06 Feb Rice varieties for drought prone ecosystem in rainfed areas of eastern India
पूर्वी भारत के असिंचित क्षेत्रों में सूखा प्रवृत्त ईकोसिस्टम के लिए चावल की किस्में। Rice (Oryza sativa L.) , the staple food of more than three billion people in the world, is cultivated under diverse ecosystems ranging from irrigated to rainfed upland to rainfed lowland to deep water. In India, the total area under rainfed lowland and upland rice is 14.4 and 6.3 million ha, respectively. The frequent occurrence of abiotic stresses such as drought has been identified as the key to the low productivity of rice in rainfed ecosystems, particularly in eastern region of India. The eastern region comprises of Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and plains of Assam, represents 21.85% geographical area of the country and supports to 33.64% of country production. Most of the current high-yielding varieties of rice grown in rainfed areas are varieties bred for irrigated ecosystems and they are highly susceptible to water scarcity (drought) condition. Keeping this fact in view, there is urgent need to disseminate and adoption of high yielding drought tolerant varieties to achieve food self sufficiency at national level from eastern region. Water requirement of puddled irrigated and rainfed upland rice Studies across the country indicate that puddled irrigated rice requires about 900-2250 mm of water (average 1500 mm) depending on the...