Icrisat to set up centre of excellence in genomics

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has partnered with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, for establishing a centre of excellence in genomics (CEG) at its campus.

A memorandum of agreement (MoA) was signed between Icrisat director-general William Dar and DBT secretary MK Bhan in this regard on Wednesday.

Through the MoA, a centre of excellence in genomics project was launched at Icrisat.

The project, with financial support from DBT, will result in the establishment of th CEG, which will strengthen the existing molecular breeding facilities at Icrisat to a high throughput, cost-effective facility that can be used for crop improvement research.

The facility, which is expected to be fully operational over the course of 2007, will also be available for researchers from other agricultural research institutes.

Besides, it will provide access to large-scale field screening for abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity, and biometric (agricultural statistics) and bioinformatics support.

"The CEG will be a model of growth for enhancing south-south cooperation, since its results will be beneficial for India and other developing countries where Icrisat works. It will provide new technological options, build capacity of scientists and also accelerate crop improvement by reducing the time required to develop new varieties by half," William Dar stated in a press release on Thursday.