ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) on Friday approved 11 new high-yield rice varieties for cultivation in various ecologies.

The varieties approved by the Variety Evaluation Committee include seven hybrid and four open-pollinated (OP) seeds and have been recommended to the National Seed Council.

According to a PARC spokesperson, 19 rice varieties were presented before the committee, including 14 hybrid and 5 OP, out of which eight varieties were rejected due to bacterial-leaf-blight (BLB) disease susceptibility and poor grain quality performance.

Details show that the approved hybrid seeds have yield potential of up to 92 mound per acre whereas the OP varieties have more yield potential than the existing IRRI-6 and KSK-133 varieties.

PARC Chairman Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, while lauding the efforts of scientists, said that the new varieties would not only produce promising crop yield but would also help farmers to raise their incomes.

The variety evaluation committee on wheat has also recently released four new rust resistant wheat varieties including a bio-fortified variety having 50 per cent zinc contents.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

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