The project “Indo-German Cooperation on Seed Sector Development” is part of the bilateral cooperation programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and implemented by the consortium of ADT Project Consulting GmbH (ADT) and German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP). The objective of this bilateral cooperation project is to strengthen the Indian seed sector and to facilitate the cooperation of Indian and German institutions in the seed sector.

In accordance to the regional priorities of seed production, an International Webinar on “Capacity Building on Seed Production – Northern Zone” was successfully conducted between January 12^th – 14^th, 2021 in cooperation with DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India & Indian Council of Agriculture (ICAR)- Indian Agricultural Research Institute Regional Station, Karnal, Haryana, India. During this capacity building program, the most important seed crops of Northern zone were selected i.e., Mustard, Wheat & Barley.

The aim of this webinar was to exchange experiences & views between experts of India and Germany on various aspects involved in seed production. More than 80 Officials from Seed Department of DAC & FW, MOA, GOI, Officials of State Department of Agriculture, National Seed Corporation, State Seed Corporation, Private Seed Industry associations (NSAI & FSII), ICAR institutes, SAU’s etc. have attended this webinar & participated in active discussions.

A team of well experienced national and international trainers from public and private sector covered various topics during this webinar which include:

• Indian seed industry: Current trends and future perspectives;
• Overview in Seed Production System in Germany/ EU with focus on Wheat & Barley;
• National seed system and policy implementation in India;
• Latest Trends in Seed Production of Wheat & Barley in Germany/ EU;
• Seed production and supply systems in India;
• General principles and practices of seed production;
• Maintenance of Varieties and Seed Production of Wheat, Barley and Mustard;
• Hybrid seed production methodologies of Wheat, Barley and Mustard;
• Regulatory framework for seed quality assurance in India.

All speakers from India and Germany provided excellent presentations and information on the topics above. Many other participants actively participated and contributed to fruitful discussions during Q & A Sessions on all the three days.

The “International Webinar on new EU Plant Health Regulation with special reference for seeds” was successfully conducted on December 14^th, 2020 in cooperation with DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Delhi in the frame of the Indo-German Cooperation Project on Seed Sector Development. The project is part of the bilateral cooperation programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and implemented by the consortium of ADT Project Consulting GmbH (ADT) and German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP). The objective of the project is to strengthen the Indian seed sector and to facilitate the cooperation of Indian and German institutions in the seed sector.

The new EU Plant Health Regulation provides measures for controlling and managing pests depending on the risk they represent from an economic, environmental, social, and agricultural point of view, and according to their impact on the quality of production. The new EU Plant Health Regulation was recently adopted and is applicable from December 14, 2019. Indians fast growing seed industry is interested to export seeds to the EU. Therefore, to facilitate trade of seeds it is very important to understand first of all the requirements of the EU. Seed produced in non-EU countries like India must offer the same guarantee of quality as EU seed. The aim of the Webinar was to exchange experience and know-how on the requirements and quality standards for seed.

More than 60 Officials from Seed Department of DAC & FW, MOA, GOI, Scientists from National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Plant Health officials from Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Seed Certification Officials from OECD Designated Seed Certification Agencies of India, Plant Health Scientists of National Agricultural Research System of India (from ICAR and SAUs), seed sector experts and the German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP) attended this webinar & participated in active discussions.

Among the panellists of Germany were the German project Team Leader of ADT, 2 experts from the Institute for National and International Plant Health at the Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), the German Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, 1 expert of the German Federal Plant Variety Office (BSA) and 2 experts of the German Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BLE).

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

• Overview about institutional framework in India related to plant health issues;
• Overview about institutional framework in Germany related to plant health issues;
• Introduction to main elements of Plant Health with relevance for seed and propagating material in new Regulations and Implementing Measures of the EU;
• Import of plants and plant products from Third Countries – New Phytosanitary requirements and procedures for import of plants, including seeds under the new EU Plant Health Regulation;
• The new EU Plant Health Regulation with special reference to seed certification;
• Procedures and standards for the approval of import of plant products and seed from third countries like India.

All speakers from India and Germany provided excellent presentations and information on the topics above.

International Webinar on “DUS-testing Data Management/ Automation/ Image Analysis” were successfully conducted on two consecutive days i.e., on October 6th and 7th, 2020 in cooperation with DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) in Delhi in the frame of the Indo-German Co-operation Project on Seed Sector Development. The project is part of the bilateral cooperation programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and implemented by the consortium of ADT Project Consulting GmbH (ADT) and German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP). Technical partner in Germany is also the German Federal Plant Variety Office (Bundessortenamt (BSA)).

The aim of these Webinars was to exchange experience and know-how on administrative, technical and legal aspects of DUS data management between the experts of PPV&FRA, the BSA and further stakeholders involved in plant breeding activities in India and Germany.

More than 280 seed sector experts (i.e. DAC&FW, PPV&FRA, ICAR, BSA, ADT, representatives of DUS-Testing centres in India, representatives of the seed industry such as the National Seed Association of India (NSAI), the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and the German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP) attended both Webinars.

DUS-testing is a way of determining whether a newly bred variety differs from existing varieties within the same species (Distinctness), whether the characteristics used to establish Distinctness are expressed uniformly (Uniformity) and that these characteristics do not change over subsequent generations (Stability). DUS testing of varieties is one of the key requirements for granting Plant Breeders’ Rights. The DUS test generates a description of the variety detailing its relevant characteristics (morphological and other features). DUS data management is requiring an extensive databases and software for comparing varieties.

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

• Manual DUS data management versus software data management;
• Administrative aspects and external access to the DUS database at BSA in Germany: “From application to registration to deletion of a variety”;
• Internal DUS data management at BSA in Germany;
• Value of using single plant data for decision making on uniformity during DUS data analysis in India;
• Collecting, analysing and managing DUS data on perennial species through onsite evaluation in India;
• Image analysis in selected crops- Experience at BSA in Germany;
• Linking DUS test results in new web portal of PPV&FRA;
• Knowledge Management System for DUS Characterisation, ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi;
• Legal aspects in DUS testing in India;
• Sharing experiences & views of Indian and German private seed Industry (representatives of FSII, NSAI, BDP).

All speakers from public and private seed sector provided excellent presentations and information on the topics above. Many other participants contributes to an fruitful discussion.

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, the ICAR-IIWBR in Karnal 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 Wheat and Barley” was organized at the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (ICAR-IIWBR) in Karnal, Haryana on February 19-20, 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 Wheat and Barley.

About 40 seed sector experts attended the workshop. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Vinod Prabhu, Chairperson of PPV&FRA in Delhi and Dr. Gyanendra Singh, Director of ICAR-IIWBR in Karnal. In addition, Dr. T. K. Nagarathna, Registrar at 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.

Dr. Arun Gupta, Principal Investigator of DUS project on Wheat, IIWBR, Karnal and Dr. Charan Singh, Principal Investigator of DUS project on Barley, IIWBR, Karnal provided at the beginning an overview about the situation on DUS testing of wheat and barley in India.

From the German Federal Plant Variety Office (Bundessortenamt), Mr. Ralf Roessler, Head of Section DUS testing of cereals of BSA, 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 wheat and barley in India;
• Selection of reference varieties and database maintenance;
• DUS testing of cereal crops in Germany;
• Hybrid DUS testing procedures in India;
• Testing of the sterility of A-lines (CMS) – Experiences and approaches in Germany;
• Technologies & tools on DUS-testing used for wheat and barley;
• 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 cereals.

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

The project “Indo-German Cooperation on Seed Sector Development” is part of the bilateral cooperation programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and implemented by the consortium of ADT Project Consulting GmbH and German Plant Breeders’ Association.

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.