Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
       The Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding was erstwhile started in the name of Agricultural Botany at Agricultural College in Karnataka University Dharwad in the year 1947 to impart knowledge on crop improvement through teaching, research and extension activities. Later in 1950 M.Sc programme on Agricultural Botany started. The doctoral programme was launched in the year 1957. In the year 1965, this department came under the aegis of UAS, Bengaluru and subsequently under UAS, Dharwad in the year 1986 and it was renamed as Genetics and Plant Breeding.
      The department was headed by renowned scientist, administrator and a philanthropist         Dr. S. W. Menasinkai for 19 long years (1953-64&1965-1973). The first vice chancellor of UAS, Dharwad  and eminent geneticist  Dr. J. V. Goud served as Head for 13 years (1973-86).A distinguished chickpea breeder and second Vice-chancellor of UAS, Raichur  Dr. P. M. Salimath served as Head  for 13 more years(1995-2008). These three dedicated and devoted stalwarts contributed significantly to develop and elevate this department to the International standard.
       The department teaches the undergraduate (U.G) students of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing and Co-operation, Community Science, Agribusiness Management and Food technology. The department also guide and award the degrees of M.Sc and Ph.D in Genetics and Plant Breeding. The students are trained in the area of Genetics, Cytogenetics, Molecular genetics, Quantitative genetics, Evolution of crop plants, Genomic studies & Advanced breeding tools and techniques in different crops. The research programme of the PG students is conducted and evaluated separately under the supervision of the major advisor and an advisory committee constituted from the faculty of the department and other concerned disciplines depending upon the objectives of the research problem.
 The department is well equipped with excellent lab facilities for carrying out molecular biology and plant breeding methods and activities. Since inception, the faculty of this department are highly dedicated, devoted and qualified breeders and have not only guided 636 M.Sc and 151 Ph.D students but also  developed as many as 195 improved varieties in different crops.
PG Programmes in the Department
| 1 | M.Sc. (Agri.) in Genetics and Plant Breeding |
| 2 | Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Breeding |
PG Students admitted in last five years
| Sl. No. | Course No. | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| 1 | M.Sc. (Agri.) | 37 | 19 | 17 | 26 | 22 |
| 2 | Ph.D. | 05 | 04 | 05 | 04 | 06 |
Faculty
| S.l. No. | Name of Faculty Member | Designation, Affiliation, Phone, email id |
| 1 | Dr. B. R. Patil | Professor and Head Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9480750964 Email: patilbr@uasd.in |
| 2 | Dr. O. Sridevi | Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9449135666 Email Id: sridevio@uasd.in |
| 3 | Dr. S. K. Deshpande | Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9448214978 Email Id: deshpandesk@uasd.in |
| 4 | Dr. Sumangala Bhat | Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9449827150 Email Id: bhatsumangala@uasd.in |
| 5 | Dr. Manjula S. Maralappanavar | Associate Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9448866474 Email Id: @uasd.in |
| 6 | Dr. Shobha Immadi | Assistant Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 9008063929 E-mail: immadisu@uasd.in |
| 7 | Dr. Nagabhushan K Naidu | Assistant Professor Dept. Of Genetics and Plant breeding College of Agriculture Dharwad-580005 Phone No: 8884023179 E-mail: nayidunk@uasd.in |
Supporting Staff:
| Sl No | Name | Designation |
| 1 | Sri.Siddappa Ganiger | Field. Assistant |
| 2 | Sri Mahesh Marshi | Field Assistant |
B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | GPB.101 | Fundamentals of Genetics and Cytogenetics | 2+1 |
| 2 | GPB.102 | Fundamentals of Genetics and Plant Breeding | 2+1 |
| 3 | GPB.201 | Fundamentals of Plant Breeding | 2+1 |
| 4 | GPB 301 | Crop Improvement-I (Kharif Crops) | 1+1 |
| 5 | GPB 302 | Crop Improvement-II (Rabi crops) | 1+1 |
| 6 | GPB.311 | Commercial Plant Breeding | 1+1 |
| 7 | GPB 111 | Introductory Biology ( Remedial Courses) | 1+1 |
| 8 | DGPB 101 | Diploma Courses | 2+1 |
| 9 | GPB.303 | Intellectual Property Rights | 1+0 |
B.Sc. Agriculture Business Management (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | GPB.102 | Fundamentals of Genetics and Plant Breeding | 2+1 |
B.Sc. Community Science (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | AST 302 | Intellectual Property Rights | 1+0 |
B.Tech. Food Technology (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | AGR 104 |
Experiential Learning Modules offered
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | – | – | – |
M.Sc. Agriculture in Genetics and Plant breeding courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| I -Semester | |||
| 1 | GPB 501 | Principles of Genetics | 2+1 |
| 2 | GPB 502 | Principles of Plant Breeding | 2+1 |
| 3 | GPB 504 | Varietal Development and Maintenance Breeding | 1+1 |
| 4 | GPB 505 | Principles of Cytogenetics | 2+1 |
| II-Semester | |||
| 1 | GPB 503 | Fundamentals of Quantitative Genetics | 2+1 |
| 2 | GPB 506 | Molecular Breeding and Bioinformatics | 2+1 |
| 3 | GPB 509 | Hybrid Breeding | 2+1 |
| 4 | GPB 508 | Mutagenesis and Mutation Breeding | 2+1 |
| 5 | GPB 516 | Breeding for stress resistance and climate change | 2+1 |
Ph.D. Genetics and Plant breeding courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| I-Semester | |||
| 1 | GPB 601 | Advances in Plant Breeding Systems | 3+0 |
| 2 | GPB 603 | Molecular Cytogenetics for Crop Improvement | 2+0 |
| 3 | GPB 605 | Genomics in Plant Breeding | 3+0 |
| 4 | GPB 606 | Population Genetics | 2+0 |
| II-Semester | |||
| 1 | GPB 602 | Advances in Biometrical Genetics | 2+1 |
| 2 | GPB 604 | Plant Genetics Resources, Conservation and Utilization | 2+0 |
| 3 | GPB 608 | Breeding Designer Crops | 1+1 |
| 4 | GPB 609 | IPR and regulatory mechanism (e-course) | 1+0 |
Ongoing Externally funded adhoc Projects:
| Sl No | Name | Name of Adhoc Project | PI/Co-PI/Associate | Duration | Funding agency | Project Outlay | Objectives of Project | Expected Outcome |
| 1 | Dr. B. R. Patil | Development of high yielding and early maturing genotypes of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) | PI | 2023 contd. | BARC | 250.00 | 3.0 lakhs | |
| 2 | Dr. O. Sridevi | Establishment of Gene Bank | PI | 2020-2023 | RKVY | 250.00 | Development of infrastructure facility for long term preservation of germplasm | Facilities are established and being used |
| 3 | Dr. S. K. Deshpande | DUS testing of Cowpea varieties with Dept. of GPB UAS, Dharwad as a national DUS centre for Cowpea | PI | 2021-2023 continued | PPV& FRA, New-Delhi |
Major Projects completed (Last five years):
| Sl No | Name | Name of Adhoc Project | PI/Co-PI/Associate | Duration | Funding agency | Project Outlay | Objectives of Project | Major Outcome |
| Dr.B.R.Patil | Transcriptome profiling of NOD genes in Chickpea | TATA Trust Mumbai/Bll and Melinda Gates foundation UC,Davis USA | 4.01 lakhs | Transcriptom e analysis | Rhizobiium consortia to Kabuli and Desi type chickpwea | |||
| 2. | Dr. S. K. Deshpande | Development of New DUS guidelines in Cowpea for Grain and Vegetable types | PI | 2016-2018 | PPV&FRA, New-Delhi |
Technologies Developed:(Last Five Years)
| Sl. No. | Name | Technology | Name of the Scientist |
| 1 | Dr. B. R. Patil | NRCHB-101 (Mustard) | PI |
| DLV 6 (Linseed) | Co_PI | ||
| DBGV -16(Blackgram variety) | Co-PI | ||
| 2 3 | Dr. O. Sridevi | DSS-9 Sesame variety | PI |
| GPBT-08 Tomato variety | PI | ||
| DC-1007 Chilli variety | PI | ||
| 3 | Dr. Sanjeev K. Deshpande | DCS47-1 Released and also notified at national level for Karnataka | PI |
| DC15 Released and also notified at national level for Karnataka. | PI | ||
| 4 | Dr. Nagabhushan K. Naidu | Variety A 2020 in Safflower | PI |
| Variety DSAF-1 in Safflower | PI |
Awards/Recognition
| Sl. No. | Name | Institute | Award | Year |
| 1 | Dr. B. R. Patil | Young Scientist overseas associateship award, DBT,GOI | Award for post doctoral fellowship | 2007-08 |
| Molecular biologist, Scire science, Kerala | Molecular biology | 2019 | ||
| 2 | Dr. S. K. Deshpande | International N.E. Borlaug Fellowship award from USDA, USA as a Norman Borlaug fellow 2013. | 2013 | |
| R N Nagarkar Foundation, Pune, and administered by Maharashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science (MACS), Internationally renowned Research Institute in Agriculture, Science, Biotechnology, Environmental Science: Agharkar Research Institute, Pune | Dr. R B EKBOTE AWARD 2022 | 2022 | ||
| 3 | Dr. Sumangala Bhat | Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Udaipur | P.R Verma Award, Best M.Sc Thesis | 2005 |
| Keral griculture University, Kerala | Best Poster | 2005 | ||
| Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Udaipur | P.R Verma Award, Best M.Sc thesis | 2007 | ||
| Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and TNAU, Coimbatore | Best Research paper | 2019 |
Facilities/ Field Laboratory/Fertility Laboratory
| UG Field Laboratory | PG Seminar hall |
| Well equipped land for hybridisation work | Central Computer Facility for data analysis created in Department with 24×7 WiFi connection in dept of Genetics and Plant breeding exclusively for the post graduate students of the department. Five computers with printers’ facilities have been provided. The software relevant to research analysis are loaded to all the computers. Three lecture halls are equipped with LCD projector for class presentations and seminars. |
| Biodiversity park | Well equipped lab with state of art facilities to conduct crop genomics work. |
| Greenhouse facility, Deep Freezers, RT PCR, Gradient thermo cycler Software and Informatics lab, Gel documentation unit. |