About the Programme

The Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, M.S. Swaminathan School of Agriculture, offers M.Sc. (Ag.) in Genetics and Plant Breeding (2 years) as per the ICAR curriculum. Apart from disseminating the green revolution breeding concepts, it focuses on the advanced techniques, including speed breeding, marker-assisted breeding, association mapping, genomics-assisted breeding, and haplotype mining. Students get hands-on experience on different molecular techniques, such as PCR-based molecular marker analysis, gene expression study via real-time PCR, and genome sequencing on Nanopore Sequencer. Following the farm to fork concept, students do research in dedicated fields and participate in crop production. The curriculum concentrates on the field research of different crops, including cereals (paddy, maize, and millets), legumes (green gram and black gram), and oilseeds sunflower, brassica, and groundnut) as per the agro climatic region. Additionally, students get the benefit of different study tours, exchange programs, and development programs at the partner institutes, such as ICAR institutes (IIVR, IIHR, and NRRI), and private organizations (ProFarm Seed India Pvt. Ltd., and Genotypic Technology Pvt. Ltd.). Besides, the university encourages the entrepreneurial spirit among students through its in-house incubator. Students graduating from this program get job opportunities in seed companies, consulting farms, crop biotechnological companies, and can also get opportunities for further research.

Syllabus

Career path you can choose after the course