Cuba tests new short-cycle rice varieties

BAYAMO, Cuba, Dec 2 (ACN) With good vigor and already in the paniculation phase (ear formation) less than three months after sowing, the four new short-cycle rice varieties that are under evaluation in areas of the La Gabina Basic Business Unit (UEB), located in the municipality of Rio Cauto, in the eastern province of Granma, are shown so far.

Called V1, V5, V6 and V7, the lines of Vietnamese origin and destined for seed multiplication, occupy 10 hectares of lot number nine, where the Cuban LP-5 and Reforma serve as witnesses to establish comparisons between the behavior of each one, agronomist Jorge Luis Martinez Lopez explained to the press.

Martinez Lopez, also a specialist in plant health of the entity belonging to the Agroindustrial Grain Company Fernando Echenique, said that the V5 stands out, with the most advanced vegetative stage, while in general they foresee a yield between 4.5 and five tons per hectare.

The main importance, he said, lies in their condition as short-cycle varieties (95 to 110 days), which are also grown outside the optimal harvest period, all with the aim of multiplying on state land and cooperative and peasant sector that exhibits the most suitable characteristics at the end of the evaluation, planned for before the end of this 2022.

More than 10 years of application in La Gabina of the working agreement with Vietnamese experts have led, among other benefits, to increased yields, constant learning, technology transfer and acquisition of modern equipment, said Belexis Zamora Vinajera, director of the UEB.

Reducing the time between harvests implies advantages such as reduced costs and the duration of the land preparation process, since there is less weeding in the fields, he added.

With encouraging results and an estimated yield of 4.1 tons per hectare, higher than planned, last November in La Gabina 32 hectares of the LP-5 variety were harvested, planted on August 10, also outside the optimal season (March 1 to July 31), said Salvador Lago Castillo, head of production at UEB.