Rice is staple food and also a source of employment and livelihood for majority of population in India and also for the farmers associated with its cultivation in Kashmir valley situated in the North western Himalayas. Its cultivation in the valley extends from the plains having altitude 1570 meters to high hills 2180 meters above mean sea level. The contribution made by the State Agriculture University SKUAST-Kashmir through Mountain Research Center for Filed Crops (MRCFC), in terms of development of rice technologies is enormous. Before the availability of varieties developed and promoted by the center the productivity of traditional land races cultivated by farmers of the valley hovered between 1 to 1.5t/ha. Despite these developments, there still exists gap between what is produced and what can be produced at farmers’ field. Use of traditional rice cultivars by farmers is one of the major causes of low productivity at farmers field in the valley. The reason farmers stick to the traditional varieties like China-1039, Jhelum and some mixtures may either be their unawareness about new ones or/and lack of desirable traits in the varieties. In order to bridge the yield gap, it is therefore essential that new varieties with higher yield potential and desirable traits are developed and popularized among farmers. Disease incidence, especially the blast disease has been a very serious biotic stress for rice in the valley and it is responsible for substantial yield and economic losses to the farmers.
Author(s) Details:
T. Mubarak,
Mountain Research Center for Field Crops, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (J & K)-192021, India.
Z. A. Bhat,
Division of Plant Pathology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (J & K)- 191102, India.
A. Shakoor,
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kulgam, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (J & K)-192231, India.
Hasseb-Ur-Rehman,
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kulgam, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (J & K)-192231, India.
Shahid A. Sheergojari,
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kulgam, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (J & K)-192231, India.
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