Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) has released 15 high-yielding varieties, including 10 in paddy, two each in groundnut and fodder bajra and one in blackgram.
“We have so far launched 61 new varieties in different crops that are cleared by the Central and State Governments in the last seven years. This includes 26 paddy varieties, two maize and 8 redgram varieties,” R Jagadeeshwar, Director of Research at PJTSAU, has said.
“Eight new varieties developed by the university in three crops (five in paddy, two in fodder bajra and one in sesame) were approved and released through Central Varietal Release Committee for cultivation in different States,” he said.
The remaining seven were cleared by the State varietal release committee.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said about 30-40 per cent of the 60 lakh the paddy area covered with the varieties developed by the university.
M Raghunanadan Rao, Secretary, Department of Agriculture (Govt of Telangana), and Vice-Chancellor, PJTSAU, said that the university was doing research to develop varieties to meet the changing requirements of the farmers.