Early maturing and high yielding variety

By Our Agriculture Correspondent

SCIENTISTS AT the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani in Kerala, have developed an early-maturing black gram with high yield potential. It has been recently released for commercial cultivation by the farmers by the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), according to Dr. K.V. Peter, Director of Research at KAU, Thrissur.

Christened ``Sumanjana'', the new black gram variety is developed through mass selection from Co Bg 9. The new variety has erect bushy habit with 4 to 5 branches per plant. Each plant produces about 4 to 8 pod clusters. The length of the pod ranges from 5.5 cm to 6.5 cm, and each pod will contain 6 to 7 seeds.

The seeds are black, and are found to have 22.9 per cent protein. The weight of 100 seeds will be about 5.9 g. Coming to harvest in 75 days, the high yielding variety has recorded an average output of 933 kg per hectare in summer rice fallows.

It has out yielded the standard check variety, ``Shyama'', by 29 per cent. In the field trials conducted, the variety was not affected by any major pest or disease. The new variety has been found to be ideally suited for cultivation in the rice fallows of Thiruvananthapuram district during summer.

The plants of ``Sumanjana'' grow to a height of 56 cm, and the dark green leaves stand out prominently from the green stem. In about 32 to 34 days after sowing, the plants reach the flowering stage, and in another 42 days, the crop is ready for harvest. This early maturing variety has produced grains of high cooking quality.

It responds well to sound agronomic practices and good nutrient management. About 20 tonnes of farmyard manure and 250 kg lime per hectare are recommended as basal dressing.

In addition, 20 kg of nitrogen, and 30 kg each of potash and phosphorus are to be added to get good yields from this variety.

A spacing of 25 cm between rows and 15 cm within the rows should be adopted, and it would ensure a crop density of 2, 66, 666 plants per hectare.

In the field trials taken up in different locations, the variety performed exceedingly well. It was found to be far superior to the standard check with a yield increase of 77.9 per cent in many field experiments.

In the national demonstrations and large-scale demonstrations, it has recorded a seed yield of 580 kg per hectare.

Under normal conditions, it has registered an average yield of 692 kg per hectare, point out the scientists. This variety will be a boon for the farmers in the rice belts of Kerala, especially to those in Thiruvananthapuram district.

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