Shahajahanpur (Uttar Pradesh): The Sugarcane Research Council in Shahjahanpur has approved the cultivation of sugarcane variety CoS. 17231 in four additional states. Developed after a decade of research, the variety was finalised in 2022 and has now received clearance for wider use, reported Live Hindustan.
The approval comes as part of a decision by the central government to clear 184 new varieties across 25 crops. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan granted approval to these varieties, including the sugarcane strain developed by the Shahjahanpur research council.
With this clearance, the CoS. 17231 variety, which was earlier limited to Uttar Pradesh, will now be available for cultivation in Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan as well. Following the central committee’s approval, the variety is also expected to be introduced successfully in more states in the future.
Dr Arvind Kumar, the breeder of the variety, said it has strong resistance to red rot disease. He said the average yield potential of the variety is 86.35 tonnes per hectare, with a sugar recovery rate of 13.97 per cent. He added that the variety is expected to help increase farmers’ income not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in other states.
