Background:
• Zone-1 (Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab) is prone to insect pests and diseases like leafhoppers, thrips and Spodoptera, early leaf spot, rust, Alternaria blight, collar rot, stem rot and dry root rot diseases. The average pod yield of check varieties such as HNG 69 (released in 2010), HNG 123 (released in 2012), and Raj Mungfali 3 (released in 2016) in this zone is about 2600 kg/ha:
• The ICAR-Girnar-6 variety is expected to overcome the effects of insect-pests and diseases, low pod yields, and low oil content. The proposed variety is superior to check varieties of Zone-1 in terms of its resistance to insect-pests and diseases, and higher pod and kernel yield:
• The adoption of this variety is expected to boost groundnut production substantially in these states:
• The market size is expected to be at least 12 lakh ha area in all these states put together:
Technology Details:
• The ICAR-Girnar-6 is a Virginia Bunch type suitable for Kharif season cultivation in states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab (Zone-1) of India:
• The ICAR-Girnar-6 is a high-yielding variety having an average pod yield of 3030 kg/ha which is 14.5, 14.4, and 13.1 percent high over zonal check varieties viz., HNG 69 (2646 kg/ha), Raj Mungfali 3 (2649 kg/ha) and HNG 123 (2680 kg/ha), respectively:
• The average kernel yield is 2112 kg/ha which is 16.8, 15.2, and 16.3 percent higher over zonal check varieties. It has about 4 percent higher oil content (51%) than these check varieties:
• It is also moderately resistant to early leaf spot, rust, Alternaria blight, collar rot, stem rot, and dry root rot diseases and resistant to leafhoppers, thrips, and Spodoptera pests for which zonal check varieties are susceptible:
• This superiority of high pod and kernel yield coupled with resistance to insect-pests and diseases would result in higher groundnut production per unit area, lower the cost of cultivation at the farmers’ level in particular, and enhanced groundnut production at the macro level contributing to enhanced edible oil production and export from the country.