FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL

SCIENCES

Assignment on
VARIETY RELEASE PROTOCOLS

Name : NARAIN SANJAI S

I.D. No. : RA1871001010023

Degree : B.Sc. (Hons.) Horticulture

Semester : IV

Course No. : GPB18401

Course Title : Methods of Plant Breeding

Course Teachers : Dr. G.Selvakumar (Asst.Professor)

External Examiner Internal Examiner

 Variety Release Protocols

Introduction
The ultimate aim of any breeding programme is to develop varieties superior to the
existing ones in yielding ability disease and insect resistance and other characteristics. The
various methods of breeding are designed to help the breeder in developing such superior
strains. For commercial utilization, these strains have to be released as varieties by either the
central or a state variety release committee. This release is based on conclusive
demonstration of the superiority of new strains over the best existing varieties in yielding
ability or in some other feature of economic importance, e.g., disease resistance, drought
tolerance, salt tolerance. Therefore, new strains are extensively evaluated for performance,
disease resistance, quality, etc. In multilocation trials conducted under the concerned All
India Coordinated Research Projects on various crops. The various activities and operations
in release of a strain as a variety may be grouped into the following three classes for
convenience in description:
1) Evaluation
2) Identification
3) Release and notification
Evaluation
Evaluation of a strain for release as a variety consists of various traits and tests to
determine its superiority over the existing best variety in terms of yield and other agronomic
traits, and its suitability for consumption. In general, there are seven different types of
traits/tests conducted during evaluation:
1) Station trail
2) Multilocation trails
3) National trails
4) Adoptive traits
5) Minikit trails
6) Disease and insect tests
7) Quality tests.
1) Station trail:
Station trial is conducted by the breeder who has developed the new strains; it is
often referred to as preliminary yield trial, and may be conducted for one or more years. The
objective of strain trail is to make sure that the new strains developed by a breeder are
superior in performance to the best available variety for the region before their inclusion in
the multiplication trials. This is of great importance because in the multiplication trials these
strains would not only have to breeders. Therefore, to avoid disappointment and rejection in
the early stages of testing the, breeder should himself make sure of the superiority of his
strains.
2) Multilocation trails:
These trails are conducted under the respective All India Coordinated Crop
Improvement Projects. The objective of these trails is to evaluate the performance of newly
developed strains at several locations distributed over a region. Since the soil and climatic
conditions show a large variation from one region of the country to the other, the country
has been divided into several agroclimatic zones; each zone consists of areas having similar
agroclimatic conditions. The number of zones and the zoning pattern vary considerably from
one crop to the other. The various trails conducted under the coordinated projects,
particularly in the case of wheat, may be grouped into the following four categories:
Initial evaluation trial (IET)
A new strain is first included in an initial evaluation trial within the zone, in which it
was developed. A strain included in IET or URT is commonly termed as an entry. The IET
is conducted at 10–12 locations within a zone. IET may be conducted for one or more years;
it is then promoted to URT if its performance is outstanding, otherwise it is rejected.
Uniform Regional Trails (URT)
The URT for any entry is conducted under the same conditions, under which it was
evaluated in IET. URT is conducted at 25 – 30 different locations within the zone and may
be continued for one or more years. Every year, entries poor in yield and /or disease
resistance and rejected and new entries are included on the basis of their performance in IET
of the previous year.
Agronomic trails
An entry showing superior performance in URT during in first year is included in
agronomic trails of the respective AICRP. The purpose of agronomic trails is to determine
the suitable dates of sowing and the optimum number of irrigations. The data from these
trails are generally not essential for the consideration of an entry for identification, although
they are included in the proposals for identification.
Model Agronomic Experiments
These experiments are conducted under the AICRP. In Model Agronomic Trails,
only those entries are included that have been identified for pre-release multiplication by the
workshops of the respective coordinated projects. These trails are conducted at all the
centres of the Coordinated Agronomic Research Project in the concerned zone.
3) National trails:
The national trails are conducted throughout the country in all the zones. The entries
in National Trails comprise one entry from each zone that ranked first in that zone in URT
of the previous year. The national trails serve as IET for an entry in zones other than that, in
which it was developed and tested in URT. The purpose of national trails is to evaluate
outstanding entries of one zone in the other agroclimatic zones to see if they perform well in
other zones as well.
4) Adoptive Research Trials:
These are conducted on research stations or farms of state governments. The entries
identified for pre-release multiplication by the workshop of the concerned coordinated
project are included in these trails. The data from these trails are considered for release of
the identified entry as a new variety.
5) Minikit trials:
The minikit trails are conducted in the farmer`s fields. These trails are conducted
along with the adoptive trails in the crop season following the identification of the entry for
prerelease multiplication. The minikit trails are conducted under the supervision of director,
high yielding varieties, ministry of agriculture and irrigation, government of India. These
trails are conducted at 300 to 400 places within a zone. In wheat, five kilograms of seed of
each variety is planted without any replication; the agronomic practices are those for which
the entry has been identified. The objective of minikit trails is to popularise the new variety
among the farmers of the zone. It serves another purpose; the seed of a good new variety
reaches the farmers one year earlier than its certified seed would be available in the market.
6) Disease and insect tests:
Entries are evaluated for disease and insect resistance throughout the period of
testing, i.e., during IET as well as URT. Disease and insect resistance is tested both under
natural as well as artificial epidemic conditions. The disease reaction tests for different
diseases of various crops are carried out a different places where epidemics of the
concerned diseases occur regularly. The places where a disease occurs at a high intensity,
i.e., in an epidemic form, every year are known as hot spots for the disease. In any case,
susceptibility to a disease would lead to economic losses to the farmers and often would lead
t the rejection of a variety. In view of these, disease resistance of an entry is evaluated
during each year, in which it is included in the various yield trials.
7) Quality tests:
Quality tests are conducted to determine the suitability of an entry for the various
uses of its produce. The quality of a crop is not a simple character, and is often not easy to
determine. Therefore, several different tests have to be conducted, for which sophisticated
equipments may be needed for speed and reliable results. Quality tests are ordinarily carried
out on all the entries included in URT/CVT.
Identification of entries for pre-release multiplication
Outstanding entries are identified for pre-release multiplication at the annual
workshops of the coordinated research projects on the respective crops. The proposals for
identification in some crops are considered in an open forum by the participants in the
workshop, while in some other crops, e.g wheat, they are examined by an identification
subcommittee, which ordinarily has the following composition (1) Deputy Director General,
ICAR, New Delhi (Chairman); (2) the Project Director/ Project Coordinator of the
concerned coordinated project; (3) Principal Investigators for the different disciplines e.g
agronomy, pathology, quality, entomology, physiology, etc. of the concerned coordinated
project; (4) up to 5-6 actively involved in the project.
An entry considered suitable for release as a variety by the concerned workshop is
said to have been identified for pre-release multiplication or simply as identified. The
criteria for identification of entries vary considerably from one crop to the other. However,
an entry immune to diseases, but significantly inferior to the check in yield is not identified
since yield is the most important breeding objective in any crop. In addition, one of the
essential requirements for identification of a strain is that the breeder must be able to spare
10 Q seed of the proposed strain. This seed is supplied to State Farms Corporation of India
(SFCI) for pre-release multiplication as well as for distribution for Adoptive and Minikit
Trials.
Multiplication:
When an entry is identified by the workshop ofbthe concerned project, the breeder
begins seed multiplication of that entry in the following crop season. The seed produced by
the breeder after an entry is identified, but before it is released as a variety, is termed as the
stock seed. The stock seed itself is known as breeder seed once the identified entry is
released variety and notified. In the crop season following the release foundation seed of the
newly released variety is produced. Thus the farmers able to obtain certified seed of a newly
released variety for commercial only in the third crop season following the release and
notification of the variety.
Guidelines for Release, Release/Notification, Provisional Notification and
Denotification of Cultivars
The object and scope of the Seeds Act is to provide for regulating the quality of
certain notified seeds for sale and for marketing and for the matters connected therewith.
Coming within the range of the Act and Rules go on to make specific to such seeds as have
been notified, i.e., where the determination has been made to control their quality.
Purpose of Release:
The purpose of Release of cultivars is to introduce the newly evolved varieties to the
public for general cultivation in the region in which it is suitable. It enables the farmers to
choose cultivars for cultivation in a region. In other words, release of a cultivar is in the
nature of a recommendation to the farmers for its adoption. Therefore, notification of a
variety is linked to the release of a variety, though the release process itself does not have
statutory cover.
Official Release of the Cultivars at Central and State Levels:
The practice of official release of cultivars started in October, 1964 with the
formation of the Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC) at the Central level and State
Variety Release Committee at State level. The Central Variety Release Committee
functioned up to 1969 when its functions were taken over by the Central Seed Committee
(CSC) established under the Seeds Act, 1966. The Central Seeds Committee constituted a
Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards Notification & Release of Varieties for
Agricultural Crops and Horticultural Crops to discharge the functions of release/notification,
provisional notification and de-notification of cultivars at Central level, while State Seed
Sub-Committee (SSSC) were asked to discharge similar functions for release at State level.
Notification of Cultivars:
After official release (at State as well as Central levels), the cultivars are notified
under the Seeds Act so that the quality of seeds can be regulated. The main purpose of
notification is to bring the seeds of a particular crop/variety under the purview of Seed Law
Enforcement, mainly to empower the Seed Inspectors to verify the quality of its seeds by
sampling and analysis. The notification is made by the Central Government on the
recommendation of the Central Seed Committee. The proposals for notification of a State-
important variety are forwarded in the prescribed format by the State government after its
release in that State to the Central Seed Committee for consideration.
Difference between release and notification

RELEASE NOTIFICATION
SI.NO
Not a statutory function Is a statutory function
1
Its main purpose is to make known Its performed under the Seeds Act so that
2
the details of the newly evolved the provisions of the Seeds Act could be
cultivar to the public and also the applied to regulate the quality of seeds
areas for which it is found suitable during sale
for cultivation

Advantages of notification:
Under the Seeds Act, certified seeds can be produced only of notified varieties and
thus, notification precedes the certification. Therefore, notification is compulsory for
production of certified seeds. Unless the variety is notified, the seed cannot be certified.
Seed Law Enforcement agency notified under the Seeds Act can draw and test samples of
seeds of notified varieties. Therefore, for regulation of the quality of seeds, notification is a
precondition. The farmers benefit from the notification of varieties because the get seeds of
assured quality of notified varieties. As specified under the Seeds Act, seeds of notified
varieties can be sold after proper labeling and packing indicating the minimum specified
standards.
Once the variety is notified, in general, it becomes government of India asset. The
morphological character of notified varieties are documented by the Central Seed
Committee so as to curtail the bio-piracy. The notification of the varieties will help to trace
out its genesis. Subsidies are being considered basing on the notification status. Seed
planning/programmes are being undertaken basing on the notification statistical data.
Procedure for Release of Cultivars:
The cultivar which performs only in one State will be treated as ‘State variety’, which
has been evolved either by State Agricultural University, individual, organization or ICAR
institutes. Such varieties have to be considered by the State Seed Sub-committee of that
particular State for release. The sponsoring authority intended to release the variety should
furnish the relevant information in the prescribed perform given below and submit to the co-
convener of the State Seed Sub-committee for consideration and release of cultivar.
 PROFORMA FOR SUBMISSION OF THE PROPOSAL FOR NOTIFICATION OF CROP VARIETIES OF
VEGETABLE CROPS UNDER SECTION 5 OF THE SEEDS ACT 1966 (STATE VARIETIES)
1 State

2 Name of the crop with scientific name

3 Name of the variety under which released

or known

4 Year of Release

5 (a) Parentage with detail of its pedigree.

(b) Source of material in case of

introduction.

(c) Breeding method

(d) Breeding objectives.

6 State the varieties, which most closely

resemble the proposed variety in general
characteristics.

7 (a) Breeder/Institute responsible for

maintaining breeder's stock.

(b) Quantity of breeder's seed of the

variety available (in Kgs).

8 Description of variety/hybrid

9 Description of the parents of the hybrid.

Is there any problem of synchronization,
if yes, methods to overcome it.

10 Describe at least two identifiable and

distinguishable morphological
characteristics of the variety. In case of
hybrid please describe at least two
identifiable morphological characteristics
of both the parents.

11 Specify kind of rootstock to be used for

vegetatively propagated crops or
otherwise used.
12 Specific recommendations for seed
production/nursery maintenance.
13 Maturity Group (early medium and late,
where over such classification exist).

14 Disease & pest resistance (Give details of

any resistance to pests or diseases
including races.)

15 Recommended ecology

16 Yield (in kg/ha)

(a) Commercial product

(b) Seed

17 Acknowledgement particulars about the

submission of germplasm samples with
NBPGR.

18 Current approximate percentage of area

of the crop (kind) in the State.

19 Approximate area to be covered by this

variety in the state and/or demand for
export for its seeds.

20 Recommendation of All India Workshop

about the variety. Please enclose a
certificate in this effect obtained from
Project Director/Coordinator concerned
of ICAR.

Signature of the Chairman/

Co-convenor State Seed Sub-Committee
Name
Designation

PROFORMA FOR DENOTIFICATION OF CROP/VARIETIES UNDER

SECTION 5 OF THE SEEDS ACT, 1966.
1. State
2. Crop
3. Variety
4. Year of Notification and S.O.No.
5. Name of the Organising Breeder/Institute of the variety
6. Reason for denotification
7. Name of the variety which has replaced/will replace the denotified variety.
8. Recommendation of the All India Workshop about the variety
9. Acknowledgement particulars about the germplasm samples with NBPGR.

Signature of the Head of the Institute/

Co-convenor of the State Seed Sub Committee.

Reference:
https://www.biotecharticles.com/Agriculture-Article/Release-of-New-Varieties-of-Crops-4036.html
https://seednet.gov.in/PDFFILES/Procedure_for_release_of_new_variety.pdf
Singh, B.D(2015). Plant breeding principles and methods. Eleventh revised edition, Kalyani
publishers, New Delhi.