Evolution of New Guar Variety “BR-21” With High Yield Potential through Pure-Line Selection

Guar is a drought tolerant, summer annual legume, well adapted to arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan. Guar gum is important product which is obtained from guar seed and has worldwide uses in different industries. Therefore, there is a dire need of evolution of new high yielding, short duration and early maturing varieties of guar. Keeping in view the above facts, Agricultural Research Station, Bahawalpur is conducting research to develop new varieties. The present newly developed variety BR-21 (strain name S-5823) is high yielding, short duration, non-hairy with a wider range of adaptability. Yield data (grain yield) were collected from the guar varietal performance trials conducted over eight consecutive years (2011-2020). This strain performed better when evaluated/tested in 7 different yield performance trails including commercial variety as a check from year 2013-2018. The BR-21 also performed excellent in the agronomic trials (Sowing date, fertilizer requirement, row spacing, and irrigation levels) compared to check variety in different years of study. Finally, it is concluded that BR-21 is a non-hairy and very easy to harvest than previous guar varieties. It contains high gum contents (34.9%) than check variety. It is high yielder, early maturing and requires very low inputs. It is comparatively resistant to insect pests and diseases. It is short duration variety, therefore, wheat, raya, chickpea and other Rabi crops can be sown well in time.