58th Annual Maize Workshop Organized

58th Annual Maize Workshop Organized
The ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), and the Crop
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Improvement Society of India jointly organized the 58 Annual Workshop of AICRP on maize at Ludhiana
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during 4-6 April, 2015.
Dr. Gurbachan Singh, Chairman, Agricultural Scientists’ Recruitment Board, was the Chief Guest on the
occasion. In his address, he stressed that yield gap at village, district, state and national level must be analyzed
critically followed by an out-of-box thinking as both are necessary to further augment maize productivity of
country. He also advocated to adopt an integrated farming approach and emphasized that efficiency use of
water, energy and nutrients needs to be improved in maize to make it more climate-resilient.
The guest-of-honour on the occasion, Dr. J.S. Sandhu, Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences), highlighted
that hybrid breeding needs greater focus, and research on suitable maize germplasm with tolerance to both
drought and water-logging conditions is required. Dr. B.S. Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU presided over the
inaugural function. In his presidential address, he traced the history of maize breeding and called upon for
greater infusion of science in maize research. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. I.S. Solanki, Assistant Director
General (FFC), ICAR, pointed out that maximum benefit from the hybrid technology is seen in maize. Dr. A.S.
Khehra, former Vice- Chancellor, PAU and Dr. S.K. Sharma, Chairman, Research Advisory Committee, IIMR also
addressed the participants of the workshop.
Dr. O.P. Yadav, Director, IIMR reviewed the maize improvement work carried out during 2014-15 and informed
that maize recorded the highest production of 24.35 million tonnes during 2014-15 that has been made
possible through flagship role of AICRP on maize. During last year, 17 new hybrids and varieties were released
for different states of country. During the workshop, Dr. A.S. Khehra, Former Vice-Chancellor and Dr. B.M.
Prasanna, Maize Geneticist were felicitated for their contributions to maize research.
Earlier, Dr. Balwinder Singh, Director (Research), PAU welcomed the dignitaries and the participants. More
than 200 delegates from different ICAR institutes, SAUs, CIMMYT, BISA, government departments and seed
industry participated in this workshop. Dr. J.S. Chawla, Organizing Secretary of the workshop proposed the
vote of thanks.