DWR - Directorate of Wheat Research

Dr. Mishra has a distinction of coordinating two largest network of rice and wheat that contributes nearly 80% towards the national food and nutritional security. He is widely traveled and has a rich international experience. He has been instrumental in release of 144 new rice varieties and 9 hybrids suited for different rice ecologies. His efforts led to the development of 7 rice varieties and one rice hybrid which are presently occupying several lakh hectares of salt-affected area of the country. First time in the world, a salt-tolerant basmati-grain rice variety Yamini (CSR 30), has become popular and has spread to more than 50 % area in basmati growing areas of Haryana. Salt tolerant rice varieties CSR 30 and CSR 36 were among the five rice varieties gifted by His Excellency, the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to the Director General, IRRI, Philippines in 2006, which speaks of the quality of research work carried out by Dr. Mishra. He has developed another salt tolerant variety CSR 10 which is used in biological amelioration, a low cost reclamation technology for the sodic soils. His contributions as National Coordinator of the hybrid rice network helped in rapid adoption of released rice hybrids in nearly 1.2 M ha in India. In his efforts to synergize the conventional breeding approaches and the new modern biotechnological tools, he has also pioneered research in gene pyramiding like introgression of three bacterial leaf blight genes (xa5, xa13 & Xa21) in Sambha Mahsuri variety of rice. This approach is now being implemented for pyramiding rust resistance and quality genes in popular wheat varieties. As Project Director, Directorate of Wheat Research, he has facilitated the release of several wheat and barley varieties in the country. He has coordinated many international projects in partnership with IRRI, CIMMYT, DFID, ACIAR, World Bank, EEC (through UNDP), ISCB-Switzerland, Cornell-USA, FAO and UNDP.