SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION & ACHIEVEMENTS

Research career spanning over the last 35 years has been confined to improvement of rice, the major staple of the country.  The accomplishments that include broadly applied breeding and basic genetic research to backup the latter are as under : 
 
 

APPLIED BREEDING

Directed towards catering to the national and regional varietal needs, breeding research has led to the evolution of as many as 10 high yielding varieties.  They include the world's first and only high yielding dwarf basmati variety of export value Pusa Basmati-1, varieties of specific adaptation viz quick maturing Pusa 2-21, Pusa 33, Pusa 4, Pusa 834, etc and for crop diversification and multiple cropping highly compatible Pusa 169 and 203 for rice-wheat rotation in the Indo-gangetic plains and never loading Pusa 44-33 for combine harvest in the intensively cropped northwest India. Launching and intensifying hybrid breeding at national level has led to the development of DRRH-1, one of the first generation hybrids released in the country.  Yielding one ton more per hectare their best varieties it is one of the popular hybrids.

IMPACT :

Pusa Basmati-1 combining high yield and quality comparable to traditional basmati accounts for 40-50% of the basmati export valued at 800-1000 crores annually.  The early and mid-early varieties have helped since their release crop intensification all over the country and sustainable rice-wheat rotation in the Indo-gangetic Plains. Pusa 44-33, a medium duration variety super fine variety ideally suited for combine harvest occupying over 50% of the rice area in Punjab and the adjoining rates has nearly replaced miracle varieties like Jaya and IR8.  The hybrid DRRH-1 being adopted since 1994 and accounting for sizable area of 2 lakhs ha under hybrid rice today, has contributed sizably to productivity /production growth.
 
 

BASIC RESEARCH

The basic research broadly covers breeding, genetics, cytogenetics and cellular/molecular biology.  The significant contributions include the following :

BREEDING RESEARCH  - brought out the :

• (a) relevance of specific adaptability vis-a-vis general adaptability 
• (b) significance of selection under diverse environments in ensuring higher stability over environments and 
• (c) potential of convergent breeding in combining multi-index complex traits.

GENETICS RESEARCH - enabled :

• (a) understanding the qualitative and quantitative genetic architecture of various indices/parameters of cooking/nutritive quality and tolerance to key biotic (BLB, gall midge and green leaf hopper etc) and abiotic(low temperature, moisture stress and salivity) stresses 
• (b) study of genetic bottlenecks impeding exploitation of hybrid vigour 
• (c) identification and genetic characterization of CMS sources alternate to widely used Chinese 'WA' source and indigenous sources of temperature sensitive genic male sterility and 
• (d) allelic relationships of spontaneous induced dwarfs to find sources non-allelic to widely used DGWG gene.

CYTOGENETICS - has been confined to study of :

• (a) effectiveness and efficiency of various physical and chemical mutagens and 
• (b) directed mutagenesis by treatment with base specific mutagens at S-phase of cell division and 
• (c) Location of genes of  economic value on chromosomes by trisomic analysis.

Phylogenetic research aimed at tracing the evolutionary pathway of Asian cultivar O-sativa and its subspecific differentiation and extent of diversity in the germplasm of cultivar and wild progenitor species using biometric, biochemical, mutation and molecular approaches revealed

• (a) monophyletic origin of cultivated rice
• (b) segmented phyploid nature of O-sativa
• (c) subspecific differentiation into indica and japonica as due to a series of systematic mutations brought    together in a cluster under the influence of disruptive selection and
• (d) richness of genetic diversity in the land races and closely related wild/weedy species.

Molecular strategy adopted towards enhancement of genetic yield level helped 

• (a) discover as many as 20 yield related new quantitative trait loci, in an accession each of the wild progenitor O.rufipogon and primitive land races
• (b) tag and fine map two temperature sensitive male sterility genes viz. tms5 and tms6 in two indigenous TGMS sources F1 and SA2
• (c) development of  efficient molecular marker systems to study genetic relationships and distinguish traditional basmati rices from cross bred and non-basmati rices and 
• (d)discover exploitable variability for the activity and response to effectors of ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase, the key rate limiting enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of starch in rice germplasm 

( Many of the findings emerged from the National Professor's project during 1997-2002 are under publication ).

IMPACT : Understanding of genetics/breeding behaviour helped evolve the most complex basmati quality variety Pusa Basmati-1 new plant type variety under advanced stages of development while diversification of CMS and discovery of two indigenous sources of temperature sensitive genic male sterility are adding strength to hybrid rice technology.   Basic knowledge generated on quality, disease-pest resistance is widely used in breeding research.
 
 

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

1. Played a major role in strengthening rice research in Egypt - as IRRI's Rice Breeder under USAID sponsored Programme between 1983 and 1987.
2. Played a major role in the establishment of Govt. of India supported National Rice Research Institute in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
3. As World Bank Consultant prepared project proposals for agricultural development in Assam and Hybrid Rice Research in Bangladesh
4. As Task Fore Chairman (Crop Biotechnology) of Department of Biotechnology and Convenor of National Rice Biotechnology Network and several other related bodies, continue to contribute to the development and exploitation of biotechnology products in India.
5. As the member of the Board of Trustees of International Rice Research Institute, Philippines contribute to the global rice research endeavours.
6. As FAO Consultant/Resource Scientist undertook the mission visit to Egypt for study and implementation of "Training in Hybrid Rice Technology Through Technical Cooperation Between Developing Countries"
7. As FAO Consultant prepared and submitted a report on "Yield and Productivity Decline in Intensive Rice Production Systems in India" during the FAO convened Global Expert Consultation Meeting on "Yield Gap and Productivity Decline in Rice Production" in October 1999.
8. As FAO expert consultant on Yield Gap and Productivity Decline in Rice International Rice Commission, FAO, Rome.