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Sci Tech
Extra-early maturing field pea variety
By Our Agriculture Correspondent
Pusa Prabhat is the first extra-early grain peas variety in the country.
PLANT BREEDERS at the division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, have developed an extra-early maturing field pea Pisum sativum with built-in resistance to powdery mildew disease. The improved variety with high yield potential is particularly suited for cultivation in the northeastern plains of India.
Christened Pusa Prabhat, the high yielding field pea variety is developed by crossing HFP 4 and Pusa 10. HFP 4 is a very late maturing, dwarf, afila and powdery mildew resistant variety. The Haryana Agricultural University released this variety with the name `Aparna'. Pusa 10 is a dwarf variety with normal foliage, extra-early and powdery-mildew susceptible variety, and it produced very large pods and seeds. It was developed at IARI by crossing Early superb and L 993, and this variety has not been released for commercial cultivation, according to the scientists.
Pusa Prabhat is an extra-early, dwarf variety with built-in resistance to powdery mildew disease. It has dark green foliage, and produces attractive white seeds. Growing to a height of 45-50 cm in height, Pusa Prabhat has erect growing habit till maturity. Therefore, there is no loss due to lodging. There is also no conspicuous problem of pod shattering. It responds well to crop management practices such as integrated nutrition management, integrated pest and disease management and copious irrigation.
It is particularly suited for sowing during October-November end with a seed rate of 100-120 kg per hectare. Coming to harvest in 93-116 days, this improved variety has recorded an average yield of 1.55 tonnes of seeds per hectare, and it has registered a high yield of 2.675 tonnes per hectare. The plants will bear 1-2 green, glabrous pods per peduncle, and each pod will have 4-6 seeds. The white, round and bold seeds will weigh 19.8 g per hundred.
Being an extra-early variety, it completely escapes pod borer attack under timely sown conditions. Even under late-sown situations, the damage is much less than with medium or late maturing varieties or late maturity varieties, which may totally fail due to heavy insect damage under these conditions.
Pusa Prabhat may be considered as tolerant to both biotic and abiotic stresses, which is evident from its yield superiority. It registered 23.5 per cent higher yield than early check variety Pusa 10.
In the All India Coordinated Research Programme in the north-eastern plain zone, it recorded higher yields than all the other varieties tested. This is the first extra-early grain peas variety released in the country, and with all its superior attributes, it is likely to become popular among the growers as well as the consumers, according to the scientists.
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