Page 52 - New Cloth Market December 2022 Digital Edition

Indian Scenario of Cotton Hybrid Technology, Reseach Projects & Recommendations

and Dr A.R. Sharma reviewed the re-
sults of AICRP trials. Dr. P. K. Chakra-
barty, Member, ASRB also participat-
ed in the session. Dr. A. H. Prakash,
Project Coordinator (Cotton) present-
ed the national and international sta-
tus of cotton research. Dr. S. Manick-
am, Principal Investigator (PI), Plant
Breeding presented the achievements
of breeding trials conducted during the
crop season 2021-2022 followed by Dr.
K. Sankarnarayanan, PI (Agronomy)
on Agronomy trials, Dr. Rishi Kumar,
PI (Entomology) on Entomology trials,
Dr. S. K. Sain, PI (Plant Pathology) on
Plant Pathology trials and Dr. P K
Mandhyan, PI (Quality Evaluation) on Special Address by Dr. Y G Prasad, Director, ICAR-CICR
fiber quality research.
to-insensitive varieties for cultivation and Monitoring committee
Dr. T. R. Sharma (DDG-Crop Scienc- (v) Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and - More number of crosses to be at-
es) suggested the following points: Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) geno- tempted for successful introgres-
types for cultivation (vi) Disease resis-
- Location specific varieties are to be tance varieties for major diseases like sion of target traits from wild spe-
released for increasing the yield in leaf curl, TSV and other leaf spots cies to cultivated species
specific cotton growing areas - HDPS suitability study to be con-
- Intensification of pre-breeding ac-
- Emphasized to follow strict guide- tivities to broaden the genetic base ducted at specific geographical lo-
lines to release varieties/hybrids of cotton genome cations which are <300 kg average
through Varietal Identification Com- lint yield/ha.
mittee (VIC) meeting in order to re- - Bt hybrid development is need of - Technologies for organic cotton cul-
lease only best cultivars to farm- the hour from public sector breed- tivation to be standardized and
ers ing programmes ? Use of plant ar- stream lined Dr. R. K. Singh, ADG
chitecture as basic trait for hybrid
- Whole genome sequencing of Gos- development in cotton breeding (CC), ICAR, New Delhi
sypium spp. revealed the presence - The boll size of public sector Bt cot-
more than 41,000 predicted genes - Branding of cotton for Special char- ton varieties should be addresses
in G. hirsutum. GWAS, MAS and acters needs to be concentrated and should be atleast 4.0- 4.5 g and
Genome editing techniques to be - Public private partnership to be plant geometry to be worked out for
explored in cotton for further im- strengthened for breeding material better yields. If not should not be
provement diversification as well as develop- consider for promotion.
- Speed breeding to be followed to ment of genotypes and technolo- Special Lectures Session
accelerate the breeding process by gies by joint venture
increasing the no. of breeding cy- - Technology Identification Commit- The session on special lectures was
cles per year tee (TIC) to be setup in AICRP sys- chaired by Dr P. K. Chakrabarty, Mem-
- The Research Publication from tem for systematic evaluation, re- ber, ASRB, New Delhi and co-chaired
AICRP should be presented in fu- lease and providing of certificate to by Dr. R. K. Singh, ADG (Commercial
ture. technology Crops), ICAR, New Delhi. The Chair-
man started the session with the in-
- Drone technology to be used for re-
Dr. Sharma also stressed to concen- troductory note emphasizing the impor-
search and pesticide spray in cot-
trate the following six researchable ar- tance of biotechnology in improving
ton research programme
eas for further improvement in cotton crop yields, crop quality, effective pest
research: (i) Insect resistance manage- - Scientific data generation, statisti- and disease management. The recent
ment (ii) Drought tolerant varieties for cal analysis and publication in high advances in biotechnology especially
drought hit and rainfed areas (iii) Vari- impact journals are mandatory in the CRISPR- Cas mediated genome
eties suitable for salinity and water log- AICRP system Dr C.D. Mayee, editing was successfully used to edit
ging conditions (iv) Breeding for pho- Chairman, Programme Advisory 17 genes to manage 20 diseases in

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