Page 49 - New Cloth Market December 2022 Digital Edition

Indian Scenario of Cotton Hybrid Technology, Reseach Projects & Recommendations

technology and GM in cotton for his-
torical improvement of cotton produc-
tion in this country. Presently, the yield
hasattained plateau in cotton. For
breaking the yield plateau, we have to
breed genotypes with high input re-
sponsiveness, big boll size and insect
resistance. There is an urgent need to
widen the genetic base of the germ-
plasm through active germplasm ex-
change programme among public and
private institutes. Wide hybridization,
which produces the transgressive seg-
regants, would be useful for bringing
the unadaptive gene pool into cultivat-
ed gene pools. Demarcation of cotton
cultivation areas based on their pro- (From left to right) Dr A H Prakash, Project Coordinator (Cotton); Dr. (Mrs) G. Hema
ductivity as high, medium and low pro- Prabha, Director, ICAR-SBI, Coimbatore; Dr. (Mrs) Sujata Saxena, Director, ICAR-
ductivity areas with in the zone for re- CIRCOT, Mumbai; Dr. Y.G. Prasad, Director, ICAR - CICR, Nagpur; Dr. (Mrs) V. Geethalak-
gion specific targeted improvementof shmi, Vice Chancellor, TNAU, Coimbatore; Dr. T.R. Sharma, DDG (CS), ICAR, New
Delhi; Dr. C.D. Mayee, President, ISCI, Mumbai; Dr. P.K. Chakrabarthy, Member, ASRB,
yield. More demonstration of HDPS
New Delhi; Dr. R.K. Singh, ADG (CC), ICAR, New Delhi; Dr. K.S. Subramanian, Direc-
among farmers for easier adaptation
tor of Research, TNAU, Coimbatore; and Dr. A.J Shaikh, Chairman, ISCI, Mumbai
would improve the yield levels. Increas-
ing the awareness GOT for better lint for preserving the buffer species diver- able for exclusive denim production,
yield and changing the attitude of farm- sity. varieties for mechanical harvesting,
ers towards GOT oriented yield in cot- and custom- based hiring facility for
Dr. Sujatha expressed her concern
ton, will increase the lint production. mechanical pickers to encourage the
over the imbalance in fibre length cat- mechanized harvesting among farm-
Mr. Paresh Verma, Bioseeds, highlight- egory as of heavy shortage for Extra ers are the need of the hour.
ed the breeding for climate resilient Long Staple and Short staple cotton.
cotton crop especially tolerance to- GOT has to be given top- notch weight- Dr. R. H. Balasubramanya proposed
wards abiotic stresses and use of ge- age and the premium price has to be the idea of developing modern delint-
nome edited traits for yield improve- fixed for high GOT category. She ing and dehulling ginneries for produc-
ment. Mechanization in cotton for re- stressed the Indian cotton impurities ing more usable cottonseed hulls for
ducing the cost of cultivation has to and their probable damage in yarn pro- extraction ample cottonseed oils and
be promoted. Yield barrier in cotton duction. She urged the cleanliness of use those as potential cotton seed
could be broken by improving the cotton fibre and premium price policy meal as a source of protein.
source sink relationship. Cotton has to for clean cotton in order to practise the Venkata Ramachandrappa stressed
be popularized as multifaceted com- cleanliness in cotton among farmers. up on the development of high yield-
modityapart from fibre as oil and pro- ing and short duration varieties in the
tein source. Dr. Y.G. Prasad emphasised the prod-
uct development, product profiling and Bt Cotton and high GOT along with high
Dr. Kairon reiterated the historic sec- product commercialization of public yielding varieties in non Bt cotton vari-
ond AGM on AICRP on cotton held at sector research in cotton. He pointed eties for increasing the lint production.
Mumbai and he remembered Dr. C.T. out the tailoring of plant genotypes Dr. Waghmare highlighted the impor-
Patel’s lecture on hybrid technology in suitable for HDPS and mechanized tance of pre breeding, population im-
cotton. He put forth his viewpoint of harvesting, use of genomics assisted provement programmes, and develop-
pink bollworm menace, soil health deg- breeding for developing novel geno- ment of heterotic pools for deriving
radationand long durations in cotton types and breeding for climate resil- good combining parental lines for hy-
crop are the major impediments in cot- ient cotton varieties. brid production, species diversity main-
ton production. Increasing the genetic
tenance and demarcating of micro-
variability by germplasm introduction Dr. Geetha emphasized thatthe spe-
zones within zones based of produc-
and encouraging the area for Gossyp- cific AICRP centres should be identi-
tion potentials.
ium arboreum and Gossypium herba- fied for markers assisted genotype
ceum cultivation to the tune of mini- testing in cotton. Development of lo- Dr. Khadi presented the historical im-
mum 10 to 20% among the total area cation specific varieties, varieties suit- provement of lint yield and per capita

NCM-DECEMBER 2022
49