ARUNACHAL A monthly english journal JUNE 2017 1 REVIEW Let us save our traditional rice varieties & register under PPV&FR Act Arup Kumar Sarma Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection) Hemchandra Saikia Subject Matter Specialist (Agri-Economics) Krishi Vigyan Kendra, AAU, Dibrugarh -786010 ntire north eastern India diseases in natural habitat. tion also reduces and onset Eis a bowl of rice produc- Besides they have some of resistance of pest to pes- tion. Every state or commu- other qualities too. Now, is it ticide is delayed or nullified. nity, more particularly the meaningful to lose such va- • Since cost of ethnic group, in this region rieties or genotypes for just production decreases due has their own preferred rice “high productivity” of some to non-use or least use of varieties in terms of crop non-native varieties? Let us pesticide, adoption of pest- duration, pest and disease see some goodness of our resistant traditional variety resistance, resiliency, taste, own varieties in relation to help the small and marginal cooking quality and storage- its pest-resistance. farmers to a great extent. ability. In this region the va- Even though they are • If the resis- rietal preference is mostly little low-yielder, they have tance/tolerance of rice vari- based on the taste rather some other advantages ety is high enough to avoid than productivity. However, such as- the chemical control of pest with the implementation of • Yield of pest management, the need of various govt. sponsored resistant variety is nearly sprayer/duster is also cur- schemes to promote high stable in its native place tailed and thus, it saves the yielding and hybrid variety, it under normal occurrence cost of such equipments. is felt that famers would stop of pest; such stability is not • It is expected growing local traditional va- predictable in a newly intro- that traditional variety can riety one day and in simple duced variety. perform more resiliently to sense, we will lose some of • Pest resis- climate change as com- our genetic assets. tance of traditional variety is pared to non-traditional vari- Traditional varieties a gift of nature to farmers. ety and thus, can avoid total are results of millions of years • Since less crop loss. However, situation of evolution. Nature has se- amount of chemical pesti- specific variety e.g. submer- lected them from many. If we cide is needed to manage gence tolerant/drought tol- talk about our traditional rice pest on tolerant/resistant va- erant varieties may perform varieties – many of them are rieties as compared to that better. more tolerant to pest and on susceptible one, the cost How they work? diseases as compared to of chemical on crop protec- Most of the local va- a newly introduced variety. tion becomes less. rieties developed the toler- This “tolerance” has been • As a whole, ance against insect-pests developed in them over a the pesticide-load in entire through natural selection million years of pressure be- crop ecosystem reduces to a variable degree - low, ing exerted by the pests and and thus, the resultant pollu- moderate or high. Their 2 JUNE 2017 A monthly english journal ARUNACHAL REVIEW mechanism of resistance the other tactics fail to con- farmers will get the good- may differ from variety to va- trol pests. Growing of pest- ness of natural enemies via riety and pest to pest. resistant variety is the first these resistance varieties • Some variet- option under IPM. To be not- one way or other. Adoption ies release unique chemical ed that Indonesian farmers of diverse local varieties substances that repel the are managing the pest effec- also increases the diversity pests. The pests do not like tively in rice crop integrating in natural enemies of insect- to take shelter, oviposite or resistant varieties with bio- pests. To be noted that the feed on such variety. control agent (tricho-card). Indonesian farmers in the • Some variet- Compatibility of resistant remote part of the country, ies exert ill-effects in insect- variety and bio-control in where the extension work- pests at post-feeding stage. pest management in rice: ers are almost non-existent, The various life-stages are Natural bio-control have been successful in affected negatively, e.g. size agents of rice-pests e.g. the managing the pests on rice of larvae, pupae or adults predatory insects (like man- by cultivating local resistant/ reduces; oviposition of tid), birds, spider, parasites tolerant varieties. These adults decreases, hatching etc. play an effective role farmers have not only cur- capacity declines and thus, in pest management. They tailed their pesticide require- reduces the overall carrying not only control the pests ment to zero, but also the capacity of the generation to in a standing crop in one brought sustainability and the next. season, but also produce resiliency to their agro-eco- • Some variet- off-springs to control pests system. ies have the capacity of high in subsequent crops in fol- Various researches compensation by producing lowing seasons; thus, they of International Rice Re- additional shoots after it is impart stability in crop-pro- search Institute (IRRI, Phil- attacked. Most of our local tection and bring sustain- ippines) have shown that rice varieties have such ca- ability and resiliency in crop- the incidence of brown plant pacity against the attack of production. hopper (BPH) decreased cage-worm. Rice-pests take shel- in indigenous rice varieties • Some variet- ter on resistant variety in less due to increase in predatory ies mature well before the number as compared to that spiders. It is said that some peak infestation of pest is on susceptible one. Hence, unique chemical ingredients reached. requirement of natural en- are present in those rice va- Integrated Pest Man- emies to suppress them is rieties. Ingestion of those agement (IPM), being based also less in number. Obvi- ingredients by insects-pests on ecological and economic ously, a natural enemy spe- make them restless as a principle, offers practical, cies with moderate fecun- result of which they can- effective and long-lasting dity also become effective to not keep themselves con- solution to pest-problem. In bring adequate suppression fined in hidden place and IPM, all the possible tactics of pests in such situation. frequently come out of the of pest-suppression are in- However, a highly fecunda- canopy and get killed by the tegrated in compatible man- tive species with “exploi- predatory spiders and other ner to the extent possible tive competition” may pose predators. Indigenous rice and chemical pesticides are threat to less competitive varieties and predators can applied only and only when species. Whatsoever, the also reduce in cumulative ARUNACHAL A monthly english journal JUNE 2017 3 REVIEW way the incidence of Green variety. edge. Leaf Hopper (GLH) that car- Repeated applica- Under this act farm- ries tungro virus. Incidence tion of some pesticides may ers get the benefits of as of hoppers in different rice induce resistance in some that of breeder of a variety. varieties in presence and insects. e.g. Use of pyre- The variety should carry four absence of predators were throids may impart resis- characters viz. Novel (new different. The incidence of tance in brown plant hop- i.e not registered by anyone hopper were 6 & 31 in re- per. Therefore, it should be previously), Distinct (unique sistant IR-29 variety and 91 avoided. character not present in oth- & 220 in susceptible IR-22 Each and every lo- er known variety), Uniform in absence and presence of cal variety has its unique and Stable in performance. their predators, respective- property. Loss of such vari- A variety can be ly. ety will lead to a loss of the registered by a person or a Agronomic management very unique property. The community who is preserv- in traditional variety: door is open to incorporate ing or maintaining it over Type and Time of ag- such desired properties in the years. If someone uses ronomic management deter- other high yielding variet- that variety for some breed- mine the pest-load to a great ies through molecular tools. ing programme, the person/ extent. Well-synchronization So, let us preserve our local organization will have to pay of the agronomic practices varieties and register under royalty to the farmer/com- in traditional variety may PPV& FR Act, 2001 for its munity who had registered help the farmers a lot; e.g. uniqueness so that it can that variety. So, it is a mat- if balanced fertilizer applica- be used in varietal improve- ter of pride for a person or tion and evasion techniques ment programme with some a community to register the of insect-pests are applied benefits to farmers in future. traditional variety. in proper way and time, Registration under For Registration, one the residual load of pest in PPV& FR Act, 2001: has to one has to send his/ subsequent stage of crop It is to be noted that her duly filled up applica- decreases. Higher dose of a traditional variety with tion (two nos. of forms) in nitrogen fertilizer like Urea unique property like taste, prescribed format and send and DAP bring succulence resistance/tolerance to biot- along with material (e.g seed in leaf and increase pest ic and abiotic stress etc can of the variety) to : incidence. Therefore, over be registered under this act. The Registrar, dosing of such fertilizer This should not be a vari- Protection of Plant Variet- should be avoided. Short ety previously registered by ies and Farmers’ Rights duration local variety come someone. Authority, in harvesting before the pest A FARMER’S VARIETY is Societies Block, 2nd population reaches its peak • a variety which Floor, NASC Complex, level; likewise, in some long has been traditionally cul- Dev Prakash Shastri duration rice varieties pred- tivated and evolved by the Marg, ator-pests ratio is very high.