The National Seed Board on Tuesday approved two new high-yielding Boro rice varieties developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).

The rice varieties were approved at the 111th meeting of the board held at its office here, a press release said.

Chaired by Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akter, the meeting was presented, among others, by Director General of BRRI Dr Md. Shahjahan Kabir.

As a result, the total number of rice varieties developed by BRRI stood at 115. 

Among the two new varieties, BRRI Dhan107 is a premium quality balam type high yielding boro rice variety.

The line was collected by the BRRI in 2015 from farmers' field and developed through pure line selection.

The selected pure line was tested for three (03) years in the research field of BRRI, Gazipur and then it was evaluated in the experimental field of BRRI regional stations in 2019 as well as in different farmers’ fields of Bangladesh in 2020. 

Afterwards it was evaluated in the Proposed Variety Trial (PVT) established by Seed Certification Agency (SCA) in Boro 2022.

Due to its successful performance in the PVT, BRRI authority applied to National Seed Board (NSB) for releasing the variety and later on NSB released Lata balam as BRRI Dhan107 as a premium quality balam type high yielding Boro rice variety for cultivation throughout the country in its 111th meeting. 

BRRI Dhan108, is a High-yielding (Jira type) Boro rice variety. This variety has medium slender fine grains as like as Jira Dhan and a greater number of grains (250-270) per panicle. The breeding line BRH11-9-11-4-5B is high yielding variety which has been selected for cultivation throughout the country during Boro season. 

BRH11-9-11-4-5B has been developed by hybridization between IR 80561 and China inbred 321 and pedigree selection. The research programme started from 2012 at the BRRI under the NATP-PIU-BARC project.

The grain yield and various agronomic parameters of this new breeding line were extensively tested in diverse agro-ecological conditions of Bangladesh in farmers' fields.
 
Finally, at 111th meeting of the National Seed Board - this homozygous breeding line was released for cultivation in Boro season as BRRI dhan108 throughout the country. 

The average plant height of BRRI Dhan108 is 102 cm with erect, broad, dark green leaves and it is also lodging tolerant with 149-151 days growth duration. The grain type of this variety is medium slender as like Jira dhan.

This variety has been developed for better market price for the farmers and branding. BRRI dhan108 has high yield and fine grain. The main characteristics of this variety are densely a greater number of grains (250-270) per panicle.