Laboratories

LABORATORIES

Centralized Laboratories in ICAR-VPKAS
    
Bio-Technology Laboratory

Biotechnology Laboratory has been established under Crop Improvement Division of the ICAR-VPKAS. It has following facilities:

• Qiagen Tissue Lyser for high throughput DNA extraction from leaf and seed sample
• Thermal cycler for genotyping and any other related application
• Gel electrophoresis system for separation of DNA, RNA and protein
• Gel documentation system for taking high quality gel images
• Phase contrast microscope for high resolution microscopy of live sample
• Qiaxcel fragment analyzer for high throughput genotyping
• ABI 3130xl genetic analyzer for DNA sequencing and fragment analysis
• Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer for quantification of mineral ions in plant and soil sample
• Minus eighty degree refrigerator for storage of tissue sample
• Laminar Air Flow for aseptic culture of plant tissue and bacteria
• Biolistic gene gun for direct transformation of plant tissue
• Microplate spectrophotometer for colorimetric assays
• Incubator shaker for bacterial culture
   

Physiological Laboratory

Physiological Laboratory has been established under Crop Improvement Division of the ICAR-VPKAS. It has following facilities:

• Leaf Area Meter for measurement of leaf area for all crop plants.
• Basic facilities for estimation of important parameters like Membrane Stability Index (MSI), Relative Water Content (RWC), Chlorophyll content etc.
• Conductivity /pH/TDS/°C/°F meter for estimation of electrolyte leakage, pH and temperature.

Plant Pathology Laboratory

Plant Pathology Laboratory has been established under Crop Protection Division of the ICAR-VPKAS. Presently it has following facilities:

• Isolation, identification and maintenance of plant pathogens/insect pathogens.
• Artificial phenotyping for resistance to rice blast pathogens.
• Facility for mass production of important insects and bio-control agentsviz. insect predators and pathogens like Trichodermaspp., Bacillus cereus.
• Spawn (mushroom seed) production of different mushroom species viz. Agaricusbisporus, Pleurotussajor-caju, Pleurotusflorida, Hypsizygusulmarius.
• Cultivation of medicinally important mushrooms like Ganodermalucidum, Lentinulaedodes, Pleurotuseryngii, etc.
• Extraction and isolation of insect pheromones/ volatiles through Air Entrainment.

Quality (Biochemistry) Lab

The Quality (Biochemistry) Laboratory has been established under Crop Improvement Division and is having following facilities:

• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)-for the Qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples for quality traits.
• Farinograph for the analysis of dough quality and properties.
• Rapid visco analyzer for the determination of pasting properties.
• Texture analyzer for the evaluation of textural properties of grain samples and food products.
• UV-VIS Spectrophotometer for colorimetric analysis
• NIR based grain analyzer for the evaluation of grain physiochemical properties.
• Semi automatic Soxlet apparatus for oil extraction.
• Cooling centrifuge for various applications

Soil Science Laboratory 

Soil Science Laboratory has been established under Crop Production Division of the ICAR-VPKAS at Hawalbagh experimental Farm. Presently it has following facilities:

• UV-VIS Spectrophotometer for different colorimetric estimation like: Plant & Soil available Phosphorus, chlorophyll, various soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, phosphatase, arylsulphatase, β-glucosidase, urease, protease, cellulose) 
• Flame Photometer for estimation of potassium and sodium
• Muffle Furnace for estimation of crude ash of plant sample
• Hot Air Oven for drying the different types of samples and glassware
• BOD Incubator for maintaining controlled condition in different enzyme bioassay
• Horizontal Shaker for extraction of nutrients from soil samples

Agricultural Chemistry & Microbiology

• Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)-AAS vario 6 (Analytika Jena) for the determination of micronutrients, trace elements and heavy metals
• CHN Analyzer (FOSS Heraeus) for the determination of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen
• Nitrogen Analyzer KjeltecTM 2300 (FOSS) for the determination of total nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen and protein content
• Flame Photometer systronics, India for the determination of potassium, calcium and magnesium
• UV-VIS Spectrophotometer for colorimetric analysis
• Phase contrast Microscope with computer Imaging system (Nikon ECLIPSE 80i) to determine the shape, size and arrangement of microbes
• Fermentor (Biotran,Germany) for the mass multiplication of microbes
• Soil DNA Extractor-Fast prep 24 (MPBIO) for the extraction of DNA & Protein
• DNA Engine Gradient (PCR) machine (Peltier Thermal cycler) for the amplification of microbial DNA/RNA
• Polymorphism Mutation detection system for microbial community analysis
• Gel Documentation system (Alpha Imager) for the visualization of DNA/RNA/Protein gel and analysis
• Refrigerated Environmental shaker-MaxQ4000 (Barnstead/Lab line, IOWA,USA) for the mass multiplication of microbes
• Plant Growth Chamber (WTB Binder, Germany) to conduct the experiments under controlled environmental conditions
• Water Bath-HAAKE SWB25 (Thermo Electron Corporation, Germany) for the extraction of DNA/ RNA/ Protein/ Enzymes
• Deep freezer (-20ºC) for the storage of microbial cultures