ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) on Thursday approved nine hybrid maize varieties for commercial cultivation.

In a meeting, PARC’s Maize Variety Evaluation Committee recommended six yellow and three white maize hybrids.

Besides, one white open pollinated (OP) variety of maize and two SS hybrids as fodder were also approved.

The recommended varieties, four each, belong to multinational and national seed companies while one maize hybrid (Fakhray-e-NARC), one OP variety of maize (NARC-White) and two SS hybrids belong to PARC.

Member Plant Sciences Division and PARC Maize Variety Evaluation Committee Chairman Dr Shahid Masood rejected five maize hybrids which belong to seed companies in view of poor yield.

With the addition of the newly recommended varieties in the national system, a significant improvement is expected in maize and fodder production in Pakistan.

The SS fodder hybrids developed by PARC are said to be high yielding varieties with wider adaptability.

These will be available at cheaper cost and provide a substitute to the 25,000 imported seeds costing huge foreign exchange.

Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Chairman Dr Nadeem Amjad hoped that the introduction of new maize varieties would not only produce promising crop yield but would also help farmers to raise their income to improve their livelihood.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2015

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