Overview
Plant variety and cultivar identification is one of the most important aspects in agricultural system. There is a continuous development of different crop varieties in the crop trade. The cultivated varieties tend to be more and more alike which require an effective method for variety recognition. It is also important during their breeding and registration process, seed production, trading & inspection and breeder’s rights as well as farmer’s benefit. Since cultivar/variety identification and characterization are the first steps of any crop introduction and improvement program. Rapid identification and characterization of cultivars/varieties would therefore provide valuable information for their introduction and genetic improvement.
Objectives
Development of varietal key using polymorphic PCR based molecular markers for genetic identification of varieties/hybrids of following crops:
- Cotton
- Wheat
- Maize
- Tomato
- Potato
- Date palm
Outcomes
Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute has developed genomics laboratory where DNA fingerprinting tools can be employed for genetic discrimination and identification of different crop varieties. This project has been planned to focus on high value crops/fruit trees like Cotton, Wheat, Maize, Potato, Tomato and Date Palm by using a collection of DNA markers to achieve maximum genome coverage.