The report of the scientific and scientific-organizational activity of GRI for 2021 was discussed at the joint meeting of the Scientific Council of the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences (DBMS) of ANAS and the Scientific Council of the Genetic Resources Institute (GRI).

Vice-President of ANAS, Chairman of the Academic Council of the DBMS, academician Irada Huseynova, members of the scientific councils of DBMS and GRI, as well as leaders and executors of relevant topics and works took part at the meeting. Academician Irada Huseynova opened the event with an introductory speech and congratulated the participants on the first anniversary of the Great Victory in the Second Karabakh War once again.

Academician Irada Huseynova gave information about the structural reforms conducted at ANAS and informed of appointments to the positions of General Director and Executive Director at GRI, and changes made in the structure.

Then, General Director of GRI, corresponding member of ANAS, Zeynal Akparov was given the floor to make a presentation. Speaker gave detailed information about scientific and scientific-organizational activity, achievements, implementation of relevant tasks of ANAS under state programs arising from Decrees and Orders of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, decisions and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as existing problems and perspective plans of the institute for 2021.

The Corresponding member of ANAS Zeynal Akparov notified about scientific researches conducted  in 3 directions, 3 issues, 7 topics, 26 works, 107 stages in relevant departments and laboratories of the institute, in Karabakh Scientific Research Base, Guba Regional Experimental Base, Sheki, Tovuz and Agdash Scientific Experimental Bases, Zuvand and Saray Support Points, Absheron Experimental Base, as well as in Gobustan and Tartar regional experimental stations of the Research Institute of the Husbandry of the  Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

This  year, bread wheat (T.aestivum L.) varieties Leyla and Almaz, durum wheat (T.durum Desf.) variety Alliance, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) variety Nur, pomegranate variety Fatima (Punica granatum L.) were released in the Genetic Resources Institute of ANAS and patents and certificates of authorship for them have been granted by the Agrarian Services Agency. Sequence-based genotyping was carried out in the collection of durum wheat of Azerbaijani origin and 748 TNP markers were found. In Azerbaijan, the breeding program aimed at creating medium-fiber varieties of cotton (G.hirsutum L.) has been implemented, and according to various criteria the newly created lines have been evaluated. At the end of the program, 20 new economically important lines for 3 breeding groups were created. The biomorphological features of some taxa with the controversial status of the genus Vicia L. related to the modern flora of Azerbaijan have been studied.

Zeynal Akparov also informed about the number of other important results obtained by research at the institute.

Further, he noted that this year, the Institute conducted the 4th graduation of 5 graduates in the specialties "Genetics", "Human Genetics", "Plant Protection" and "Plant Breeding".

In 2021, 9 people were admitted to the master's program of the institute. At present, 9 people are studying for the first-year master's degree and 4 people for the second-year.

The institute employs 314 people, including 147 scientists, 1 corresponding member of ANAS, 5 doctors of sciences, 71 doctors of philosophy and 2 professors. In 2021, 5 people completed their doctoral studies at the Institute, 2 doctoral dissertations and 1 doctor of philosophy defense was carried out. Currently, 2 employees of the Institute study in Germany, 1 - in the USA, 1 - in Italy and 1 employee continues his research in England.

The Institute received two grants from the Science Development Foundation under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2021, the Institute joined 2 new projects under the European Union COST program, and 1 project of the Trust Fund.

156 proceedings were published by the employees of the institute. 68 of them are articles (39 abroad), 84 are theses (44 abroad), 3 are books and 1 is a monograph. 15 articles have been published in journals included in the Web of Science and Scopus databases.

Field seminar, dedicated to the Victory Day on October 22, 2021 in the Shikharkh settlement, on “Regeneration of the infrastructure of the Karabakh Research Base of the Genetic Resources Institute of ANAS and issues of organization of seed production of wheat and barley varieties” as well as the sowings carried out here, became a serious step towards the regeneration of agricultural research in the region.

At the end of his speech, the Corresponding Member of ANAS Zeynal Akparov gave detailed information about long-term plans.

After the report, the Corresponding Members of ANAS Panakh Muradov, Nuru Bayramov, Alovsat Guliyev, AMU Vice-Rector for International Relations, Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor Orkhan Isayev and others proposed to accept the report.

Academician Irada Huseynova expressed her comments on important issues of the Institute's activities, gave the necessary recommendations and instructions.