Desk Report: Two new local rice varieties, developed at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), remain ready for release in the coming months, said officials, reports The Financial Express.
The high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of paddy are Brridhan-88 and 89, they disclosed.
The new varieties have already generated a great deal of interest among farmers and scientists as well.
The developers claim the rice varieties will compete with Brridhan-28, the key seed in the largest rice sourcing season ‘Boro’.
Project associates said the two new varieties were found tolerant to fungal diseases.
Rice yield is more than 7.0 tonnes per hectare, 8.0 to 10 per cent higher than that of the Brridhan-28 and 29, they mentioned.
However, Brridhan-88 and 89 will take the same time of 143 days like the Brridhan-28 variety. The breadth-length ratio, which is a yardstick to measure fineness of grain, is 3.1 in the new variety as against nearly 3.0 of Brridhan-28.
Brridhan-28 has been dominant since the 1990s having been most popular with both the cultivators and consumers.
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