I am happy to share with you all about my 9 month long Research Internship at National Wheat Research Program (NWRP). I feel lucky to get enrolled at NWRP for my final year research defense. Back to December 2021, I got a chance to meet Plant Pathologist of NWRP at conference. Since from first year of my Undergrad I was enthusiast at Plant Disease and Pathogen study. So with the aim to broaden my knowledge arena, I choose Plant pathology as major for final year defense and I started to conduct research on Wheat Disease i.e “ Screening of Wheat Genotype for Spot Blotch”. Annually 18-20% loss occur due to spot Blotch disease and in case of the severe infestation it may reach up to 80-100%.  

During my research I got a chance to learn and explore more about pathogen isolation, culture, inoculation and screening. My research will be helpful for farmer to choose the elite resistant wheat genotype for the production at farmer field level. The outcome of the research will be shared at my final year Research Symposium that is going to held at last week of December. Here are the list of the activities that I learned  as the research intern at NWRP and Now I am working on another project of rice disease.

Performing tests and experiments related to Spot Blotch (Bipolaris Sorokiniana) Disease in Wheat

Isolation, Pure Culture preparation and Mass Multiplication of Spot Blotch in lab

Screening of different lines of wheat against Spot Blotch  in field and Greenhouse condition

National Wheat Disease Screening Nursery (NWDSN)

Biochemical Marker Screening Nursery (BMSN)

Helminthosporium Leaf Blight Screening Nursery (HLBSN)

Biochemical Evaluation of different Wheat Genotype against Spot Blotch 

Collection of wheat leaf sample for histochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by using 3,3ʹ-Diaminobenzidine (DAB) and Nitrotetrazolium Blue Chloride (NBT) as the chromogenic substrate

Double Digit Scoring for Spot Blotch Pathogen 

Scoring of Yellow Stripe Rust in different Susceptible Wheat Genotype

Emasculation and Hybridization method in Wheat

Lastly I apologize to Eco Generation for not being so active at Tunza Eco Generation as I was completely engaged on various research project.