Nauni varsity temperate carrot variety’s performance lauded at national level

A temperate carrot variety developed by the Department of Vegetable Science of Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni has been adjudged as the best-performing variety in the temperate group for showing consistent performance. The variety has even performed well in the Zone IV of the country comprising Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and parts of Punjab and Bihar.

The variety - 2019/CART(T)/VAR-5, was developed in the year 2017 by Dr. Ramesh Bhardwaj Professor and Principal Investigator of  Solan Center of ICAR’s All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Vegetable crops at UHF Nauni. Other members of AICRP Dr. Sandeep Kansal, Dr. DK Mehta, Dr. Kuldeep Thakur, Dr. Rakesh and Dr. Reena Kumari were also associated with the maintenance and mass multiplication of seeds of this variety.

Dr. Ramesh Bhardwaj, Principal Investigator of the AICRP (Vegetable Crops) informed that the performance of the variety was highly appreciated and declared as the best-performing variety for Zone IV of AICRP during the 41st Annual Group Meeting of AICRP held at Srinagar recently. During the annual group meeting, a varietal identification committee declared the university’s carrot variety as the overall best variety in the country in temperate groups among various centres of the country. This variety will help in boosting the economy of the farmers of Himachal and other hilly states where it has shown appreciable results.

Dr Sanjeev Chauhan, Director of Research of the university informed that the variety was mass multiplied and its seed was submitted for further testing and evaluation under various categories of varietal trials of temperate carrot through AICRP in the country. The University will register the variety with the ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and the Central Variety Release Committee so that this variety can be recommended for commercial cultivation.

Lauding the efforts of the scientists, Vice Chancellor Prof Rajeshwar Singh Chandel said that the Solan centre of AICRP on vegetable crops has brought laurels to the university and has not only bagged the Best AICRP Centre Award in the country among 36 regular and 24 volunteer centres but the variety developed by the scientists has also been appreciated for its excellent performance. He added that there are very few open-pollinated varieties in temperate group of carrots and the hybrid seeds of temperate carrots are very costly.  This variety being open-pollinated, it will also help small and marginal farmers of the country to take up cultivation in the country in coming years.