Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, from its Guntur centre, had released one hybrid LAHH-4 medium staple cotton, to be adopted exclusively for the state, CICR project co-ordinator, K Venugopal said on Saturday.

The yield of this `sucking pest tolerant Lam hybrid' wouldbe around 25 quintal per hectare under irrigated conditions. It had been cleared by central variety release committee for seed certification and multiplication.LAHH-4 also faired better in Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, he said and two more varieties L603 and L604 had been released by the university, having tolerance to Bollworm, a serious pest problem in Andhra Pradesh.

During front line demonstrations over the years, L604 had proved its superiority and had been well received among the farming community during test trials. The long felt demand for an arboreum cotton variety had been met with the release of high yielding variety, `Aravinda', which was suitable for the dry-farming tracts of Rayalaseema, he said.

This variety, incidentally, was also good for double cropping of cotton and groundnut in irrigated garden land conditions, he said.

Venugopal said the CICR has released a new medium staple variety `sumangala' with good fibre maturity and fibre elongation, capable of yielding upto 35 quintal per hectare, with a mean ginning out-turn of 37 per cent.

This was also suitable for both rain-fed and irrigated conditions in the southern states of Tamil Nadu (TN), Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (AP), he said.

Sumangala was expected to replace LRA5166, which was released almost 18 years ago and created a cotton revolution, particularly in the Maharashtra belt, Venugopal said.

Two varieties -- SVPR-3 and MCU12-from Srivilliputhur and Coimbatore centers of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had been released. While SVPR-3 was suitable for rainfed tracts and expected to replace the old variety LRA5166, MCU 12 was suitable for the winter irrigated Cambodia tracts, particularly in the cotton belts of TN, he said.

The Marathwada Agricultural University from its Parbhani centre had come out with a hybrid PHH316, a medium staple cotton with tolerance to drought and sucking pests, which would replace the old long standing hybrid NHH44, he said.

The Gujarat Agricultural University had released an arboreum cotton variety GAM31 for local cultivation in small tract around Amreli, a drought prone dry farming tract,he said.

Venugopal said the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, had come out with a variety `sahana'. Keeping in mind the Raichur belt of Karnataka, it had released a new hirsutum cotton RAMPBS155, a medium staple cotton, suitable for irrigated tracts, he said. The Sriganganagar centre of Rajasthan Agricultural University had released a new arboreum variety RG18, having higher yield and better fibre properties, which was expected to replace the old variety RG8. It had also released a new hirsutum variety Rs.810, resistant to the dreaded leaf curl virus disease, Venugopal said.Besides, the Indian Cotton Mills Federation (ICMF) had released a variety ICMF20 suitable for cultivation in southern AP, with joint research at ICMF-CDRA, at Nandyal.

A private hybrid company, Vikram Seeds of Ahmedabad, had released a new hybrid VICH9 with excellent fibre maturity and strength, to cover large areas in Saurashtra and Kutch regions in Gujarat, Venugopal said.About 15 cotton varieties and hybrids had been released for cultivation this year throughout the country with fibre quality and many of them were tolerant to insect pests.

Largescale cultivation of these varieties and hybrids was expected to raise production by 20 per cent.

Once these varieties and hybrids were notified either by the Centre or state Governments, they would go for seed certification and multiplication enabling farmers to use them in their fields, Venugopal added.