PAU re-launches popular wheat variety with added rust disease resistance

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) here has now reintroduced PBW-343 in a new avatar, by incorporating two pairs of leaf and yellow rust-resistance genes — Lr37/Yr17 and Lr76/Yr70 — that make it possible for farmers to cultivate their old favourite variety yet again. Named the re-launched variety PBW-343 Unnat. The preference for the new variety through past association can be gauged from the fact that around 3,700 quintals of its seeds got sold through Kisan Melas (farmer fairs) in Punjab this time. Unnat is an early wheat variety, which, like HD-2967, can be sown from the fourth week of October to the fourth week of November, with a maturity period of 155 days. Sohu claimed that Unnat’s average yield had been tested to be 23.2 quintals per acre.