A brief on introduction of forage cultivars to the Islamic republic of Afghanistan through fast track adaptation trials under the ACIAR funded forage options for small holders’ project

Abstract

Based on the draft seed regulations for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, field crop varieties such as oat, triticale, alfalfa, Trifolium etc. are either of Afghanistan or foreign origins. Either of them needs to be evaluated and listed in the national variety catalogue in order to be introduced into the national seed production, certification and commercialization schemes. Variety evaluation is done through test of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) and Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU). For the foreign forage varieties introduced into Afghanistan under the ACIAR funded forage project from foreign countries, the DUS data is available from the countries of origin and the VCU data is available from the three-year adaptation trials conducted in Afghanistan. Consequently, these varieties can be submitted for registration provided that the DUS data and no objection from the countries of origin are obtained and two years of the adaptation trial data showing clear merits for the country is available. In this brief, the steps of introduction of varieties of foreign origin and National varieties were listed.