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Home / National News Updates / August 2001 / INDO-SWISS COLLABORATION TO DEVELOP IMPROVED WHEAT VARIETIES

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INDO-SWISS COLLABORATION TO DEVELOP IMPROVED WHEAT VARIETIES

New Delhi ~ June 25 2001

India and Switzerland have taken up a wheat-research programme to develop improved varieties resistant to fungal diseases. Such varieties would help in increasing productivity. Five research institutes and universities of India and three Swiss research institutions are involved in this programme The joint network project would result in evolving agronomically desirable wheat lines with resistance to important fungal diseases such as leaf rust head scab and karnal bunt using molecular markers and genetic engineering. It may be noted that the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation had launched a new phase of collaboration in biotechnology in October 1999. However there is no proposal to develop drought resistant wheat varieties under this new agreement.

It may be recalled that the DBT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) are working together towards finalising a Swiss proposal for joint research on Golden Rice i.e. a pro-vitamin-A rich rice variety. This variety of Indian rice would be available in six years. The proposal on Golden Rice figures in the new phase of Indo-Swiss collaboration in biotechnology.

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