06 June 2010, Dhaka. BRAC’s Agricultural Research and Development Centre has been assessing the performance of early maturing Vietnamese and the NERICA (African) varieties of rice at its Gazipur farm.
Dr. Mahabub Hossain, BRAC Executive Director and BRAC Agriculture Researchers visit
90 days old plant in Gazipur
The BRAC experiment shows that the Vietnamese varieties (OM576 and AF996) perform better with regard to maturity and yield than the African varieties (see Table).
“We are excited with the superior performance of two Vietnamese varieties as potential short maturity variety for the aus season,” BRAC Executive Director Mahbub Hossain said in June. “They gave yields of 5.6 to 5.8 tons per hectare compared to 4.4 t/ha for BRRI Dhan 28 and matured in 95 days. Next year, we shall conduct this trial at different locations in Bangladesh,” he added.
Duration & Yield of 6 rice varieties
Variety Name Duration(Days) Yield(tons/ha)
OM576 95 5.8
AF996 95 5.57
OM1490 97 5.36
OM2718 97 5.11
OM4498 97 5.5
BRRI Dhan28 96 4.37
Table of the comparative yield of NERICA and Vietnamese varieties, and the Bangladesh check, BRRI Dhan 28, grown at BRAC Gazipur farm.
The fast-growing, high-yielding varieties could help Bangladesh achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. The NERICA varieties, which also resist pests and tolerate droughts and infertile soils better, can help improve food security in drier areas of the country.