Vice-chancellor Vinay Kumar said new varieties - HKR 46 of rice, HD 123 of cotton, COH 92 of surgarcane, HP 8601 and HHB 94 of bajra, Haryana Channa no 3 of gram, Vikrant of Fababean and two single cross hybrids of maize, HHM 1 and HHMS-2 - performed wonderfully in field trials.

Acceding to the recommendation of the variety release committee (VRC), the state seed sub-committee headed by agriculture commissioner and secretary Naseem Ahmed had released these varieties for general cultivation in the state, Kumar said.

He hoped that the new varieties would further boost agricultural production in the state.

According to VRC director of research and chairman BL Jalali varieties, HKR 46 and COH 92 would prove to be good replacements to their largely cultivated IR-64 and COJ-64 varieties respectively.

In the trials, rice varietyHKR 46 had given over ten per cent more yield than IR-64, under both early and late sown conditions. Enumerating characteristics of these varieties, Jalali said the new variety of rice was semi-dwarf and resistant to major pets and diseases. Also, it possesses good cooking, eating and milling qualities.

Likewise, sugarcane variety COH 92 was also high yielding with sugar recovery over 14 per cent. Besides being high yielding and early maturing, it was moderately resistant to red rot disease.

Jalali said HHM-1 and HHMS-2 were the first single cross maize hybrids, developed and released by the university, suitable for kharif and rabi cultivation.

The new desi cotton variety HD 123 would be most suitable under cotton-Raya and cotton-Wheat Rotations.

Vikrant variety of Fababean has given over 34 Q yield against 28 Q of the conventional pulse crop like chickpea. The chickpea variety Haryana channa no 3 carries multiple resistance to major diseases and has bolder seeds.

He hoped that bajra hybrid hhb-94and variety HP 8601 would trigger another revolution in bajra production in the state.