NAGPUR :- NRCC develops seedless variety of Nagpur mandarin

Orange growers in region have a reason to rejoice. City based National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC) has come up with a seedless variety of Nagpur mandarin after over 15 years of research. The new variety is already under field trials under an All India Coordinated Research Project ( AIRCP) on citrus at 16 different locations including the state agriculture universities. NRCC is terming this achievement as its silver jubilee gift to the farmers of Vidarbha especially Nagpur and Amravati districts as the centre is completing 25 years of its existence this year. Centre will be able to give the planting material of the seedless variety to farmers by next July.

Besides the new seedless variety, the centre is also ready with a new root stock for the Nagpur mandarin developed after 16 years of research. This root stock has been selected as the most suited one from amongst five root stocks from six different countries. The new root stock called as 'Allemow' from California and Florida has been found to be the best from various root stocks tested from USA, Israel, Japan and Australia.

Speaking to the TOI on the eve of the launch of the silver jubilee programmes of the centre, NRCC director V J Shivankar said that although the centre had a series of technologies for orange growers, the seedless variety and the new root stock are the latest ones. "We can call it as NRCC's gift to the region in our silver jubilee year," he said.

NRCC has already taken three crops of the seedless variety, named as N-5 in the centre's farm. But the variety has gone for extensive trials at 16 different locations across India. It has already been accepted as a new variety by a high power committee including the joint director of agriculture of Nagpur division. N-5 has been developed from a plant found accidently with just 2-3 seeds in Narkhed and Sawargaon area in Nagpur district in 1993-94 through a process called as 'natural selection'. "There can be nothing like seedless variety in orange. Our variety has just 2-3 seeds. We will not be able to generate many plants initially. But we can give at least 100-150 plants every season to the farmers," Shivankar said.

The second gift to orange growers, a new and phytophthora resistant root stock is expected to give a boost to the orange cultivation in the region. NRCC director said that though there can be no root stock which was 100% resistant to phytophthora, a fungus which destroys the plant completely if not attended in time, the Allemow root stock had provided best results.

Presently, rough lemon is used as root stock for Nagpur mandarin and Rangpurlime is used as root stock for Mousmabi. But rough lemon is more susceptible to the phytophthora fungus which reduces the yield and productivity of the plant severely. The Allemow root stock has proved to be much more superior to the 'flying dragon' root stock which has failed badly in region during testing of the root stock in black cotton soil. The Nagpur mandarin when grafted on Allemow, the plant shows extremely good growth with a good canopy increasing the overall yield of the fruit. The root stocks will also be made available to the farmers next year.

Director agriculture, recruitment selection board, government of India, CD Mayee will be speaking on biotechnology in horticulture sector in India to mark the silver jubilee celebration of NRCC on Wednesday at 3 pm.