TOBA TEK SINGH: The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) has produced high-yielding varieties of chia and okra which have been approved by the Punjab Seed Council.

UAF spokesperson Dr Jalal Arif told the reporters that okra variety was produced by UAF Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics team, comprising of Dr Azeem Iqbal Khan, Dr Asif Saeed, Dr Amir Shakeel, Dr Tariq Manzoor, Dr Asif Ali and Dr Khurram Ziaf, adding that the variety was tolerant to yellow vein mosaic virus and it bore fruit early.

He said that the chia variety had been developed by a team of scientists, including Dr Muhammad Irfan Afzal from the Department of Agronomy, Dr Shahzad Basra and Amir Latif from the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute. The yield of chia varies from 800kg to 1,200kg/ha, Dr Arif said and added that its market price was Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 per kg.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023