PAU Rice Varieties Most Popular In Other States- GoI

Ludhiana, May 15, 2015: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed a large number of rice varieties for the Punjab state and majority of these have gained momentum in other states. The PAU developed rice varieties are occupying larger areas in other states as well, said Dr Balwinder Singh, Director of Research, PAU. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India finalizes/compiles the breeder seed indent of rice varieties based on the demand/acceptability of the varieties by farmers at the national level. “A perusal of the 10 most indented (demanded) varieties of rice during the last five years (2009 to 2014) revealed that the PAU varieties had been occupying the largest share among all agricultural universities/institutes of the northern India,” he highlighted. Averaged over the last five years, six out of the 10 most popular varieties were PAU varieties, he said. So much so that during this year, as many as eight out of top 10 rice varieties in terms of breeder seed indent were from PAU. PR 114 and PR 118 varieties of paddy are most popular, informed Dr Singh. Besides the state of Punjab, seeds of these varieties are in great demand in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir etc., told Dr Singh.