1. Plant Breeding of following crops (in order of priority) for high yield, disease resistance, stress tolerance:
i. Wheat
ii. Rice (coarse varieties only)
iii. Cotton,
iv. Sugarcane
PBG Div. must work out economics and practical feasibility of tissue-cultured sugarcane and banana seedlings, in collaboration with private sector, to promote the technology. PBG Div. in collaboration with sugar mills and farmers, must evaluate performance of the NIA-developed sugarcane varieties. Mungbean, lentil and brassica work at NIA may be restricted to selection of varieties developed elsewhere. A database of molecular markers of the available germplasm at NIA may be developed. In collaboration with cotton breeders of NIA and NIBGE, PBG Div. may do a comprehensive survey of Bt cotton in Sindh province. Names of all new crop varieties must include ‘NIA’. e.g. NIA-08 etc
1. Management of insect pests, in order of priority:
i) Sugarcane borers
ii) Fruitfly in Mango and Guava
iii) Cotton insect pests, Borers, mealybug
iv) Rice stem borer
2. Post-harvest losses in Cereal Grains & pulses
3. Plant Pathology of NIA’s mandate crops
NIA-developed Bio-control cards and traps must be commercialized by involving private sector as an income generating activity. Plant Protection Div., may also develop a PSDP project/PC-1 on “Fruit fly bio-control in mango & guava”, with emphasis on social mobilization (involving local govts. Extension Service, etc) to popularize bio-control of pests.
Plant Physiology Division
1. Wheat and Rice crop germplasm screening for salt & drought tolerance
2. Study of stress tolerance physiological mechanism and trait based evaluation of tolerant wheat and rice genotypes
3. Fruit-retention in Mango by phytohormone application
1. Micronutrient nutrition of crops
2. Integrated plant nutrient management.
3. Fertigation: Field-level adaptability
4. Utilization of salt-affected soils
5. Nutritional requirements of crop varieties evolved at NIA