GUWAHATI, Sept 16 � An international conference with more than 250 agricultural scientists from 60 countries of the world was held at Turin city in Italy from September 2 to 4, a press release stated.
Around 150 research papers from different countries of the world were presented in the 15th EUCARPIA meeting on capsicum and egg plant. Bharat Sikha Ratna Dr Gobin Chandra Bora, principal scientist of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat was invited to attend the conference. Participating at the conference, Dr Bora presented three research papers on brinjal and chillies of Assam. Due to their unique characteristics, two brinjal varieties developed at AAU, Jorhat, namely Abu and Bhupendra were able to draw the attention of all the world scientists attending the conference. The presentation of the scientific research papers by Dr Bora has given a special identity to Assam and North East India.
It may be pertinent to add that there is a special position of brinjal among the vegetables in Europe. Brinjal is used to manufacture value-added food products in all the European countries, including Italy. By exporting a large number of value-added products of brinjal, Italy earns a lot of money in terms of foreign exchange. In addition to cooking and roasting, different preparations like chutney, pickle, chips, chocolate, jams, sweets, compressed and dehydrated food products are made, which is a unique business in Italy.
The North Eastern region, including Assam is considered to be the original home of brinjal and chilli. This region is hence very rich in biological and genetic resources of these two crops. Among the different varieties of brinjal available in the North Eastern region Abu (GB 09-12) and Bhupendra (GB 09-05) are two high quality improved varieties of brinjal. These varieties have already been tested in different agroclimatic zones of North East India. They have shown very good performance in other states of the country also.
These varieties can be used as food of different types. The fruits of GB 09-12 are long, smooth and light green in colour, whereas that of GB 09-05 are round, having depressed stripes around the fruits just like pumpkin, which are dark green in colour. Apart from use in foods by cooking and roasting, they can be converted to different value-added products. They are tolerant to diseases like bacterial wilt, phomopsis blight and insects like fruit borer and leaf-eating caterpillars.
After thorough and systematic study for a number of years, proposals for release of these varieties are getting ready for submission to the Government of Assam and the Italy conference has also strongly recommended the proposals.
It is worth mentioning that the first variety GB 09-12 has been dedicated in the name of late Dr Abu Shadeque, former HoD of Horticulture and a renowned vegetable scientist of the country of the 20th century. The other variety GB 09-05 has been dedicated in the name of Padma Vibhushan, Sudhakantha Dr Bhupen Hazarika, a leading personality of Assamese art and culture and Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner.
It is anticipated that the large-scale cultivation of these two varieties will bring about a significant change in the agricultural economy of North East India, including Assam.