VIJAYAWADA: Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) has developed 123 high-yielding varieties of rice, 47 varieties of pulses, 29 varieties of oilseed, 21 varieties of commercial crops and 19 varieties of millets under the crop improvement programme since its inception. Now, ANGRAU has laid emphasis on developing more high-yielding and drought resistant crop varieties.
ANGRAU Vice-Chancellor A Vishnuvardhan Reddy said the rice varieties developed by ANGRAU accounted for 90.29% of the total crop acreage in Andhra Pradesh in 2021-22. ANGRAU rice varieties dominate in both Kharif and Rabi seasons with a total area of 21.78 lakh hectares in the State.
ANGRAU rice varieties account for 14 million hectares out of the total crop acreage of 46 million hectares in the country. Its rice varieties with an output of 38 MT account for 33.15% of the country’s total rice production. ANGRAU rice varieties yield 5,669 kg/ha on an average, which is higher than the State average yield of 5,048 kg/ha and 2,832kg/ha of the nation. One out of every three Indian families and nine out of 10 families in AP are consuming the rice produced from ANGRAU crop varieties.
Since its inception in 1963, ANGRAU has been constantly striving to develop new technologies to increase the crop yield and profitability through several interventions in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. ANGRAU’s aim is to solve the diverse production problems caused by pests and diseases, fertiliser management, climate resilience, and so on. It has recorded several achievements like notable cultivars of rice varieties i.e., MTU7029 (Swarna) and BPT5204 (Samba Masuri) with excellent cooking quality and have become popular across the country, the V-C explained.
Eight varieties developed by ANGRAU occupy 72.63% of the total rice cultivation area and contribute to 87.27% of the State’s production. With `17,994 crore revenue, the rice varieties play a significant role in the State’s agri economy.
ANGRAU has also developed the country’s first powdery mildew-resistant black gram variety LBG17 (Krishnayya). The most celebrated groundnut varieties, K6, Narayani and Lepakshi, were also developed by ANGRAU, which occupied the maximum crop acreage not only in the State but also in the country.
ANGRAU has also developed several varieties of other crops, which have benefited farmers at large and maximised their profits. ANGRAU pulses varieties have accounted for 35.62% of the total crop acreage of pulses in the State, said L Prasanthi, Director of Research.
ANGRAU black gram varieties of LBG752, TBG104 and LBG645 are grown in 188.65 thousand hectares (47% of the total pulses acreage). Its green gram varieties LGG460 and TM 96-2 occupy 36% of total crop acreage in the State. Similarly, LRG52 and LRG41 red gram varieties of ANGRAU account for more than 43% of the State’s total crop acreage.
In case of oil seeds, ANGRAU groundnut varieties in 780 thousand hectares account for 94.03% of the total crop acreage in the State. The total groundnut acreage in Kharif is 7.80 lakh hectares and out of which 7.04 lakh hectares are under ANGRAU groundnut varieties, the V-C highlighted