About Department
The Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics was established in 1963. Since then, the Department has been offering courses and research methodologies related to crop improvement, cytology, cytogenetics, biometry, quantitative genetics, molecular genetics, tissue culture and genomics leading to B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D. degrees. During the past 48 years, the department has produced more than 580 well trained graduates and 55 PhD scholars, who have been serving various organizations at provincial, national and international levels. The Department of Plant Pathology, Weed Science and Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) of the University emerged from this department. Since its inception, students of the Department have been awarded with the maximum number of gold medals and other academic distinctions. At present the department has 170 enrolled undergraduate, graduate and PhD students.
The Department has eight highly qualified PhD and experienced teaching faculty, well equipped laboratories and 30 acres experimental farm for students and faculty research activities. Faculty members have received Post Doctorate trainings in various developed countries of the world. In addition to academics, objective oriented breeding programs are underway in wheat, maize, rice, oilseed and pulses at the department, which are funded by Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Higher Education Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology. In addition, the department has established linkages program amounting Rs. 16.19 millions sponsored by HEC for split PhD, joint research, joint faculty visit and organizing International symposia. Faculty of the PBG Department have completed 18 research projects amounting to Rs. 29.5 million funded by HEC, USAID-CIMMYT, PARC, PSF and AUP. Faculty and students of this Department have published more than 800 research manuscripts over a period of time in internationally reputed journals.
Despite the fact that 60% of the cultivable area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is rainfed, but there was no organized crop breeding program in the province for the target rainfed environment. Therefore, efforts are underway at the Department to tailor the current crop cultivars for the rainfed regions of the province using the indigenous and exotic germplasm in the breeding programs. Similarly, research is in progress to evolve crop cultivars for cultivation in marginal land of the province. Wheat cultivars ‘Ghaznavi-98’ and ‘Janbaz-12’ were released by the wheat breeding program of the department headed by Meritorious Prof. Dr. Fida Mohammad for cultivation in irrigated and rainfed regions of the province. Likewise, Brassica cultivar ‘Zahoor-15’ was released by Meritorious Prof Dr Farhatullah for commercial cultivation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. Furthermore, the department has started winter maize production which is introduced in the province for the first time. In recent past, rice and cotton breeding programs have also been launched in the Department. About 50 metric tons of certified seed of wheat and maize is produced annually at the research farm of the Department for distribution to the farmers and Agriculture Extension Wing. Alumni of the department are serving the National and International organizations in various capacities.
Contact
Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Phone Office: +92 91 9221210
Fax: +92 91 9221262
Mobile: +92 316 5333271
Email: mehrpbg@gmail.com, mehrpbg@aup.edu.pk
Mailing Address: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25130, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
