The international scientific event on “Wheat Improvement through the Application of Digital and GWAS-Based Technologies,” dedicated to the “Year of the Constitution and Sovereignty” and the 80th anniversary of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, continued on June 13, 2025, with a field seminar organized at the Gobustan Regional Experimental Station of the Research Institute of Crop Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The field seminar was officially opened by the Director of the Research Institute of Crop Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, PhD in Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor Faig Khudayev. He welcomed the participants and provided information about the purpose and objectives of the event. The director of the institute emphasised the strategic importance of wheat as an agricultural crop and discussed the achievements and challenges in enhancing its yield and quality. He stated that the potential of classical breeding has been exhausted and emphasized the importance of local and international collaboration in conducting research through the application of modern innovative technologies.
Vice-President of ANAS and General Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Academician Irada Huseynova delivered a speech, noting that a remarkable conference was held on June 12, 2025, at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies. She emphasized that during the event, important presentations addressing the challenges of the modern era were delivered and discussions were held. She also stated that today's field seminar is a continuation of that conference. The academician highly appreciated the research conducted, the experiments carried out, and the breeding activities implemented at the Gobustan Regional Experimental Station. The speaker highlighted the long-standing scientific collaboration between the institutes and noted that, within the framework of joint research, digital technologies are widely used in the comparative analysis of wheat varieties based on both local and international genetic material, as well as in identification and breeding studies using molecular markers. She emphasized that modern methods significantly shorten the breeding process and improve its quality.
Later at the event, the Head of Department of the Gobustan District Executive Authority, Ibadat Bahramov, provided information about the widespread practice of agriculture—particularly grain cultivation—in the Gobustan region and generally across the Mountainous Shirvan area. He emphasized the important role of science in achieving high crop yields.
Later during the field seminar, several distinguished speakers delivered their remarks, including Professor Aziz Eftekhari from Ege University (Turkiye), Head of Department at Baku State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Rovshan Khalilov, Head of the Research Group on Conservation, Characterization, and Use of Genetic Resources at ICARDA, Dr. Zakaria Kehel, Professor Ali Naz from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and Head of the Gobustan Regional Experimental Station of the Research Institute of Crop Husbandry, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Atabay Jahangirov, among others. Atabay Jahangirov provided the participants with detailed information about both the Experimental Station and the newly developed wheat varieties currently under testing, their potential capabilities, and the breeding programs being conducted using modern technologies.
Following the seminar, a review of the experimental plots established at the Gobustan Regional Experimental Station was conducted, showcasing the joint research carried out by the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of ANAS and the Research Institute of Crop Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The participants, representatives of farmers, and guests familiarized themselves on-site with all stages of the breeding process and visited the experimental fields containing genetic materials of diverse origins, including those presented by Professor Ali Naz from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, as well as the parental lines.
The international scientific conference and field seminar on “Wheat Improvement through the Application of Digital and GWAS-Based Technologies” successfully concluded.
