High Yield Crops | Agriculture Optional Notes for UPSC PDF Download

Introduction

High Yield Crops (HYVs) refer to crops that have undergone fertilization or genetic modifications through biotechnological methods to enhance their production rate. This leads to increased efficiency in the utilization of input materials, resulting in higher agricultural productivity and ultimately elevating the per-capita income of farmers. A pivotal factor contributing to the effectiveness of India's Green Revolution in the latter part of the 20th century was the introduction of high-yield crop varieties.

Advantages of High-Yielding Variety Seeds

• High Yielding Variety (HYV) seed distribution is aimed at increasing the production of high-yield food crops.
• HYVs are pivotal in agricultural technology due to their capacity for enhanced production.
• The primary advantages of using HYV seeds include significantly higher yields compared to conventional seeds.
• HYV seeds generate higher-quality crop yields.
• They have shorter crop maturity periods, allowing for multiple crop cycles within a year.
• Most HYV seeds are resilient to both floods and droughts.
• Reduced instances of pest and disease problems are associated with HYV seeds, contributing to improved crop health.
• The cultivation of HYV seeds generates additional employment opportunities.
• High-yielding crop varieties have shorter growth periods, enabling the cultivation of more crops within available timeframes.
• HYVs exhibit increased responsiveness to fertilizers, leading to substantial yield improvements when fertilized, which traditional varieties may not achieve.
• These high-yielding crop cultivars are characterized by their dwarf stature, making them more resilient to high winds and reducing lodging issues.

Disadvantage of High-Yielding Variety Seeds

• The primary disadvantage of HYV seeds is their increased reliance on irrigation infrastructure, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides to achieve optimal yields.
• HYV seeds have shorter life cycles, enabling farmers to cultivate multiple crops simultaneously.
• Most HYV seeds are characterized by dwarf cultivars, necessitating higher fertilizer doses. Controlling pests becomes a significant challenge with HYV crops, requiring the appropriate use of insecticides.
• Farmers in non-irrigated regions struggled to effectively adopt these new seeds, leading to poverty, malnutrition, and nutritional deficiencies.
• Consequently, economic disparities between farmers residing in different geographical and climatic regions have widened.
• Since the new seed varieties thrive under controlled and assured irrigation conditions, those working on unirrigated soils are disadvantaged.
• The issue of interregional inequality may exacerbate due to the insufficient implementation of programs for rainfed and drought-prone areas across the country.
• In addition to interregional disparities, the use of HYV seeds has resulted in intraregional differences in agricultural incomes among farmers within the same village.

Examples related to HYV Seeds

Scientists from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have developed a new variety of arhar (pigeon-pea) that matures in just 120 days. This variety yields a substantial 20 quintals per hectare, similar to normal arhar plants that typically take 160-180 days to mature. Notably, this new variety is suitable for mechanical combine harvesting.

Normal Arhar Plant

• Arhar plants are usually "indeterminate," characterized by continuous growth, and if left to their natural state, they can even develop into perennial trees.
• In regions like Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, farmers traditionally sow arhar crops in June-July and harvest them after 250-280 days in March-April.
• In other parts of India, particularly Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh, medium-duration arhar varieties (160-180 days) are grown, also yielding 20 quintals per hectare.

About the New Plant Type

• The new plant-type, known as PADT-16 (Pusa Arhar Determinate), was developed by a team led by scientists Prabhu and R S Raje from IARI's division of genetics. This innovative variety exhibits synchronous flowering and pod-setting, allowing it to mature and be ready for harvest in just 120 days.
• It is a unique plant-type where apical meristems, located at the tip of the main stem, only produce flowers. Growth ceases upon flower production and pod formation.
• This compact plant-type remains short in stature, reaching a height of only 95 cm, in contrast to the medium-duration arhar at 175 cm and the perennial varieties exceeding 300 cm in height.

The Benefits

• The dwarf, semi-erect nature of this plant simplifies pesticide spraying, as opposed to normal arhar plants that can grow up to six feet, making application challenging and non-uniform.
• With the new variety, a single pesticide spray against Maruca insects and pod borers at the bud initiation stage after 65-70 days is sufficient.
• Synchronous maturity and podding, occurring mainly at the top of the plant due to its compact canopy and absence of tertiary or quaternary branches, enable the entire arhar crop to be harvested in a single operation using combine harvesters.