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New wheat, cotton varieties evolved
KARACHI (November 16 2002) : The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commissions Agriculture Centre, Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA) Tandojam has evolved a new variety of wheat (Marvi-2000) and also a variety of cotton (SDHNI) which have been approved by the Sindh Seed Council for general cultivation, a meeting held here which was presided over by the Provincial Secretary for Agriculture Sindh.
The wheat variety Marvi-2000 evolved through pyramiding different rust resistant genes in a high yielding genotype PK-1600. Marvi-2000 possesses distinct characters like long spike with hairy glumes. Marvi-2000 has the yield potential of 7 t/ha. in the cotton belt of Sindh. It combines both high yield and resistance against the prevailing races of leaf and steam rust. It has 13.5 percent protein content with high gluten.
Another significant breakthrough has been the evolution of new high yielding cotton variety Sohni. The Sohni besides its high yield is early in maturity and ginned higher lint as compared with the existing commercial varieties grown in Sindh. Sohni being early in maturity needs less number of irrigation and sprays of plant protection measures. It can fit in wide range of cropping pattern particularly in the cotton-wheat-cotton and cotton-mungbean-cotton rotations.
Nuclear institute of Agriculture (NIA), Tandojam is actively engaged in the improvement of important agriculture crops such as wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, mungbean, lentil, sesame, brassica and banana. The earlier released varieties by the Institute have significantly enhanced the overall production of the province. It is estimated that by growing these high yielding and better adapted varieties, the people of Sindh have been benefited to the tune of 34,322 million rupees.
Source: Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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