Two salinity-tolerant paddy developed

Two high salinity-tolerant paddy developed by Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) are waiting release for cultivation at farmers level in next Boro season.
Trials of the two salinity-tolerant rice under Seed Certification Agency (SCA) have been completed and now the verities will be placed before the technical committee meeting soon, Director of Seed Certification Agency (SCA) Md Bashir Uddin said while talking to BSS on Sunday.
Bashir Uddin said after approval of the technical committee and these varieties will be placed before the National Seed Board for final approval.
He said trial reports of the verities are good as both varieties can tolerate high salinity of soil with good production.
Bashir Uddin expected the two verities of the paddy will be cultivated at farmer levels in the next Boro and Aman season.
Principal Scientific Officer of the BINA Dr Mirza Mofazzal Islam, who is developing the two varieties, said the newly innovated crop will be cultivated in Boro and Aman season.
He said both of varieties would able to tolerate salinity of 8 to 10 Desi Siemens (DS) mitres.
Dr Mirza said salinity tolerant capacity of the varieties are much than BRRI-47 as it can tolerate 4 to 6 DS mitres salinity of soil while my develop 8 to 10 DS mitres.
He said the falling out rate of mature paddy of BRII 47 is very high in the harvesting time that may affect total production rate of the farmers.
Dr Mirza said these varieties will yield 4.5 to 5 metric tons rice per hectare in the Boro production while 4 to 4.5 tons in Aman production. The varieties will be able to yield at 7.5 tons under normal condition of land, he added. He said the possible names of the varieties are BINA-8 and BINA-9.
The BINA sources said the lifetime of the varieties is 130 to 135 days in the Boro season and 120 to 125 days in Aman season.
Dr Mirza said nearly 10 lakh hectares of land between 4 to 20 DS mitres salinity have in the coastal region of the country. He said the existing salinity tolerant varieties including the two varieties of BINA are able to cover 30 percent land of southern region, which will contribute additional 10 lakh tons of rice.
Officials of Agriculture Extension Department have expressed the hope that the newly developed varieties will get popularity among the farmers.
The DAE officials observed that irrigation facility is still a big problem in the coastal region. The salinity tolerant varieties of rice will able to contribute significantly to increasing rice production, if irrigation facilities are improved.

Courtesy of BSS via The New Nation