Dr. G.P. Dixit

Director, ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur

Dr. Girish Prasad Dixit was born on 28th October, 1966 in Varanasi districts of Uttar Pradesh. He obtained is Ph.D. degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in 1993. He joined ICAR service as Scientist (Plant Breeding) on August 05, 1991 and later on posted at Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur on January 14, 1992. With more than 30 years of experience in pulses research, he has made outstanding contribution in genetic improvement of different pulse crops. He has developed 22 high yielding varieties of pulses including popular fieldpea varieties Aman, IPFD 10-12, Vikas, Prakash, Adarsh, IPFD 11-5, IPFD 6-3 and IPF 4-9. The share of fieldpea varieties developed by him is more than 68 per cent in breeder seed production chain (2020-21) leading towards a significant contribution in increasing the productivity of fieldpea in India. The short duration varieties Prakash & Vikas ; dual purpose green seeded fieldpea (IPFD 10-12) and lodging resistant (Aman) varieties developed by Dr. Dixit are very popular among the farmers and traders.

These efforts have resulted in greater stability in fieldpea scene with higher production in the country and drastic reduction in import of yellow peas in the country. During last seven years and eight months, Dr. Dixit led the national chickpea programme as Project Coordinator (Chickpea) focusing on integrated breeding approaches for improving yield potential, improved tolerance to stresses, market-preferred grain traits, suitability to machine harvesting and modernization of breeding programs through digitalization. A focused effort on strengthening breeder seed production resulted into a steady improvement in the VRR (>81%) and SRR (>30%) of chickpea leading towards a silent Chickpea Revolution in India. From 7.33 million ton in 2015, chickpea production in the country rose steadily to an all-time high of 13.70 million ton during 2022 which signifies more than 80 % increase over 2015. In the past, Dr. Dixit also acted as Project Coordinators of AICRP on MULLaRP (2 years) and AICRP on Linseed (2 years). He also executed several externally aided projects on pulses and acted as Nodal Officer/Link Officer of ICAR-Indian Institute of pulses Research Regional Station Dharwad since April 2019. Dr. Dixit has published more than 99 research papers, edited 05 Books; 25 book chapters and 14 technical bulletins; and associated with the development of several IT software, one copy right and ten new germplasm lines in fieldpea and chickpea registered with NBPGR.