• Indian scientists have developed a high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean, and its seeds will be available to farmers for sowing from next year, the agriculture ministry said.

• This newly developed variety called ‘MACS 1407’ is suitable for cultivation in Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and northeast states.

• The new soybean variety has been developed by scientists from MACS-Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the department of science and technology, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.

• The new variety has been approved for commercial release by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops, making it legally available for seed production and cultivation.

• MACS 1407 has been developed using the conventional cross-breeding technique that gives 39 quintals per hectare, making it a high yielding variety and is also resistant to major insect pests like girdle beetle, leaf miner, leaf roller, stem fly, aphids, whitefly and defoliators.

• Its thick stem, higher pod insertion (7 cm) from the ground, and resistance to pod shattering make it suitable even for mechanical harvesting. It is suitable for rain-fed conditions of northeast India.

• ARI scientist Santosh Jaybhay, who led this work, said the new variety showed a 17 per cent increase in yield over the best check variety and 14-19 per cent yield advantage over the qualifying varieties. 

• According to the ministry, MACS 1407 requires an average of 43 days for 50 per cent flowering and takes 104 days to mature from the date of sowing.

• Soybean production in the country is in the range of 100-146 lakh tonne in the last few years. For the 2020-21 crop year (July-June), production is pegged at 137.11 lakh tonne, as per the government’s second estimate.

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