Federal Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain inaugurated advanced speed breeding facilities for wheat and pulses at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) and an IoT‑driven smart glasshouse at the National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology (NIGAB) in Islamabad, marking a practical step toward faster varietal development and stronger national food and nutrition security.
The new speed breeding system replicates controlled environments inspired by space research, using programmable LED lighting that provides up to 22 hours of light while balancing temperature and humidity to compress plant growth cycles. Under these conditions wheat can complete its biological cycle in just 6 to 8 weeks, enabling 5 to 6 generations per year. This approach has shortened the traditional multi‑year breeding timeline roughly by half and allowed more than 3,000 new wheat lines to be rapidly advanced into field trials under the PSDP wheat improvement project.
A purpose‑built speed breeding facility for pulses established under the PSDP pulses project targets chickpea, lentil, mung and mash. By combining controlled growth chambers, adjustable LED regimes and uniform environments for precise phenotyping, the pulses facility can produce 4 to 6 generations annually. Early results include new chickpea breeding lines, accelerated selection across diverse germplasm and improved screening accuracy for traits important to farmers and nutrition programs.
The 2,640 square foot smart glasshouse at NIGAB integrates IoT sensors, artificial intelligence, programmable control systems and data analytics to support genomics‑based speed breeding, stress biology studies and modern phenotyping. The fully automated facility enables real‑time monitoring and data‑driven decisions, and recent successes cited include high‑temperature stress screening, rapid wheat generation advancement, successful aquaponics trials and controlled evaluation of gene‑edited plants.
Dr. Syed Murtaza Hasan Andrabi, Chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, played a central role in guiding these initiatives and highlighted the importance of combining digital agriculture with breeding innovations. The federal minister emphasized that accelerating breeding cycles will help increase domestic production, reduce import dependency and ensure timely delivery of improved varieties to farmers. Government and research leaders signalled continued investment, expanded collaborations with national and international partners and encouragement of public‑private partnerships to scale these technologies across Pakistan.
