Dr. MH. Mari Gowda was an expert in the field of Horticulture and dedicated his life for the development of Horticulture as a source of food security for the farmers of Karnataka. He was the first Director of Horticulture, Karnataka, and was instrumental in giving a special status to Horticultureby establishing a separate Department for Horticulture,a first of its kind.

Recognizing his contributions, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, has instituted Dr.MH. Mari Gowda National Endowment Award for the Best Horticulture Research for scientists working in the country whose research or technology in the last 10 years has a large scale adoption among farmers or has the potential for enhancing horticulture production. The award for 2018-19 has been conferred on Dr. S. Uma, Director, ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, TamilNadu, in recognition of the research contributions by Dr.S.Uma and her team for their innovation in the development of Next Generation Plant Tissue Culture System for High Throughput Production of Banana planting material using bioreactors.This technology has the potential to reduce the cost of banana tissue culture plants to as low as Rs.5, making them affordable for resource poor farmers. A patent has been filed for this bioreactor developed by her team at ICAR-NRCB, Trichy.

She was selected from among 33 participants across the country. The award was conferred on her by an erudite team of seven Vice-Chancellors, both present and former, on October 24, 2019 during Krishi Mela, in a grand ceremony. The award carries a plaque, a citation and cash prize.