French bean cultivar Lakshmi (P-37) developed by the team of scientists from Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry Nauni, Solan in 1991 recently got recognition at the national level.

This variety was bred by a team of university scientists led by Late Prof AK Singh and though the variety was developed over three decades ago, its cultivation largely remained confined to Himachal only.

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Since then, many scientists of the university’s Department of Vegetable Science worked on its maintenance, multiplication, and dissemination.

The university’s team of All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops (AICRP-VC) comprising Dr AK Joshi, Dr Ramesh Kumar Bhardwaj, Dr Sandeep Kansal, Dr. Kuldeep Thakur and Dr DK Mehta worked towards increasing its testing and adoption at the national level.

In the recently held 39th Group Meeting of AICRP VC organized virtually at IIVR Varanasi, the Lakshmi cultivar was adjudged the best national cultivar.

Explaining the advantages of the variety, Dr AK Joshi said the cultivar gets ready for harvesting 60-70 days after sowing. It bears string-less, meaty, straight, green pods which are approximately 15 cm in length and the yielding potential is about 160-170 quintal per hectare.

Dr Joshi informed that the cultivar outperformed other pole-type cultivars of French bean even after 30 years of its release in different agro-climatic zones of India.

The university advocates the use of this variety in the relay-cropping system which is being practised by the farmers of mid-hills as a relay crop in between the rows of tomatoes.

This way productivity can be increased and farmers can enhance their income by up to Rs 35,000 from the same land in a season.

UHF vice-chancellor Parvinder Kaushal said that recommendation at the national level is a testament to the quality of the variety and a tribute to its breeder.

Dr Kaushal envisioned the recommendation at the national level as a step towards enhancing farmers’ income and advised the scientists to explore avenues where the popular varieties released can be promoted for cultivation at the national level.