ICPH 2671 – the world's first commercial food legume hybrid

ICRISAT scientists, working with Indian programme counterparts, developed the world's first cytoplasmic-nuclear male sterility (CMS)-based commercial hybrid in a food legume, the pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]. The CMS, in combination with natural outcrossing of the crop, was used to develop viable hybrid breeding technology. Hybrid ICPH 2671 recorded 47% superiority for grain yield over the control variety ‘Maruti’ in multilocation on-station testing for 4 years. In the on-farm trials conducted in five Indian states, mean yield of this hybrid (1396 kg/ha) was 46.5% greater than that of the popular cv. ‘Maruti’ (953 kg/ha). Hybrid ICPH 2671 also exhibited high levels of resistance to Fusarium wilt and sterility mosaic diseases. The outstanding performance of this hybrid has led to its release for cultivation in India by both a private seed company (as ‘Pushkal’) and a public sector university (as ‘RV ICPH 2671’). Recent developments in hybrid breeding technology and high yield advantages realized in farmers' fields have given hope for a breakthrough in pigeonpea productivity.

Thin-walled timber and FRP-timber veneer composite CEE-sections

This paper compares the structural performance between thin-walled timber and FRP-timber composite Cee-sections. While, thin-walled composite timber structures have been proven to be efficient and ultra-light structural elements, their manufacturing is difficult and labour intensive. Significant effort and time is required to prevent the cracking of the transverse timber veneers, bent in the grain direction, when forming the cross-sectional shape. FRP-timber structures overcome this disadvantage by replacing the transverse veneers with flexible, unidirectional FRP material and only keeping the timber veneers which are bent in their natural rolling direction. The Cee-sections investigated in this study were 210 mm deep × 90 mm wide × 500 mm high and manufactured from five plies. For both section types, the three internal plies were thin (1 mm thick) softwood Hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) veneers, orientated along the section longitudinal axis. The two outer layers, providing bending stiffness to the walls, were Hoop pine veneers (1 mm thick) for the timber sections and glass fibre reinforced plastic (0.73 mm thick) for the FRP-timber sections orientated perpendicular to the inner layers. The manufacturing process is briefly introduced in this paper. The profiles were fitted with strain gauges and tested in compression. Linear Variable Displacement Transducers also recorded the buckling along one flange. The test results are presented and discussed in this paper in regards to their structural behaviour and performance. Results showed that the use of FRP in the sections increases both the elastic local buckling load and section capacity, the latter being increased by about 24 percent. The results indicate that thin-walled FRP-timber can ultimately be used as a sustainable alternative to cold-formed steel profiles.