November 24, 2010
Scientists from IRRI and 15 Indian institutions gathered at the Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack, India, on 23 November 2010 for the launching meeting of a Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India-funded project, From QTL to variety: marker-assisted breeding of abiotic stress-tolerant rice varieties with major QTLs for drought, submergence, and salt tolerance.
The India-IRRI networking project aims to use DNA marker-assisted breeding to transfer major quantitative trait loci (QTL) or genes for submergence, drought, and salinity into locally popular high-yielding varieties of rice. This will supplement the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)-funded project Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia, or STRASA.
The 5-year multi-institutional project has been sanctioned by the DBT at a total cost of INR 177.4 million (approximately USD 4 million) and involves 15 STRASA network partners from Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) institutes, state agricultural universities and colleges, and central universities who will work in a networking mode to improve at least a dozen highly popular rice varieties grown in rainfed agri-ecosystems in India by incorporating genes for flood, drought, or salt tolerance.
N.K. Singh from the National Centre of Biotechnology, New Delhi, and David Mackill will act as coordinators of this project from India and IRRI, respectively.
IRRI, through the STRASA project, will provide advanced breeding lines and technical know-how to the Indian partners.
Speaking as chief guest at the inaugural function, V.P. Gupta, adviser of the DBT, said that this is a major initiative of the department, which is excited about the involvement of IRRI and has high hopes from "this well-focused undertaking."
T.K. Adhya, director of CRRI, mentioned that, in association with STRASA, the new project will surely impact on rice production in the stress-prone rainfed rice areas of India, and that these are model projects for international collaboration.
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