NEW DELHI: The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) - the country's premier public sector farm research institution - has developed a high-yielding short-duration crop variety , Pusa-2090 , that may help in combating the menace of air pollution in Delhi-NCR caused by paddy stubble burning during the onset of winter.
Since this new variety will spare the paddy growers more days to prepare their farmlands for the next crop, it is expected that its wider adoption in due course of time will prevent stubble burning as farmers won't need to rush to prepare their fields by resorting to farm fires.
The Pusa-2090 variety, notified under the Seeds Act, had already been formally released for farmers in Delhi this year. Many farmers in villages such as Palla and Daryapur in the Capital planted the new variety, which is now ready for harvesting much ahead of most of their counterparts' standing crops in Punjab and Haryana who still bank on the long-duration Pusa-44 variety.
Though a few farmers in Punjab and Haryana have planted Pusa-2090 on a limited scale on an experimental basis, replacing the most popular Pusa-44 variety, it will take a couple of more years for its wider adoption.
"Unlike the Pusa-44 variety which matures in 155 to 160 days, the Pusa-2090 variety took just 120 to 125 days. Yields of both these varieties (34-35 quintal per acre) are almost the same," Shukhjeet Singh Bhangu, a farmer from Kanakwal Bhanguan village of Sangrur district in Punjab, told TOI on Monday.
Bhangu, who planted Pusa-2090 in one acre of land on an experimental basis, said the new variety will give farmers an additional 30 days to prepare their farmlands for the next crops (mainly wheat), significantly reducing their reliance on stubble burning. He distributed seeds of the new variety to a couple of more farmers in Sangrur district who have already harvested their paddy crops.
"Results of Pusa-2090 are quite encouraging. Hopefully, more and more farmers will adopt it in due course, possibly from the next year's paddy sowing season or in 2026," A K Singh, former director of IARI, told TOI.
The new variety will not only give farmers more time to prepare for the next crop but also help them get equal yield at less input cost as they don't need to go for additional cycles of irrigation and spray if the crop is ready for harvest in 125 days instead of 155 days in the case of existing popular varieties.
Since this new variety will spare the paddy growers more days to prepare their farmlands for the next crop, it is expected that its wider adoption in due course of time will prevent stubble burning as farmers won't need to rush to prepare their fields by resorting to farm fires.
The Pusa-2090 variety, notified under the Seeds Act, had already been formally released for farmers in Delhi this year. Many farmers in villages such as Palla and Daryapur in the Capital planted the new variety, which is now ready for harvesting much ahead of most of their counterparts' standing crops in Punjab and Haryana who still bank on the long-duration Pusa-44 variety.
Though a few farmers in Punjab and Haryana have planted Pusa-2090 on a limited scale on an experimental basis, replacing the most popular Pusa-44 variety, it will take a couple of more years for its wider adoption.
"Unlike the Pusa-44 variety which matures in 155 to 160 days, the Pusa-2090 variety took just 120 to 125 days. Yields of both these varieties (34-35 quintal per acre) are almost the same," Shukhjeet Singh Bhangu, a farmer from Kanakwal Bhanguan village of Sangrur district in Punjab, told TOI on Monday.
Bhangu, who planted Pusa-2090 in one acre of land on an experimental basis, said the new variety will give farmers an additional 30 days to prepare their farmlands for the next crops (mainly wheat), significantly reducing their reliance on stubble burning. He distributed seeds of the new variety to a couple of more farmers in Sangrur district who have already harvested their paddy crops.
"Results of Pusa-2090 are quite encouraging. Hopefully, more and more farmers will adopt it in due course, possibly from the next year's paddy sowing season or in 2026," A K Singh, former director of IARI, told TOI.
The new variety will not only give farmers more time to prepare for the next crop but also help them get equal yield at less input cost as they don't need to go for additional cycles of irrigation and spray if the crop is ready for harvest in 125 days instead of 155 days in the case of existing popular varieties.
