Background:
Rice is mainly cultivated under irrigated-transplanted conditions. Puddling and transplanting are resource-intensive operations that require more water and labor. In the current scenario, mutations imposed by the scarcity of available water and labor together with increased expenses make rice cultivation less remunerative. This necessitates a shift in cultivation practice from transplanted to direct-seeded rice (DSR). Even though DSR saves a significant amount of water and labor, as well as reduces the drudgery of transplanting, there are several constraints in its adoption, such as weeds, root-knot nematodes and Iron deficiency. Among these, weed management is a major constraint, which causes significant yield loss. Although the use of herbicides is the most effective and economical option to control weeds, the selectivity of chemicals limits their use in crops like rice. Therefore, development of herbicide-tolerant (HT) rice is essential for broadening the compatible herbicide spectrum in rice.:
Technology Details:
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi has developed non-GM herbicide tolerant rice genotype possessing tolerance to Imazethapyr 10% SL (100g a.i.), using an Ethyl Methane Sulphonate induced herbicide tolerant rice mutant (Robin), developed in the project involving network of institutes coordinated by ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, as donor parent through molecular marker assisted backcross breeding. These non GM herbicide tolerant rice genotypes tolerant to Imazethapyr 10% SL (100g a.i.), are in elite rice background, which will ease the transfer of herbicide tolerance trait into other rice proprietary rice genotypes of interested licensee for the development of non-GM herbicide tolerant rice genotypes tolerant to Imazethapyr.