Science and Technology Minister inaugurates SPROUT facility at BRIC-National Institute of Plant Genome Research, emphasizing the need for modern biotechnology to respond to real agricultural challenges.
Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today inaugurated SpeedSeed Phenotyping and Resource Optimization for Unified Trait Analysis (SPROUT) facility at BRIC-National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi. The Minister emphasized that modern biotechnology must increasingly be translated into technologies that can respond to real agricultural challenges and provide tangible benefits to farmers.
Dr. Singh highlighted the scientific advances being made today, particularly in genomics, gene technologies, precision phenotyping, and accelerated breeding, as becoming increasingly relevant in the years ahead.
He emphasized the country’s biotechnology journey is increasingly being driven by the convergence of advanced science, technology, and applications that can address challenges relating to agriculture, health, sustainability, and national development. Dr. Singh also called for stronger interaction between scientific institutions and industry partners, farmers, and other stakeholders.
SPROUT is a season-independent, controlled-environment facility designed for high-throughput phenotyping, precision stress screening, and evaluation of germplasm, breeding populations, mutants, transgenic, and genome-edited lines. With a major focus on chickpea, the facility will help connect advances in genomics and genome editing with precise trait evaluation and breeding, ultimately strengthening the ability to move more efficiently from gene discovery to trait validation and ultimately to crop improvement.
Source:
Akashvani News
