GMS Agritech Pvt. Ltd. is proud to be in service of field crop as well as vegetable growers since 2004. The company strongly believes that Research & Development Unit (R&D) is the key to producing superior products for farmer’s need and maintaining market leadership. The R & D unit consists of farm and laboratory at Bahiri, P.S. Bolpur, Dist. Birbhum. It undertakes R & D projects in diverse realms like varietal development, hybrid breeding, rapid generation advancement breeding, quality assessment of seeds and tissue culture in diverse crops. The R & D team remains connected with marketing personnel to maintain close contact with the ground realities and farmer’s changing requirements. Market oriented breeding program are designed with clear end product target in mind. A clear protocol of Preliminary trials followed by initial trials, advance trials, multi-location trial and farmer’s trial is maintained to judge the performance of varieties in different agronomic situations in field trial stations spread across Eastern India (South Bengal, Coastal Bengal, North Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Orisha). These centers serve the critical purpose of rigorous assessment related trials and testing.
The R&D activities of the company attract attention of large numbers of farmers, dealers and distributors. We are mainly focusing on Rice breeding and varietal development programs. Besides rice we are also focusing on different vegetables, potato, wheat, jute, maize along with some pulses and mustard breeding.
R & D Station- Vill.: Bahiri, P.S.: Bolpur, Dist.: Birbhum, West Bengal, India
Infrastructure- We have well equipped ultra modern research infrastructure which is constantly upgrading the technological skills and new innovations has been in the forefront of the research wing. Well connected, maintained and catalogued germplasm with medium term storage facility is also available.
- 15 Acres Research Farm (Farm: 13 acres ; laboratory & office, green house, AC Godown, Canteen, Staff building and other facilities: 2 acres).
- Two green houses with cooling systems for advanced breeding.
- R&D building having below described laboratories, with office, conference room.
- A standard biochemical lab for testing physical characteristics, cooking quality and other nutritional value of seeds. Germplasm maintenance in -20oC freezer also available.
- A well equipped tissue culture lab for micropropagation of disease free stock plant material.
- Net house for raising tissue culture plantlets and an aeroponics set up for development of protocols for production of mini tubers of different crops.
- Controlled Atmosphere storage for storing valuable seeds and foundation lines under low temperature and humidity.
We have well equipped ultra modern research infrastructure. Well qualified, experienced and motivated team guided by some eminent scientists both National and International repute. Upgrading technological skills and new innovations have been in the forefront of the research wing.
- Germplasm maintenance and varietal development program for different vegetables, mustard and maize
- Varietal development program for open pollinated paddy varieties for different agro-ecological areas of India
- Hybrid rice varieties development program to meet the consumer preference for different agro-ecological areas of India
- Rapid generation advancement (RGA) programmes for speedy breeding of hybrids & open pollinated varieties of different crops
- Varietal Improvement programme of mustard for developing an alternate soil healthy crop for the farmers
- Analysis of qualitative traits to judge the cooking quality, physical parameters, hulling/milling characters and consumer acceptability of existing inbred and hybrid varieties
- Comparative multi-location trial program and farmer’s field demonstration of different crops
- Development of protocols using latest technologies (including Tissue Culture, Aeroponics, Apical root cutting & meristem culture) for production of disease free early generation seed and plant for future breeding program
GERMPLASM MAINTENANCE
- One Controlled atmosphere Godown (Humidity and temperature controlled) and one -200 Celsius freezer is used in our R&D farm for storage of breeding lines and gemplasm respectively.
O.P PADDY VARIETAL DEVOLOPMENT
- Paddy varietal development programme started in Kharif 2009 with Modern varieties through hybridization and selection for better plant types, better grain types and improvement of duration in maturity, disease resistance, stress tolerance and yield.
- So far 1385 OP crosses were initiated using various types of parental characters like high yield, Earliness, Cooking quality, Biotic & Abiotic Stresses & other lines having good market preference. Out of which 286 Segregating lines, 90 advanced lines are under testing and 18 fixed lines are under Multi-location trial & trials in farmers’ field.
- Similarly 12 earlier selections are given in the seed market for commercialization has fetched very strong market demand.
HYBRID PADDY DEVOLOPMENT
- Hybrid Paddy Development work started during Boro/Rabi (Dry Season) 2010-11.
- So far 3546 Hybrid crosses were taken, out of which 3460 F1 were evaluated and 86 are under evaluation. Out of earlier evaluations, 12 combinations are identified for initial trial.
- After extensive trial at various stages 5 hybrid lines with duration group of 100 to 130 days were identified for commercialization and are currently being marketed. These 5 hybrid rice lines have already attracted farmer’s attention under trial marketing in the previous years.
- 4 more varieties are in advance stage of trial which will be marketed soon.
- 36 CMS lines are regularly purified and maintained by the R&D Unit.
- 250 Restorer lines are identified. In addition identification of desirable new R-Lines and development & identification of new CMS lines are under way. 3 new CMS lines are already under advanced development.
RAPID GENERATION ADVANCEMENT (RGA) IN PADDY TO ENABLE SPEED BREEDING
- Rapid Generation Advance breeding can shorten the growth duration of segregating population, thus making possible several generations per year.
- We have developed an RGA protocol for generation advancement among paddy genotypes.
- By integrating RGA method in our breeding programs we are able to reduce the operational requirement of time, expenses and save nearly couple of months in paddy breeding research.
- The duration for advancing from F2 to F5 generation generally takes about 4 years which can be shortened by 2 years using RGA method.
GRAIN QUALITY TESTING
- The company has engaged itself in analysis of qualitative traits to judge the cooking quality and consumer acceptability of its existing hybrid and high yielding varieties. Standard quality testing laboratory is established for this purpose.
- DUS (Distinctness, uniformity stability) characterization following national guidelines of these evolved high yielding varieties and hybrids is also being undertaken.
VARIETAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME OF MUSTARD
- We are maintaining a huge number of rapeseed and mustard accessions collected from DRMR Bharatpur, PORS , Baharampur and some local popular lines.
- We are also engaged in pure line maintenance and hybridization program to get improved hybrids of mustard specially heat tolerant lines.
VEGETABLE BREEDING
- Varietal development and germplasm maintenance of different vegetables
- DUS testing and quality assessment of vegetables
- Comparative trial program of different vegetable seeds
COMPARATIVE MULTI-LOCATION TRIAL PROGRAM AND FARMER’S FIELD DEMONSTRATION OF DIFFERENT CROPS
- Our product development team organize and conduct these trials to evaluate the stability and comparative performance of our own developed lines with popular checks.
- We are conducting Multilocation trial and demonstration in different location of West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattishgarh and Punjab.
TISSUE CULTURE AND AEROPONICS SYSTEM
- We have a sophisticated tissue culture laboratory with all latest facilities.
- Using Meristem culture and micropropagation technique we are developing protocols for production of disease free microplant of different crops.
- We usually harden the microplants and transplant them under aphid proof net house on nursery beds in both soil and cocopeat to evaluate the agronomic performance.
- We have established a well-equipped Aeroponics set up at our R&D firm to evaluate the performance of microplants under soil less medium. Protocol for Potato Aeroponics mini-tubers development with tissue culture back up was standardized by us under a collaborative project with CPRI, Shimla for the first time in the Eastern India.
APICAL ROOTED CUTTING
- Apical rooted cutting (ARC) of both tissue culture plantlet and sprout of early generation tuber was successfully done and was also found to be a very suitable alternative technology for multiplication of disease free plantlets in short span of time.
We strategically collaborate with universities, institutes and companies at the forefront of technology to meet breeding and technological challenges.
- The company have a HRDC membership from IRRI, Phillipines since 2019
- We also signed MoU with the Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (UBKV) Coochbihar, West Bengal for carrying joint research program in the areas of Development of Varieties of Field and Horticultural crops.
- The company has also entered into a collaborative project /transfer of technology with the Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR). The objective of such collaboration / transfer of technology is to access the detailed up-to-date technology specially in the field of aeroponics for mini seed tuber production of potato varieties.
- The company has also signed MoU with the Neotia University, West Bengal for carrying joint research program in the areas of stagnant flood and salt tolerance rice variety with improved yield, resistant to lodging with good quality
Testing and certification of R & D products by various Universities & Institutes:
- Institute of Agriculture, Visva-bharati Viswavidyalaya (West Bengal)
- Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (West Bengal)
- Rice Research Station, Chinsura (Govt. of West Bengal)
- Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Pusa (Bihar)
- Assam Agriculture University (Jorhat, Assam)
- The Neotia University (West Bengal)
We have attended various training programs and conferences at :
- Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Jalandhar, Punjab
- International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines
- Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh
- ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi
- ICAR-NRRI Cuttack, Odisha
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi
- Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Tamil Nadu
- ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad
- Rice Research Station (RRS), Chinsurah
Research Article:
Moushree Sarkar, Moumita Chatterjee, Jyotirmoy Guha (2022) Comparative Analysis of cooking quality and physico chemical properties of some local checks and newly developed rice varieties. ORYZA - An International Journal. ISSN 0474-7615. [NAAS Rating-5.03].
DOI https://doi.org/10.35709/ory.2022.59.4.8
Oral presentation
“Aeroponics-an emerging technique to improve Potato minituber production in Eastern India”.
- Oral Presentation by Sagnik Chatterjee in National Symposium on Ornamental and Edible Horticulture Emerging Challenges and Sustainable Goals organized by Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Faculty of Horticulture Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal on 21-22nd February 2022.
“Development and Evaluation of new CMS Lines of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) at GMS Agritech Pvt. Ltd”;
- Oral Presentation by Dr. Moushree Sarkar, R&D Head at 8th International Hybrid Rice Symposium organized by International Rice Research Institute, on 16-19th October 2023 at Manilla, Philippines.
Poster presentation
“Rapid generation advancement (RGA) in paddy to enable speed Breeding” Poster presentation by Dr. Moushree Sarkar, R&D Head at 2nd Rice Congress on Transforming Rice Research : Recent Scientific Developments and Global Food Crisis organized by Association of rice research workers, at ICAR - National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha on 11-14th February 2023.
- Award received by GMS Agritech Pvt. Ltd. in Global Potato Conclave 2020 at Gandhinagar, Gujrat, India in Recognition of enterpreneurship in the field of high tech potato seed production in Eastern India
- GMS Agritech Pvt. Ltd. received award from IRRI at an International workshop organized in Kathmandu, Nepal 2015 for pioneering work in stress tolerant paddy breeding
- Focus on new varieties with features to meet emerging challenges.
- Breeding of varieties in new areas like potato, maize, vegetables, two-line hybrid rice etc.
- Deployment of effective biotechnology and breeding tools such as tissue culture, molecular breeding/selection (MAB, MAS), genomics to accelerate the development of products.
- Hybrid breeding program of different vegetables and oilseeds.
- Tissue culture program of Banana and Orchid.
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