ICAR-IIRR, CSIR-Sciences win prestigious award
Hyderabad, May 21 (INN): The Biotech Product & Process Development and Commercialization Award for 2016 has been awarded to a joint team from ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR) and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) for the development and commercialization of Improved Samba Masuri, a bacterial blight resistant rice variety.
The award has been instituted by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India to recognize outstanding contributions of scientists and innovators in the field of product development in biotechnology. The award was conferred to the team by President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on the occasion of National Technology Day on 11th May.
Samba Masuri (also called BPT5204) is a popular rice variety that was originally developed by the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (in erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh) and is cultivated in several million hectares of farmers' fields in India. However, Samba Mahsuri is susceptible to the serious Bacterial Blight disease which can cause yield losses ranging from 10-50%. Effective bactericides are not available for controlling bacterial blight.
The joint team of scientists from CSIR-CCMB and ICAR-IIRR addressed this problem using a tool of biotechnology called marker assisted selection. The newly developed variety, called Improved Samba Masuri is resistant to bacterial blight and retains the fine quality and yield characteristics of Samba Masuri. Since its release, Improved Samba Masuri has been cultivated in 90,000 hectares of farmers' fields in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, etc. Improved Samba Masuri is becoming increasingly popular with farmers in bacterial blight affected areas of India in which Samba Masuri is cultivated. Improved Samba Masuri is not a transgenic plant.
Dr. Ramesh V Sonti and Dr. Raman Meenakshi Sundaram led the teams from CSIR-CCMB and ICAR-IIRR, respectively in this endeavour.
News Posted: 21 May, 2016
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