With the intention to build the capacity of partners in the public and private sectors on hybrid rice seed production, the Hybrid Rice Development Consortium (HRDC), in collaboration with the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) and the ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR), conducted the International Hybrid Rice Seed Production Training Course (HRSP) at the College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Hyderabad, India last 22-24 October 2019.
HRSP is targeted to breeders, seed growers, and agronomists working on hybrid rice variety development from the public, private, and NGO sectors. The three-day event was attended by 18 participants from India, Philippines, and USA, including 5 PhD students from PJTSAU. The participants were trained by global and local experts on the latest hybrid rice technologies with a vision to promote these technologies and produce climate smart rice (CSR) hybrids thus contributing to boost rice production and improving food security in their respective countries.
The training course officially began on October 24, with Welcome Remarks from Dr. T Pradeep, Director of Research of PJTSAU; followed by the training course overview, introduction of participants, and discussion of training needs and expectations delivered by Dr. Jauhar Ali, Course Coordinator. The Presidential Remarks were delivered by The Honorable Dr. EA Siddiq, the father of hybrid rice in India, on behalf of Dr. V Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor of PJTSAU. The first day was mostly lectures and practical laboratory sessions. In the evening, the organizers hosted a welcome dinner at the Golkonda Hotel to officially welcome the participants, resource speakers, and invited guests from the university.
The second day marks the highlight of the training course as it was the day dedicated for field work. The participants visited the hybrid rice trial site at ARI and had practical sessions on transplanting A and R lines. Rouging and supplementary pollination techniques were demonstrated and identification of pests and diseases were discussed. Parental seed production plots at ICAR-IIRR were also visited.
For the last day of training, few more lectures were presented before the group discussions in the afternoon. Post-evaluation exam was also conducted and compared to the pre-evaluation results to test the participants’ learning on the training course. To officially close the HRSP training course, the Valedictory Function was headed by Dr. Praveen Rao and Dr. T Pradeep from PJTSAU, while Dr. Y Chandramohan delivered the Vote of Thanks.
As part of HRDC’s continuous commitment to its stakeholders, the HRSP training course will be offered every alternate year (starting 2019) to less than 15 participants in each target country during the cropping season.