Palampur agricultural university secures Rs 1-crore research project

Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, has been awarded a prestigious research project worth Rs 100.15 lakh by the National Agricultural Science Fund (NASF) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. The university will serve as the lead institution for the project, which will be implemented in collaboration with key national partners, including Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi; and ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora, Uttarakhand.

The project will span three years and aims to significantly improve wheat’s resistance to major biotic stresses.

VC Dr Ashok Kumar Panda said, “Landing the project is a matter of great honour for the university. It reflects the trust and recognition the CSKHPKV has earned at national level in the field of agricultural research. Prof Jai Dev, Head, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, said the objective is to enhance wheat’s resilience against key biotic stresses by tapping diverse and underutilised genetic resources.

The principal investigator of the project, Dr Vijay Rana, said the research will focus on field-based evaluation of these materials for biotic stress tolerance traits, introgression of novel resistance genes into elite wheat cultivars through speed breeding and preliminary assessment of the developed lines for yield and grain quality.