Rice and wheat are considered staple crops in developing countries. To develop trained rice and wheat breeders and to meet the increasing demands in agriculture , the Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Programme (MBBISP) recently awarded six research fellowships in the Capital. Nitika Sandhu, a student of Ch Charan Singh Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, who is pursuing research in developing a new breed of rice, is one of the scholars.
"I come from an agricultural background and have seen first-hand the challenges faced by farmers because of scarcity of water. I wanted to do something, which would benefit them. Droughts, global warming, adverse climatic changes, over-pumping of ground water and the high cost are factors that are affecting and aggravating the problem of the cultivation of rice. These factors prompted me to pursue research on the development of water-efficient aerobic rice varieties by combining the drought-resistant characteristics with the high-yielding traits. Generally, rice is grown in a puddle/ flooded condition, which uses a lot of water . The new variety of rice, which we aim to develop will use less water ," explains Sandhu.
Talking about the groundwork she is doing as part of her research, Sandhu says, "We are trying to breed different varieties of lowland and upland rice because both have different qualities. Lowland rice is high yielding in nature while upland rice is drought resistant. We want to develop a variety of rice, which will be drought-resistant as well as high yielding. This would result in saving water up to 50-60 %."
One of the biggest challenges in a controlled hit-and-trial method, she says, is to see what variety of rice adapts to which condition. "It takes a long time for a particular variety of rice to be accepted in the market and unless the rice is stable in condition, it is not sent to the market for regular use. Constant experimentation and observation is done. It takes a minimum of eight years to send a new variety of rice to the market. Sometimes , we do not get the desired results ," she informs.
On her future plans, Sandhu says that she wants to be an agricultural scientist and continue doing research . As part of the fellowship, Sandhu will work in collaboration with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines and CIRAD, France.
Interesting facts about rice
Rice has been cultivated since 5,000 BC It takes an average of 3,500 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice Rice is one of the world's top three crops in production along with maize and wheat There are three types of rice — long, medium and short
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