This story is from September 29, 2021

PM dedicates disease-resistant IAS-BHU wheat variety to nation

PM dedicates disease-resistant IAS-BHU wheat variety to nation
The team of scientists of BHU’s Institute of Agriculture Science, which developed Malviya 838 variety of wheat
Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University’s Institute of Agriculture Science added another feather to its cap when a wheat variety, Malviya 838, developed by its scientists, was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with 34 other crop varieties through a virtual platform on Tuesday.
BHU scientists, led by Prof VK Mishra, claimed that Malviya 838, which is also called Hindu University Wheat (HUW) 838, variety is fully resistant against ‘wheat blast disease’ that has emerged as a major concern for Asian countries after it migrated to Bangladesh from Brazil in 2016 and started posing threat of expansion in Indian territories.

The PM dedicated 35 crop varieties with special traits to the nation through video conferencing on Tuesday on the occasion of virtual inauguration of the newly constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Management Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and distribution of the Green Campus Award to agricultural universities.
The scientists, academicians, students and even non-teaching staff celebrated the occasion at the institute on BHU campus. On being contacted by TOI, Prof Mishra said, “We had started working on developing a bio-fortified variety of wheat in 2014-15 by involving breeders and scientists of various departments. Incidentally, one of the devastating diseases of wheat, known as wheat blast, hit Bangladesh in 2016 and covered its maximum area. It emerged as a matter of concern for India as well as neighbouring Asian countries.”
Since the disease is airborne, the threat for neighbouring states of India was very high, said Prof Mishra.
He said it is a fast-acting and devastating fungal disease. “One of the most fearsome and intractable wheat diseases in recent decades, it spreads through infected seeds, crop residues as well as by spores that can travel long distances in the air, posing a major threat to wheat production in tropical areas. It can shrivel and deform the grain in less than a week from the first symptoms, leaving no time to act for farmers.

The Malviya 838 variety seeds were sent to Bangladesh for cultivation and the result was surprising as it proved to be highly resistant to wheat blast disease, said prof Mishra adding, the variety also has 20% higher zinc and iron contents with high yield than other popular wheat varieties.
The variety has proven potential even under limited irrigation conditions, said Prof Mishra.
The team comprising Prof HK Jaiswal, Dr Sandeep Sharma from the department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Prof Ramesh Kumar Singh of Agronomy, Prof Ramesh Chand, Prof SS Vaish from Mycology and Plant Pathology of institute, led by Prof VK Mishra, had started work to develop a bio fortified variety.
They are jubilant as the variety developed by them has proved to be fully resistant against the wheat blast disease, which has emerged as the greatest threat for Asia, the world’s largest wheat producing area after reaching Bangladesh from Brazil during seed import in 2016.
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