June 13, 2012

India's Krishidhan Seeds makes new BT cotton seed variety

Krishidhan Seeds, an agri-biotech and plant breeding firm in India, has created 'Praja', a new variety of BT cotton seed that has the potential to boost the country's cotton productivity.

Praja is a Bollgard II variety of BT seed which has been specifically developed keeping in mind the needs of a large group of Indian farmers.

It is an insect resistant genetically modified seed having good tolerance towards major sucking pests and hence saves the plant protection expenses to a large extent. The seed promises to give high yields in rain fed areas because of its deep root system and desired drought tolerance.

Krishidhan Seeds develops 'Praja' - a new variety of BT cotton seed - a tall crop growth along with a medium ball size with an easy picking quality is being made available for the farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu markets.

Sushil Karwa, MD, Krishidhan Seeds said: ""With the launch of 'Praja', we are expanding our product range to meet the potential needs of our farmers. The research team at Krishidhan has put enormous efforts in its development. This is our next step to reach our ultimate aim of ushering the farmers to prosperity."

Being the second largest country in cotton production after China, India has the largest area under cotton cultivation (121 lakh hectares) which is almost 1/3rd of world cotton acreage. Cotton is basically produced in the areas having tropical climatic conditions.

The total cotton production is world is around 27 million tonnes. It is grown over 35 million hectares of land all around the globe. The quantity of production of cotton in India is around 350 lakh bales and the states producing cotton crop are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Orissa.