18 cotton varieties approved for cultivation

The Punjab Seed Council on Thursday approved 18 cotton varieties for cultivation in Punjab in the 42nd meeting of the council. The proposals of 26 varieties of BT cotton/non-BT varieties evolved by research institutes of the government and private sector were presented in the meeting.
While discussing and considering for approval, the breeders of BT varieties presented the case of their varieties for approval by highlighting trial results and performance of the candidate varieties and their characteristic. After discussing at length and keeping in view the data presented for candidate varieties, 4 new BT varieties FH-114, CIM-598, SITARA-009 and A-one whereas 4 new non-BT varieties BH-167, MIAD-852, CIM-573 and SLH-317 were approved for general cultivation.
Whereas 4 BT varieties including TARZAN-1, NS-141, IR-NIBGE-3, MNH-886 and 3 non-BT varieties NIBGE -115, FH-941 and FH-942 were approved for one year for field performance/ monitoring of the varieties. The council also granted approval of 3 BT varieties IR-1524, Ali Akbar-802 and NEELAM-121 after completion of one year's approval earlier. Eight varieties were deferred by the Punjab Seed Council.
The minister for Agriculture, Punjab Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh who chaired the meeting, congratulated the breeders of new varieties and appreciated their contribution in agriculture sector. He said that lion's share of available resources was being diverted to develop agriculture sector on modern lines in the province as this particular sector was top priority of the government to achieve self sufficiency and self reliance on sustainable basis.
Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, the minister said that 80 new varieties of different crops had been approved during regime of present government since 2008 whereas only 49 were approved by previous government during their five years tenure. He further said that wheat production of 19.04 million tons during 2010-11 was achieved as compared to 15.60 million tons in 2007-08, which marked an increase of 18 percent. Similarly, bumper rice production of 3.38 million tons, record productions of 42.8 million tons of sugarcane, 2.96 million tons of wheat and 3.34 million tons of Potato were achieved during 2010-11.