Stay away from spurious seeds, use varieties developed by PAU, farmers told
Agricultural university cautions farmers against unrealistic yield claims, asks them not to buy those seeds.
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has urged farmers to not buy spurious seeds and recommended that they only buy the seed varieties developed by the varsity PAU.
He cautioned farmers against falling for unrealistic yield claims.
The advisory comes in the backdrop of an agriculture department raid at a seed store, situated opposite the university’s gate number 1, found selling spurious seeds.
GS Mangat, principal rice breeder and head of department of plant breeding and genetics, PAU, Ludhiana, while urging farmers not to buy seeds from unauthenticated sources, asked them to only use genuine varieties of seeds developed by PAU.
Giving details, he said that PR 128 and PR 129 give optimal yield when transplanted after June 20 and provide sufficient time for paddy straw management without burning.
He said that PR 128 matures in about 111 days after transplanting, while PR 129 takes about 108 days to mature after transplanting.
“This period is about three weeks shorter than the duration of PUSA 44 and at par with PR 121, PR 124 and PR 114. The new varieties have potential to replace long duration varieties and help conserve water, particularly in districts where the water table is continuously declining,” said Mangat.
“Both varieties are resistant to all 10 prevalent path types of bacterial blight pathogen in Punjab. The average paddy yield of PR 128 is 30.5 quintals per acre, while that of PR 129 is 30 quintals per acre. Total (milled) rice recoveries and head rice recoveries of both the varieties have been found to be at par with the popular rice varieties. Both varieties meet the out-turn ratio of raw rice fixed at 67% by the central government and are distinct from PAU 201 variety of paddy,” added Mangat.
