Six new rice varieties, including two hybrids, added to national seed bank
Newly approved rice varieties promise higher yields in climate-stressed regions
Bangladesh has added six new high-yield rice varieties, including two hybrids, to its national seed bank, aiming to strengthen food security, improve nutrition and enhance resilience against climate stress.
The varieties were developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and approved for nationwide cultivation at the 115th meeting of the National Seed Board, held at the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday, according to a BRRI press release.
The meeting was chaired by Agriculture Secretary Mohammad Emdad Ullah Miyan, with BRRI Director General Mohammad Khalekuzzaman and senior officials from relevant ministries and departments in attendance.
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The newly approved varieties include one vitamin E–rich black rice, one long-duration high-yield Boro variety, one salt-tolerant and blast-resistant variety, one cold-tolerant variety suitable for the haor region, and two lodging-tolerant hybrid varieties.
Among them, BRRI dhan-115 is Bangladesh's first high-yield black rice variety, enriched with vitamin E and antioxidants. Developed using the anther culture method, the variety produces an average yield of 7.4 tonnes per hectare and has a life cycle of 137–142 days.
The rice grains are long and slender, with a black colour, and contain notable levels of vitamin E and antioxidant compounds.
BRRI dhan-116 is a long-duration, high-yield Boro variety, comparable in duration to BRRI dhan-92 but with improved yield performance. Field trials across ten regions showed that the variety produced 13.75% higher yield than BRRI dhan-92, with an average yield of 8.59 tonnes per hectare, which can rise to over 10 tonnes per hectare under proper management. The variety is lodging-tolerant due to its strong plant structure.
BRRI dhan-117 is a short-duration Boro variety that is both salt-tolerant and blast-resistant. It has a life cycle of 129–135 days, similar to the widely cultivated BRRI dhan-28, and yields between 8.6 and 9.9 tonnes per hectare. The variety demonstrated high resistance to blast disease during artificial inoculation trials.
Designed for flood-prone lowlands, BRRI dhan-118 is a cold-tolerant variety suitable for the haor region. Officials said it can be sown early to reduce the risk of crop damage from flash floods, while still maintaining yields of 6.0 to 8.5 tonnes per hectare, depending on sowing time and conditions.
The two hybrids — BRRI Hybrid dhan-9 and BRRI Hybrid dhan-10 are lodging-resistant and moderately salt-tolerant, with life cycles of 145–147 days. Under normal field conditions, their yields range from 9.5 to 10.7 tonnes per hectare, according to BRRI data.
With the inclusion of these six varieties, the total number of rice varieties developed by BRRI has reached 127, of which 39 are tolerant to adverse conditions such as floods, drought, salinity and waterlogging.
Officials said the expansion of stress-tolerant and high-yield rice varieties has played a significant role in sustaining food production, helping Bangladesh become the world's third-largest rice producer, despite a sharp decline in per capita arable land and a rapidly growing population.
