“Lifetime Achievement Award in Plant Breeding” conferred by The Foundation for Advanced Training in Plant Breeding (ATPBR)

Mr. Gopalkrishna Hegde born in a farmer’s family in Sirsi. Karnataka completed his schooling in Sirsi. He obtained his M. Sc (Horticulture) during 1992 from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru for his research on Cytogenetic studies of ploidy levels in Watermelon. He started his career from 1994 as a plant breeder in vegetable crops. He understands the needs of farmers and ever-changing consumer preferences and coming out with a product by
assembling genes for the required traits has been his success Mantra. In his career spanning over 25 years in seed industry, Mr. Hegde has successfully held and managed the position as a Senior Breeder and contributed the revenue and popularity of the organisations he worked viz Nunhems, East West and Pro-Agro .
He has many hybrids to his credit which have ruled the domestic as well as overseas market. Hot pepper Devanur Deluxe developed by him at Nunhems proved a blockbuster. It made a headway into the Byadgi segment dominated by OPVs. Other hot pepper hybrids Ujala, Soldier, Kranti, Priyanka, Preeti, Indira, Veerji developed for specific market segments are being cultivated currently in over 2 lakh hectares. Hot pepper hybrids developed by Mr. Hegde
(Fantastic, Shakthi, Ramyaand Indira Plus) have been released for Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey and Sri Lanka Markets Watermelon Madhubala created sensation in the market and set record yields. It became a segment itself. Other hybrids developed by him are Madhuri and Khushboo being grown in more than one lakh hectares.
Mr. Hegde also worked in other crops like tomato. Okra, cucumber, biZer gourd, ridge gourd, boZle gourd and cucumber. The tomato hybrid Arundhati and Benaka, biZer gourd hybrids Chaman and Amanshree are popular and cultivated over large areas. Mr. Hegde is currently with Noble Seeds as Director Research from 2011. He is engaged in training and developing capable and competent commercial breeders and planning and developing the breeding strategies.
Recognising his contributions in enhancing vegetable production and productivity, The Foundation for Advanced Training in Plant Breeding (ATPBR) has conferred him the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Plant Breeding” on 9th January at UAS Dharwad, Karnataka.