International research on onion, tomato, strawberry breeding: PAU gets grant of Rs 2.51 crore

The Director of ICAR-CIPHET, Nachiket Kotwaliwale, appreciated the collaborative efforts of the PAU and the CIPHET scientists to utilise novel tools in horticultural research.

The project focused on developing image-based phenotyping tools and multi-omics datasets for integrating them into predictive breeding schemes.

Two scientists from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, secured a funding of Rs 2.51 crore in the programmes launched by the QUAD countries (the US, Australia, Japan and India), for empowering next-gen agriculture (AI-ENGAGE). The programmes also encourage collaboration among researchers of these countries to make agriculture more resilient.

The PAU Principal Investigator (PI), Jiffinvir Singh Khosa and Co-PI Dhritiman Saha from CIPHET received the grant for the project titled: “Image-based phenotyping and multi-omic prediction schemes for horticultural crop improvement”. It was in collaboration with researchers from Cornell University (USA), University of Tokyo (Japan), University of Adelaide (Australia) and University of Western Australia.

The project focused on developing image-based phenotyping tools and multi-omics datasets for integrating them into predictive breeding schemes. It is focused on three of the most globally important horticultural crops: tomato, onion, and strawberry.

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The outcome of this research will help breeders to achieve high genetic gain and yield, and to develop climate-resilient cultivars with improved quality.
This grant will foster international research partnerships and build capacity for information sharing through collaboration and joint training opportunities.

The Director of ICAR-CIPHET, Nachiket Kotwaliwale, appreciated the collaborative efforts of the PAU and the CIPHET scientists to utilise novel tools in horticultural research.

The Director of Research, Ajmer Singh Dhatt, and Sat Pal Sharma, Head of Department of Vegetable Science, congratulated the scientists for strengthening AI-based research in PAU. They also encouraged the team to develop breeder-friendly pipelines to accelerate breeding programmes.

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