Tamil Nadu   

New paddy variety developed

By Our Staff Reporter

RAMANATHAPURAM, AUG. 3. The Coastal Saline Research Centre, a unit of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, has developed a new paddy culture — RM 96019, a variety to withstand drought and the saline soil of Ramanathapuram district.

The research, started in 1991, was to find suitable crops and paddy varieties for saline-affected coastal areas of the district.

The variety was developed at the Kuyavankudi farm, a saline-affected farm area belonging to the centre with inputs from the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute and the Hyderabad-based Central Rice Research Institute.

The duration of the variety is just 105 days. This is 15 days less than the normal varieties. The important feature of the new variety is that the crop can be cultivated with one or two irrigations in saline water in case of failure of rain during the last leg of cultivation.

S. Mahendran, head of the centre, told The Hindu the new drought-prone variety would give a yield of 4-4.5 tonnes a hectare.

The new culture would be introduced to farmers in the coming season, as a participatory research programme.

Technologies on integrated nutrient management, weed management and other soil conservation techniques for higher productivity of rice would be transferred to farmers through the Agriculture departmentfor adoption.

Fifty places from different regions of the district were identified for trial farming of the variety.

The centre received Ashoka 228, another shorter variety from Jharkhand for the benefit of farmers. The duration of this variety was 85 to 90 days, he said.

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