Chandigarh, Mar 31 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday thanked the central government for awarding a Centre of Excellence (CoE) project to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana.

Mann described the CoE project--'Development and Integration of Advanced Genomic Technologies for Targeted Breeding'-- sanctioned by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Union Government to PAU as catalyst to bring swift crop diversification.

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Mann, in a statement, said that this state-of-the-art research institution would also be instrumental in ensuring development and integration of advanced genomic technologies in crop breeding programmes for promoting crop diversification, increasing productivity of the target crops and farmer's profitability across the state.

DBT has provided grant of Rs. 27.91 crores for a period of five years for strengthening of infrastructure, research activities for cutting edge research in agricultural biotechnology, human resource, travel, conducting advanced trainings and workshops for capacity building.

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Pointing out further, Bhagwant Mann said that this research project would also lead to the development of crop varieties with better yield potential, tolerance to emerging diseases, enhanced nutritional quality for attaining food and nutritional security.

Wheat and rice have brought a major shift in the cropping system and as a result area under other crops has reduced significantly particularly in Punjab. This rotation has resulted in over exploitation of water, increased use of fertilizers and degradation of soil health, said an official statement.

There is a strong need to strengthen research activities on pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and fruit crops and revisit our priorities for providing economically viable alternatives to the farmers, it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)