New groundnut variety receives good feedback

[bapuj...@gmail.com]

In groundnut the spread of new high yielding varieties among farmers
takes considerable time when compared to other crops.
It may be due to the predominantly rainfed nature of the crop, high
seed rate coupled with low seed multiplication ratio.
To overcome this, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and
International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),
Hyderabad introduced a novel approach — farmers' participatory
varietal selection.

Field evaluation
Under this method a set of high yielding varieties were provided to a
set of farmers for evaluation in their fields, who in turn short
listed one or two varieties. The seeds were subsequently multiplied
and shared with other farmers.
A detailed evaluation chart which comprised details right from
germination, vigour, flowering, pod number, pod and seed trials
besides reaction to pest, diseases and drought was provided to farmers
for their recordings.
The farmers collectively decided on their choice based on the
evaluation.
The results revealed that ICGV 87846 was distinctly superior when
compared to all others, for pod yield, drought tolerance and disease
resistance.When exposed to groundnut traders, the variety received a
good feedback. The seed production of the identified variety started
immediately.

Crop characteristics
ICGV 87846 is a semi-erect type, maturing in 125-135 days. It is
highly tolerant to drought and has recorded up to 2,400 kg / ha under
severe drought. It is also tolerant to foliar diseases viz., rust and
late leaf spot and thereby yields higher haulms which are good cattle
feed.
The pods are medium sized with tan colour testa. The shelling outturn
is 73.5 per cent, and the oil content is 49.5 per cent.
The semi-erect nature of the plant envisages easy pulling out of the
plant without losing the pods in the soil.ICRISAT and TNAU are
multiplying large quantities of this variety.
For more information contact Dr.S.N.Nigam, Principal Groundnut
Breeder, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, email: S.N...@cgiar.org and
Dr. P.Vindhiyavarman, Professor & Head, Department of Oilseeds, Tamil
Nadu Agricultureal University,Coimbatore – 641 003,
email:oils...@tnau.ac.in, phone: 0422-2450812.