SUN-SUNDHUR: COLOURED OKRA DEVELOPED BY SUN CROP SCIENCES(PVT) LTD.
Sun Crop Sciences Private Limited R &D has developed an Anthocyanin pigment rich, coloured okra (Bhendi) from its huge collection of germplasm lines. A single plant was noticed in one of its germplasm lines and subsequently selfed and stabilized. The variety, named as “SUN-SINDHUR”, is presently under large scale multiplication of seed for further evaluation in farmer’s fields. Sample fruits were given to number of families for cooking quality, revealed that they got excited and provided very good feed-back.
The characteristic features of Sun-Sindhur are:
•The plant parts like stem, petioles, veins and veinlets are having Anthocyanin pigmentation.
•Fruits are very attractive and purple in colour with less mucilage
•Plants are erect with medium long internodes
Advantages of coloured okra:
Compared to normal(green) okra, purple okra is rich in nutrients. Rich in Iron, antioxidants, Anthocyanin and Phenolic compounds and hence, helps in increasing resistance power. Reduces the bad cholesterol and helps in reducing blood pressure (BP) and Blood Sugar. It was reported that purple okra has around 21% Iron and 5% proteins.
Since the coloured (purple) okra has more nutrients and better advantages than normal okra, fetches higher price in the market and good profits to the growers.
Dr.Sonti.Venkateswarlu – MD (Sun Crop Sciences Private Limited)
Source: [email protected]