ISLAMABAD, July 13: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a research project for the development of Desi Sarsoon (Brassica Carnpestris) varieties through conventional and modern techniques.

According to a press release, the research project will be completed in five years at the NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar. Dr Farhatullah of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics will supervise the project.

The project is part of the HEC’s recently launched National Research Programme for public-sector universities.

The main objective of the project is to develop high oil content Canola-type varieties of Brassica and identify insect- resistant genes in plants grown in the country.

The study will help in raising the socio-economic status of the farmers by providing new varieties with improved oil quality and increased per hectare production.

Under the project, tissue culture techniques would be utilized to germinate immature seed to shorten the breeding cycle, enabling the farmers to obtain three crops per year.

Meanwhile, under the HEC Visiting Professorships Programme, the commission sponsored the visits of several university teachers to other institutions for increasing their interaction with scholars and researchers.

Under the scheme, the chairman of department of food technology in Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Dr Khair Masood, visited the Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, on a short-term teaching and research assignment.

The Karachi University’s statistics department chairman, Prof Zahid Mehmood, visited Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, while Dr S. Riazuddin, the director of the Punjab University’s Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, visited University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Dr M. Ashraf of botany department in University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and Dr Siddique Khan, of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, visited the University of the Punjab, Lahore.

The programme is aimed at facilitating movement of university teachers at the level of professor, associate professor and assistant professor from one university to another for a short period of one to four weeks duration.