Genesis

In 1997, Sanayamba saw a paddy plant with 14-15 long panicles and high tillering capacity among the plants of a local paddy variety (Huikup) in his field. At maturity he collected those seeds separately and sowed in 1/10th acre area in the next season.  It was also found to be tolerant to submerged condition and pests like stem borer. The seeds were then harvested and in 1999 sowed in an area of about 0.5 hectare where the yield obtained was approximately 85.5 q/ha. After repeated sowing consecutively till 2000-2003, the characteristics were found to be stable.  The seeds were then distributed to farmers in different areas of Bishnupur District, Imphal West district, Thoubal district, Tamenglong district and Senapati District.

The variety This variety is suitable for alluvial soil and is sown in June-July.  The salient features of the variety include reddish colour grain, medium long panicle, high number of tillers (14), tolerance to submerged conditions, tolerance to stem borer, short to medium awn, sweet taste and less grain breakage percentage. Also, comparatively less fertilizer is required. The farmers follow mechanical control by shaking the plant for controlling the insect Marek at tillering stage. 

The experimental trial was conducted during Kharif 2016 at Central Agricultural University, CAU, Imphal, Manipur. The desirable characteristics such as average number of tillers per plant (21.67) and yield (76.96q/ha) were found higher than the check variety (62.76q/ha). It is also reported to be moderately tolerant to stem borer and short plant height (89.33cm). The application for registration of the variety has been submitted to PPV&FRA, New Delhi.

The farmer started diffusion attempts for the variety in 2003. It has now covered an area of about 200 hectare in different places of Manipur. Normally poor farmers of Manipur cannot spend money for purchasing seeds and thereby follow the system of exchanging the seed. Therefore much of the innovator’s variety has been diffused through seed exchange.