IARI’s new rice variety to lift non-basmati exports

Srinivasulu, a farmer from Alur, Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, in April 2021, harvested a new rice variety Pusa Samba 1850 produced by Indian Agricultural Study Institute (IARI) with a yield of all over four tonnes for each hectare.

The new variety is an improved version of Pusa Samba Mahsuri (BPT 5204) which has been commonly cultivated by farmers in southern as nicely as eastern pieces of the place. Pusa Samba Mahsuri variety is mostly developed in the course of the Samba period (November-March) in the South and has a important share in the country’s non-basmati rice exports. The variety is characterised by medium slender grain and superior cooking top quality.

No pesticides

Sudheer Agarwal, a farmer from Bhurekha village of Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, is upbeat about the potential clients of having up a new non-Basmati variety – Pusa Samba 1850 in the forthcoming kharif period.

Agarwal said that the critical rationale for having the non-basmati rice variety produced by IARI is better yield and nearly absence of pesticide utilization. Throughout the previous two years of field demonstration throughout the place, farmers like Srinivasulu and Agarwal have acquired an normal yield in the assortment of four-7 tonnes/ha.

The Pusa Samba 1850 variety produced by IARI — an improved version of Samba Mahsuri (BPT 5204) — a variety is now currently being developed throughout Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar on all over one.5 million hectares.

Nonetheless, Samba Mahsuri is very susceptible to blast illness which results in important yield and top quality losses.

For controlling the illness, farmers have been using extra pesticides together with incurring better labour price tag, in addition to obtaining an adverse effects on the atmosphere.

Samba Mahsuri was released in 1989 by Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad for professional cultivation.

Nonetheless, with a breeder seed indent of 42.eight quintals for Kharif 2022, Samba Mahsuri remains a common variety amongst farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

“There are all over 320 rice varieties in the countrywide seed chain at existing, of which only twenty five varieties have a breeder seed-indent of extra than forty quintals.

“ Despite Samba Mashuri currently being, extra than three decades previous variety it however occupies twenty fourth situation in the countrywide breeder seed indent which is testimony to its attractiveness,” Gopala Krishnan S, Principal Scientist, IARI, said.

In accordance to Krishnan S of IARI, who is the mind powering improvement of Pusa Samba 1850, the variety has been produced using a Marker Assisted Selection-derived blast resistant by insertion of three governing resistance to blast illness genes – Pi54, Pi1 and Pita.

This gene fortification allows ward off the deadly bacterial blight.

Higher yield

The Pusa Sambha – 1850 variety of rice went by field trials at web blast hot places in the place this sort of as Malan / Palanpur (Himachal Pradesh), Jammu, Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh), Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), Gudalur (Tamil Nadu), Lonavala (Maharashtra), Ponnampet (Karnataka) & Hazaribagh (Jharkand).

In a big-scale field demonstration, in Kharif 2019 done throughout Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the new rice variety had offered an normal yield of six.56 tonnes/ha. In Shidenur of Raichur district of Karnataka, the normal yield was all over nine.3 tonnes/ha.

In the field demonstration done at the farmers’ field in the course of Kharif period of 2020, the yield of Pusa Samba 1850 ranged among 5.5 and eight tonnes throughout Chemmangudi and Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu), Shahjanhanpur and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Ganagavathi (Karnataka) and Cuttack (Odisha).

The function was to get volumes for millers and traders to additional evaluate its likely amongst millers and customers.

“Pusa Sambha 1850, is a blast resistant improved version of Sambha Mahshuri (BPT 5204), the most traded rice variety in the non-Basmati segment. It will additional improve non-Basmati exports which have crossed thirteen million tonnes in the course of 2020-21, the optimum in the background of rice export,” Ashok Singh, Director, IARI said.

 

Breeder seed

In the next two years, a big-scale cultivation of the new variety is envisioned to choose area.

At this time, breeder seed is provided to private businesses and NGOs for multiplication. IARI has signed an MOU with Hyderabad-dependent Eldorado Agri-tech Private Ltd for multiplications of seeds.

The breeder seed has been supplied by IARI for multiplications into basis seeds and certified seeds in the forthcoming kharif period.

In accordance to an agriculture ministry formal, by 2022, big scale professional cultivation of Pusa Sambha 1850 rice variety is envisioned which would not only improve India’s non-basmati rice exports potential clients but also reduce price tag of production for farmers mainly because of better yield and minimal price tag for pesticides.

In accordance to Agricultural and Processed Food items Solution Exports Advancement Authority (APEDA), the non-basmati rice exports rose sharply in 2020-21 the two in phrases of volume and price as opposed to former yr (2019-20).

The volume of non-basmati rice exports rose by 159 for each cent to thirteen.08 million tonnes (mt) in 2020-21 as opposed to former yr when price of exports jumped by 137 for each cent to $four,796 million from $two,020 million described in former yr.

Sandip Das is a Delhi-dependent writer on agriculture and food security. Views are private.