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Issapur Farm, (Division of Germplasm Evaluation)

Name of Officer Incharge: Dr Badal Singh
Contact Number: +91-9911634202
Address: Experimental Station, Issapur, (Division of Germplasm Evaluation) ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi - 110073 INDIA
E-mail: Badal.Singh(AT)icar.gov.in; kshatriya34(AT)gmail.com
Googla Map

Genesis

ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) owes its genesis to the vision of Late Dr B.P. Pal, who established a section of Plant Introduction at Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1954. He emphasized on the utility of plant genetic resources to enhance crop productivity much ahead of his time in a classic article “The Search for New Genes” published in Agriculture and Livestock in India, way back in 1937. In 1976, NBPGR was established as an independent institute, and a bigger farm area became a necessity to carry out multiplication, characterization and evaluation of a large number of plant germplasm augmented. A 100-acre land was acquired in 1976-77 on lease for a period of 99 years from the Gaon Sabha of the Issapur village, which is located 45 km away from the ICAR-NBPGR Headquarters in the South-west part of Delhi bordering Haryana.

Farm Infrastructure

Field Layout and facilities
  • The Issapur farm land is in two patches, a 70 acre land designated as A-Block, and a 30 acre land separated by a village road named as B-Block.
  • The original undulating land was developed with heavy machinery, levelled, and drainage system developed.
  • Uniform plots of one ha (100 X 100 m) developed in A-Block. Large number of eucalyptus trees planted on the boundary.
  • All fields have irrigation facility through four tube wells (discharge capacity of 5 to 7 L/sec).
  • An automatic weather station installed to record basic meteorological parameters.

Farm Ponds
  • In A-Block, a cemented pond of 7.5 lakh liter capacity established to store excess run off from the farm land and canal water. This stored water is transported to B-block through underground conduit.
  • Two kacha ponds (1000 and 3000 m2) established near canal to harvest the extra canal water to provide supplemental irrigation and recharge ground water.
  • Although, ground water is saline in the locality, ground water recharge though water harvesting in the ponds could substantially reduce water salinity making the water quality suitable for irrigation.
Office Building
  • The farm has spacious office building with seven rooms, used for office of Farm Manager, Laboratory, Training Hall, Scientist’s Room, Staff Room and Room for RAs and SRFs to work.
Research Activities on Germplasm Characterization, Evaluation and Utilization
  • A block exclusively used for characterization, multiplication and evaluation of germplasm of cereals, oilseeds, pulses and perennial horticulture plants.
  • During recent years, large-scale agro-morphological characterization and mega-evaluation of National Genebank collections of wheat (~27,000), barley (~7,000), lentil (~2,000), chickpea (2,000), Vigna spp. (10,000), pea (~3,000), rapeseed-mustard (5,000), sesame (~7,000), soybean (10,000), carried out.
Core sets developed:
  • More than 60,000 accessions characterized during last three years; in Kharif 2021, >8,000 and Rabi (2021-22), >10,000 accessions field crops grown for characterization and evaluation against drought and terminal heat stresses etc.
  • In horticultural plants, >300 accessions of fruit plants (ber, aonla, bael, karonda, pomegranate etc), 400 accessions of medicinal and aromatic plants (vetiver, palmarosa, ocimum, aloe, giloe, Abrus etc.) conserved in field.
  • Germplasm field days conducted regularly for crop breeders to select suitable germplasm.
  • B-block is developed as a ‘Field Genebank for Multipurpose Trees’ of the semi-arid region.
New Initiatives Chip Based Technology for Tree Germplasm Information Management
  • The Issapur farm has >100 germplasm of subtropical fruit trees established over last 40 years (see Table).
  • Record maintenance is a tedious process as trees perish periodically due to pest and diseases, fire, flood, mechanical damage, etc and gap filling is often undertaken, and there is risk of misidentification.
  • There is need to develop a prototype of methodology and data flow structure for trees to be accurately identified and information flow in real time from field genebanks to database.
  • Therefore, a chip-based tree identification and data collection project entitled “Pilot the solutions of chip based technology for real time and RFID passive monitoring of field genebank and agroforestry species for scaling up” initiated for existing fruit tree germplasm at Issapur Farm of ICAR-NBPGR.
  • Project is in collaboration with ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI), Jhansi; ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru and International Centre for Research on Agroforestry (ICRAF), Nairobi. In a pilot study 30 RFIDs and 50 microchips have been fixed to tree germplasm at each of the three locations for data collection in real time.
 

Fruit tree germplasm at Issapur Farm

Common Name Scientific Name Accessions
Ber Ziziphus mauritiana

23

Bael Aegle marmelos

17

Aonla Phyllanthus emblica

11

Sahtut Morus alba and Morus laevigata

4

Lasora Cordia myxa

3

Guava Psidium guajava

24

Karonda Carissa spp.

5

Sahjan Moringa oleifera

20

Total

107



Establishment of Field Genebank of Potential Tree Species of Semi-arid Region
  • Realizing the importance of under-utilized multipurpose tree species in meeting food, nutrition, fodder, fibre and medicine needs of people, conservation and utilization of diverse tree genetic resources envisaged in B-Block of Issapur Farm.
  • A blueprint of field genebank planned for execution in the next 8 to 10 years, as shown in map.
  • A collaborative project entitled “Mainstreaming underutilized multipurpose tree species and fodder crops in semi-arid region of India” initiated on pilot scale (1.5 to 2 ha).

 

 

Collaborations/Funding Support

International National
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
World Agro-forestry, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology,
 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority,
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, National Medicinal Plants Board,
  State Agricultural Universities 

 

 

Staff

 Dr. Badal Singh
  In-Charge Experimental Station, Issapur Farm
  Experimental Station, Issapur Farm
  Telephone: + 91-9911634202
  Badal.Singh(AT)icar.gov.in; kshatriya34(AT)gmail.com
  Dr. Bhopal Singh Panwar
  Farm Manager
  Experimental Station, Issapur Farm
  Telephone: +91-11-25313734 +91-9868546689
  bhopal.panwar(AT)icar.gov.in;
  Mr. Lokesh Kumar
  Technical Officer
  Experimental Station, Issapur Farm
  Telephone: +91-11-25313734 +91-8800855547
  Lokesh.Kumar(AT)icar.gov.in;