Azerbaijan will reduce seed dependence

A new laboratory "Modern selection and molecular biology" has been launched at the  Research Institute of Crop Husbandry of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Director of the institute Faig Khudayev told APA-Economics.

According to him, the main purpose of establishing the laboratory is to create new varieties, to meet the country's demand for tissue at the expense of domestic resources. 

"We plan to create new varieties in the laboratory, mainly using selection. Work in this direction will be carried out jointly with the Adana Agricultural Research Institute. Our goal is to conduct scientific research at the molecular level, to create new varieties of wheat, barley, corn, peas, lentils and others that meet the requirements of the time against the background of global climate change. Our goal is to quickly create new varieties at this laboratory and apply them to production on the basis of modern technologies, "Khudayev added.

It was noted that if the purchase of new varieties by classical methods takes up to 15 years, it will be possible in 3-4 years with the application of innovative methods in the laboratory.

The laboratory is equipped with special biotechnological devices made in Germany, USA, Austria, China and Italy. With the help of these devices, it is planned to speed up the sorting process by using the achievements of molecular selection, genetic diversity analysis, genetic mapping and certification of plant genetic resources stored under certain conditions at the institute on the basis of molecular markers.