UDUPI: Paddy farmers in areas prone to flooding now have something to cheer about. The Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station (ZAHRS) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Brahmavar have launched a new flood-resistant variety of paddy — ‘Sahyadri Panchamukhi’ (IRGA).
The new variety was released at the Krishi Mela at Brahmavara on Saturday. Work on developing the flood-resistant paddy strain was taken up in Udupi last year.
The germplasm lines for the Sahyadri Panchamukhi variety were brought from the Philippines. The variety is suitable for the topography of Udupi and the agriculture department here aims to cultivate it in 40 acres of paddy fields to start with. The paddy stalks grow to about 90 to 95 cm tall and can withstand stagnation of flood water for eight to 12 days.
Dayanand Suvarna of Manipura near Katapady told TNSE that he grew Sahyadri Panchamukhi on a trial basis on the suggestion of scientists from KVK, Brahmavara, and could get a yield of 20 quintals per acre. The earlier MO4 variety, which was introduced in 1995, would give him a yield of about 18 quintals per acre. Moreover, the specialty of the ‘Sahyadri Panchamukhi’ variety is that the crop withstood flooding in his fields for eight days. “Compared to MO4, I also got more quantity of paddy straw because the height was about 15 cm more,’’ he said.Dr Sridevi Jakkeral, rice breeder at KVK, Brahmavara, told TNSE that her team conducted extensive research on the ability of this paddy species in mitigating the effect of floods. ‘’Seeds of this variety were distributed to 20 farmers on a trial basis who cultivated it in flood-prone conditions last year. The saplings withstood flooding for eight to 12 days. There was much demand from farmers for such a breed’’, she said.
Dr S U Patil, Associate Director of Research, ZAHRS, said the ‘Sahyadri Panchamukhi’ will not replace the MO4 variety in the district, but farmers in flood-prone areas will be advised to grow the new variety.