CICR Scientist Develops Cotton Variety Which Takes Only 120 Days To Mature

Natural Fibers

CICR Scientist Develops Cotton Variety Which Takes Only 120 Days To Mature

A scientist, Santosh H B from the crop improvement department of at the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) in Nagpur, Maharashtra, has developed a variety of cotton which requires only 120 days to fully mature, it has been reported. Presently, the cotton maturity period generally extends to anywhere between 170 days to 240 days in India and takes about 150 days in countries like Australia as well as China.

The new variety of cotton developed at CICR is expected to emerge as a solution to problems of dry land cotton farmers in regions like Vidarbha (Maharashtra) and Telangana. The new variety of cotton has tentatively been named ‘Yugank’, after the son of Dharwad cotton scientist S S Patil, who provided the original material. The new variety will be available in both Bt and non-Bt forms, Santosh said.

According to CICR Director Keshav Kranthi, once the new variety becomes available to Indian farmers after two years India will move from the longest-duration cotton variety to the shortest-duration one. He said that one of the main reasons for repeated failure of dry land cotton crop is its long duration. In India, the period generally extends to between 170 days to 240 days, while it is about 150 days in countries like Australia and China.

Essentially, this means that the cotton duration in India extends well beyond the monsoon months due to which cotton plants go without water during the crucial time of flowering and fruiting, suffering weak uptake of nutrients due to lack of water, he said. The newly developed CICR variety of cotton would solve this problem of Indian dry land farmers because it fits into the monsoon period, making water available for the critical time of flowering and fruiting phases, he said, adding that longer duration crops also attracts more pests.

Santosh, who developed the new variety of cotton, said that another advantage of shorter duration cotton is that its fibre quality is better. The longer the duration, the weaker is the fibre, he said. He said that the new variety has proved to be resistant to several pests and also has a large boll size. One plant gives up to 20 bolls, which is way below the average hybrid yield of 60 to 70 bolls per plant. Besides, if used in high-density plantation system, the number of these plants is at least six times higher. Therefore, the new variety will give higher yields within a short time, Santosh said.