LUDHIANA: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, has developed a new variety — Punjab Basmati 7 — as part of its “intense research efforts” aiming at improvement of the aromatic long-grained crop.
PAU said it has recommended the new variety for commercial cultivation in basmati-growing regions of Punjab. It added the variety has been developed by involving strongly scented traditional basmati variety Basmati 386 and the most popular basmati variety Pusa Basmati1121.
R S Gill, rice expert, said Punjab Basmati 7 is resistant to all 10 pathotypes of bacterial blight pathogen prevalent in Punjab, while the most popular variety Pusa Basmati 1121 is susceptible to this disease.
“The specific feature of Punjab Basmati 7 is that like traditional basmati varieties, it possesses strong aroma. The other quality characteristics like grain dimensions, milling quality and cooking quality are comparable to the most popular Basmati variety, Pusa Basmati 1121,” he observed.
Another rice expert Buta Singh Dhillon said, “In research trials under direct seeded conditions, Punjab Basmati 7 gave 17.7% higher yield than the check variety Pusa Basmati 1121, hence it has also been recommended for planting under DSR.”
G S Mangat, head of PAU department of plant breeding and genetics, said the new variety would help as basmati made a significant impact on the national economy. “During 2019-20, 44.54 lakh metric tonnes of basmati amounting to Rs 31,025.87 crore was exported out of India,” he said.
Referring to salient characteristics of the variety, Mangat said Punjab Basmati 7 yielded consistently better than the check varieties in the multi-locational trials. Overall, it had an edge of 11.4% and 6.1% over popular basmati varieties Pusa Basmati 1121 and Pusa Basmati 1718. It gave an overall yield of 48.58 quintals/hectare (19.4 q/acre), he informed.
Punjab Basmati 7 matures about one week earlier than Pusa Basmati 1121 and Pusa Basmati 1718 and also has medium height (111 cm), he said.
PAU said the seeds of Punjab Basmati 7 and other basmati and non-basmati varieties are available at all the Regional Research Stations, Seed Farms, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Farmer Advisory Service Centres of the university.