New Herbicide-Tolerant Paddy Variety: Pusa Basmati 1985

 In the world of agriculture, innovation is key to increasing yields and improving crops. One recent development is the introduction of Pusa Basmati 1985, a new herbicide-tolerant paddy variety. This blog post will explore the key features of Pusa Basmati 1985 and its potential benefits for farmers.

High Yield and Early Maturity

Pusa Basmati 1985 is a high-yielding paddy variety that matures early. This means that farmers can harvest their crops sooner, which can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Early harvesting can help to avoid pests and diseases that can damage crops later in the season. It can also allow farmers to plant a second crop on the same land in the same year.

Herbicide Tolerance

One of the most significant advantages of Pusa Basmati 1985 is its tolerance to herbicides. Herbicides are weed-killing chemicals that can help farmers to control weeds in their fields. Weeds can compete with crops for water, nutrients, and sunlight, and can also harbor pests and diseases. By using herbicides, farmers can reduce weed competition and improve crop yields.

Suitability for Specific Regions

Pusa Basmati 1985 is particularly well-suited for cultivation in the Gl areas of Delhi, Punjab, and Western Uttar Pradesh. These regions have specific growing conditions that make Pusa Basmati 1985 a good choice for farmers.

Brief Description of the technology:

Pusa Basmati 1985 (IET 28814), is a MAS derived herbicide tolerant NIL of Pusa Basmati 1509, with inbuilt tolerance to the Imazethapyr herbicide exhibiting complete tolerance to Imazethapyr (herbicide) spray with an yield potential of 4.57 t/ ha under dry direct seeded condition yield while recording yield on par with the recurrent parent under normal transplanted condition and possesses grain and cooking quality on par with the recurrent parent, Pusa Basmati 1509. Based on background analysis, it has shown 98.61% recovery of Pusa Basmati 1509 (recurrent parent) genome and complete phenome recovery. The gene linked marker for AHAS gene, can be used for testing authenticity of seed or its identity at any stage of crop growth. Due to labour and water shortage, there is a shift in rice cultivation from transplanted condition to the dry directed seeded rice (DSR) cultivation in the Basmati growing parts of northwestern India. Under DSR, weeds are a major concern as it can cause severe yield losses by competing for nutrient, water and other resources in the field. Managing weeds with manual weeding and application of other pre- and post-emergence herbicides are costly and are not very effective. It possesses long slender grains (8.03 mm) with very occasional grain chalkiness, very good kernel length after cooking (16.72 mm), intermediate amylose content (21.89%) and strong aroma.

Owing to its early maturity it can help timely harvest of paddy crop in the Basmati growing region, which can help providing sufficient time for after-harvest operations. Timely clearing of fields will also help in reducing the environmental pollution and help in timely sowing of the succeeding wheat crop in the Basmati GI area. PB 1985 being resistant to Imazethapyr will help in reduce the loss due to weeds significantly under both direct seeded and transplanted conditions, thus economizing cost of cultivation.