Patents/ Varieties/ / Genetic Stocks/ Copyright

·      Patent: Method and apparatus for side view imaging for field phenotyping of crop biomass and growth

·      Released wheat varieties: HD3086, HD3118, HS562, HD3237, HD3086, HD3271 (as collaborator)

·      Genome edited variety (under advance trial): Rice cv. MTU1010 (DST gene) with improved yield and abiotic stress tolerance (lead developer)

·      Genetic Stocks: Black gram: IC530491, IC519933 - Waterlogging tolerance (lead developer); Wheat: IC128335 - Drought tolerance (as collaborator); Wild bean: IC259504 - High protein content (as collaborator); Rice: NERICA L-44 - Heat tolerance (as collaborator)

·      Copyright: CRISP-PTG-ASSEMBLER, VER.1.0; Drought Predictor

Research Achievements (To Be Revised)

Stress Physiology and Climate Change

• • • Dr. R. D. Asana proposed wheat ideotype for rainfed cultivation characterized by moderately high tillering capacity, moderately short and broad flag leaf, long flag leaf sheath and short peduncle with long ear.
    • Phenotyping of 6,200 genotypes including wheat, rice, mung bean, lentil, sesame and brassica for traits related to drought, heat, salinity, nutrient use efficiency under controlled/field conditions to identify trait-specific donors.
    • Identification of QTLs/potential candidate genes for stress tolerance and nutrient use associated traits.
    • Waxiness and long awns in wheat improves thermo-tolerance by dissipating excess heat and lowering canopy temperature.
    • High night temperature adversely affects the yield and quality of wheat and rice crops.
    • Seed setting in high night temperature tolerant wheat cultivar is attributed to the homeostatic control of reactive oxygen species and hormonal readjustment in pistils.
    • Differential transcript abundance of salt overly sensitive pathway genes (SOS1, SOS2, SOS3, NHX1, VP1) is a determinant of salinity stress tolerance in bread wheat.

Postharvest Physiology

• • • Postharvest treatment with 1-methyl cyclopropene (1-MCP) @ 0.3µL L^-1 for 4 h can delay tomato fruit ripening by 18 to 24 days (18-20°C) or 4 to 14 days (25-28°C).
    • Size of stem scar region of tomato fruits serves as a simple and quantifiable morphological selection criterion for screening/breeding for slow-ripening types. Small scar region is positively associated with late ripening.
    • Development of reflectance-based models for non-destructive assessment of quality and nutritional parameters (colour, ripeness, maturity, lycopene, firmness, carotenoids) of tomato fruits. 

Mineral Nutrition

• • • Selection of cultivar with high nitrate reductase (NR) activity in flag leaves and split dose of nitrogen fertilization is recommended in wheat to improve the nitrogen use efficiency.
    • Root exudation index, a physiological marker developed for efficient phosphorus acquisition in soybean.
    • A rapid method using Bromocresol purple developed to quantify rhizospheric acidification for screening genotypes for low phosphorus stress tolerance.  
    • Shoot labelling with ¹⁴CO₂, a technique developed to quantify total root carbon exudation under phosphorus stress.
    • ‘PusaRicH’ hydroponics media optimized for raising rice seedlings by modifying the nutrient concentration, pH and ratio of NH₄⁺ to NO₃^– nitrogen.
    • Single foliar application of humic acid with iron at anthesis or grain-filling stage improves grain Fe content in wheat.
    • Elevated CO₂-induced production of nitric oxide differentially modulates nitrate assimilation and root growth of wheat seedlings in a nitrate dose-dependent manner.

Biostimulants/Bioregulators

• • • Bioregulators based formulations “BATANNIN” and “NATU” were developed for enhancing the yield of chickpea.
    • Protocols for improving seed vigor by magnetopriming were developed in various crops and the role of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species signaling in vigor enhancement of the magnetoprimed seeds was elucidated.

Genome Editing

• • • Development of CRISPR-Cas9 genome edited dst mutants in Mega Rice cv. MTU1010 with improved grain yield and tolerance to drought and salt stress.
    • The Division is leading ICAR-EFC Mega project on Genome editing across diverse crops. Currently 24 institutes targeting 178 genes in 24 crops and 4 insect species.