The Guard Agriculture Research and Services Limited (GUARD) has developed five varieties of long-grain hybrid rice which are heat tolerant and currently being tested at selected farms in Sindh by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC).
Guard Agri Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Ali Malik told Business Recorder on Tuesday that keeping in view of changing weather patterns and increasing warming conditions in the country, they started research on developing some varieties of hybrid rice which can bear growing challenges and potential threats being posed by global warming to the crop of rice.
"To import, acquire and develop the latest agricultural and crop technologies to produce quality seed to increase per acre yield and help the nation build grain surpluses to achieve adequate food security, we carried out research to introduce some new hybrid seeds which can tolerate growing challenges of climate changes such as increased heat or deficiency of irrigation water," he said.
According to Malik, the global warming is posing a serious threat to hybrid rice production in Punjab and Upper Sindh. To counter the situation, he said, the Guard Agricultural initiated research work to develop thermo tolerant hybrids in rice, which could perform even in the increased heat.
"The studies were focused on screening of heat tolerant hybrids that are adaptable in agro-climatic conditions of Pakistan, especially in Upper Sindh where temperature fluctuates between 45 and 48 degree centigrade and sometime reaches up to 50 centigrade," he said, mentioning that the company is currently carrying out these trials in Larkana, Jacobabad and district Kashmore of Sindh.
Shahzad said there were five different sowing dates for testing of sensitivity to temperature starting from 10th of April to 1st of July. He said there were 10 different hybrids tested for heat tolerance and to check the seed setting percentage. The results revealed that anthesis and grain filling stages were more sensitive. The seed setting percentage was above 90 percent in five hybrids in all sowing dates with tolerance against high temperature and less sterility rates were observed in all the hybrids, he added.
For the authentication of test results, the screening studies are under way during the current season.
Results are awaited from the PARC as it is also carrying out these tests on sowing for two consecutive years. After the successful testing, all the seeds will make available for commercial farming, Shahzad Malik concluded.