Dantiwada agriculture varsity develops pulses

To boost the production of pulses, Dantiwada Agriculture University recently developed new varieties of moong, tur and udad. The scientists of the university claim that the new varieties will give higher yield.

Talking to Business Standard, S B S Tikka, Director of Research, Dantiwada Agriculture University, said, "Our research centres have developed new varieties of tur, moong and udad. The new varieties are known as Gujarat tur hybrid-1 (GTH-1) and Gujarat moong-4 (GM-4) respectively. We have not named the Udad's new variety yet."

He added that the Seed Release Committee has already approved the varieties and presently the committee is awaiting notification for the Centre.

According to scientists who developed the new varieties, these varieties will give higher yields to the farmers and it will help in boosting up the state's production of pulses in the forthcoming years.

Suresh Acharya, Principal Scientist (pulses), Dantiwada Agriculture University, told Business Standard, "GTH-1 is the first tur variety in the world that has been developed with the help of Comparative Genome Mapping Tool (CGMT). Our research has shown that this new variety provides 32 per cent higher production as compared to the other varieties of tur."

Acharya added that Gujarat moong-4 promises a 40 per cent higher production compared to the existing moong varieties and it has 21.5 per cent protein against the 20-20.5 per cent protein in other varieties. The new variety of moong should be sown in summer and kharif season.

The scientists claim that the new variety will also help farmers increase their earnings.

On this, Acharya said, "The estimated per hectare cost of sowing is around Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000. Farmers can earn upto Rs 1 lakh per hectare by using this new hybrid tur seeds.

On how these new varieties can help the state strengthen its pulses production, Acharya said, "Our production of pulses is low and it is projected to go down further. We have to import 2 to 2.5 million tonnes of pulses every year, and the new variety will help us strengthen the seed sector."

Tur is basically grown in tribal districts of Gujarat and the farmers there do not have access to hybrid seeds. Considering this, the university plans to supply this new variety of tur to tribal area, so that tribal farmers can increase their income as well.

According to government estimates, pulses production is going down. In 2007-08 tur's yield might go down by 3.9 per cent over the 10th Plan average of 833 kg per hectare.

The state is likely to produce 2.56 lakh MT of tur this year. The yield of udad will come down to 400 kg per hectare from 450 Kg hectare average of the 10th plan which is 11.1 per cent less.