PAU suggests 8 new varieties of rice, other crops

Ludhiana, March 20

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed and recommended eight new varieties of rice, cotton, maize, mash and fodder for general cultivation in Punjab. These include PR 131 and PR 130 of rice, PAU Bt 2 and PAU Bt 3 of cotton, Punjab Baby Corn 1 of maize, Mash 883 of mash, SL 45 of fodder (sorghum) and PCB 166 of fodder (bajra).

The varieties were approved after thorough discussion during a meeting of the State Variety Approval Committee for Field Crops, held under the chairmanship of Dr Gurvinder Singh, Director of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Punjab. Director of Research Dr AS Dhatt and Director of Extension Education Dr Ashok Kumar also attended the meeting.

The PR 131 variety of rice is a high yielding and lodging tolerant variety. The PAU Bt 2 is a Bt cotton variety has inbuilt resistance against spotted and American bollworms. —