Jai Shri Ram paddy
Jai Shri Ram, also called Lachkari, is a long-duration short-slender fine-grain rice variety developed through farmer selection in Maharashtra. It originated when progressive farmer Sriram Govinda Lanjewar selected promising plants from a HMT field in 1998 and stabilised the line over subsequent seasons through pedigree selection on his own farm.
Key characteristics
- Alternative name: Lachkari
- Origin: farmer selection from HMT, Sriram Lanjewar, Maharashtra, 1998
- Duration: 140-145 days (long)
- Grain: short slender, fine, aromatic in some seed lots
Cultivation
The variety is grown predominantly under transplanted, irrigated systems (Transplanting Paddy) in the long-duration kharif season. Because it is a farmer-bred line propagated outside the formal seed system, it is typically managed with standard fine-grain agronomy, including balanced nitrogen and panicle-stage nutrition similar to other 140-150 day fine-grain varieties.
Adoption and use
Jai Shri Ram has spread by farmer-to-farmer seed exchange rather than through formal release channels, reaching cultivators across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Its market positioning is as an inexpensive, locally adapted fine-grain alternative to mainstream releases such as Bpt 5204. The diffusion of the variety is documented as a farmer-innovation case study by India's National Innovation Foundation. Being an unregulated open line, grain type and quality vary slightly across seed lots.
Related entries
See also: Bpt 5204, Rnr 15048, Knm 118 Kunaram Sannalu, Mtu 1010.
References
- Diffusion of Jai Shri Ram paddy variety. National Innovation Foundation, India.