Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 11
By Samir Ali – Trend:
Azerbaijan has started to grow 12 new varieties of cotton, Director of the Tartar Regional Scientific Innovation Center of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture Maharram Aliyev told Trend on Sept. 11.
“The Center has already hybridized these cotton varieties and new crops have been planted on an area of two hectares to assess their qualities,” he said.
"Four out of 12 varieties are Azerbaijani, four - Turkish, two - US and two – Greek,” Aliyev said. “The US and Greek varieties are grown in accordance with agricultural standards adopted in Greece. Greek specialists were invited to Azerbaijan for this purpose. The new varieties were planted with their support. The Greek delegation is expected to arrive in Azerbaijan again soon to inspect the level of cultivation and yield of these varieties of cotton."
He stressed that the new varieties of cotton that are grown in Azerbaijan are the Azerbaijani varieties - "Ganja-110", "Ganja-160", "Ganja-114", "Ganja-182", Turkish varieties - "BA - 440", "Flash", "Lima" and "Karisma", Greek varieties - "Prime-1004", "Christina", American - "PRG 9811" and "PRG 9048".
“The new varieties were planted within the project "Comparative evaluation of local and foreign cotton varieties", the implementation of which was launched in May 2019 and is designed for three years,” Aliyev added.
"New cotton varieties, as opposed to the local varieties, are resistant to excess moisture and grow quickly,” he said.
“Greek cotton varieties are grown in a special way,” Aliyev added. “Greek specialists, who arrived in Azerbaijan as part of the project, monitor the compliance with the process. In general, they will observe the cultivation of new varieties until the cotton fully ripens.”
He added that after collecting new varieties of cotton, their seeds will be collected and prepared for planting next year.
"According to the project, these varieties will be planted within three years,” Aliyev said. “If their productivity meets the characteristics, the sown areas will be consistently increased. The difference between the new varieties and the local ones is the whiter color of cotton, a minimum quantity of seeds and resistance to excess water."