Profiles - Mahyco
26 June 2012 | News
MD: Raju Barwale
Extending Bt technology
Having lead the Bt cotton introduction, Mahyco is now working on introducing this technology to food crops
Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) is involved in research and development, production, processing and marketing of 200 products in 35 crop species, including cereals, oilseeds, fiber crops and vegetables. Bt cotton clocked an estimated sales of 
314 crore in 2011-12 as against 359 crore during the previous fiscal of 2010-11. The total number of Bt cotton packets sold during the year was around 35 lakh packets in India. Maximum business today comes from its Bt cotton sales, mainly BGII packets due to its acceptability among farmers.
The company has now developed insect-tolerant Bt brinjal and is currently awaiting approval from the Government of India for marketing it in India.
Mahyco has a state-of-the art R&D center at Dawalwadi near Jalna in Maharashtra, with on going hybrid breeding programs in over 30 crop species and support programs in plant pathology, entomology, cytogenetics, biochemistry, tissue culture, rapid cycling, biotech and transgenic plant research. Beside this, Mahyco has five more research center and 18 multilocational crop performance testing centers distributed across the country. Over 200 scientists are engaged in the research programs at Mahyco. The research focus at the Mahyco Research Centre has been in areas related to improving crop performance such as tolerance to biotic stresses including pests, diseases and viruses, and abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity and increasing nutrient uptake efficiency
Having established itself in the Bt cotton technology in India, Mahyco is now working on bringing this technology to food crops and this includes Bt okra and Bt rice. However, progress can be reported only when the Government of India first gives Mahyco approval for its Bt brinjal commercialization. Presently Mahyco is working on insect tolerance (sucking and chewing pest), herbicide tolerance, salinity tolerance, drought resistant seeds, nitrogen use efficiency and resistance against disease crops. Apart from expanding its hybrid business, the center is gearing up to bring out the Roundup Ready (RR) cotton, and discovering new traits in crops.
314 crore in 2011-12 as against 359 crore during the previous fiscal of 2010-11. The total number of Bt cotton packets sold during the year was around 35 lakh packets in India. Maximum business today comes from its Bt cotton sales, mainly BGII packets due to its acceptability among farmers.
The company has now developed insect-tolerant Bt brinjal and is currently awaiting approval from the Government of India for marketing it in India.
Mahyco has a state-of-the art R&D center at Dawalwadi near Jalna in Maharashtra, with on going hybrid breeding programs in over 30 crop species and support programs in plant pathology, entomology, cytogenetics, biochemistry, tissue culture, rapid cycling, biotech and transgenic plant research. Beside this, Mahyco has five more research center and 18 multilocational crop performance testing centers distributed across the country. Over 200 scientists are engaged in the research programs at Mahyco. The research focus at the Mahyco Research Centre has been in areas related to improving crop performance such as tolerance to biotic stresses including pests, diseases and viruses, and abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity and increasing nutrient uptake efficiency
Having established itself in the Bt cotton technology in India, Mahyco is now working on bringing this technology to food crops and this includes Bt okra and Bt rice. However, progress can be reported only when the Government of India first gives Mahyco approval for its Bt brinjal commercialization. Presently Mahyco is working on insect tolerance (sucking and chewing pest), herbicide tolerance, salinity tolerance, drought resistant seeds, nitrogen use efficiency and resistance against disease crops. Apart from expanding its hybrid business, the center is gearing up to bring out the Roundup Ready (RR) cotton, and discovering new traits in crops.
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