Development of BRRI dhan46

This variety is recommended for T. Aman season. It is suitable for late planting up to mid September in flood prone areas. The variety has 1.0 t/ha yields advantage over BR22 at late planting.

Development of BRRI dhan47

It is recommended as a salt tolerant variety for irrigated (Boro) rice ecosystem. The variety has 1.0 t/ha yields potential than BRRI dhan28 higher at saline prone areas in Boro season.

BR5563-3-3-4-1 has been approved by technical committee as a new variety but NSB suggested for retesting

It will be a supplementary variety of BR26. This variety has 0.7 t/ha yields advantage with similar growth duration of BR26. It will be retested for disease incidence.

In total 303 doubled haploid premium quality plants were developed.

These line will be used in isolating premium quality lines leading to variety that ultimately benefit the farmers.

Seven tissue culture derived salt tolerant (12ds/m2) advanced lines have been selected.

These lines will be tested in saline prone areas.

In vitro plant regeneration system was optimized for BR3, BR11 and BRRI dhan29.

This technology will be used as standard in future rice transformation studies.

Molecular characterization of three Horidhan samples (inventor, Horidhan-channel-I and Horidhan-BADC) has been done with a primer, RM24.

This technology will be used to protect bio-piracy.

Two Golden BRRI dhan29 lines have been identified at molecular level.

To protect breeder's right through DNA fingerprinting.

Preliminary study on agronomic performance of two Golden BRRI dhan29 lines was done in confined glasshouse. Seeds of them were also increased.

The data generated from this study will be helpful for further field evaluation towards commercial cultivation of golden rice in Bangladesh.

Forty eight crosses were made.

These crosses will be used for developing new rice variety through anther culture.

Thirty seven apparently superior genotypes were selected for further evaluation.

Some of them may be isolated as a new modern variety.

Four hundred and one plants were selected and five apparently homozygous lines were bulked.

Some of them may be chosen as superior genotypes towards new rice variety development.

One hundred twelve rice germplasm were collected.

These germplasm will be utilized in breeding program.

Physico-chemical and morphological characterization of 1003 accessions have been completed.

Characterized germplasm will be utilized in different breeding program.

Twenty germplasm showed initial anerobic tolerance.

This will help to anerobic rice development.

Four germplasms namely Fukuhonami, Hayakikari, Akiyu Taka and Matsuhonami showed resistant to ufra.

Ufra resistant rice variety can be developed by using these germplasm as parents.

Sixty nine tons of Breeder Seed (BS) and 1.4 tons of Truthfully labeled seed (TLS) were produced and 15.45 tons BS and 4.08 tons of TLS were supplied to different users from the previous years production

Bhasha, Joria Ropa Amon, PI-3, Raimihi and Balam have been identified as high protein (>9.0%) cultivars

These cultivars will be used to develop high protein variety that ultimately will benefit the consumers/farmers.

Lalmota and Awned TPL-545 have been identified as cultivars for high elongation ratio on cooking (>1.7)

These cultivars may be used to develop new high yielding long slender variety with high elongation ratio on cooking and that will ultimately attract export market.

Two new hybrid rice combinations (BRRI 1A/BR 168R & BRRI 1A/BR 827) have been developed for Boro and T. Aman seasons.

(1)BRRI 1A/168R combination is able to produce 1.3 t/ha more yield than BRRI dhan39 during T. Aman season, 1.7 and 1.1 t/ha than BRRI dhan28 and BRRI dhan29, respectively during Boro season.
(2)The combination BRRI 1A/BR 827 is 1.1 t/ha out yielder than BRRI dhan39 during T. Aman season and 1.0 t/ha than BRRI dhan28 during Boro season. These two lines are under process for releasing as hybrid varieties.

Nil

A new statistical model for stability Analysis

An useful tool for stability analysis

The total variable cost for rice cultivation for one hectare of land was Tk. 24744, 30387 and 38436 in Aus, Aman and Boro seasons, respectively. The gross margin was Tk. 19826, 32183 and 32804 in Aus, Aman and Boro seasons, respectively. The cost of production per Kg of rice was Tk. 6.2, 5.4 and 6.1 in Aus, Aman and Boro seasons, respectively.

Findings would be useful for policy making and planning for rice production in a rice production farm.

Contractor laborers are more efficient than muster roll laborers but quality of works of muster roll labor is better.

In agricultural farm, contractor labors are needed for finishing the work within schedule time.

The peak months for rice production were May, July-August and December-February and the corresponding labor wage rate for 8 hours work were Tk. 160-200, Tk. 140-200 Tk. 150-180 respectively. Throughout the year, the average wage rate was Tk. 145-165.

This would be helpful for policy making regarding determination of labor wage rate.

Zero tillage surface seeding technology using drum seeder for medium low to lowland ecosystem has been developed.

Adoption of these technologies will increase total production of the country which will contribute to achieving food self sufficiency.

T.Aman-Potato-Double Transplanting Boro cropping pattern has been developed to increase the productivity and profitability of T. Aman-Potato- Boro and T. Aman-Boro cropping patterns.

Farmers' income and livelihood will be improved

The egg parasitoids (Trichogramma zahiri, Gryon nixoni and Anagrus sp.) of rice hispa, rice bug and brown plant hopper caused 8-71% 40% and 75% parasitism respectively.

Conservation of parasitoids will reduce dependence on insecticidal control.

BR 22 and BRRI dhan 29 suffered lower yield losses of 23% and 18% respectively by rice hispa.

Will help the farmers of rice hispa endemic areas to select varieties for cultivation in different seasons.

Ninety one commercial formulations of different insecticides were found effective against BPH, YSB and Hispa respectively.

Farmers can use new effective insecticide.

Neem oil (4%) along with 1% emulsifier achieved significantly higher mortality of rice hispa.

This eco-friendly product will reduce dependence on chemical pesticides.

Eight exotic and 3 germplasm entries were found promising against BPH and GLH respectively.

The promising varieties will be used in developing resistant varieties and will reduce dependence on costly insecticide application and also to conserve natural enemies.

Forty three germplasm entries showed MR reaction to bacterial blight while 4 entries were highly resistant, 9 were resistant to ufra.

These entries will be used in developing resistant varieties

Taller varieties like, BR10, BR23, BRRIdhan 32, BRRIdhan34 and BRRIdhan38 showed more tolerance to sheath blight disease compare to shorter variety

These taller varieties will be used by the farmers in sheath blight endemic areas

Nine new fungicides namely, Proud 25EC, Fuji-one, Force 5EC, Hayconazole 5EC, Propiocon 250EC, Proven 250EC and Titan 5EC were found effective in controlling sheath blight disease.

Farmers can use these effective fungicides against sheath blight

Development of a drum seeder foot print leveler

Roller type metallic foot print (FP) leveler was designed and fabricated. The FP leveler worked well at saturated muddy soil condition and foot prints of the operator of drum seeder were covered. Foot prints were covered before the seed dispersing from the drum seeder. Therefore, it will save the seed from damage due to water logging.

Development of power tiller operated field leveler

Power tiller operated field levelers made of wood and bamboo of 6 ft 1 ft size were designed and fabricated at FMPHT research workshop. Field performance of the levelers was satisfactory. Farmers can level their field smoothly by these levelers.

Development of a flat bed batch dryer

A flat bed batch dryer of 1-tone capacity was designed and fabricated in the BRRI research workshop. Preliminary test was conducted with paddy of moisture content 18.5% to 24.9% (w.b.). The average temperatures at upper and lower layer of grain bed were found 49.7°C and 42.3°C respectively. This dryer will help the farmers to save their crop from inclement weather.

Popularizing BRRI developed agricultural machinery

(1)About 136 number of day-long informal training on operation and maintenance of BRRI machines were conducted in different places of Bangladesh and 4388 farmers and operators were attended in the training program.

(2)Orientation training programs on BRRI farm machinery were conducted in 21 PAMP Upazillas under 21 districts. Agricultural Officers, Additional Agricultural Officers, Agricultural Extension Officers and all Sub-Assistant Agricultural Officer of the respective Upazilla were attended in the training program. A total of 896 number DAE officials were attended in the training sessions.

(3)Farmer's awareness about the benefits of the agricultural machinery use was created that contributing to reduce the post harvest losses and cost of production for rice and wheat. It also ensured timeliness of farm operation and increased cropping intensity through the reduction of turn around time.

Nil

Yield loss due to over-aged seedlings (60 days) of short duration varieties can be retarded by applying 80 kg N/ha at 7 - 10 days after transplanting and 40 kg N/ha at panicle initiation stage in Aman season.

Farmers could use over-aged seedlings with minimum yield loss when there is shortage of younger seedlings.

The advanced lines BR6592-4-6-5 and BR6592-4-6-4 yielded more than 1.0 t/ha grain over BR11 (check) up to 15 September planting with similar growth duration.

These lines might substitute BR11 as T. Aman variety.

Spikelet fertility as well as grain yield of rice was increased through soil test based fertilizer application along with Cu and Mg spray (0.5% solution) at MT stage in T. Aman season.

Unfilled grain would reduce and grain yield increased following this practice.

Monibandopi, a traditional tall rice variety produced about 3.5 t/ha without fertilizer application in T. Aman season

Farmers' could use this land race as low input rice cultivar where HYV cultivation is not possible

Profitable grain yield of BRRI dhan45 could be achieved when 100-16-46-6 kg/ha N-P-K-S, respectively was applied along with 2.0 t/ha poultry litter.

Farmers can be benefited adopting integrated use of chemical and organic fertilizers.

The highest grain yield was recorded when fertilizers were applied (i) based on yield target basis and (ii) 2/3 rd of STB dose along with 2.5 t/ha poultry litter and produced 0.6-1.0 t/ha more yield compared to BRRI recommended fertilizer management both in Aman and Boro seasons.

Fertilizer application following these management practices, grain yield could be increased.

The herbicides, Baichlor 50 EC, Amcofit 50 EC, Contra 50 EC, Profit 500 EC, Panida 33 EC, Rav 500 EC, Sunchlor 5G, Salix, Top star 400 SC, Supershine 5G, Tekka 500EC and Wilfit 500 EC can effectively control weeds in the Boro season.

Farmers' can control weeds profitably with these herbicides for rice cultivation in Boro season.

In the farmers' fields, herbicides like Corostar, Butachlor, Arozin and Sunrise along with one hand weeding performed better than farmers' practice for control weeds. The grain yield of herbicide treated plots was at par with three hand weeding in Aus season.

Using these herbicides farmers' could easily control weed in their field in dry seeded Aus rice.

Double transplanting appeared to be a good management practice for protecting seedling from flash flood submergence. Regarding this, 60 kg/ha seeds and 20 kg N, P and K per hectare should be used in the seedbed for growing quality seedlings. Photosensitive variety appeared to be more suitable than photo-insensitive variety in double transplanting practice. Incase of photo-insensitive variety, the suitable seedling age and storage duration were 30-50 days and 14 days, respectively while the suitable storage duration were 21 days for 30-50 days old seedling and 7 days for 70 day old seedling incase of photo-sensitive variety.

Farmers could use this appropriate technology package for boosting up the production for specific environment.

The seeds grown in Aman season exhibit long seed dormancy. BR1, BR3, BR6, BR16, BR20, BR21, BRRI dhan29 show a long seed viability period both in Aus and Boro season under proper storage condition.

The seed grower and farmer can use this information for preserving their seed.

Irrespective of sowing times, the PI of short duration varieties occur prior to attain the maximum tillering stage but incase of long duration varieties, the PI occur either prior to attain or around the maximum tillering stage.

Farmers could use this information for N-application as last top dress.

Integrated use of poultry litter (PL) in combination with inorganic fertilizer for maximizing rice yield.

The use of this environment friendly technology will improve the farmers' livelihood through increasing rice production and saving chemical fertilizer. The soil health will also improve resulting sustainable crop production thus the user and country will be benefited

Rice straw as a substitute of potassium fertilizer

The technology will save inorganic K fertilizer producing optimum yield and may be suitable for Boro and T.Aman areas under high to medium high land. Increasing rice production and saving K fertilizer will benefit the farmers as well as the country.

Water saving techniques: For optimum utilization of irrigation water, water saving techniques like shallow application of water and irrigating after 3 days of disappearing of standing water should be followed properly. Such a practice is economically more beneficial than the traditional practice of continuous standing water. A net benefit of Tk 1207/ha can be achieved through this alternate wetting and drying method over the continuous standing water method

It reduces number of irrigation and total amount of irrigation water, which ultimately reduce the irrigation cost.

Simulation of drought severity by drought simulation model (DSM): A drought simulation model (DSM) has been developed which can simulate drought severity, drought amount and duration, for rice crop by using daily water balance. This model is also able to prepare irrigation schedule of rice. In drought prone areas of Bangladesh, particularly in Barind areas, DSM study showed that from the point of risk of drought, a short duration rice variety may have low, medium and high risk when it is transplanted during 15 June-25 July, 26 July-5 August and 6 - 15 August, respectively. Again a medium duration rice variety may have low, medium and high risk when it is transplanted during 15 June-5 July, 6 - 25 July and 26 July-15 August, respectively and for a long duration variety transplanting period are 15 - 25 June, 26 June-15 July and 16 July-15 August, are low, medium and high risk, respectively.

(1)DSM helped to simulate drought severity, drought amount and duration, for rice crop by using daily water balance. This model is also able to prepare irrigation schedule of rice.

(2)Farmers can avoid drought by following predicted transplanted period during T Aman.

Increased command area to meet the increased food demand: A study in Barind area indicated that in total an additional 75.5 Mm3 of groundwater is available for irrigation in the studied 5 Thanas, which can be utilized to irrigate an additional 10,630 ha more area using the recommended practice (3 days alternate drying and wetting) and this additional area is about 6% of the total land area.

More irrigation facilities could be developed with the additional available water to increase rice production and to meet the increased food demand.

A number of water distribution systems such as compacted earthen canal, plastic pipe and combination of PVC and plastic pipe reduced a considerable amount of conveyance loss and ultimately reduced the cost of production. In operating STW, priming becomes a great problem and troublesome for the farmers. Besides, farmers also face difficulties in using plastic pipe for water distribution system in STW area. To overcome these problems, a check valve has been developed for STW to avoid repeated priming and reduce drudgery of the farmers for starting the irrigation pumps and also facilitates easier water distribution through plastic pipe network.

It reduced the drudgery of farmers and also reduced the labor requirement of STW users, which ultimately reduce the irrigation cost.

Varietal Development:The Adaptive Research Division (ARD) has contributed to the evaluation of advanced lines BR6592-4-6-4 and BR6592-4-6-5 for T. Aman. These appeared to be good and were considered in PVT.

The proposed lines for T. Aman may be a suitable variety having growth duration like BRRI dhan32 and grain size like Swarna along with higher grain yield.

The Adaptive Research Division (ARD) has conducted advanced lines adaptive research trial (ALART) for premium quality rice (PQR) in Boro, 2006

Considering grain yield and grain size, the advanced lines PQR-4 and PQR-6 appeared to be good and were considered in PVT.

Direct-wet seeded rice (DWSR) using Drum seeder: Validated and demonstrated the performance of direct-wet seeded rice (DWSR) using drum seeder.

DWSR produced about 11-16% higher grain yield over transplanted rice and reduced growth duration by about 10-15 days. The farmers earned an additional amount of Tk. 6,000-10,000/- per ha from DWSR over the conventional transplanted rice.

Upscaling of Leaf Color Chart (LCC):LCC was validated and upscaled through out the country during T. Aman and Boro season

LCC was useful for efficient use and management of urea fertilizer. It helped in saving urea of about 40 kg/ha which is equivalent to about Tk. 260/- per ha.

Validation of improved water management system through plastic pipe in Boro/06: Validated and demonstrated improved irrigation system using plastic pipe.

Validation of improved water management technique through levee management: Validated levee management for better utilization of rain water in T. Aman.

Water can be preserved in late T. Aman and protect crop from drought and increased yield.

Validation of poultry manure as a source of phosphorous: Evaluate the performance of poultry manure as a source of P fertilizer to increase rice yield.

Huge amount of poultry manure can be used as an alternate source of P- fertilizers. Reduced environmental pollution.

Upscalling of seed health technique, T. Aman, 2006: Demonstrate the technique to produce quality seeds by the farmers.

A total of 214 kg quality seeds were produced from 500 m2 area and preserved by the farmers for next season cultivation.

Seed production and dissemination program (SPDP): On-farm yield performance of the released varieties have been evaluated and demonstrated to accelerate their dissemination. The varieties under promotion were BR22, BR23, BRRI dhan28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41.

Farmers will be able to use quality seeds and adopt more HYVs. Rice production will be increased throughout the country.

Adoption of HYV Aus varieties in Jhum cultivation: Adaptability of BR24, BR26 and BRRI dhan27 in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Banderban districts in Jhum system has been evaluated. These varieties were found to double rice yield in Jhum system

In Jhum system, these varieties produced nearly double the yields (about 2.0 t/ha) than those of the locally adopted varieties. The Jhumia farmers are growing these varieties in their system.

Training:The ARD has trained up about 800 farmers and field level extension workers on modern rice production technologies with special emphasis on new varieties, LCC and Drum Seeder technologies.

This has been proven to be very useful tool for dissemination of technologies. Farmers and extension staff gain up-to-date applied knowledge on modern rice production technologies.

Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank (BRKB):The ARD played a very significant role in the development of BRKB: an electronic repository of rice knowledge.

It is a very useful tool for dissemination of BRRI technologies and establish better rice knowledge network among scientists-extension and farmers.

One month Rice Production Training Course: Three courses with DAE personnel were successfully completed during this period.

Extension provider will be able to recognize and apply the important concepts, principles and techniques of modern rice production to increase the yield.

One week Rice Production Training: Twenty two courses with Sub Assistant Agricultural Officer (SAAO) of DAE were completed during this period.

SAAO can recognize and apply the important concepts, principles and techniques of modern rice production identify the field problems and help the farmer for improved rice production to increase the yield.

Training on rice related issues especially on request of different GO/NGOs: Five courses in different issues of rice production were conducted during this period

Extension provider of GO, NGO, private sector and farmers will be able to know the modern rice production, hybrid seed production, seed preservation techniques and maintenance of farm machineries.

Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank (BRKB) based rice production training: 2 courses had been completed with GO and NGO personnel.

It helps the extension provider and farmer how to use rice production techniques from BRKB and how to organize rice production training with BRKB based modules.

Rice Production Training at BRRI Regional Stations:Total 12 training courses (3 in each regional station of Barisal, Bhanga, Comilla and Rajshahi) had been completed.

Extension field staff and farmers will be benefited to identify and solve the problems related to modern rice production, especially quality seed production and processing.