pinnata species. The research on the improvement of Pongamia pinnata and its management as a productive plantation is scarce, but this monograph aims to fill that void. Dr. Prasad has been working on oil-bearing perennial trees since the 1980s and has conducted extensive research on Pongamia pinnata. The monograph is a result of this research and provides a clear guide on how to extract the proven and potential benefits of Pongamia pinnata, including its use as a source of green energy. Additionally, it provides information on how to manage and improve the genetics of this species through plantation management.

M.V.R. Prasad represents the category of scientists, who are not confined exclusively to the narrow walls of their fields of specialization; but have grown to look at agricultural science as the integrated whole of diverse disciplines for sustainable progress of research. With his specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Dr Prasad strived to work with a multidisciplinary approach to achieving solutions to crop production particularly in dryland-land Agriculture.Possessing over fifty years of experience at the national and international levels in the improvement of oilseed crops, grain legumes and tree species, he has contributed to the amelioration of dryland agriculture through development of crop varieties of groundnut, castor, mung bean, moth bean, guar (cluster beans), cashew nut and Pongamia.Among his research contributions, a particular mention may be made of the development and use of aerial pod-bearing attribute, a novel leaf mutant genotype with higher dry matter production and higher oleic acid content, and selection criteria for efficient groundnut breeding in addition tobreeding productive castor genotypes possessing wilt resistance for the first time in the country.

At the international level, Dr Prasad has worked as the International Crop Improvement Specialist and Visiting Professor of IICA (OAS) with EMBRAPA in Brazil. He also worked as the International Cashew Specialist and Technical Adviser of Af.D.B. and World Bank Projects on Cashew Development in Africa. He also participated at the FAO Regional Conference at Bangkok in 1991 and International Safflower Conference held in Beijing in 1993. He was the Leader of the Team constituted by the European Commission to assist the Mozambican Cashew Institute in the preparation of the plans for cashew development in 2007.

As the Director of the Directorate of Oilseeds Research (Currently Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research), his rich contributions to strengthening of oilseeds research and production are well known.
Dr Prasad has trained a number of scientists and post-graduate students ingenetics and breeding of oilseed crops in India and abroad. He possesses over 130 publications on oilseeds, grain legumes, and problems of dryland agriculture.

Pongam Tree,,Distribution, Habitat, Climate and Adaptation, Taxonomy, Potential Uses of Pongamia, Desirable Attributes of Pongam Tree, Growth and Development, Floral Biology, Pods and Wood, Seed Oil and Its Fuel Characteristics, Pongamia Cake,,Karanjin and Pongamol,Cytology and Genetic Improvement Including Biotechnological Investigations, Selection of Elite Trees,,Plant Physiology,Carbon Sequestration by Pongamia,Phytoremediation of Problem Soils Using Pongamia,Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation, Soil Amelioration and Root Penetration in Rocky Terrain by Pongamia,Green Coal From Pongamia,Propagation,Production Technology for Elite Pongamia Plantation