By Norman Martin
Texas Tech plant scientists are partnering with researchers in India to help plant breeders develop hardier wheat and rice varieties using artificial intelligence and advanced sensing technologies.
The two-year initiative, “AI-enabled high-throughput phenotyping for accelerated breeding in wheat and rice,” is supported through the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), a flagship program of India’s Ministry of Education that fosters international research partnerships and scientific innovation.
The project brings together researchers from Texas Tech’s Department of Plant & Soil Science and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), one of India’s premier agricultural research institutions, in an effort to transform how breeders identify crops capable of thriving under increasingly difficult environmental conditions.
For Dinesh Saini, a research assistant professor in Texas Tech’s Department of Plant & Soil Science and the project’s principal investigator, the stakes extend well beyond scientific advancement.
“Weather-resilient crops are essential to ensuring future food security,” Saini said. By combining expertise in crop breeding, artificial intelligence, remote sensing and predictive analytics, he said, the team hopes to accelerate the development of wheat and rice varieties better equipped to withstand environmental stress while strengthening long-term research ties between the United States and India.
Source : ttu.edu