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Seeds : Dantiwada Agriculture University Developed GTTH 49 Bt cotton variety

Scientists of Sardar Krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University have developed a new variety of Bt cotton. This variety increases the productivity by 50%. The new variety is more resistant against sucking pests. In the upcoming season new variety will be used.

A team of researchers at University's Cotton Research Centre (CRC) at Talod has developed a new variety GTTH 49.
The research indicates that GTTH 49 will have about 50% more productivity compared to Bt-Hybrid 6 variety of cotton, which is the most popular variety of the crop in the state. Another Bt-Hybrdid-8 variety is a relatively short duration crop.

GTTH-49 has more productive branches per plant and each branch has more secondary productive branches. Each plant has more cotton balls.

The new variety is more resistant against sucking pests in general and jassids and thrips in particular. It is also highly responsive to good agronomic practices, meaning that if the cultivation is done in as much methodical manner, the productivity will rise proportionately.

Source: http://www.sdau.edu.in

New seed policy fails to enthuse private players

The new seed policy envisages foreshortening the trial period for new varieties of seeds to three seasons, but it has nonetheless failed to impress the private sector. Seed companies in the sector are unlikely to loosen their purse strings to boost investment into R&D in the sector, as planned in the new policy, unless their key worry over the term of trial and testing to determine Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) is shortened further.

(Courtesy- The Economic Times, August, 10)

New seed policy targets 10% of global trade

The recently approved national seed policy is likely to give a big boost to research in the frontier area of biotechnology by involving the private sector, as part of its aim of hiking India’s share in the global trade in seeds from the current 1% to 10%. Although the first transgenic crop variety Bt cotton, in which commercial cultivation is now permitted, is released by the private sector, public research organisations continue to dominate the agricultural biotechnology research in the country. While actual figures on domestic private sector investment in biotech research vary, experts agree that it stands at a very negligible level at present and holds the potential for more than a 100% increase, particularly given the direct impact of such research on trade, national and global.

(Courtesy-The Economic Times, 25th June)

Govt. adopts national seeds policy

The Centre approved the National Seeds Policy 2002, paving the way for planned development of the seeds sector. The move is aimed at raising India’s share in global seeds trade to at least 10% from the current 1%. The government will now set up the National Seeds Board and the Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights protection Authority.

(Courtesy-The Economic Times)

New legislation may clamp down on transgenic seeds

With BT Cotton now having been cleared by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for commercial production, the draft Seeds Act of ’01, now lying with the law ministry, may well have to include more stringent provisions for genetically modified seeds. The objective of the new legislation, which is to replace the existing Seeds Act of ’66 and the Seed (Control) Order of ’83, is to provide an effective system for stimulating investment for research and development in public and private sectors. The draft Act aims at encouraging development of new plant varieties by ensuring appropriate returns on all such investment by domestic players.

(Courtesy-The Economic Times)

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