CUDDALORE:
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, the Philippines, has assigned the task of evaluating submergence-tolerant paddy varieties in Tamil Nadu to the Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University.
Rm.Kathiresan, head and professor, Department of Agronomy, told The Hindu that the existing paddy varieties would withstand partial submergence only for a limited period and would perish soon if submerged fully. In the recent years, in the delta districts, the food basket of Tamil Nadu, submergence of standing paddy crops for over a week had become a common phenomenon. If the problem was not tackled in a scientific and consistent manner, it might endanger food security and seriously threaten the livelihood of lakhs of farmers and farm labourers.
Mr. Kathiresan said that the IRRI, through the project called “Stress-tolerant rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA)” funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S., had isolated the submergence tolerant gene and introduced it in paddy varieties such as IR-74, Swarna, Samba Mashuri and CR-1009, all with the suffix ‘sub-1.'
Various agricultural research institutions were evaluating these varieties elsewhere in India and in Tamil Nadu the task had been assigned to Annamalai University. Mr. Kathiresan further said that his department had already been implementing the World Bank-Indian Council of Agricultural Research-funded National Agricultural Innovation Project for livelihood enhancement of 2,400 farming households in the disadvantaged districts of Tamil Nadu.
On the strength of the latter project, the IRRI had given the responsibility of evaluating the new varieties to the department. The evaluation process for these new cultivars had already started. Mr. Kathiresan observed that the Department of Biotechnology under the Union Ministry of Science and Technology had involved the Agronomy Department as a partner in a network mode in collaboration with the IRRI to speed up the process of evolving many more flood and saline-tolerant paddy varieties. He hoped that the new varieties would come as a boon to the delta farmers to mitigate the crop losses on account of floods.
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