Research Article
BR-99 A New Guar Cultivar Released for General Cultivation in Punjab Province
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Syed Arif Hussain Shah
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Lal Hussain Akhtar
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Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. Taub.) belongs to family Leguminoseae (2n = 14). Whistler and Hymowitz (1979) have listed 122 common names for guar given in various languages. It is also known as cluster bean and is a coarse summer annual legume. Guar has remained a minor crop until the recent past. Now it seems destined to assume a large role among the domesticated plants that supply the food and needs of human beings. It is well adapted to semi-arid and arid regions of Pakistan but 80% of the crop is grown under irrigation. Soils with pH of 7.0 are better suited for guar production. It is also tolerant to salinity. It is grown for fodder, cover and manure crop, and seed production. Its immature pods are used as vegetable. Guar seed contains 27-37.2% protein of nutritional quality. Whistler and Hymowitz (1979) have reported about 18 amino acids in guar protein. Four different fatty acids have been reported in guar seed (Van Ettan et al., 1961). These investigators believe that guar seed oil (4%) can be used as food. Guar seeds and leaves are used to cure night blindness, smallpox, plague, enlarged livers, head swellings and swellings due to broken bones. Ground seeds of guar contain about 5, 31.8, 4.6, 6.8 and 5.7% protein gum, fat, methionine and ash, respectively (Bhatti and Sial, 1971). Hussain and Ullah (1963) have reported that guar meal could be a better replacement of cotton seed cake as poultry and cattle feed. Whistler and Hymowitz (1979) indicated that guar seed endosperm is a source of useful industrial gum. This discovery has brought this minor crop known to world recognition and introduced it as a major/commercial crop. Guar seed contains 35-42% gum. This gum is used in paper industry, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, oil well drilling, explosives, ice cream processed cheese products, baked goods, pastry icings, as meat binder, canned meat products, dressings and sauces, beverages, mining industry and tobacco. Due to its superior gum qualities, there is a great demand of guar seed in advance industrial countries like USA, Britain and Italy ejtc. India, Pakistan and USA are the major guar producing countries while India and Pakistan are the major exporters of guar to USA. Pakistan is exporting guar and its products to about thirty different countries of the world and earned about 32.3 million dollars as foreign exchange during 1996-1997 (Anonymous, 1997).
Yields of guar fluctuate widely from year to year depending upon the rainfall. Punjab produced 78.4% (105.6 thousand tones) of the total production of Pakistan (134,7 thousand tones) from an area of 105.0 thousand hectares during 1998-99. Average yield of guar in Punjab (1006 kg ha-1) (Anonymous, 1999). During 1999-2000, it was grown on an area of 109.3 thousand hectares with a production of 105.9 thousand tones of seed in Punjab (Anonymous, 2000a).
Keeping in view the increasing importance of guar crop, the present studies were conducted to evolve high yielding guar varieties. Resultantly the new variety BR-99 was developed during 1999. The newly developed variety BR-99 is high yielding than the existing varieties (BR-90 and 2/1) and has also a wider range of adaptability.
The variety BR-99 was developed through single plant selection. A promising line was selected from the local material during 1990 on the basis of better plant type, pods formation, grain size and tolerance to insect pests and diseases and was given the No. 786. Replicated progeny row trial was conducted during 1991-92. The station yield trails of this variety were conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Bahawalpur, during 1992-93 to 1994-95. Zonal varietal trials were conducted from 1995- to 1998 at 8 locations in Bahawalpur, Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions in comparison with checks (BR-90 and 2/1). Its package of production technology was also ascertained. The Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Bahawalpur conducted the entomological and pathological studies during 1995-98. All the yield and production technology trials were laid out according to Randomized Complete Block Design and plot size of 16m2. Chemical analysis was got done from the Cereal Technology Laboratory at Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad. Four samples per variety were analyzed for protein analysis. In all yield trials, the data on grain yield (kg ha-1) were collected and subjected to analysis of variance. The means were compared by Duncans Multiple Range Test (Steel and Torrie, 1980).
Results and Discussions
Yield performance: On the basis of average of three station yield trials, BR-99 performed better (1957 kg ha-1) than both the checkes by giving 24.6 and 88.7% higher yield compared to BR-90 (1323 kg ha-1) and 2/1 (1037 kg ha-1), respectively (Table 1). The variety BR-99 significantly out yielded the check varieties i.e. BR-90 and 2/1 at all the 10 test sites in Zonal Varietal Trials. On an average, it gave 16.24 and 27.5% higher grain yield than BR-90 and 2/1, respectively, during 1995-98 (Table 2).
Production technology: The results of production technology trials of the new variety BR-99 are give in Table 3. This package was ascertained by conducting the following experiments:
Sowing date trials: Maximum grain yield of 1860 kg ha-1 was obtained when the crop was sown on June 15th on the basis of three years average (Table 3). Therefore, sowing of the variety BR-99 in the 2nd fortnight of June is recommended for better grain yields.
Seed rate trials: The results of seed rate trials conducted during the year 10996-98 on BR-99 (Table 3) illustrated that maximum grain yield of 1720 kg ha-1 was obtained by the use of 30 kg seed ha-1. Hence 30 kg seed ha-1 is appropriate to have better grain yield.
Fertilizer trials: Response of the variety BR-99 was studied at five NPK levels during 1996-98. The results revealed that the variety BR-99 had a relatively higher phosphorus requirement (Table 3). It gaves maximum grain yield of 1440 kg ha-1 at 20:80:0 kg ha-1 NPK at seedbed preparation.
Irrigation trials: The variety BR-99 was grown under five irrigation levels. The results indicated that the variety produced maximum grain yield of 1806 kg ha-1 with four irrigations i.e. Ist irrigation at 30 days of sowing, 2nd at flowering, 3rd at pod formation and 4th after 90 days of sowing, 2nd at flowering, 3rd at pod formation and 4th after 90 days of sowing (Table 3).
Table 1: | Performance of BR-99 in station yield trials |
Table 2: | Performance of BR-99 in zonal varietal trial |
Cd1 =74.69 | Cd2 =102.34 |
Table 3: | Summary of production technology trial of variety BR-99 |
Table 4: | Insect pests and disease reaction of BR-99 |
Sources: 1 Entomologist, Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Bahawalpur 2 Plant Pathology, Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Bahawalpur |
Table 5: | Varietal characteristic of BR-99 |
Table 6: | Protein contents of different guar cultivars |
Source: Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad |
Matlock and Aepli (1948) reported similar results.
Spacing trails: The trails on the effects of row spacing on the grain yield of BR-99 revealed that 30 cm row to row spacing was the most appropriate to get better grain yield (Table 3). Plant to plant distance of 10-15 cm is recommended. Insect pests and disease reaction: Guar crop normally remains free from major insect pests. However, few insects like cotton jassid (Empoasca devastans Dist.) and whitefly attack this crop. Cotton jassid prefers guar to cotton (Abbas and Afzal, 1946). BR-99 was found to be tolerant to jassid and whitefly with a relatively low infestation compared to the checks. The variety BR-99 was also found tolerant to root rot disease (Table 4).
Varietal characteristics: Varietal characters of BR-99 were recorded and are presented in Table 5.
Quality studies: It is clear from the data presented in Table 6 that BR-99 contains 34.84% protein as against 33.25 and 29.90% protein of the check varieties BR-90 and 2/1. It has 4.8 and 12.1% higher protein contents compared to BR-90 and 2/1, respectively. The variety BR-99 is a cluster type early maturing variety. It has 1000-grain weight of 37 gms and 4.8-12.1% higher protein contents than the checks. It is tolerant to insect pests and diseases and requires minimum plant protection. It vacates the fields well in time and facilitates timely sowing of wheat a against cotton. It is hoped that this variety will be helpful in boosting up the guar production/yields in the region. On the basis of its better yield performance and quality than the existing approved varieties of guar (BR-90 and 2/1), it was approved by the Punjab Seed Council, Lahore during the year 2000.