Indian Agricultural: Growth, Generation, Policy & Problem Indian Agricultural | Page 28

Pg.no. 27
The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of novel wheat
cultivars. Agronomists bred cultivars of maize, wheat, and rice that are generally referred to as HYVs
or "high-yielding varieties". HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties. Since
cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing
genes were bred into their genomes. A Japanese dwarf wheat cultivar Norin 10 developed by a
Japanese agronomist Gonjiro Inazuka, which was sent to Orville Vogel at Washington State
University by Cecil Salmon, was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars. IR8,
the first widely implemented HYV rice to be developed by IRRI, was created through a cross between
an Indonesian variety named "Peta" and a Chinese variety named "Dee-geo-woo-gen". In the 1960s,
when a food crisis happened in Asia, the spread of HYV rice was aggravated intensely.
Dr. Norman Borlaug, who is usually recognized as the "Father of the Green Revolution", bred rust-
resistant cultivars which have strong and firm stems, preventing them from falling over under extreme
weather at high levels of fertilization. CIMMYT (Centro International de Mejoramiento de Maize y
Trigo—International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvements) conducted these breeding programs
and helped spread high-yielding varieties in Mexico and countries in Asia like India and Pakistan.
These programs successfully led the harvest double in these countries.
HYVs significantly outperform traditional varieties in the presence of adequate irrigation, pesticides,
and fertilizers. In the absence of these inputs, traditional varieties may outperform HYVs. Therefore,
several authors have challenged the apparent superiority of HYVs not only compared to the traditional
varieties alone, but by contrasting the monocultural system associated with HYVs with the polyculture
system associated with traditional ones.
Production increases
Cereal production more than doubled in developing nations between the years 1961–1985. Yields of
rice, maize, and wheat increased steadily during that period. The production increases can be
attributed roughly equally to irrigation, fertilizer, and seed development, at least in the case of Asian
rice.
Ramesh Kumar P