The Punjab SVAC has approved the new strains
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana 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 (SVAC) held under the chairmanship of the Punjab Director of Agriculture Sukhdev Singh Sidhu. According to the PAU Director of Research Navtej Singh Bains and Director of Extension Education Jaskarn Singh Mahal, salient features of all the varieties were discussed in detail.
The wheat variety PBW 803 has been recommended for cultivation in the south-western region of Punjab (Bathinda, Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Mansa and Muktsar districts) under irrigated timely-sown conditions. Its average plant height is 100 cm and matures in about 151 days.
PBW 803 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 abiotic stress prone south-western Punjab.
The wheat variety PBW 824 has been recommended for general cultivation in the Punjab 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. PBW 824 average yield is 23.3 quintals per acre. It possesses a high hectoliter weight.
The wheat 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 the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Ludhiana and PAU. Its average plant height is 101 cm and matures in about 158 days.
PBW 869 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% for green fodder yield and also possessed better nutritional characteristics.
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 an average, OL 15 yields about 309 quintals of green fodder per acre. Its seed yield is about 9.8 quintals per acre.
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