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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 12 Farm scientists from Australia and India have joined hands for a collaborative five-year research programme aimed at improving drought and temperature tolerance, disease resistance and quality of wheat.

This comes even as wheat production in both countries has suffered severe setbacks in recent times due to unfavourable temperature and rainfall patterns.

As part of the programme, a three-day joint workshop on sustainable wheat production through use of marker-assisted breeding and other biotechnological tools commenced here.

The workshop, co-hosted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), is being attended by scientists from the Directorate of Wheat Research at Karnal, Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa (Delhi), Punjab Agricultural University at Ludhiana, Plant Breeding Institute Cobbity at Sydney University and the Department of Agriculture and Food of Western Australia.

The Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr John McCarthy, said the workshop will determine the objectives for a series of collaborative research projects, bringing together the world-class wheat research expertise of both countries.

“Marker-assisted selection in the ACIAR wheat-breeding projects will hasten the development of better wheat traits such as disease and drought resistance, and improved quality and yield,” said Mr McCarthy.

Marker-assisted selection is a tool that allows plant breeders to ‘mark’ specific genes that can deliver desirable traits. These genes are identified and marked, and descendants can be tested easily and quickly in a laboratory for the ‘marked’ gene. This tool speeds up breeding programmes, achieving greater efficiency, consistency and accuracy in new varieties.

“There is a long history of successful collaboration through ACIAR, including the identification and development of yellow rust resistant strains of wheat, and we look forward to building on this,” he added.

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