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‘CCMB-developed rice resistant to lethal BB’
‘CCMB-Developed Rice Resistant to lethal BB, International Conference on Bacterial Blight. “AP is one of the largest producers of rice and the varities that have been grown here are more than any other state
International Conference on Bacterial Blight that affects rice paddy begins today
Hyderabad: In an attempt to find concrete ways to contain the deadly Bacterial Blight (Endaaku Tegulu), which has been eating away nearly 50 percent of the rice crop every year in some parts of India, especially in Andhra Pradesh, an international conference is being organized jointly by DRR (Directorate of Rice Research), Society for Advancement of Rice Research (SARR) and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) from Monday.
International Conferences on Bacterial Blight have been held for every three years since 2004. Earlier they were held in Tusubuka (Japan), Nanjing (China-2007) and Seoul (South Korea-2010) since the bacteria has spread across the world. CCMB to host the fourth conference in which nearly 200 participants- 25 from abroad and 175 from India would participate. The conference will have 22 invited talks from eminent scientists from USA, China, France, UK, Italy, Korea, Japan and Philippines. Dr Jan Leach of Colorado University, USA, an expert in research of the malignant bacteria- would deliver an important lecture in the inaugural session wherein she would explain the past work and present status of Bacterial Blight.
In fact, the CCMB, DRR have developed some rice varieties and hybrids that carry multiple genes for resistance against this lethal bacterial blight and one of them was Improved Samba Mahsuri. Although it has produced some hope, the pathogen variability is a constant threat for durability of resistance. The Bacteria is very smart and we should also continue our research, according to Dr Ch Mohan Rao, Director of CCMB. He however added that the traditional samba mahsuri varities can be replaced with the Improved Samba Mahsuri saying that it would be somewhat better and yield will improve.
“In Andhra Pradesh, the improved variety is being sown in nearly 60,000 hecteres in Nandyal, Kurnool areas where the intensity of BB is very high. The farmers have appreciated our research and they have been slowly getting convinced. There is no increase in cost for the improved version and it would remain the same” he explained.
“AP is one of the largest producers of rice and the varities that have been grown here are more than any other state. So, there is every need to fight out this bacteria here and the purpose of the conference is to make some headway on the research,” Dr Virakthamath of DRR explained.
