ABOUT VARIETAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
CENTER(VRDC) KSSC , DHARWAD
The
Varietal Research & Development
Center (VRDC) was established in 2006 at Dharwad under the R & D policy
of Karnataka State Seeds Corporation.
The main aim is to carry out
independent research in crop improvement with major focus on developing
commercial Hybrids in Maize, Cotton, Sunflower and Pearl millet. The goal is to
broaden the scope of supplying public bred improved hybrids /varieties to the
farmer and also to compete with seed industry in supplying quality hybrids and
varieties. VRDC is recognized by Department of Scientific & Industrial Research
(DSIR), GOI, to conduct Research & Development activities independently in
crop improvement.
Major R & D Objectives
A. Development of new elite breeding
lines by employing advanced breeding techniques to generate new Hybrids/Varieties for suitable
agronomy and Maturity segments.
B. Varietal/Hybrid Evaluation across the
agro-climatic zones to assess Hybrid/varietal product stability with high
performance.
C.
Employing Modern breeding methods to accelerate the breeding Cycle and value addition to the
variety/Hybrids.
D. Supply-chain maintenance from
Nucleus/Breeder seed to Foundation seed by maintaining high genetic purity
standards.
E. Registration under PVP (Plant Variety
Protection) of newly developed commercial Hybrids, Varieties, Parental lines
and specialty germplasm and their maintenance.
F. Collaborating with state/national/international
institutes in identification, evaluation and introduction of new technologies
of commercial interest.
Infrastructure
The VRDC farm is
located on NH-4 national highway adjacent to University of Agricultural
Sciences, Dharwad. The total land area is 38.19 hectare is available for field experiments. Molecular
breeding laboratory is established for DNA fingerprinting, Quality check and
for application of marker technology to plant breeding. The lab is provided
with all essential equipments related to molecular breeding and seed quality
testing.
Achievements
1. Identification of commercially viable hybrids for market penetration.
Crop
|
Hybrid/Variety
|
Remarks
|
Maize
|
BRMH-1
|
Full
maturity single cross Hybrid, Flint, Orange grain color best suited for rain
fed areas. High Yielding 30-32 Quintals/Acre
|
|
BRMH-8
|
Full
maturity single cross Hybrid, Yellow flint grain color. Widely adapted , High
Yielding 32-35 Quintals/Acre
|
Sunflower
|
BRSSC-3
|
Medium
maturity, Convex head, High oil Content (39-40%). High Yielding 7-8
Quintals/Acre.
|
Bajra
|
Dhanashakti (Composite)
(ICTP-8303 Fe 10-2)
|
Introduced
from ICRISAT, Hyderabad. Rich in Zinc (43 ppm) and Iron (72 ppm)
content. Yield: 8-9
Quintals/Acre
|
2. Bt Cotton Hybrids development
KSSC
in collaboration
with SAUs, UAS Dharwad and UAS Raichur has developed Bt cotton hybrids with
Monsanto BG-II event (Mon 15985) containing Cry1Ac and Cry 2Ab genes for
bollworm resistance. Fourteen Hybrids are under conversion and extra long
staple cotton hybrid DCH-32 BG-II Bt cotton is under commercial approval.
3. Working in
association with SAUs, ICRISAT, CIMMYT,
and MSSC in identification of hybrids and germplasm development in focused
crops. Collaborated with Harvest plus+ ICRISAT in popularizing high nutritive
Bajra variety/hybrids viz., Dhanashakti and ICMH-1301 (Full maturity segment)
VRDC is
working on continuous basis towards development of new high yielding and
quality hybrids to benefit the farmers of the state. New pipeline material is
under evaluation for identification of new hybrids in focused crops.
Photos