Perennial rice
- November 29, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
Perennial rice
Subject: Agriculture
Context: Farmers in China are now growing a perennial variety of rice which does not need to be planted every year.
Concept:
What is the perennial variety of rice?
Perennial rice are varieties of long-lived rice that are capable of regrowing season after season without reseeding; they are being developed by plant geneticists at several institutions.
Perennial rice—like many other perennial plants—can spread by horizontal stems below or just above the surface of the soil but they also reproduce sexually by producing flowers, pollen and seeds. As with any other grain crop, it is the seeds that are harvested and eaten by humans.
Developed by-Researchers at the Yunnan University and the first variety was released to the Chinese growers in 2018.
Name– perennial rice PR23
How- by cross-breeding regular annual rice Oryza sativa with a wild perennial variety from Africa.
Feature-
- Higher production-6.8 tons per hectare, as comparable to regular irrigated rice
- Perennial-Unlike regular rice which is planted every season, PR23 can yield eight consecutive harvests across four years (as these plants with stronger roots grow back vigorously after each harvest).
- Cheaper– growing it is much cheaper since it requires less labour, seeds and chemical inputs.
- Other benefits– as per the journal Nature Sustainability–growing perennial rice over a period of four years resulted;
- Environmental benefits such as soils accumulating close to a ton of organic carbon (per hectare per year) along with increases in water available to plants.
- Drought resistance: Annual rice has a shallow root system and is very drought susceptible.
- Resist weed invasion: Weed pressure has increased in upland rice systems as the fallow period has shortened.
- Plant nutrition: While shallow rooted species, such as rice obtain most of their nutrients from the topsoil, deep rooted perennials can obtain a significant proportion of their phosphorus from the subsoil.
Rice;
- Oryza Sativa, it is believed, is associated with wet, humid climate, though it is not a tropical plant.
- Historians believe that while the indica variety of rice was first domesticated in the area covering the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas (i.e. north-eastern India), stretching through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Southern China, the japonica variety was domesticated from wild rice in southern China which was introduced to India. Perennial wild rice still grows in Assam and Nepal.
- In India rice is grown under widely varying conditions of altitude and climate.
- Rice cultivation in India extends from 8 to35ºN latitude and from sea level to as high as 3000 meters.
- Rice crops need a hot and humid climate.
- It is best suited to regions which have high humidity, prolonged sunshine and an assured supply of water.
- The average temperature required throughout the life period of the crop ranges from 21 to 37º C.
- Maximum temp which the crop can tolerate is 40 degree C to 42 degree C.
- In India Rice is mainly grown in two types of soils i.e., (i) uplands and (ii) low lands.
- The crop of rice is grown with the following methods
- Dry or Semi-dry upland cultivation– Broadcasting the seed, Sowing the seed behind the plough or drilling
- Wet or lowland cultivation-Transplanting in puddled fields. Broadcasting sprouted seeds in puddled fields
- India is the world’s second largest rice producer, after China, and the largest exporter with a 40% share in global trade.
- India is the leading exporter of the Basmati Rice to the global market.
- The Indian states with the highest areas of Basmati rice under production are Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Western Uttar Pradesh.
- India’s leading producer of rice is fundamentally situated in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
- These biggest rice producing states hold around 72% of India’s absolute rice producing region and offer over 75% of the all out rice production in the country.
- West Bengal has the highest production of rice in India followed by UP, Punjab, TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh.