Pusa Institute has initiated the seed sale of RobiNOweed Basmati Rice Varieties tolerant to Imazethapyr 10% SL for Direct Seeded Rice cultivation. The two basmati varieties tolerant to Imazethapyr are Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985.

These two varieties being tolerant to the broad-spectrum herbicide, Imazethapyr 10% SL will be helpful in the effective control of weeds under DSR, thus economizing the cost of Basmati rice cultivation. It will also help in addressing the challenges of scarcity of labour, water and methane emission from rice cultivation.

Pusa Basmati 1979

Pusa Basmati 1979 is a MAS-derived herbicide tolerant near-isogenic line of Basmati rice variety ″PB 1121″ possessing mutated AHAS allele governing tolerance to Imazethapyr 10% SL. It has seed-to-seed maturity of 130-133 days and an average yield of 45.77 q/ ha under irrigated transplanted conditions across two years of testing in the National Basmati trials.

Pusa Basmati 1985

Pusa Basmati 1985 is a MAS-derived herbicide tolerant near-isogenic line of Basmati rice variety ″PB 1509″ possessing mutated AHAS allele governing Imazethapyr tolerance. It has seed-to-seed maturity of 115-120 days and an average yield of 5.2 t/ha under irrigated transplanted conditions across two years of testing in the National Basmati trials. from agropages