Monday, 2 February 2026
A Centre of Excellence (CoE) project ‘Development and Integration of Advanced Genomic Technologies for Targeted Breeding’ has been awarded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India to Punjab Agricultural University. The CoE project will focus on the development and integration of advanced genomic technologies in crop breeding programmes for promoting crop diversification in the state, increasing the productivity of the target crops and farmers’ profitability.
Dr Parveen Chhuneja, Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology and Coordinator of the CoE project, said that a team of more than 50 PAU scientists including plant breeders, biotechnologists, entomologists, pathologists and biochemists will work on nine projects on various crops including pigeon pea, maize, cotton, brassica, wheat, basmati, pea, citrus and guava. The research project will lead to the development of crop varieties with better yield potential, tolerance to emerging diseases, enhanced nutritional quality for attaining food and nutritional security.
She further explained that new plant breeding and genomic technologies to be developed and utilised in the project will accelerate plant breeding programmes for faster turnover of the value-added crop varieties. Special emphasis will also be given to the building of a new generation of young scientists with expertise in cutting edge science of genomics who will contribute to new advances in Agricultural Biotechnology in times to come, she added.
Dr Gurjit Singh Mangat, Additional Director of Research (Crop Improvement) and Director, Dr Gurdev Singh Institute of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, said that the project was formulated under the mentorship of visionary scientists Dr Gurdev Singh Khush and Late Dr Darshan Singh Brar and submitted to DBT in December 2019. He emphasised that it was approved after rigorous reviews by technical experts from all over the country under the chairmanship of Dr Deepak Pental, Former Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University.
Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU explained that DBT has provided a generous grant of more than 27 crores for a period of five years for strengthening infrastructure, research activities for cutting edge research in agricultural biotechnology, human resource, travel, conducting advanced training and workshops for capacity building. He also said that a specialized speed breeding facility for taking multiple generations of the target crops in a single year will be established under CoE.
Dr Sandeep Kapur, Comptroller and Dr Shammi Kapoor, Registrar, assured that all the necessary support for the successful implementation of the project will be provided.
DK Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, PAU and Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab congratulated the CoE team on this great achievement. He further added that PAU scientists have big challenges ahead, however, their devotion and commitment will lead to successful outcomes which will give Punjab agriculture a new direction. He wished them luck in this endeavour.
