Punjab Seed Council approves 39 new verities of different crops

Lahore: Punjab Seed Council has approved 39 new verities of different crops for general cultivation including 15 Bt Cotton, 6 rice, 2 wheat, 1 Sugarcane, 2 Gram, 3 Citrus, 4 Peach, 3 flowers and 1 variety of each potato, tomato and turnip.

The approval was granted in 44^th meeting of Punjab Seed Council held at Agriculture House, Lahore chaired by Minister for Agriculture, Punjab Dr. Farrukh Javed.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Ijaz Muneer, Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Khaqan Babar, Managing Director Punjab Seed Corporation, Dr. Abid Mehmood, Director General Agri. (Research), Dr. Anjam Ali, Director General Agriculture (Extension).

The representatives of NIAB, NIBGE, Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, Pakistan Cotton Growers Association, APTMA, PCGA and farmers were also present.

The breeders of varieties presented the cases of their varieties for approval by highlighting trial results and performance of the candidate varieties and their characteristics. After discussing at length and keeping in view the data presented for candidate varieties 15 new BT varieties FH-118, FH-142, VH-259, BH-178, CIM-599, CIM-602, IR-NIAB-824, IUB-222, CEMB-33, SAIBAN-201, SITARA 11M, A-555, KZ-181, Tarzan-2 and CA-12 were provisionally approved for general cultivation keeping in view the issues of National Bio-safety Committee (NBC). Similarly, approval of new 6 rice verities including RSP-2, PK-386, HB-71, Y-26, Shahnshah-2 and Pride-1 were also approved by Punjab Seed Council. The approval of 2 wheat verities (Pakistan-2013 & Galaxy-2013), one sugarcane variety (CPF-248), 2 gram varieties (Noor-2013 & Tamman), 3 citrus varieties (Pak- Kino, SG-Feutral’s Early & CRI-Salustiana), 4 peach varieties (A-669, Early Grand, Plain-4 & Florida Kind), 3 flowers varieties (Golden Bloom, Flaming Beauty & Ahmer Bloom) and 1 each of potato, tomato and turnip was also granted.

The Minister for Agriculture, Punjab congratulated the breeders of new varieties and appreciated their contribution in agriculture sector. He urged the farmers to grow latest high yielding approved varieties to make country self-sufficient in agricultural commodities, paving way for increasing agricultural exports for earning precious foreign exchange.

Minister for Agriculture said that breeders will be awarded with suitable rewards as their meritorious recognition.