Title: Evaluation of new rice line (TH2) in the farmer’s field of Guilan Province
Author: Alireza Tarang
Abstract: TH2, the new rice line along with Hashemi (a popular local rice variety) as a check cultivar, were planted in the fields of advanced farmers in three counties including Langroud, Fuman, and Rasht in Guilan province. Evaluation of the important agronomy characters for two rice cultivars in three different sites showed that the new rice line had high grain yield (5.8 t/ha) in Rasht and low grain yield (4.8 t/ha) in Langroud. In Fuman, the grain yield of the new rice line was 4.84 t /ha which was higher than Hashemi’s grain yield (3.86 t/ha). The results showed that the grain yield of new line (5.16 ± 0.24) was higher than Hashemi (3.87 ± 0.26) in all of the sites in Guilan province. The plant height of the new rice line was shorter than Hashemi with 9-11 cm differences in all locations, which the lowest and highest differences were related to Rasht and Langroud or Fuman respectively. The average panicle number per plant in the new rice line was between 14-16 and this trait for Hashemi was between 12-13 panicles per plant. Two rice cultivars showed huge differences based on the grain number per panicles so that the new rice line was better and higher than Hashemi based on the grain number per panicles in all sites. The growth duration from seeding to complete ripening stage for the new rice line was 107-110 days whereas for Hashemi was 118-120 days. Head rice recovery (%) for the new rice line was 51.1-52.3 and for Hashemi was 49.5-50.4. All of the rice farmers in the Three sites had a consensus that the new rice cultivar is considered an early maturity cultivar compare to Hashemi and plant type similar to local rice varieties and head rice recovery (%) are three outstanding characteristics in this cultivar. Meanwhile, the new rice line remains soft after cooking and has the same aroma and flavor as local rice cultivars. Almost all farmers and experts associated with this study have consented that this line could be introduced as a new rice variety in Guilan province.
Keywords: Rice, Research-Extension, Early Maturity, Grain Yield
Contact: A_tarang@hotmail.com