Scientists of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (IP) University have identified Indian rice varieties and their genes for high phosphorus(P) and nitrogen(N) use efficiency.  Finding one variety for both N and P use efficiencies is a great advantage, as farmers prefer all efficiencies to be delivered together in the same crop variety.

A press statement by the IP University on Wednesday said in a discovery that could help save both fertilizer costs and pollution due to leftover fertilizers in croplands, Indian biotechnologists have identified rice traits and genes for both phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) use efficiency (PUE and NUE).

They compared three popular rice varieties from different parts of India for both NUE and PUE and found 12 common ‘phenotypic’ traits and 5 common genes for both, facilitating crop improvement.

They also found that CR Dhan 301 from Eastern coastal India has the highest NUE and PUE, followed by Panvel1 and Samba Mahsuri (BPT 5204) from Western coastal and Southern India respectively.

This research was carried out by Bhumika Madan and led by Professor Nandula Raghuram, founder-Head of the Centre for Sustainable Nitrogen and Nutrient Management (CSNNM), School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi.  

Their findings have just been published as a research article in the international peer reviewed journal, ‘Plants.’ 

Their novel finding that over half of all the phenotypic traits are common for PUE and NUE is good news for anyone interested in crop improvement for sustainable agriculture, they informed.

N and P are the largest and most expensive components of NPK fertilizers and cereals consume most of them in India.

NUE or PUE in cereals is measured as the grain yield per kg of N/P fertilizer supplied.

India spends about Rs two lakh crores on NPK fertilizers, most of which being government subsidy. “Only 25-30% of the applied fertilizers are converted into harvested outputs, while the rest are lost to air and water pollution, affecting our health, biodiversity and climate change threatening our planet” said Professor Raghuram.

“While some of this wastage can be reduced by legume-based crop rotations and better manure management, we must also undertake genetic improvement of the crop for nutrient use efficiency.

India being a centre of origin of rice biodiversity, we have tens of thousands of rice varieties and our findings help in developing better cultivars through selection and breeding”, he added.