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With the understanding of the mechanism of inheritance planned programmes for varietal development in various crops were initiated at the beginning of the twentieth century. Wheat being the most important crop, its breeding in India started in full earnest during 1906 with the efforts of Albert Howard and Gabrielle which were further followed at Lyallpur by D. Milne. During the year 1925 Chaudhary Ramdhan Singh was appointed as Cerealist to concentrate upon the breeding work on cereals. Thereafter, cereal research on sub-stations was strengthened namely, at Gurgaon in 1940, Gurdaspur in 1941 Rawalpindi in 1941, Kulu in 1945 and Jullundur in 1947. These new centres increased the emphasis of wheat breeding. The work on the improvement of rice, barley, maize and pulses was assigned to the cerealist later, so that, in addition to wheat emphasis could be given on the development of other crops as well. Before the partition of Punjab, the work on rice was carried on at the Research Sub-station, Kal Shah Kaku which is now in Pakistan. Work on rice breeding was also started at Nagrota, Rice Breeding Sub Station which is now in Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) during 1936 to serve the hill zones with rice improvement.

During 1927 Mr. B.S. Sawhney was appointed the Millet Botanist at Lyallpur, where the work on Bajra, gram and tobacco was started. This station was later shifted to Sirsa during 1934, which was the main Bajra growing region at that time. The work was shifted to Ferozepur during 1940 and at the same time also started in Cambellpur (Pakistan). Breeding of cotton was initiated during 1912 at Punjab Agricultural College and Research Institute Lyallpur by Dobbs. During 1924, Mr Trot was appointed Economic Botanist (Cotton) from whom Mr Mohammad Afzal took over during 1936. The testing of varieties of Sugarcane was started during 1911 at Gurdaspur and later on, during 1934, work on sugarcane was started at research station Risalewala near Lyallpur (Pakistan) and Jullundur to conduct need-based research on sugarcane. Sardar Harbans Singh was the first sugarcane specialist to sugarcane breeding research work.

At Lyallpur, the research work on brassicas, linseed and sesamum was initiated with the establishment of the Oilseeds Section under the able guidance of Khan Sahib Chaudhri Ali Mohammad as an Oilseed Botanist. Research on groundnut was started at Ludhiana after the opening of a sub-station during 1933. Considering the importance and need of research on oilseeds three more sub-stations were started at Gurgaon (1937) Rawalpindi (1943) and Kangra (1945) for research on oilseeds on a regional basis.

Chaudhary Ramdhan Singh was appointed Fodder Botanist during 1925 at Lyallpur before he formally joined at Cerealist. After him Sh. Hans Raj Saini continued the work on forages improvement till 1947. During this period the research was shifted to Sirsa during 1934.

After partition, the research stations which were opened in Lyallpur were no more catering to the needs of the Indians living in the other part of the sub-continent. Therefore, the work was consolidated and shifted to Jalandhar to start crop improvement work on cereals, cotton and oilseeds under the charge of Dr S.M.Sikka, the first Economic Botanist. He was succeeded by Dr. L.S. Negi who remained in charge of this section till 1956. During 1956 with the merger of PEPSU with Punjab, two sections were created; namely Cereals Section under Dr L.S. Negi and Oilseed and Cotton Section under Dr Gursham Singh.

The research on sugarcane, millets and fodder continued at Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Sirsa, respectively. During this period (1949 to 1962) several sugarcane research sub-stations were opened at Gurdaspur, Jagadhari, Kheri, Ludhiana and Hisar. Dr. Sukhdev Singh succeeded, Dr. Hardial Singh in Sugarcane Breeding. Many other developments took place after the partition, such as during 1951 substations were established at Rohtak for Bajra, Gurdaspur for gram and at Gurgaon (1954) for tobacco. A Fodder research sub-station was started at Palampur in 1951 to work on hill grasses and a forages sub-station to concentrate on forage improvement work in the central district of the state.

With the opening of Punjab Agricultural University during 1962 at Ludhiana, Hisar and Palampur, different crop sections were formed in the Department of Plant Breeding. Dr. D.S. Athwal was the first Professor and Head of the Department in the College of Agriculture at Ludhiana who played a pivotal role in consolidating and organizing the research work on crop improvement in the department.

During December 1970 a separate department of Genetics was established at PAU Ludhiana, with Dr. B.S. Gill as Professor and Head. Later on, a tissue culture unit was started in the Department of Plant Breeding. Keeping in view the emergence of new areas of Plant Biotechnology, a Biotechnology Centre was established in 1992. The infrastructure for carrying out research on genetic transformation and tissue culture was created. The Department of Genetics and Biotechnology was merged with Plant Breeding during 2003 and re-designated as the Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology. During April 2008, Biotechnology was demerged and now the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics has seven sections on different crops namely wheat, rice, maize, pulses, oilseeds, forages and cotton.

The teaching section coordinates the teaching of both UG and PG courses in the department. The resident instruction programme in Plant Breeding and Genetics comprises undergraduate instruction for the students of the College of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Basic Sciences, and postgraduate instruction leading to M. Sc. and Ph. D degrees in Plant Breeding. The postgraduate students are trained in various aspects related to the breeding of different field crops.

The Department is also one of the two centres for CAFT in the country.

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