The University of Agricultural Sciences–Dharwad will release six new varieties of agricultural and horticultural crops this year.
Vice-Chancellor H.S. Vijaykumar told reporters in Dharwad on Tuesday that the new varieties include two of sorghum and one each of oil seed, sugarcane, cashew and forest grass. The new varieties have better resistance power and are high yielding, he said.
The new sorghum variety, SPH–1655 (CSH–30), reaches harvest stage within 110–115 days. The hybrid variety yields 40 to 50 quintal a hectare and the fodder yield is 10 to 11 tonne a hectare. It is tolerant to grain mould disease. Another sorghum variety, BJV–44, has high grain yield of 15 to 18 quintal a hectare. It produces good quality grains which are ideal for making rotis.
In the oilseeds category, the UAS has developed a new variety of sunflower, DSFH–3. The special feature of this variety is that it reaches the harvest stage within 95–98 days. The yield capacity of this variety is 18 to 20 quintal a hectare. This seed has a high oil content of 38 to 39 per cent.
In the commercial crop category, the university has developed a sugarcane variety named SNK–632. The speciality of this variety is that it yields 185 tonne a hectare and has high sugar content. This variety is suitable for ‘adasali’ planting and is tolerant to moisture stress.
Under the plantation crop category, the university has developed a cashew variety, Vengurla-3. The early bearing, early maturing variety yield 9.2 kg per plant a year.
The new variety forest grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis) developed by the university — DBRS-1 is soft stemmed and has crude protein content (8 per cent).
