Western Australian Premier visits ICRISAT

Hyderabad, Feb 20 (UNI) Western Australia Province Premier Alan J Carpenter today visited the premier International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) here.

The visit by Western Australian Premier would further strengthen the collaboration on chickpea research, an ICRISAT release said.

Mr Carpenter evaluated the progress ICRISAT had made on chickpea improvement project in collaboration with a consortium from Western Australia mainly the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) and the Council of Grain Growers' Organisation.

The collaborative project, which began in 2005, would continue till 2009.

The project is aimed at exploring the pre-breeding of desi chickpea for disease and salinity tolerance in Western Australia, it added.

ICRISAT Deputy Director General for Research Dyno Keatinge briefed Mr Carpenter, who also interacted with scientists working on the project.

UNI