Pusa Institute launched the herbicide-tolerant RobiNOweed Basmati rice varieties Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985 for Direct Seeded Rice cultivation to address major agricultural concerns. Launch of Seed Sale of RobiNOweed Basmati Rice Varieties for Direct Seeded Rice Cultivation Pusa Institute, New Delhi today (May 22, 2024) launched the seed sale of RobiNOweed Basmati Rice Varieties namely, Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985 tolerant to Imazethapyr 10% SL for Direct Seeded Rice cultivation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, the Director, IARI, New Delhi highlighted that the major concerns in rice cultivation in northwestern India include (a) depleting water table (b) labor scarcity for transplanting of rice and (c) the emission of greenhouse gas, methane under transplanted flooded condition.
Direct-seeded rice can address all these concerns. However, weeds are a major problem under DSR which needs to be addressed in order to make DSR a success. In this direction, concerted research at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi has led to the development of two RobiNOweed Basmati rice varieties, Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985 which are the first Non-GM herbicide tolerant Basmati rice varieties tolerant to Imazethapyr 10% SL to be released for commercial cultivation in India.
Pusa Basmati 1979 is a MAS-derived herbicide tolerant near-isogenic line of Basmati rice variety “PB 1121” possessing mutated AHAS allele governing tolerance to Imazethapyr 10% SL with s.
