NEW DELHI — Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, inaugurated the state-of-the-art SpeedSeed Phenotyping and Resource Optimization for Unified Trait Analysis (SPROUT) facility at the BRIC-National Institute of Plant Genome Research (BRIC-NIPGR).
The controlled-environment facility strengthens India’s national capabilities in developing climate-resilient crops under the Union Government’s BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment) policy.
Core Infrastructure & Technological Features
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SPROUT Facility Capabilities: Operates as a season-independent platform for high-throughput phenotyping, precision stress screening, and germplasm evaluation. It bridges gene discovery with field-level trait validation, with a primary focus on pulse crops such as chickpea.
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SpeedSeed Technology Integration: Utilizes accelerated generation advancement protocols that reduce the chickpea generation cycle to approximately 40 days, significantly shortening standard plant breeding timelines.
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DBT Agriculture Achievements (2014–2026): The Department of Biotechnology has supported over 300 agricultural initiatives, yielding 50+ improved crop varieties. Notable among these are 17 climate-resilient rice varieties currently cultivated across nearly 15 lakh hectares.
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Policy Focus: Emphasizes stronger industry-farmer integration, commercialization of laboratory research, and modern science communication to support the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
