PESHAWAR: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar, has released the two new developed commercial common bean (Lobia) varieties.
Developed with the financial assistance of the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) Pulses Project - Promoting Research for Productivity Enhancement in Pulses - the NIFA Lobia Red and NIFA Lobia Yellow have a high yield and are consumed across the country, said a communique on Sunday. Common bean is an important pulse crop in Pakistan and is consumed in large quantities in a variety of ways each year.
Due to the lack of high yielding commercial varieties in the country, common beans are imported at the expense of huge foreign exchange each year.
Pulses group of NIFA, Peshawar, collected a large number of germplasm locally grown by common bean growers in KP and started a concerted common bean improvement programme in 2018. The germplasm were purified and evaluated for yield and other important characteristics at NIFA, Peshawar, and other common bean grown areas across the province particularly Kurram where this crop is culturally being grown as the sole crop since long. The local germplasm being grown in almost all of these areas are climbing types needing stakes or other support for plant growth, which in turn is an expensive practice. Dr Gul Sanat Shah, Deputy Chief Scientist at NIFA, said that the two varieties were the types with semi-erect growth habit. These varieties, he added, needed no staking and cost of production for growers of these varieties will therefore be reduced. Apart from this quality, NIFA Lobia Red and NIFA Lobia Yellow have high yield potential (around 2000Kg ha-1 each) and adaptability to various growing conditions of the KP, particularly in Kurram area.
These varieties, the official said, would play a vital role in improving overall production of common beans in the KP in particular and the country in general.
Furthermore, with special reference to the Kurram area, common bean growers will get more financial benefits by growing these varieties through increase in yield over the types already being grown in the area.
