Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh Inaugurates Indigenous SPROUT Facility at BRIC-NIPGR to Accelerate Development of Climate-Resilient Crops

Key Highlights:

• Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the SPROUT (SpeedSeed Phenotyping and Resource Optimization for Unified Trait Analysis) facility at BRIC-NIPGR, New Delhi.
• SPROUT is an indigenous, season-independent, controlled-environment facility for high-throughput phenotyping and precision stress screening of crops.
• The facility aims to accelerate the development of climate-resilient crops, with a major focus on chickpea.
• This initiative aligns with the government's broader BioE3 policy and biotechnology push for agricultural resilience.
• It complements SpeedSeed technology, which reduces the chickpea generation cycle to approximately 40 days.

Detailed Insights:

• The SPROUT facility will connect advances in genomics and genome editing with precise trait evaluation and breeding for crop improvement.
• It addresses the urgent need for faster agricultural solutions due to climate change and changing weather patterns.
• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has supported over 300 projects in agriculture biotechnology between 2014 and 2026.
• Over 50 improved crop varieties with enhanced tolerance to drought, floods, salinity, pests, and diseases have been developed.
• A flagship genomics-assisted breeding program developed 17 climate-resilient rice varieties, now cultivated across nearly 15 lakh hectares.
• The BioE3 policy promotes a sustainable and circular bioeconomy through convergence of biotechnology, engineering, and digitalization.
• The Minister emphasized the need for stronger science communication, public outreach, and interaction between scientific institutions, industry, and farmers.

Key Concepts Involved:

• SPROUT: A facility for high-throughput phenotyping and precision stress screening to develop climate-resilient crops.
• BRIC-NIPGR: Biotechnology Research and Innovation Centre - National Institute of Plant Genome Research, a key institution for plant biotechnology.
• BioE3 policy: A government policy promoting a sustainable bioeconomy through biotechnology, engineering, and digitalization.
• Phenotyping: The process of measuring and analyzing the observable characteristics (traits) of an organism.