In his inaugural address, Dr. GP Singh, Director, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi stressed on utilizing the Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) and landraces in Indian breeding programme and establishing collaborative linkages with crop based Institutes for better utilization of the germplasm. During his interaction with the concerned scientists and participants, Dr. AK Vishwakarma, PC, Sesame and Niger appreciated the Bureau’s efforts for large-scale germplasm characterization and developing the core sets in sesame, cowpea, black gram, etc. Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr. RK Gautam, Head (Division of Germplasm Evaluation), ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi outlined the germplasm activities being carried out at the Pusa Farm. He also outlined the large-scale characterization of germplasm through different projects. Dr. Kuldeep Tripathi, OIC, ICAR-NBPGR, Pusa Farm showed crop wild relatives of pulses established at the CWR garden. He urged breeders to use targeted species in their respective crop improvement programs. Dr PK Singh, Head, DPEGC facilitated the visit of Yardlong bean grown in controlled condition with trailing support. Around 4,800 germplasm accessions of different field crops were shown to the crop experts belonging to the ICAR-IARI, ICAR-IIPR, ICAR-IGFRI, ICAR-CSSRI, JNKVV, PAU, DBT-NIPGR, RPCAU, UAS-Bengaluru and ICAR-NBPGR during the occasion.
(Source : Dr. Kuldeep Tripathi, ICAR-NBPGR)