New Rice hybrid boosts yields for Indian farmers
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Scientists at ICAR. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi developed Pusa Rice Hybrid 60, a new rice variety, and identified it for release in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The hybrid combines early maturity, good grain quality, and higher productivity, offering benefits to farmers in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
Researchers created Pusa Rice Hybrid 60 by crossing Pusa 1S with PRR 418, utilising a two-line hybrid system that simplifies seed production by eliminating the need for a maintainer line, lowering costs for farmers. During three years of trials, Pusa Rice Hybrid 60 yielded an average of 59.24 quintals per hectare, exceeding the performance of both national hybrid and widely grown varietal checks.
Its 120-day maturity allows farmers to harvest rice quickly and plant a subsequent wheat crop, improving land use in a region where small farms require multiple harvests each year. The hybrid also produces long, slender, aromatic grains preferred by consumers, with high milling and head rice recovery rates indicating quality. The team led by M. Nagarajan at IARI, along with co-developers Gopala Krishnan Subbaiyan and A. K.
Singh, focused on developing a two-line hybrid, a system less common in India than in China. This new hybrid adds to the available genetic resources for other breeding programs. The development of Pusa Rice Hybrid 60 promises increased cropping intensity, profitability, and addresses constraints faced by rice farmers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
