Swarna Shakti Dhan: A high yielding, multiple stress tolerant aerobic rice variety for water-scarcity areas

Abstract

Under climate changing scenario, water scarcity is a major challenge to sustain rice production in water limited irrigated and drought prone rainfed areas. A high yielding, multiple stress tolerant aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety, Swarna Shakti Dhan (IET 25640) has been released. It is suitable for cultivation under direct-seeded aerobic condition in water limiting irrigated as well as drought-prone rainfed areas. In addition, it has shown moderate resistance to sheath blight, false smut, leaf blast, bacterial leaf blight, neck blast, brown spot, sheath rot, RTD diseases, stem borer and leaf folder insect pests. It produces short-bold grain therefore, more number of grains per panicle. As compared to transplanted puddle rice, this variety saves 35–40% water. Furthermore, adoption of this variety increases net income of `15000–20000/ha of farmer’s over local cultivars. Thus, this variety will contribute to increase rice productivity and alleviating the socio-economic status for farmers of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.