Govt looking into Genomic science based DNA mapping: minister

Karnataka AgricultureMinister Krishna Byre Gowda today said the state government islooking into Genomic science based DNA mapping to increasedrought resistance in certain crops.
"Genomic science is bringing revolutionary changes.We are now beginning to assess genomic science based DNA mapping to increase drought resistivity in crops," Gowda said.
"The technique is genome based marker assisted breeding technique," he said, intervening during the discussion on the budget in the assembly. His response came as Basavaraj Bommai (BJP) said the government, institutes of agriculture research and agri universities have not been able to provide alternative tofarmers during the years of drought.
"Don't indulge in fund oriented R&D, but have growth oriented R&D," Bommai said.

Karnataka is continuously facing drought for the last five years.
Gowda said five crops-- Tur, Gram, Jowar, Ragi and Groundnut- have been chosen, to increase their drought tolerance, as also disease resistivity.
He said field trials of the varieties will be done during the year and based on its success they may be distributed to farmers from next year.
"State government is bearing the scientific experiment related cost of this," he added.