School of Speed Breeding
School of Speed Breeding (SSB) at Institute of Horticulture Technology, 42 Knowledge Park-Greater Noida, India provides contemporary learning, training, designing and use of Speed Breeding (SB) facilities for accelerating crop improvement through innovative application of speed breeding technologies. The School conducts research on development and customization of controlled environment facilities that would allow the plant breeders to achieve their objectives of crop improvement of food crops via fastest generation turn over in the shortest possible time, thus making it possible to obtain up to 6 generations of selected crop species in just one year and final release of new improved varieties in about 4-5 years instead of 12-15 years through conventional breeding. The SSB works on innovative approaches and technological solution to promote speed breeding for crop improvement in India. Plant breeders, researchers in plant sciences, graduate and post graduate students, entrepreneurs and seed production companies are welcome to register for our online and offline training and webinar programmes on speed breeding on our most modern speed breeding facilities with the top experts of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and plant breeders
How Do Speed Breeding Works?
The technology of Speed Breeding (SB) primarily dwells on manipulations of controlled environments in such a way that the plants are made to flower and produce seeds of next generation generally in one third to half of the time they would have taken under the normal field conditions. The fast flowering/reproductive stage in speed breeding is achieved mainly with the use of extended spectra-specific photoperiods, controlled temperature regimes and high-density plantations.
Speed Breeding enables the plant breeders to obtain as many as six plant generations just in one-year culminating in release of plant variety in one third the time of 4-5 years compared to 10 to 15 years with convention plant breeding technology.
Applications of Speed Breeding (SB)
Speed Breeding (SB) is a powerful and promising tool to address food security and climate change concerns as it advances genetic gains and shortens the varietal development time. Besides plant breeding, SB has applications in genetic mapping, genetic modification, trait stacking, development of climate resilient crop varieties by leveraging allelic diversity. SB syncs well with single plant and single seed descent breeding methods. Further, SB leverages biotechnological work on gene editing, genotyping, and genomic selection. Designing modern SB infrastructure that integrates contemporary LED light, Temperature and other climate control technologies is at the core of getting best out of Speed Breeding outputs.
Average Time Taken for Varietal
Development through Conventional Breeding
Development of Homozygous/Inbred lines/Recombinant inbred lines (RIL)
Time Taken 6-8 years
Development and identification of superior hybrids/ or stable homozygous genotypes
Time Taken: 1-2 years
Field testing of elite lines
1-2 years
Multiplication and release of variety
Time taken 1- 2 years
Total Time
4 -8 years
Supplementary lighting facility for speed breeding at School of Speed Breeding with LED lights provides for manipulations in quality, quantity, intensity and period of light, so that appropriate speed breeding protocols can be applied as per the requirement of crop species leading to fast generation turnover
What Speed Breeding is All About
Time required for development of superior crop varieties having assemblage of vast number of desirable traits is largely a function of time that the crop plants take to pass through vegetative phase and reach to the seeds of next generation. This seed to seed generation turnover time, which normally takes around 3-4 months in crops like wheat, barley, maize, soybeans, canola and others if reduced to 2-2.5 months, would make it possible to develop improved crop plant varieties in just 4-5 years instead of 10-15 years, Speed Breeding is doing precisely the same, it reduces the time of generation turnover by about half to three times thus allowing a varietal development in just 4-5 years. Marked reduction in generation turnover time in plant breeding programmes via use of Speed Breeding technology has come as a game changer for achieving maximum genetic gains in the shortest time.
Webinar On Speed Breeding for Accelerated Crop Improvement
Organised by
School of Speed Breeding
Institute of Horticulture Technology
Institute of Horticulture Technology, School of Speed Breeding is happy to announce webinar series on “Speed Breeding for Accelerated Crop Improvement”. This contemporary webinar series will consist of 4 sessions. Starting 6th July,2024 each session shall be held every Saturday in the month of July, 2024 at 16.00 – 17.00 hrs IST. Every Session will have lectures by the experts followed by discussion and question answer session between experts and participants
Who to Benefit from Webinar on Speed Breeding?
This most contemporary webinar on Speed Breeding (SB) is Designed to benefit researchers across the disciplines of Agriculture, Horticulture and Biosciences as well as Graduates and postgraduate students, PhD scholars, College faculties, public and private sector professionals and entrepreneurs in plant biotechnology, seeds and planting material production industry
The benefits –
- The Participants will learn the techniques and methodology to grow crops for fast generation turn over, so as to get 4-6 generations in one year under controlled environments.
- Learning the latest methodology and techniques to manipulate light, temperature and nutrient solutions so as to develop efficient protocols for speed breeding of agricultural and horticultural crops
- Learn about the latest Infrastructure requirements for efficient speed
breeding
- Interaction with top plant breeders, plant Physiologists, molecular
breeding scientists and industry experts
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