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Head of division: Mr. Tila Muhammad
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| Introduction |
Research mandate |
| Research Groups |
Varieties released |
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| Introduction |
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Wheat, chickpea (gram) and oilseed brassica (Rape and Mustard) are important winter season crops being grown on 41,5 and 2.5% of the total annual cropped area in NWFP. The end products of these crops are the main food items of the people of Pakistan. Pakistan has always been facing serious shortages of wheat, chickpea and edible oils for the past many years. Although Pakistan has attained modest autarky in wheat production, large qualities of pulses and edible oils are still being imported at the cost of precious hard currency to meet the domestic requirements. To meet the ever-increasing demand, there is an urgent need to increase the local production of wheat, chickpea and oilseed brassica. Out of several reasons the non-availability of high yielding, disease resistant, widely adapted and good quality varieties of these crops and their quality seed in sufficient quantities is the major bottleneck in way of increasing local production in the country.
Goal oriented research is being conducted in Crop Breeding Division at NIFA on the improvement of the above mentioned economically important crops for achieving sustainable higher productivity and to improve different quality attributes through induced mutations, classical breeding and in-vitro culture techniques |
| Research mandate: |
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he Crop Breeding Division of NIFA comprises of four research groups namely Bread Wheat Improvement Group, Oilseed Brassica Group, Biotechnology Group and Chickpea Group. The scientists working in these groups are engaged in the genetic improvement of their respective crops by applying conventional and advanced breeding techniques The Plant Pathology group is a supporting group working in the crop breeding division and is mandated with extending help to the breeders in the disease evaluation of the breeding material generated/developed at various stages by the above-mentioned breeding groups. The division has recently upgraded tissue culture laboratory into a modern biotechnology laboratory equipped with all necessary facilities. Various In-Vitro culture techniques like microspore culture, shoot tip culture, embryo culture, meristem tip culture and micro propagation etc. are being employed for the genetic improvement of field and horticultural crops.
The division houses state-of-the-art oilseed quality analytical Lab. The core instrument is a capillary column UNICAN 610 Gas Chromatograph for the determination of the fatty acids profiles. The instrument is semi automated and operated through computer data system. A Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy System (NIR) is another most modern quality analytical instrument. The beautify of this machine is the non-destructive analysis of whole seed sample in crops such as wheat, chickpea, canola, rapeseed and mustard for protein, moisture, fatty acids, total oil content, and glucosinolates. |
| Research Groups |
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- Bread Wheat
- Oilseed Brassica
- Biotechnology
- Chickpea
- Plant pathology
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| Varieties released |
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Wheat:
Chickpea
Oilseed Brassica
Mungbean
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