Assessment of agronomic performances of aromatic varieties in stations in the senegal river valley (vfs)

Abstract

Senegal is one of the largest rice importing countries in West Africa with rice production that still fails to meet consumer demands. The State has made great efforts to make up for the deficit in local production by setting up the Program for the Acceleration of the Agricultural Cadence in Senegal (PRACAS) and the National Program for Self-sufficiency in Rice (PNAR), whose objective is to satisfy national demand with a halt in imports. To support this dynamic, the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA) has revised these research activities with the introduction of a major selection component for new high-yielding rice varieties with good grain quality. It is within this framework, in partnership with BAYER, that the ISRA of Saint Louis is evaluating new varieties of hybrid rice. This study attempts to evaluate the behavior of new hybrid varieties according to two sowing methods in the Senegal River Valley. The material is composed of two hybrid varieties 6444 GOLD and TEJ GOLD and a control Sahel 108. The device is in split-plot with the sowing methods in large plots and the varieties in small plots. The effect of the sowing method on the behavior of the varieties was only noted to be significant on the cycle at maturity; the hybrids have longer cycles than the control Sahel 108 both in direct sowing and in transplanting. The varieties have different agronomic behaviors only on the weight of 1000 seeds, the length of the panicle and the duration of cycles at 50% flowering. The TEJ GOLD variety has a long panicle and a good grain load per panicle. The best performances such as very good tillering ability (6444 GOLD) and good panicle load (TEJ GOLD) were recorded in the hybrids. These hybrids would behave better in direct seeding in terms of yield, unlike the control Sahel 108. From the above, we can say that the introduction of these hybrid varieties could significantly increase rice production and productivity and contribute to achieve our self-sufficiency in rice.