Plant breeding software benefits for Biostadt researchers

Nandi Seeds dedicates to provide Indian farmers with quality seeds through superior genetics. They innovate to overcome climatic change and enable sustainable agriculture. 100% subsidiary of Biostadt India Limited, the famous biostimulant and crop protection brand Nandi Seeds, commits to the group’s moto: “Support the growth of rural India by providing farmers with top-of-the-line agricultural inputs and services”.

The plant breeding department includes 15 people in 2 locations: Gujarat and Rajastan. 6 breeders develop innovative hybrids of Pearl millet, Rice and Corn, and varieties of Castor, Mustard and Cumin. The two main crops are Castor (150 lines per year) and Pearl Millet. In Pearl Millet they select 2,900 inbred lines and 620 hybrids, focusing mainly on resistance to downy mildew, blast, lodging tolerance, and earliness.

All the research team used to work on Excel files and a statistics software. They faced difficulties preparing large trials of lines and hybrids. And spent too much time retrieving their data and analyzing the results.

In 2020 they have chosen to integrate all their R&D activities into a single plant breeding software: RnDExperience by Doriane.  Castor and Pearl Millet backcross and pedigree management are done with Doriane software.

Doctor Shailendra Warathe,  Head of the research and Corn breeder: “I’m satisfied, and my team is satisfied. We appreciate the good relationship with the team Doriane. We are enhancing the material very fast; we can quickly get the data and analyze it. Our portfolio is increasing day by day and we will include new crops to the software accordingly: Corn, Rice, and Mustard.”

Sir Roshan Patel, Senior plant breeder: “We have completed almost 2 seasons with the software and the third one is in preparation. I’m currently working on the last season data analysis. So far, it’s a good experience.”

Dr Warathe: “Doriane helps the breeder retrieve the data easily, so we know each generation data, over a single platform. We can easily track each and every pedigree over several years and seasons, and analyze the data to take decisions.”

Sir Patel: “One of the best gains is saving 80% time preparing backcrosses: Earlier with Excel it was very difficult to choose the production line parents. With Doriane software and a short training, it’s fast and easy to add the pedigree of a particular backcross to hundreds of lines. We prepare thousands of backcrosses every season: In a simple step we find the pedigree, then by single click we can add the recurrent parents to thousands of production lines immediately in the system.

Let’s take an example: Suppose we have 1 000 lines, and we have to do advancement to the next generation. We keep only 500 lines, and create three raws for every material:  This makes 1 500 “n+1” lines we have to promote to the next season. We used to input manually each of the 1 500 lines before. Now with Doriane we just input the number “3” and with a single click we are getting the result with the advancement. New lines automatically have a coding applied to the material according to the best practices to define plant breeding germplasm. Earlier with Excel we spent hours and there were many chances to write the wrong pedigree or make mistakes due to wrong equation. Now with Doriane weare 100% sure about data integrity and accuracy, and it takes a few minutes only.”

Dr Warathe: “In a nutshell, RnDExperience™ software helps:

-        Achieve high precision and tracking along all operations

-        Compare tons of characteristics of selecting hybrids and breeding lines

-        Develop new product with more confidence on the breeding work

-        Protects intellectual property on modification of germplasm and technology

-        Support all the stages of the breeding process from crossing to selection and evaluation”

The team Doriane helps us a lot making the most of the software. Face to face meetings are the best, and we learn greatly also with many tutorial videos, divided into chapters and subtitles.”