Possible answer to farm fires: New rice variety can replace Pusa-44

Subject : Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

In its order directing the Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan governments to ensure that the burning of crop stubble be “stopped forthwith”, the Supreme Court mentioned a “particular kind of paddy grown mostly in Punjab”.

Pusa-44 variety of paddy:

This variety (possibly the Pusa-44) and “the time period in which it is grown” were seen as major causes of stubble burning and the resultant pollution problems in the National Capital Region.
Bred by the New Delhi-based Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
It is a long-duration variety that takes 155-160 days to mature, from the time of nursery sowing of seeds to harvesting of grain. Thus, farmers resort to burning the standing stubble and loose straw that remains after harvesting using combine machines.
It is a high-yielding variety — 35-36 quintals an acre, with some farmers even harvesting 40 quintals an acre.
It is the standing stubble from this variety that is largely being burnt since the start of November.
The variety, PR-126, has been bred by the Punjab Agricultural University. Although it takes just 125 days to mature (from seed-to-grain), paddy yields from PR-126 are just 30-32 quintals per acre,lower than the 35-36 quintals from Pusa-44.

Pusa 2090:

It is a high-yielding and early maturing variety developed by IARI.
It is a cross between PUSA-44 and CB-501.
Pusa-2090 yields equal to Pusa-44 and matures in only 120-125 days.
CB-501 was one of the 256-odd Japonica lines (extensively grown in East Asia) that IARI obtained from the International Rice Research Institute at Los Baños in the Philippines.
CB-501 contributes to stronger culm (rice stem) and produces more number of grains per panicle (grain-bearing ear-heads).

Source of this article: Indian Express