Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA), an agriculture research institute of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), has evolved five new crop varieties having superior characteristics such as high yield, pest resistance and drought tolerance, says an official statement here on Friday.
The varieties include two of wheat (Sassui and Khirman) and one each of rice (Shaandar), cotton (Saduri) and lentil (NIA-Masur-05). With the introduction of these new varieties, the total number of varieties evolved by NIA has risen to 22.
The wheat variety Khirman is suitable for low water availability areas while Sassui has excellent tolerance to prevailing races of leaf rust. The new rice variety Shaandar is high yielding with better nutritive value and grain quality. The cotton variety Saduri is early maturing, which will make land available for timely sowing of subsequent wheat crop resulting in efficient land use and increased national productivity, the statement added.
The agricultural institutes of PAEC, Tando Jam, NIAB, Faisalabad and NIFA, Peshawar have, so far, evolved 55 crop varieties having wide adaptability under different agro-ecological zones throughout the country, which are fetching billions of rupees additional income to the farmers every year, the statement concluded.