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COIMBATORE: For many farmers who are looking to make a quick buck in the short term in between their cotton, sugarcane or vegetable cultivation, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has come up with its latest hybrid variety of sunflower.
The hybrid variety of seeds were released in 2019. They can be grown in rainfed areas and are moderately disease resistant. TNAU scientists said demand for sunflower oil is high due to its nutritional benefits. Currently, India imports most of its sunflower oil from Ukraine, Russia and Argentina.
The latest variety of sunflower COH3 has 42% oil content, and can provide a yield of 716 kg per hectare. “The 90-day duration of this variety requires some irrigation, but it can grow in rainfed areas like Namakkal, Erode, Karur, Virudhunagar and Coimbatore,” said Vishwanathan, a scientist at TNAU.
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COIMBATORE: A village panchayat vice-president’s wife and her father murdered a 25-year-old youth near Periyamathampalayam on Monday night when the youth stabbed them during a quarrel.
The injured, Thulasimani, 38, and her father Nagaraj, 62, from Periyamathampalayam near Periyanaickenpalayam, were admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) and their health condition is critical, a police officer said.
Police said the deceased, P Sureshkumar, of Netaji Nagar at Samanaickenpalayam near Periyanaickenpalayam, was working in a chicken shop owned by Thulasimani’s husband Ganeshan, 42, from Samanaickenpalayam.
Ganeshan, a DMK member and vice-president of Vellamadai village panchayat, fired Sureshkumar after he discovered that the latter was passing on information about his whereabouts to his wife. Ganeshan used to consume liquor with his friends, which his wife disliked and often picked up fight with him over it.
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COIMBATORE: The district recorded 81 fresh Covid-19 cases and one death on Tuesday. While 86 people were discharged from government and private hospitals in the district, active cases stand at 738.
The total number of Covid deaths in the district has gone up to 657.
Though the health department has managed to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases to less than 90 a day, and deaths to an average of one person a day, the district continues to see deaths occurring within 24 hours of hospitalization. In December alone, nearly 20% of deaths occurred within 24 hours of hospitalization.
Of the 41 deaths due to Covid-19 recorded in December, eight occurred within 24 hours of hospitalization. Another seven deaths occurred within 48 hours of hospitalization, which means 36.5% of the deaths, or 15 out of 41, occured within two days of hospitalization. Nine out of 10 deaths have occurred in government hospitals.
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COIMBATORE: Two people from Pollachi were critically injured when a speeding private bus rammed a car on a rail over bridge (ROB) near SIDCO at Sundarapuram here on Tuesday morning. The bus hit two more cars before coming to halt by smashing into the parapet wall of the bridge.
The car in which Nithin Prasad, 24, and his elder sister Kanjanadevi, 35, were travelling was completely mangled and other two cars were slightly damaged.
Bus driver Prakash was trying to overtake a vehicle on the bridge when he lost control of the bus and collided head-on with the car in which the injured were travelling from the opposite direction. The bus was on its way towards Pollachi from Coimbatore.