Agri research body comes out with record 310 new high-yield crop varieties

NEW DELHI: To help increase farm production in the country with minimum use of inputs and make the farming climate resilient in due course, India's public sector agriculture research institutions led by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has released 310 new crop varieties during 2015-16 (Nov-Oct period).

The list of new crop varieties, which is to be formally made public by the ICAR on Thursday, include: “The new variety of `moong' bean (called Virat IPM25) is the first of its kind in the world in terms of being ready for harvest in earliest possible time (52-55 days). This along with high zinc variety of rice (DRR Dhan 45) and lentil (masoor dal) may not only increase yield but also play an important role in handling nutritional deficiency in our population“, said ICAR director general Trilochan Mohapatra.

He told ToI on Monday that the new 'moong' bean variety also has potential to change the cropping pattern in states like Punjab where farmers may switch over to this yellow mosaic virus-resistant summer crop from water-guzzling paddy without compromising on their income.


The list of 310 new crop varieties includes two bacterial leaf blight disease resistant rice (Pusa 1592 and Punjab Basmati-3), one blast disease resistant variety of rice (Pusa 1609), seedless variety of Nagpur orange, high temperature tolerant garden pea (Arka Tapas and Arka Uttam) and bacterial wilt resistant hybrid tomato.