IARI starts trials of shorter-duration basmati variety

PATIALA: The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), which has developed a new short-duration high-yield variety of basmati rice, has begun trials at its research-cum-demo centre at Rakhra, near Patiala.
The new variety takes 120 days to mature as against 145-155 days taken by other varieties. Its yield is equivalent to that of the widely cultivated Pusa Basmati-1121 variety, which enjoys an 80% share in exports from the country.The new variety does not shatter, which is a major problem with Pusa Basmati-1121. IARI scientists, who visited the centre on Saturday morning, said the cooking quality of new variety is better than the other existing varieties in cultivation.
Led by Dr Rakesh Seth, the monitoring team, which included senior rice breeder Dr Gopala Krishnan, Punjab State Seed Certification Authority's Dr Amrik Singh and the NSC's seed officer Satbir Singh, approved production of breeder seeds to the extent of 70 quintals.
Seth said that the seeds of Pusa Basmati-1509 will be made available to farmers before the next kharif season. "It is a revolution in agricultural research, providing an option to farmers for diversification and increase their profitability," he said.
Secretary general of Young Farmers Association, Bhagwan Dass, said that since the new variety will mature around 25 days earlier, farmers would now be able to take a third crop between paddy and wheat and increase their profitability. It will also enable farmers to restore soil fertility, affected by the exhaustive rice-wheat rotation, of their land, he added.