Rice variety with better yield, lower glycemic index introduced
LUCKNOW:Seeds of improved paddy variety developed by scientists of Council of Scientific and Agricultural Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) were distributed among 200 farmers in Lucknow on Thursday.
Each farmer was provided with 10 kilogram of paddy seed free of cost at a function organised at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP) after an introduction about the variety by experts who developed the crop.
“The new variety is an improved version of Sambha Mahsuri rice. The improved variety is resistant to certain diseases than normal Sambha rice variety and gives better yield,” said Dr Rakesh K Mishra, director of Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). CCMB developed the rice variety in tandem with Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR).
Villagers from Barabanki, Gorakhpur, Sitapur and other districts of the state participated in the function and received the seeds of the new paddy.
Ramjeeven Rawat, 50, a farmer from Gopalpur village of Barabanki was one of the farmers who participated in the event. “I am told that this is a better paddy variety. I will sow it in my field this season and continue with it if the yield is higher,” Ramjeeven said.
Speaking more about the variety, Mishra said, “The rice variety is resistant to bacterial blight and develops in a shorter duration thus reducing input cost of farming.”
Apart from these aspects, this rice has a low Glycemic Index (GI) which makes it suitable for consumption by people suffering from diabetes. “The GI index of the variety is around 50 which makes it suitable to be consumed by diabetics,” Mishra said.
The new variety is currently being used by farmers of eight states in the country including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. “Now we want to introduce it in the rice growing belt of Uttar Pardesh and other northern states,” Mishra said.
Reportedly, it took scientists 15 years to improve the rice variety. “We used Marker Assisted Selection (MAS), a biotechnology tool to improve the variety,” informed Mishra.
CCMB is also planning to improve rice varieties of Uttar Pradesh in coming days according to Mishra.