The new variants will be cultivated in Punjab
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed and recommended three new varieties of wheat and one variety each of berseem and oats for general cultivation in Punjab. These include PBW 803, PBW 824 and PBW 869 of wheat; BL 44 of berseem and OL 15 of oats. The varieties were approved during the meeting of the State Variety Approval Committee held under the chairmanship of Dr Sukhdev Singh Sidhu, Director of Agriculture, Punjab. According to Dr Navtej Singh Bains, Director of Research and Dr Jaskarn Singh Mahal, Director of Extension Education, PAU, the salient features of all the varieties were discussed in detail.
The variety PBW 803 has been recommended for cultivation in the South-Western region of Punjab (Bathinda, Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozpur, Mansa and Sri Muktsar Sahib) under irrigated timely sown conditions. Its average plant height is 100 cm and matures in about 151 days. It is resistant to brown rust and moderately resistant to yellow rust. Its average yield is 22.7 quintals per acre. Being a medium duration variety, it exhibits better performance under the abiotic stress-prone South-Western region of Punjab.
The variety PBW 824 has been recommended for general cultivation in the Punjab state under irrigated timely sown conditions. Its average plant height is 104 cm and matures in about 156 days. It is resistant to brown rust and moderately resistant to yellow rust. Its average yield is 23.3 quintals per acre. It possesses a high hectoliter weight.
The variety PBW 869 has been recommended for sowing with Happy Seeder/Super Seeder in in-situ rice residue managed fields based on research and adaptive trials conducted by Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and PAU. Its average plant height is 101 cm and matures in about 158 days. It is resistant to brown rust and moderately resistant to yellow rust. Its average yield is 23.2 quintals per acre. It possesses a high 1000-grain weight and longer coleoptile.
Berseem variety BL 44 is a quick-growing variety with more tillers. BL 44 out yielded the check variety BL 43 by 5.9 per cent for green fodder yield and also possess better nutritional characters.
Oats variety OL 15 is a single cut variety for irrigated areas of Punjab. Its plants are tall, having long and broad leaves with more leafiness and tillering ability. Its fodder quality is better than OL 12, Kent and at par with OL 13. On average, it yields about 309 quintals of green fodder per acre. Its seed yield is about 9.8 quintals per acre.
