For General Cultivation, PAU Releases 11 New Crop Varieties

Ludhiana: 11 new varieties or hybrids of vegetable and flower crops are released by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) for general cultivation in the Punjab state. These include two pumpkin varieties, one of pea, two of brinjal, one of gladiolus and five of sweet pea.

During the meeting of State Variety Approval Committee, these varieties were approved. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Dr Gurkanwal Singh, Director of Horticulture, Punjab. Dr R.S. Sidhu, Director of Extension Education, said that characteristics of all the varieties were discussed thoroughly before approval.

Besides, the name of radish variety RB-21 has been rectified to Punjab Safed Mooli-2. This variety takes about 47 days for first harvest when sown during first week of October. Its average yield is 261q/acre.

Crop Varieties:

Crop Name	Variety Name	Description
Pumpkin	PPH-1	The Pumpkin hybrid, PPH-1 is extra early in maturity and gives 206 q/acre yield. Its fruits are small, round, mottled-green at immature stage and mottled-brown at mature stage. The fruit cavity is small and flesh is golden yellow.
	PPH-2	Pumpkin hybrid, PPH-2 is extra early in maturity and gives 222 q/acre yield. Its fruits are small, round, light green at immature stage and smooth-brown at mature stage. The fruit cavity is small and flesh is golden yellow.
Brinjal	PBHR-41	This is a brinjal variety plants are medium-tall, thorn less, foliage green with purple tinge. Its fruits are round, medium-large in size, shining, deep purple with purple green calyx. This brinjal variety that matures in 65 days and gives an average yield of 269q/acre.
	PBHR-42	This is brinjal variety plants are medium-tall, thorn less and foliage green. Its fruits are oval-round, medium in size, shining, purple black with green calyx. This variety of brinjal matures in 65 days and gives an average yield of 261q/acre.
Pea	AP-3	The plants of the pea variety, AP-3 are vigorous with 15-18 well-filled pods having 7-8 grains per pod. The shelling out turn is 50% and seeds are wrinkled.
Gladiolus	Punjab Gald-2	The leaves of gladiolus variety, Punjab Gald-2 are dark green and sword shaped. Its florets are bright yellow with 16 days vase life. It takes 93 days to flower, produces one corm, 47 cormels per corm and is suitable for cut flower production.
Sweet Pea	Punjab Sweet Pea-1	The plants of Punjab Sweet Pea-1 are tall and climbing. Its leaves are light green and flowers are of magenta colour. It takes 102 days to flowering and duration of flowering is 42 days.
	Punjab Sweet Pea-2	The plants of Punjab Sweet Pea-2 are tall and climbing. Its leaves are light green and flowers are of pink colour. It takes 105 days to flowering and duration of flowering is 45 days.
	Punjab Sweet Pea-3	The plants of Punjab Sweet Pea-3 are tall and climbing. Its leaves are dark green and flowers are of maroon colour. It takes 106 days to flowering and duration of flowering is 47 days.
	Punjab Sweet Pea-4	The plants of Punjab Sweet Pea-4 are tall and climbing. Its leaves are dark green and flowers are of purple colour. It takes 105 days to flowering and duration of flowering is 47 days.
	Punjab Sweet Pea-5	The plants of Punjab Sweet Pea-5 are tall and climbing. Its leaves are light green and flowers are of cream colour. It takes 106 days to flowering and duration of flowering is 48 days.

Source: Punjab Agricultural University