PAU recommends five new varieties for cultivation in Punjab

Ludhiana, February 27, 2024: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed, recommended and released five crop varieties for general cultivation in Punjab. These included Pusa Basmati 1847 of basmati, DKC 9144 and Bioseed 9788 of maize, PCB 167 of bajra and Punjab Cheena 1 of proso millet. These varieties were approved during the meeting of the State Varietal Approval Committee, held under the chairmanship of Dr Jaswant Singh, Director of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Punjab, recently. Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research; and Dr MS Bhullar, Director of Extension Education, PAU, informed that thorough discussions took place regarding salient features of varieties before giving final nod.

About Pusa Basmati 1847, Dr Dhatt explained, “It is a high yielding basmati genotype derived from its recurrent parent Pusa Basmati 1509. It possesses blast and bacterial blight resistance genes in background of Pusa Basmati 1509. It yields on an average 11.7 per cent higher yield (19.0 quintals per acre) as compared to parent Pusa Basmati 1509 (17.0 quintals per acre). It possesses moderate level of resistance to neck blast under artificial testing conditions.”

Referring to maize varieties, Dr Dhatt told, “DKC 9144 is a late maturing maize hybrid, yielding 24.6 quintals per acre and exhibiting grain yield superiority of 2.3 per cent over the check private hybrid Adv 9293 and -8.5 per cent over PAU hybrid PMH 14.” “Bioseed 9788 is also a late maturing proposed maize hybrid, yielding 24.3 quintals per acre and exhibiting grain yield superiority of 1.0 per cent over the check private hybrid Adv 9293 and -9.2 per cent over PAU hybrid PMH 14,” he said.

Highlighting the emphasis on millets, Dr Bhullar shared, “Bajra variety PCB 167 comes to 50 per cent flowering about 36 and 19 days earlier than dual purpose checks PCB 166 and PCB 165, respectively. Its average grain yield is 15.6 quintals per acre which is 16.8 per cent higher than the check variety PCB 165 but at par with PCB 166. As compared to check varieties, PCB 167 is shorter in plant height and possesses better grain nutritional characteristics, especially crude protein, crude fibre, and starch content along with high iron and zinc content. The grains of PCB 167 possess good popping potential and are also suitable for making value added products.”

Explaining Proso millet Punjab Cheena 1, Dr Bhullar said, “It is a short duration variety that matures in about 66 days with an average grain yield of 3.2 quintals per acre. It possesses good quantities of protein (12.28 mg/100 g), resistant starch (20.91 g/100 g), calcium (40.95 mg/100 g) and iron (4.02 mg/100 g) as well as low predicted glycemic index (54.39) and low glycemic load (32.51).”