It tastes better, takes less time to cook, and gives a better yield at lower cost. A new hybrid variety of pigeon pea (toor/tuvar/arhar dal), developed over 10 years by the Sardar Krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) in North Gujarat, offers all these benefits. Scientists, who began work in 1994, claim that the new toor hybrid—christened Gujarat Hybrid Toor-1 (GTH-1)—is the first of its kind. They say they worked to cross wild toor (Cajanus scarebacodes) with regular toor (Cajanus cajan), more or less expecting the hybrid to have the characteristics it has turned out to have. ‘‘The sole purpose of cross-breeding regular toor with the wild variety was to insert the cytoplasm of the wild one into the nuclear genes of the regular one to make it sterile,’’ said Dr S B S Tikka, principal scientist in charge of pulse research. ‘‘The technology is known as cytoplasmic genetic male sterility.’’ In contrast, the earlier method of obtaining hybrid toor involved manual cross-pollination between two plants which possessed both anthers (male organs) and stamens (female organs). This was known as the genetic male sterility method. ‘‘The new method doesn’t require manual cross-pollination, it takes place inside the plant itself,’’ said Tikka. ‘‘It may have taken us a long time, but we enjoyed the research. Not only have we developed a new hybrid, but also a new hybridisation technique, which can be used widely.’’ Tikka said that based on demonstration farming in Bharuch, Vadodara, and Sabarkantha, the new variety of toor could be reckoned to yield 35-40 per cent more per crop, helping farmers and also bringing down the cost for consumers. ‘‘Moreover,’’ he said, ‘‘the seed quality has improved—they are whiter, bigger, and disease resistant.’’ Gujarat Seed Corporation has already undertaken large-scale production of the hybrid seed so that farmers can start farming this kharif season. ‘‘Scientists will continue to work on improving the hybrid,’’ said SDAU research director Dr A S Jadon. ‘‘One new area of focus will be the growth inverter enzymes which get removed while cooking and therefore allow nutrient amino acids to be washed away. ‘‘We want a variety in which we can retain the amino acids,’’ said Jadon. ‘‘We are working towards it.’’
