Improved basmati variety launched

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), has launched an improved version of the Pusa Basmati-1 variety, which has been the mainstay of Indian basmati exports for nearly 15 years. The new variety, with relatively higher yield potential and disease-resistance, is expected to boost basmati availability for exports.

The new variety, named Improved Pusa Basmati-1, was formally approved for commercial cultivation at the 42nd Annual Rice Group meeting held early this month in Hyderabad.

India exports around 1.2 million tonnes of basmati rice every year, and Pusa Basmati-1 accounts for 60 per cent of it. This variety was the first semi-dwarf high-yielding aromatic rice variety evolved way back in 1989. It has grain qualities quite similar to traditional basmati, and was, therefore, marketed globally as basmati rice.

However, its relatively milder aroma and dull chalk-like appearance did not allow it to compete with some of the other aromatic rice types offered in the world market by rival exporters. Moreover, it is also susceptible to the bacterial blight disease, which normally takes a heavy toll on basmati production.

"The blight often caused 30 to 40 per cent yield loss. In the case of heavy infestation, the loss could be total, forcing the farmers to stop harvesting the crop," IARI genetics division head K V Prabhu told Business Standard.

The Improved Pusa Basmati-1, which is referred in plant breeders' parlance as Pusa 1460 (IET 18990), has been evolved through molecular breeding by incorporating blight-resistance carrying genes Xa13 and Xa21 into the Pusa Basmati variety.

Some of the representatives of the basmati exporting companies and the All India Rice Exporters' Association, who were shown the grains of the new variety while it was being tested at the IARI fields, endorsed its export-worthiness.

In the three-year national level field trials, which are mandatory before a new variety is approved for release, the new variety has shown about 12 per cent yield superiority over Pusa Basmati-1, and more than 33 per cent superiority over Taraori basmati, which is another good basmati variety enjoying a significant share of the exports.

The grains of Improved Pusa Basmati-1 are long and slender with short awns (top hair). The grains have been rated as acceptable in the panel test. On cooking, the grains elongate to about 1.85 times their original size. Besides, the grains are less chalky compared with Pusa Basmati-1, and can be stored over a longer period.

The new variety has been recommended for cultivation in all the basmati growing areas with irrigation facilities. Its milling recovery has been assessed at 66.7 per cent and hulling recovery even higher at 74 per cent.