Lok Sabha Question No. 2424 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-01-02
Subject: New Drought Resistant Varieties of Crops
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: P. KUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2424 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02/01/2018

## NEW DROUGHT RESISTANT VARIETIES OF CROPS

## 2424.  SHRI P. KUMAR:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f"k vkSj fdlku dY;k.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has recently developed and released new drought resistant varieties of crops;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  popularize  these  varieties  among farmers; and
- (d) the further steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## A N S W E R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f'k vkSj fdlku dY;k.k ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h

## (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a) Yes,  Madam. Recently,  ICAR-Indian Agricultural  Research Institute  (IARI)  has developed and released 7 drought resistant/rainfed varieties of field crops.
- (b) The details are attached as Annexure-I .
- (c) Breeder seeds of stress tolerant varieties are produced as per the indent received from DAC&FW and provided to the public and private seed agencies for production of foundation  and  certified  seeds  for  cultivation  by  the  farmers.  Moreover,  the  Business Planning Unit of ICAR-IARI publicizes and promotes the varieties for their licensing to both  Farmers  registered  for  seed  production  as  Farmer  Producer  Organizations  or registered seed production companies.

Crop  commodity  Institutes  of  ICAR  are  regularly  conducting  nationwide  Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) of newly released varieties, on and off farm trainings, skill development programmes, improved technology demonstrations including

varieties/hybrids in pursuit of technology transfer and to create awareness amongst the farmers for adopting improved stress tolerant varieties to enhance the farm productivity and production. Besides, Kisan Melas, Farmers' Field Days, Kisan Gosthis, Scientistsfarmers  interfaces/  meetings  on  different  aspects  of  varieties,  crop  production  and protection technologies are organised regularly by the ICAR institutes, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).

(d) During  2014-15  to  2016-17,  total  3,50,514  quintals  of  breeder  seed  of  different field  crops  including  short  duration  and  stress  tolerant  varieties  were  produced  against indent of 3,12,498 quintals. During 2016-17, 57 quintals of wheat variety Pusa Kiran and 3.3 quintals of barley variety Pusa Sheetal were produced.

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## Annexure-I [Part (b) of Lok Sabha USQ No.2424 for 02/01/2018]

## Drought tolerant/rainfed varieties developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and its Regional stations during 2014-2017

| S.No         | Varieties                   | Year of release   | Area of adoption                                                                                                | Salient features                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|--------------|-----------------------------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wheat        | Wheat                       | Wheat             | Wheat                                                                                                           | Wheat                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| 1            | Pusa Kiran (HS 542)         | 2014              | Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Uttrakhand, and North Eastern States under early sown rainfed condition                  | Suitable for early sown, rainfed condition; maturity 178-210 days; average yield 32.9 q/ha                                                                                                                           |
| 2            | Central Wheat HS-562        | 2016              | Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Uttarakhand, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland | Suitable for both rainfed and irrigated, timely sown conditions; field resistance to yellow rust, maturity duration 149-214 days Average yield 36.0 q/ha under rainfed and 52.7 q/ha under irrigated                 |
| 3            | Pusa Ujala (HI 1605)        | 2017              | Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu                                                                           | Suitable for timely sown, restricted irrigation conditions, high levels of resistance to black and brown rust diseases, rich in micronutrients like iron (43 ppm) and zinc (35 ppm), average seed yield is 30.0 q/ha |
| 4            | HD 3171                     | 2017              | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam                                                                     | Suitable for rainfed, timely sown condition, resistance to leaf rust (LR) and leaf blight (LB)                                                                                                                       |
| Barley       | Barley                      | Barley            | Barley                                                                                                          | Barley                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 5            | Pusa Sheetal (BHS 400)      | 2014              | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, J&K and North Eastern States under timely sown rainfed conditions                | Suitable for rainfed conditions, maturity duration 129-202 days; Average yield 32.7 q/ha.                                                                                                                            |
| Pearl millet | Pearl millet                | Pearl millet      | Pearl millet                                                                                                    | Pearl millet                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| 6            | Pusa Composite 701 (MP 535) | 2016              | Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi                                    | Drought tolerant, resistant to downy mildew, matures in 80 days, grain yield is 23.1 q/ha and dry foder yield is 71.0 q/ha.                                                                                          |
| Lentil       | Lentil                      | Lentil            | Lentil                                                                                                          | Lentil                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 7            | Pusa Ageti Masoor (L 4717)  | 2017              | Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh                                                       | Matures in 96-106 days, seed yield 12.0-13.0 q/ha. Earliness helps in escaping terminal moisture and heat stress.                                                                                                    |

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