March 26, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 25: The Variety Evaluation Committee (VEC) on Rice here on Tuesday evaluated eight rice hybrids and recommended Emkay-H401.

It is the first locally produced rice hybrid, strongly adaptable to local conditions and is of medium height, stiff stemmed and tolerant to lodging. It matures early and gives about 22pc higher yield than variety IR-6, which is moderately resistant to BLB, Blast and stem rot diseases.

The VEC met at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (Parc) presided over by Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, Member, Plant Sciences Division, Parc, to evaluate rice hybrids submitted by private seed companies.

Presented by Emkay Seed (Pvt) Ltd, the hybrid was recommended while other research proposals were deferred due to certain weaknesses or deficiencies in their data.