#Pusa #basmati #pb1886
Farmers in India will now be relieved from heavy infestation of bacterial leaf blight and Blast in paddy. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has announced the release of three new varieties Pusa Basmati-1847, Pusa Basmati-1885 and Pusa Basmati-1886 which are resistant to bacterial leaf blight and blast disease.
The new released varieties are improveised from the prevalent varieties viz. Pusa Basmati-1121, Pusa Basmati-1509 and Pusa Basmati-1401 and share the same features with improved yield and disease resistance in them. The information was shared by Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) with Krishak Jagat.
Pusa Basmati-1886 (Bacterial leaf blight and Blast resistant)
Pusa Basmati-1886 has been developed by making Pusa Basmati 1401 resistant to bacterial leaf blight and blast and is of good quality and matures in 155 days. It is also a preferred quality paddy for export to the European Union.
Dr. Singh said that for the prevention of bacterial blight disease and blast disease, farmer had to use numerous rounds of fungicides and antibiotics due to which chemical residues crossed maximum residue limit (MRL) in paddy as per EU norms.
India exported 5 lakh tonnes of basmati paddy in 2017 to the European Union which was reduced to 2.5 lakh tonnes in 2019 due to high residue content. The new released varieties by IARI will help farmers to reduce the use of agrochemicals for disease and infestation control with improved yields.