Bangor Gwynedd, United Kingdom
July 2006A new rice
variety 'Barkhe 3004' has been released in Nepal as a result of
a client-oriented breeding (COB) programme undertaken by CAZS-NR
and LI-BIRD in partnership with the National Rice Research
Programme (NRRP), NARC and the Jaskelo Youth Club, representing
the farming community in Chitwan. Barkhe 3004 is the second rice
variety developed using COB to be formally released in Nepal.
The first such variety, Machhapuchre-3 was released in 1996.
Barkhe 3004 is released for the terai and inner terai rice
production environment and its key features are:
- Higher average yields
compared to other popular rice varieties such as Masuli
(3.85 t ha-1)
- Non-lodging
- Resistant to blast,
tolerant to sheath blight and field tolerant to bacterial
leaf blight
- Easy to thresh
- High head rice revovery
- Good cooking and eating
qualities
- High protein content
(10.9%)
- High quality straw for
animal feed
Professor John Witcombe and
Dr Krishna Joshi of
CAZS Natural
Resources (Bangor
University), were involved in all stages of the project,
from its initial conception, to provision of technical
guidance and expertise, through to the presentation of
Barkhe 3004 to the varietal release committe. The presence
of
Professor John Witcombe at this meeting marked the first
time that a national seed board had asked an international
scientist to be involved in its deliberations. The release
of Barkhe 3004 marks the beginning of a new era in varietal
development research in Nepal, especially in recognising the
role, contribution and capacity of non-government / private
organisations in developing new crop varieties. Barkhe 3004
is the first variety formally released in Nepal which has
been developed under the leadership and management of an NGO
(LI-BIRD)
and its release reflects the acceptance of national policy
of client-oriented breeding as a valid and valuable approach
to varietal development.
Download the
varietal release proposal for Barkhe 3004 (pdf 290 KB)
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