Last Updated : May 19, 2014

About Us:

The Department of Crop Improvement (Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics) was established in the year 1972 under the then Agriculture Complex component of the HP University, Shimla to develop skilled and efficient human resources in the field of Plant Breeding & Genetics for imparting education to students, undertaking appropriate research on crop improvement on sustainable basis in the hills and mountains and extend knowledge and skill to the hill farmers. An important accomplishment in this process was the approval of number of research projects on major crops by ICAR under All India Coordinated programme besides being funded by the State Govt. and some other national and international funding agencies (DBT, DST, CSIR, BARC, UGC, DST- JSPS, Monsanto etc.)

Mandate:

UG & PG teaching  in the sphere of Plant Breeding & Genetics

Creation of opportunities for pursuing innovative and cutting edge research by the PG scholars & faculty of the Department

Conservation, documentation  and sustainable utilization of Himalayan PGRs

Development of superior crop varieties and their nucleus & breeder seed for the diverse regions of the State

Technology refinement for accelerated and high precision crop improvement

Protection of  Plant Breeder s’ and farmers’ crop varieties  under PPV & FRA

Establish linkages with the globally renowned  (India & Abroad) Labs/ Institutes to exchange the faculty & research scholars for sharing knowledge & expertise in innovative areas of Plant Breeding

Open new horizon by Public- Private Interface to commercialize our technology  and provide opportunity to test the technology of the private sector for further recommendations    

Our Strength

Efficient technology & Expertise for crop improvement

High- tech Molecular Cytogenetics & Tissue Culture Lab providing facilities for cutting edge research in innovative spheres

Opened new horizon in the sphere of Doubled Haploidy Breeding & Chromosome Engineering and taking in this area amongst all the agricultural Universities and ICAR institutes of the country

Multilocational and Niche based evaluation facility at various Research Centres in the entire State & Off season facilities at the centres located in the tribal areas

Addressing the crop varietal development issues in a systematic manner covering varied agroclimatic regions of the Hill State

Established linkages with world renowned Labs

Extending facilities and high- tech expertise to other Institutions/ Universities

Attracting fellowships and adhoc projects from various national and international agencies

Recognition of the work at national and international fora

Placement of students in reputed Institutes/Universities/MNCs

 Heads of the Department