M-Jamini: Fine Grain Aromatic Rice Variety

(Ms.) Mousumi Biswas (48) is a progressive women farmer, exceptionally skilled in developing new, improved high-yielding varieties and organic agriculture. She has been felicitated with KrishakRatna, KrishakSamman, Maatisamman and Krishak ruby by the state for her contributions to organic agriculture and Agri-innovations. 

She developed M-Jamini fine grain rice variety withhigh-yield, blast-tolerant,and good aroma by crossing Lolat (Local Cultivar-Female) and IR 36 (Male), followed by selection in 2009. She then crossed the selected parent plants manually to produce F1 seeds. During 2010 - 2016, further selection was continued to stabilize the desired characteristics viz. early maturity, fine grains with aroma,and blast tolerance. By the year2017, she started multiplying the variety's pure line seeds and distributing them to other farmers. The variety is characterized by high yield (45q/ha), blast disease tolerance, and fine medium-long (long slender) grains with good cooking quality. This aromatic variety is also suitable for cultivation in lowland areas. 

Uttar BangaKrishiViswavidyalaya, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, validated the variety at two locations. The variety M-Jamini was found to be tolerant to rice blast disease having aromatic, long slender grains with an average yield of 43q/ha at Cooch Behar and 34.4 q/ha at Darjeeling. The variety was found to be significantly superior to popular check varieties viz., Gobindobhog (11.94 q/ha), Lalat (31q/ha) and IR36(17q/ha) in yield at both locations. The farmer has distributed about 40kg of seeds of her variety to the farmers of her surrounding villages and has received good feedback. NIF-India had submitted the application for registration under PPV&FRA, New Delhi.