PAU Releases Four New Varieties For General Cultivation In Punjab

Ludhiana, February 25, 2016: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has come up with three kharif season varieties and one rabi season variety for general cultivation in Punjab. The varieties include PBN 346 of napier bajra, ML 2056 of mungbean, LD 949 of desi cotton and PC 6 of African sarson. The varieties were approved for general cultivation during the meet of State Variety Approval Committee, held under the Chairmanship of Dr Gurdial Singh, Director of Agriculture, Punjab. According to Dr Balwinder Singh, Director of Research, PAU and Dr R.S. Sidhu, Director of Extension Education, PAU, the salient features of all the varieties were discussed thoroughly before the release.

PBN 346 is a forage napier bajra hybrid. It is leafy variety with long, smooth, non-hairy and broad leaves. It sprouts earlier in spring and remains in vegetative growth till the onset of winter. It yields 715 quintal of green fodder per acre.

ML 2056 is a Kharif mungbean variety. Its plants are erect and medium statured (78 cm). Pod formation is profuse and each pod contains 11-12 seeds. The average grain yield is 4.6 q/acre. It is fairly resistant to mungbean yellow mosaic virus, cercospora leaf spot and bacterial leaf spot diseases. It matures in about 71 days.

LD 949 is a high yielding and high ginning variety of desi cotton. Its average seed cotton yield is 9.92 quintals/acre. It possesses lint percentage of 40.1. Its fibres are short, coarse and suitable as surgical cotton. This variety is moderately resistant to Fusarium wilt and bacterial blight. It is tolerant to whitefly and jassid.

PC 6 is an African mustard sarson variety. It gives 7.7 q/acre yield and has an oil content of 40.1%. It is a medium statured variety with a determinate growth habit. It is free from White rust and is better than other mustard varieties for reaction to aphid infestation. It is suitable for combine mechanical harvesting.