Vision 2025 - National Research Centre for Grapes

3. GROWTH
3.1 INFRASTRUCTURE
3.1.1 Buildings and field
46.78 ha land has been leased from the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri for
establishment of the Centre. About 14 ha is planted with germplasm and important commercial
varieties for different experiments and another 4 ha is under development for taking up
experiments on wine varieties. A separate block is being developed to evaluate the
performance of newly introduced varieties and hybrids developed at the centre. The entire
planted area is under the drip irrigation. A nursery is being developed with a capacity of
producing about 2 lakhs plants per year.
The Centre functions from Dr. G.S. Cheema Bhavan, the laboratory-cum-administrative
building. It has Director's office, Administrative-cum-Accounts office, Library, Seminar Hall,
Museum, ARIS Cell and 10 Laboratories of different research disciplines. Besides this, one
Type V, 2 Type II and eight Type I residential quarters are constructed and occupied. A separate
building constructed with the financial assistance of the APEDA houses National Referral
Laboratory for pesticide residue monitoring in grapes in the country. A Biocontrol Laboratory,
Soil Sampling Room, Polyhouse, Glasshouse and FRP are constructed.
3.1.2 Laboratory facilities
i. Crop Improvement
To conduct research towards grape improvement through conventional breeding as well as
biotechnological approaches like molecular marker analysis and tissue culture,
sophisticated equipments like PCR machine, automated sequencer, sequencing gel
apparatus, gel documentation system, circulatory water baths, electrophoresis system, gel
dryer, refrigerated microfuge, high speed centrifuge, culture incubators, laminar flow,
shakers etc. are available at the centre. The Centre is collaborating with National Chemical
Laboratory, Pune for tissue culture and embryo rescue studies. The germplasm site is also
utilized for planned hybridization programs.
ii. Crop Production
Research under crop production is conducted in the areas of canopy management,
rootstock compatibility, bioregulators, abiotic stress management, and nutrient and water
use efficiency. Ultra modern sophisticated equipments like atomic absorption
spectrophotometer, multi-channel auto analyzer, infra red gas analyzer, canopy analyzer,
osmometer, flame photometer, leaf area meter, steady state porometer, and pressure bomb
apparatus have been procured to meet future challenges in grape production research.
iii. Crop Protection and Residue Monitoring
Biocontrol agents, disease forecasting and pesticide use efficiency, minimizing pesticide
residue through integrated pest management, determining PHI and minimum waiting
period are the thrust areas of crop protection and residue monitoring. Equipments like
fermenter, automated weather station with disease forecasting software, gas
chromatograph, solid phase extraction, vacuum concentrator, trinocular compound and
stereomicroscopes etc are available. An aerobiology facility to handle microbial culture
under highly sterile conditions has been developed. Highly sophisticated and sensitive
equipments viz. LC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS, ICP-MS, and GC/GC-MS/TOF have been
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