Assoc. Prof. Dr. Apichart Vanavichit Receives the 2012 Leading Research Fellowship for the Environmentally Friendly Rice Breeding Project

On 12 November 2012, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Apichart Vanavichit, Director of the Rice Gene Discovery Unit, a joint research unit of BIOTEC and Kasetsart University, received the 2012 Leading Research Fellowship, worth 19,930,000 baht from NSTDA, for the project Whole-genome mutagenesis technology for enhancing the potential of environmentally friendly rice breeding.

This project is a research collaboration among Kasetsart University, BIOTEC, the Rice Department and the University of Phayao, with the objective of developing environmentally friendly rice varieties, using the principle of induced mutation (TILLING) to develop new rice varieties with a high level of resistance to disease and insect pests, enough that farmers no longer need pest-control chemicals. Environmentally friendly rice must also survive and yield even during major floods, and tolerate higher or lower than normal temperatures, drought and saline soil. In addition, the mutant rice lines already found and still being found will build knowledge of rice genetics and clearly help in discovering and understanding the functions of new genes. These preparations will increase the capacity to breed rice to meet the problems that will arise, which is very beneficial for Thailand.

Source: biotec.or.th