“MACS 1407” – A new high-yielding, pest-resistant Soybean Variety

What is the News?

Scientists from MACS- Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) Pune in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) have developed a variety of Soybean called MACS 1407. The MACS-ARI is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology.

 About MACS 1407:

• MACS 1407 is a high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean.
• Cultivation: It is suitable for cultivation in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern states.

Key Features:

• MACS 1407 requires an average of 43 days for 50 % flowering. Further, it takes 104 days to mature from the date of sowing.
• It has white coloured flowers, yellow seeds and black hilum (a scar on a seed marking the point of attachment to its seed vessel). Its seeds have 19.81 % oil content, 41 % protein content and show good germinability (the ability of a seed to germinate).

Advantages:

• High Yielding: It gives 39 quantal per hectare making it a high yielding variety
• Pest Resistant: It is resistant to major insect pests like girdle beetle, leaf miner, leaf roller, stem fly, aphids, whitefly and defoliators.
• It has certain characters suitable for mechanical harvesting. Such as,
  • It has a thick stem that makes it stronger to harvest using machines.
  • This variety has higher pod insertion (7 cm) from the ground
  • It is resistant to pod shattering.

Significance of this development:

• Firstly, in 2019, India produced around 90 million tons of soybean. This is widely cultivated as oilseeds and a cheap source of protein for animal feed and many packaged meals.
• Secondly, India also has a target to be among the world’s major producers of soybean.
• Hence, MACS 1407 having high yielding, disease-resistant characteristics can help India to achieve this target.

Source: PIB