In collaboration with DAC-FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India, Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), New Delhi and the Indo-German Bilateral Cooperation on Seed Sector Development funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), a 2-day International Workshop on “DUS testing of Rapeseed and Mustard” was organized at the Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research (DRMR) in Bharatpur, Rajasthan on February 13-14, 2020.

The aim of this workshop was to exchange know-how and experiences on procedures and technical methods for DUS testing (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) of Rapeseed & Mustard.

About 40 seed sector experts attended the workshop. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Vinod Prabhu, Chairperson of PPV&FRA in Delhi and Dr. PK Rai, Director, DRMR, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. In addition, Dr. Ravi Prakash (Registrar of PPV&FRA), Mr. Dipal Roy Choudhary & other PPV&FRA staff also attended. Dr. Sowmini Sunkara (National Project Coordinator, Indo- German Cooperation on Seed sector project) also participated and supported the organization of the workshop.

From the German Federal Plant Variety Office (Bundessortenamt), Mr. Thomas Gildemeister was speaker of the workshop. Along with him, Dr. Elmar Weissmann, senior seed sector expert of Germany contributed with his experiences.

The technical program of the workshop covered various topics such as:

  • PVP system in India;
  • DUS testing of rapeseed & mustard in India;
  • Selection of reference varieties and database maintenance;
  • DUS testing of oilseed crops in Germany;
  • Hybrid DUS testing procedures in India;
  • Technologies & tools on DUS-testing used for rapeseed and mustard including data transfer from DUS station to BSA headquarters;
  • General views and experiences of plant breeders on DUS/VCU testing;
  • Interaction session with scientists and representatives from private and public seed sectors involved in DUS testing activities of oilseed crops.

All speakers provided excellent presentations, information and recommendations on the topics. During the second day visits of DUS testing fields of rapeseed and mustard as well as practical demonstration and discussions on best practices of DUS testing of oilseed crops completed the program. The workshop was very much appreciated by the participants, the speakers and the organizers.