New Delhi: The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) is set to release a variety of arhar (tur/pigeon pea) in the market, which produces double the yield of its predecessors and also has a shorter cultivation period. After Pusa 991 and Pusa 992, the new Pusa Arhar-16 could prove to be a game-changer for Indian farmers.
The new variety has produced a record yield of 19.76 quintal per hectare in trials at 21 locations across the country since last year, ThePrint has learnt.
Chandrabhan Singh, a progressive farmer from Gwalior who has cultivated the crop, says Pusa Arhar-16 has the potential to “double our income” with its yield. “It also provides us with the chance to reap cash crop due to its early maturity period.”
Only 120 days for maturity
Traditional arhar varieties like C11, Bahar, Laxmi and Gwalior 3 are sown in rainfed and dry areas in the first fortnight of June, with the onset of the monsoon. These varieties are then cultivated in January and require 200-280 days for maturity.
The Pusa Arhar-16 variety, however, requires only 120 days for maturity and can be sown in late June or early July and cultivated in October.
The early maturity period of the crop provides the farmer with the opportunity to cultivate the crop twice and double the yield. It also allows them to sow cash crops like vegetables or spices after cultivation.
Arhar crop cultivation leads to nitrogen fixation in the soil and hence the farmer can also cultivate nitrogen-intensive crops such as gram and mustard, reducing the input cost on fertilisers.
Compact crop cover
The root-to-root distance in Pusa Arhar-16 varieties has been reduced by half to 30 cm as compared to its predecessors. Pusa 991/992 or Bahar has a root-to-root distance of almost 70 cm. Pusa Arhar-16 allows a dense plant population of about 3,30,000 plants/ha when the crop is planted with a root to root spacing of 30 cm and plant to plant spacing of 10 cm.
The high-density planting of Pusa Arhar-16 facilitates higher yield and mechanisation of the crop. It reduces the amount of manual labour since combine harvesters — machine designed to harvest a variety of grain crops — can be used for reaping.
This new variety is a compact crop and leads to a yield of more than 19 quintals per hectare as compared to the 17 quintals per hectare yield of its predecessors.
Ranjeet Raje, principal scientist at IARI and also a breeder of Pusa Arhar-16, says, “The intensity of this crop will not only give the farmer more than the double yield for its effort but also protect it against natural calamities like strong winds and storms to a large extent.”
Moreover, the per hectare cost of cultivating arhar has been estimated at Rs 40,000 with a Minimum Support Price of Rs 5,675 per quintal. The per-quintal-per-hectare profit margin for the farmer thus increases by Rs 11,350 in Pusa Arhar-16 as compared to the earlier varieties.
Uniform maturity and low height
The previous varieties of arhar flowered twice in a season and required at least a month and a half to develop into a pod.
This development was not uniform and it created a problem during harvesting since the underdeveloped pods could get damaged when the others were being harvested. The pod development in the Pusa Arhar-16, on the other hand, is uniform and this reduces the cost of harvesting further as the crop can be cultivated in one go.
Pusa Arhar-16 reaches a maximum height of only 4 feet during its peak period of maturity whereas other varieties grow up to almost 8 feet. This makes it suitable for combined harvesting, replacing the need for manual labourers for harvesting and threshing. Traditional varieties increase the cost of cultivation and also have a higher chance of getting damaged by untimely rains as they require more manpower and time.
Pusa Arhar-16 also allows effective spraying of insecticides, even with Knapsack sprayer, due to its intensive canopy and semi-dwarf height. Most varieties of pulses are vulnerable to pests like spotted pod borer (Maruca) or blister beetle and controlling them before bud initiation stage is crucial to realise the full yield of the crop.
According to sources in IARI, Pusa Arhar-16 has also surpassed all its predecessors in the hedonic scale, which measures the flavour, texture, and aroma of a crop variety. This type of arhar is also eco-friendly as its cooking time is 5-6 minutes lesser than the current varieties, effectively contributing to fuel conservation.
I want Arhar16 for 2हैक्टेयर of seed
Pl send it’s rate
Seed rate /hact
Your पंपलेट received from counter have not proper detail and representative could not share proper answer
Mo8505844771
It looks like it’s genetically modified. Is it?? If it is then it’s useless for human consumption
How this high yielding varierty (HYV) has been evolved has not been spelt-out. Is it a cross between an indigenous and exotic variety? Whether it is adapted under a wide range of agro-climatic conditions or confined to certain regions only? How it compares with ICRISAT (Hyderabad) superior Varieties? Whether any proposal has been sent to the Central Variety Release Committee ((CVRC) for release supported by Data from All India Trials?
How this high yielding varierty (HYV) has been evolved has not been spelt-out. Is it a cross between an indigenous and exotic variety? Whether it is adapted under a wide range of agro-climatic conditions or confined to certain regions only? How it compares with ICRISAT (Hyderabad) superior Varieties? Whether any proposal has been sent to the Central Variety Release Committee ((CVRC) for release supported by Data from All India Trials?
Why perennial type of Arhar ( Khajanus khajana) is not recommended and cultivated in our country which saves lot of recurring expenditure in seasonal growing the crop? A reputed Indusrialist of Coimbatore brought perennial seed from Germany and planted it in early eighties which has grown in to a tall tree with prolific yield. The industrialist barricaded the area and hung a large chappal with a Notice that whosoever steals the seed from the tree shall be punished with beating with the footwear.
Instead of root to root distance it would be more precise to say row to row distance of 30cm and plant to plant 10cm within a row.
It should be read as COMBINE harvesting NOT COMBINED harvesting. Combine harvester not only harvests but thrashes, cleans the chaff and crop residue but also standardizes in polynesian bags to uniform weight simultaneously.