Pusa Ankur : new brinjal variety

SCIENTISTS OF the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, have released a new brinjal variety known as Pusa Ankur.

The plants of Pusa Ankur are semi-erect, non-spiny, beating oval- round, glossy and small sized fruits of attractive dark green colour. There is light purple pigmentation on the midribs and veins of younger leaves. Each fruit weighs about 60-80g. It is an early-bearing variety and the fruit picking may be done 45 days after transplanting. The fruits do not lose colour and tenderness even on delayed pickings.

Pusa Ankur can be grown on a variety of soils but loam soils with a 6-7 pH value are preferred for its cultivation. This is ideal for autumn-winter crop, although it responds well in spring- summer season also. Its seeds should be sown in nursery during June in northern-central plains, Maharashtra and Gujarat. About 250 g of seed is enough to raise seedlings for a hectare crop.

The seeds are sown on raised nursery beds in lines 5 cm apart. After sowing seeds are covered with soil. Wheat husk or clean dry grass is spread over the beds. Water the beds lightly with a fine rose-can during morning and evening. As the seeds germinate grass is removed. Spray captan at 2g/litre of water and endosulfan at 1 ml/litre of water on 15-day-old seedlings. Drench the soil around the seedlings with captan (1g/litre of water) as a precautionary measure to keep seedlings free from dumping off disease. One- month-old seedlings become ready for transplanting at 60 cm x 60 cm spacing.

The field should be prepared well. Add well-rotten farmyard manure (30-35 tonnes/ha) along with 300-350 kg single superhosphate and 80- 100 kg muriate of potash in the field. Apply urea at 60-70 kg each twice at one-month interval. And water the crop accordingly. Keep the field weed- free by timely hoeing and weeding. Spraying before planting at 3 litres/ha is also advised to keep the field weed-free.

Apply granular Carbofuran around plants at 1.5 kg/ha 2-3 weeks after transplanting to keep shoot-and fruit-borer, jassids, whitefly and other insects at bay.

The spray of insecticide may be repeated it there is infestation of insects.

The fruits should be harvested when they develop a good colour and attain marketable size.

They are picked up with stalks. Generally, fruits should be harvested at least one week after spraying of any chemical to keep them free from chemical residues. Thus a yield 33.7 tonnes/ha of brinjal may be obtained according to a report in the Indian Horticulture.

Som Dutt

P&I Division (ICAR)

Krishi Anusandhan

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