The non-lodging nature of ‘Aduthurai 52’ (ADT 52) paddy variety is said to have been re-established during this samba season as the delta region received unseasonal and unexpected heavy rain.
Farmers in Polakudi village, Nannilam Taluk, Tiruvarur district who had taken up the cultivation of ADT 52 variety on a fairly larger area this season were taken aback as the sky opened up during December resulting in the fields getting flooded with rainwater. However, they heaved a sigh of relief on witnessing their efforts to drain rainwater from the fields churned out positive results as the standing crop did not lodge.
Thus, the Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, Thanjavur district, which had released this long-duration paddy variety for Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh States through the Central Variety Release Committee in 2018 decided to organise a Field Day for farmers to get enlightened about the advantages of cultivating this variety.
The participating farmers, numbering around 60, were taken to the field where ADT 52 paddy crop was ready for harvest and a plot harvesting exercise was conducted to ascertain the expected yield on Wednesday. The plot harvest exercise gave out a result of 7,050 kilograms of paddy per hectare which is much higher than the field trial result of around 5,000 kilograms per hectare recorded by the Institute at the time of launching of this variety, sources said.
Addressing the farmers, V. Ambethgar, director, TRRI, emphasised the importance of new rice varieties for different stress conditions due to climate changes and prophylactic measures to be adopted towards major pest attacks and diseases through rationalised and split application of fertilizers and crop boosters.
Apart from highlighting the advantages in the cultivation of ADT 52 variety, latest production technologies of Rice Fallow Pulses were also explained to the participating farmers during the programme organised under the ICAR Seed Project HRD programme, sources added.
