Genetics & Plant Breeding

Ravi Pratap Singh
Professor & HEAD

Introduction

Since its inception in 1969 as a full fledged Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, the department has made significant achievements and contributions in the field of teaching, research and extension. With a meager staff number of seven teaching positions, the department has now twenty five teaching / scientific positions. The department offers courses in Genetics, Cytogenetics, Plant Breeding, Tissue Culture, Biotechnology, Molecular Genetics, Stress Breeding, Mutation Breeding, Biometrical Genetics at UG, PG & Doctoral level. Research through students and projects cover the different major thrust areas, such as plant breeding, cytogenetics, mutation breeding, tissue culture and biological nitrogen fixation with greater emphasis on the problems related to plant breeding on most of the major crops of this region i.e. wheat, rice, maize, peas, chickpea, pigeonpea, lentil, mungbean, rapeseed and mustard. Some of the new crops which gave impetus to both basic and applied researches, include safflower, rajmash and rice-bean. Under exploited crops like lentil & sesame grown in rainfed condition are being improved for its quality and production.

Seven All India Coordinated Research Projects and 15 ad-hoc research schemes (currently 8) are in operation. The contribution in terms of varieties has changed the socio-economic conditions of the farming community of this region and brought name of this institution as one of the leading centers of Genetics and Plant Breeding research in the eastern part of the country. During the last five years, the department has developed number of varieties in the crops like wheat (HUW-468 in 1999 for normal sown in NEPZ; HUW-510 in 2000 for late sown in NEPZ), pea (HUDP-15 in 1999 for NEPZ and EZ), green gram (HUM-1, namely, Malviya Jyoti in 1999 for CZ and SZ for spring season and SZ for kharif season; HUM-2,namely, Malviya Jagriti in 2000 for entire Uttar Pradesh and Uttranchal for Zaid season; HUM-6, namely, Malviya Janpriya in 2001 for entire Uttar Pradesh for zaid season; Malviya Janchetna in 2003 for NEPZ for summer season), pigeonpea (MA-3, namely, Malviya Vikalp in 1999 for CZ for kharif season; MA-6, namely, Malviya Vikash in 2003 for NEPZ for kharif season; MAL -13, namely, Malviya Chamatkar in 2003 for NEPZ for Kharif season and Lentil (HUL-57) namely Malaviya Vishwanath in 2004 for NEPZ for rainfed condition. The varieties released from this centre have replaced to a great extent the age-old traditional cultivars of both traditional and non-traditional crops of the region. Besides varieties, the department has achieved excellent results on basic researches, for example, establishment of translocation and trisomic stocks and fertile tertiary trisomics and diplodized tetraploids in pearl millet, development of auto-tetraploids of pea and repeseed, standardization of squash technique for somatic chromosomes in safflower, nature of gene action for different economic traits, useful induced mutants in various crops, establishment of translocation and autotetraploids in sofflower, highly effective Rhzobium strains for mungbean (MO-5), pea (P-5), chikpea (G-567, GHUR-15, and GHUR-22) and rajmash (HURR-3 and Raj-2) developed and being used as biofertilizers. Bacteriophage infectious to Rhizobium species isolated for the first time from Indian soils. Rhizobiophages used successfully for typing of rhizobial strains inhabiting nodules of mungbean and pea.