NELLORE: As many as six high-yielding, good-to-eat and fast-to-cook rice varieties are being developed at the rice research station functioning under Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University in Nellore. The research station was originally established as government paddy farm in 1937 at Buchireddypalem, 16 km away from Nellore, in composite Madras state on leased lands.
The objective then was to improve the most popular Nellore Molagolukulu paddy varieties under cultivation and the farm was designated as ‘Rice Research Station’ later. The RRS was shifted to Nellore on permanent lands in 1961. This station is functioning as a sub-centre of the National Agriculture Research Project from 1985. The Molagolukulu type of paddy seed developed by the research station is an all-time favourite with not only paddy growers of Nellore, but also their counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, apart from other parts of AP and Telangana.
Nellore has become synonymous with best variety of rice because of Molagolukulu. The six fine varieties are under various stages of research and one among them, identified as NLR 4001, is in the third year of testing in farmers’ fields. It is in demand not only in Nellore but also in Guntur and Krishna districts. According to the principal scientist of RRC, Dr Y. Suryanarayana, NLR 4001 is a 145-day duration crop and this fine grain type is tolerant to pest and diseases.
The other five varieties are also resistant to pest and diseases, and the cooking quality is on par with the best varieties available in the market, Dr Suryanarayana said. He said Nellore Masoori continues to dominate the market in various parts of the state and Tamil Nadu because of premium price in the market. Dr Suryanarayana said the varieties under research include an aromatic paddy seed, NLR 40054. The variety is being planted in farmers’ fields on pilot basis with mini kits supplied and Rice Research Station has been toying with the idea of naming it as ‘Nellore Sugandha’ because of special fragrance of the rice.
