CTRI releases four varieties of tobacco

Rajahmundry, Jun 28 (UNI) The Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) here announced the release of four new varieties of tobacco developed by the institute.

Speaking to newspersons CTRI Director Dr V Krishnamurthy said the four varieties of tobacco would benefit the tobacco farming community.

He said the first variety ''Kanthi'' (cy-79) would be cultivated in South Light Soil (SLS)and Southern Black Soil(SBS) in Nellore in Prakasham district.

The yield would be 1600 kg per hectare in SLS and 200 kg per hectare in SBS.

The second variety ''Hemadri'' (ii-1624) was suitable for cultivation in Central Black Soil (CBS) and SBS in Guntur, Krishna and Prakasham districts. It had an yield potential of 200 kg per hectare.

The third ''Sari''(cy-135) was suitable for cultivation in Tradtional Black Soil (TBS) in Andhra Pradesh, with an yield potential of 2900 kg per hectare.

The fourth '' Bhairavi'' (ng-73) was suitable for cultivation in TBS in Guntur, Prakasham, Kurnool and Mahhabubnagar.

The average yield of this variant would be 200 kg per hectare.

Dr Murthy said the demand for tobacco would increase from the existing 240 million kgs to 360 million kgs in future.

The four new varieties were mainly for the domestic market.

The farmers could benefit from these varieties as their input cost was less and returns high.

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