PAU GETS RESEARCH PROJECT ON BITTERGOURD

Ludhiana, May 12, 2017: The School of Agricultural Biotechnology and the Department of Vegetable Science at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have been awarded a research project entitled “Genome Sequence Based SSR Marker Development and Utilization in Mapping of Yellow Mosaic Virus Resistance in Bittergourd” by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. The project aims at the development of SSR markers from the genome sequence of bittergourd and mapping of gene(s) linked to yellow mosaic virus (YMV) resistance and further transfer of YMV resistance gene into Punjab 14 variety of bittergourd using marker assisted selection.

Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, congratulated the project team and advised both the departments to further strengthen the application of biotechnology in vegetable improvement.

Dr Ashok Kumar, Director of Research and Dr Parveen Chhuneja, Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, congratulated the scientists for their efforts in improving bittergourd, an underutilized but very important vegetable crop.

The Principal Investigators of the project, Dr Navraj Kaur Sarao, Assistant Plant Breeder, School of Agricultural Biotechnology and Dr Mamata Pathak, Assistant Vegetable Breeder, said the SSR markers, thus, developed can be used for markers assisted breeding for other traits in bittergourd. The total cost of project will be Rs 65.5 lakh for three years, they informed.