Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has developed two high-yielding rice varieties, BRRI dhan105 and BRRI dhan106.
BRRI dhan105 is a low glycemic index (GI), or a diabetic-friendly rice variety suitable for Boro season and BRRI dhan106 is a high-yielding T.Aus rice variety suitable for non-saline tidal areas in Bangladesh.
With this, the total number of BRRI-developed rice varieties has reached 113.
These varieties were released for commercial cultivation at the 109th meeting of the National Seed Board (NSB) on Thursday.
Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Wahida Akter presided over the NSB meeting while Director General of BRRI Dr Md Shahjahan Kabir, and other high officials of different organizations were present.
BRRI dhan105 has green, standing flag leaves, medium slender grains, and intermediate leaf senescence, with a GI value of 55.0.
Hence, the variety is expected to gain wide acceptance as diabetic rice due to its low GI properties. The plant height of the variety is 101cm.
The average grain yield of the variety is 7.6 t/ha. If proper management is provided, it can produce an 8.5 t/ha grain yield.
The grain size and shape of the variety are medium slender and the grain color is golden. Its growth duration is 148 days. The thousand-grain weight of this variety is 19.4g.
The amylose content of BRRI dhan105 is 27.0% and the protein content is 7.3%. The cooked rice is neat and tastes savory.
Meanwhile, BRRI dhan106 is a high-yielding rice variety suitable for non-saline tidal submergence areas for the Aush season.
The flag leaf is vertical, wide, long, and dark green in color. A purple color is visible at the base of the plant and on the tip of the rice grain.
The average plant height is 125cm. Its average yield is 4.79 ton per hectare which is 17.4% higher than the check variety BRRI dhan27. If proper management is ensured, it can produce 5.49 ton per hectare yield.
The unique feature of this variety is its ability to tolerate lodging. The grain size and shape of this variety are medium bold and golden in color.
Its growth duration is 117 days, and the thousand-grain weight of this variety is around 24.5g, The grain contains 27.2% amylose and 8.5% protein. The cooked rice is fluffy.
After selecting the homozygous breeding lines, the yield performance was tested for three years in the BRRI research field.
Then the yield performance of the breeding line was tested in the country’s farmer field of non-saline tidal areas in 2020-21.
Later in 2021-22, the breeding line was considered as lodging tolerance in the study of the Plant Physiology Division in BRRI, and was evaluated in six non-saline tidal areas of Bangladesh in 2022-23 under the supervision of the Seed Certification Agency.
After reviewing the results of testing and retesting the NSB team finally decided to release a high-yielding T.Aus variety for cultivation in non-saline tidal areas of Bangladesh.