New varieties of super rice' unveiled in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Bathukamma, Telangana Sona and Somnath are not Telangana festivals or temples — they are new varieties of rice. There’s also Sri Rama, Yadadri, Ujwala, Mannemkonda Kandi and Hanuma varieties of pulses, besides a new variety of maize Karimnagar Makka.

Four new varieties of rice, five varieties of pulses, a new maize, oilseed besides two new fodder crops, 13 in all, have been developed and released for cultivation in Telangana and other parts of the country by Hyderabad-based Prof. Jayashanker Telangana State Agricultural University.

Among the new varieties of rice, Telangana Sona stands out for its quality and yield. The super-fine Telangana Sona, an improved version of the existing BPT (Samba Masuri) tastes excellent and gives 40 to 50 70-kg bags per acre.

‘Telangana Sona is a super-fine variety of rice, an alternative to the existing Samba Masuri or BPT fine rice. It is a 120-day crop, newly developed and released in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh,” Mr Damodar Raju, senior scientist, Rice Breeding, at the university, said.

Bathukamma, produced by the Jagitial centre, is also a replacement to the existing BPT. It is a 120-day crop and gives 40 to 50 70-kg bags per acre, Somnath, a 135-day crop of medium, slender grain, yields 35 to 45 bags per acre. Another new variety, Kunaram Sannalu — KNM118 is said to be equally good and provides almost the same yield.

Mr Damodar Raju said that Samba Masuri was the most consumed variety of rice in the country, which was originally produced by the Bapatla Research station, now in AP. The average yield of paddy in the state per acre is 35 bags, whereas the improved varieties’ yield is more, besides being pest resistant.

“Our focus is on the overall development of improved varieties and location specific technologies, design farm machinery, post harvest management and value addition with an objective to improve profitability of farmers,” he said.

Talking about the new pulses, he said, “Yadadri, a green gram, is a 60-day crop and gives 6 to 7 quintals per acre. It is resistant to mosaic disease. Mannemkonda Kandi (yellow lentils or tur dal), Sri Rama, green gram is also an improved version. The oilseed Pragati, and fodder crops Moti Bajra and Vijaya have also been released,” he added.