LAHORE, July 2: The Punjab University Seed Centre (PUSC) has been producing hybrid seeds of various crops, plants and vegetables with four times extra production abilities compared to ordinary seeds.
Moreover, the seeds being produced at the PUSC’s Tissue Culture Lab after experimentation are also free from viral and fungal diseases.
These seeds including various types of potatoes like desiree, cardinal, diamond and various types of sugarcane like HSF 240 and CP 7740, and medicinal and floral plants are being produced through tissue culture technique.
This was stated by PUSC research officer Syed Tariq Mehmood, according to a news release issued by the PU here on Tuesday.
At the research lab, the research officer said, a new plant had been developed by carrying out experiments on a portion of the plant. Formerly, he said, these seeds were being imported from Germany and Holland but now these were readily available in Pakistan. He said there was a dire need to create awareness among farmers that with proper utilisation of these seeds, maximum yield could be obtained and financial resources could be saved.
Mehmood said the sugarcane crop needed maximum water but the crop, which was being produced by the tissue culture technique, gave maximum production with relatively less water. In Pakistan, he said, the sugarcane crop was affected by two diseases – Rust and Redrot – which also affect its production. He claimed that the sugarcane being produced through the PU seeds was free from these diseases.
Meanwhile, PU botany department’s research officer Muhammad Akram said that he had protected the generation of Sagwan tree by developing 30 trees from one Sagwan tree at varsity’s botanical gardens by using tissue culture technology.
He said Sagwan was a tree that gave maximum wood, but its number was drastically decreasing in the country. “If the Sagwan tree will not be given special attention, it may become a rare specie,” he said.
He said the growth of Sagwan could be made better with the help of tissue culture technology.
The PU Resident Officer-II, who is responsible to look after the agricultural lands of the varsity, said the varsity’s seed centre was getting the quality of its seeds testified from the Punjab Seed Corporation and the Federal Seed Corporation. After due certification, he said, the PU was selling these seeds at low rates to farmers as well as the Punjab Seed Corporation. “The quality of these seeds is better than the seeds being imported from different countries,” he added.
He said the seed centre would also develop hybrid seeds of cotton, vegetables and other crops and more agriculture land would be allocated to the centre for research