Varietal Evaluation and Preference Analysis of Sixteen Released Rice Varieties in Bhojad, Chitwan, Nepal

Rice is the principal staple food for more than 3.5 billion people worldwide (IRRI, 2017). Rice (Oryza sativa L.) belonging to Family Poaceae, Sub-family Oryzoideae, tribe Oryzae with chromosome number 24 is a perennial, self-pollinated, and semi-aquatic plant. Rice ranks third most staple crop after Maize & Wheat in the world in terms of production (FAOSTAT, n.d.). Its annual production in the world is 755473800 tons and the yield of 4661kg/ha in the year 2019(FAOSTAT, n.d.). Rice occupies first place in terms of area coverage, production, productivity, and preferences in Nepal and it contributes 15.35% to the AGDP (MOALD, 2020). With the increasing population, the global rice demand will rise to about 765 million tons by 2030 (Akon et al., 2015). Rice contributes nearly 20% to the agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) and almost 7% to GDP, as well as it supplies 40% of food calorie intake (Neupane & Khadka, 2019). Nepalis one of the important centers of rice genetic resources (MoAD, 2015), having over 1,700 landraces of rice. Rice is cultivated under diversified agro-climatic zones in Nepal from terai (50masl) to mid-hills and high mountains valley (3050masl) in Jumla (the highest altitude of rice growing location in the world) (Kandel, 2018).

The intensity of use of improved seeds and inorganic fertilizers in cereals is very low in Nepal (Report, 2010), resulting in less exploitation of the land production potential. We cannot deny the fact that the use of new, high-yielding varieties, instead of traditional rice varieties brought huge gains in yield, but the planting of a single variety overlarge areas year after year may compromise genetic resistance to pests (Khanal, 2017). IDespite65.6% of Nepalese people engaged in agriculture, the major problem here is food insecurity. There is significant role of rice farming in poverty reduction and food security, but ignoring this fact the investment made in the study and research of this crop is very low. As a result, rice yield growth has been negligible in the past two decades. The development of a nation is paced by agricultural development and rice is the most important sub-sector of agriculture in Nepal (Mahato & Adhikari, 2017). The country which used to export rice in the past, now imports about one milliotonson of milled rice every year. This causes a serious challenge to rural poverty reduction as well as to food and nutrition security in the country. The problem will become more serious incoming decades. The attainable yield could not be achieved due to lack of efficient exploitation of use of varieties suitable in accordance to agro ecological niches, in accordance to soil fertility gradient and extent of use efficiency of major fertilizers results in low production of rice (Sarwar et al., 2011). Besides this the, rice cultivating area is decreasing due to human activities like urbanization and industrial expansion. Increasing the productivity of rice is the only option as there is no further chance for bringing more area under cultivation (Lamsal et al., 2018). The production and productivity of rice has not geared up as much as required with traditional system of cultivation despite a lot efforts are being made. By inviting farmers to make decisions in the research process, it is assumed that they will not only adopt but also, more importantly, adapt the available technology to their own needs and environment (Rice & Ashby, 2007). Moreover, varietal assessment leads to the study of yield and yield attributing traits which together with the farmer preference analysis helps in more effective crop breeding program. Also, there is a need to move forward from the Green Revolution to a „gene revolution,‟ which is more productive and more „green‟ in terms of conserving natural resources and the environment (Atkins & Bowler, 2020).