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Sunday 23 Aug 2015 - 17:18 Makkah mean time-8-11-1436
(Image from internet)
Dhaka, (IINA) - Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has developed a second breed of zinc-rich rice which grows faster, gives better yield and is of better nutritional values than its predecessor, OnIslam.
Named BRRI dhan72, the second hi-zinc Aman variety was developed two years into the release of the world's first biologically fortified (Biofortified) high-yielding variety zinc rice - BRRI dhan62 in August 2013.
The National Seed Board released the new rice breed last July 12 and the seeds will be made available to farmers for cultivation in the Aman season (June-November) next year.
BRRI dhan72 has a yield of 5.7 tonnes per hectare against 4.5 tonnes of BRRI dhan62. The latest breed is also nutritionally richer with 22.8-milligram zinc content a kilogram, over 3mg higher than what BRRI dhan62 contains.
Biofortification is the process of breeding crops to increase their nutritional values. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding or through genetic engineering.
And it's the first method through which BRRI dhan72 has been developed.
Zinc is one of the three most vital micronutrients, deficiency of which adversely affects children's natural growth and immune system. Proper zinc supplementation can reduce the severity of morbidity from a number of common childhood diseases including diarrhea and pneumonia.
Though fruits, vegetables and animal products are rich in micronutrients, these are often not available for the poor in Bangladesh as well as in many other Asian countries where the poor's daily diet consists mostly of relatively much inexpensive low-zinc staple rice.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly half a million children die each year globally due to zinc deficiency.
Seventeen percent of the global population is at risk of inadequate zinc intake. The regional estimated prevalence of inadequate zinc intake ranges from 7.5 percent in high-income regions to 30 percent in South Asia.
Among the three rice seasons, Aus, Aman and Boro, in Bangladesh, Aman contributes a big part of the country's total paddy output.
It requires less irrigation and inputs to grow rice during the rain-fed Aman season than what it takes during the dry Boro season.
Of all the varieties developed by the BRRI, BR11 (Mukta) has so far been the most popular among Aman rice growers since the breed's release in 1980.
SM/IINA
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