PB 1121 Paddy Basmati

PB 1121 is a notified, open-pollinated basmati paddy for Kharif, known for its extra-long slender grain and strong cooking elongation — PAU rates it the longest cooked-rice length among the aromatic varieties recommended for Punjab. It is a long-duration variety of about 140–145 days seed to seed (about 107 days after transplanting in PAU trials).

Please read this before you buy

PB 1121 is susceptible to bacterial leaf blight (BLB) and blast, and its tall straw (about 120 cm) lodges if you push urea. If BLB comes to your area every year, ask your dealer about PB 1718 or PB 1885 — the same grain type with built-in BLB resistance.

Land and sowing window

• Season: Kharif, transplanted
• Soil: loamy soils with low permeability are best; rice tolerates pH 5–9
• Punjab (PAU): nursery sowing in the first fortnight of June; transplanting in the first fortnight of July
• Haryana, Delhi, Western UP (IARI): the same window — nursery 1–15 June, transplant 25–30 day old seedlings in early July
• Do not transplant early: basmati cooks best when the grain fills in cooler weather; high temperature at grain filling spoils cooking quality (PAU)

How to sow

• Seed rate: 4–5 kg per acre of nursery seed is the IARI practice (one 4 kg pack per acre); PAU advises up to 8 kg of heavy, water-sorted seed per acre. Float the seed in water and discard what rises
• Nursery: raise it on about 160 sq m (6.5 marla) for one acre; sow the sprouted seed thinly so seedlings stay sturdy
• Seed treatment (foot rot / bakanae): smear seed with Trichoderma asperellum 2% WP at 15 g per kg just before sowing, and dip seedling roots in the same (15 g per litre) for 6 hours before transplanting; or treat seed with carbendazim + mancozeb 75 WS at 3 g per kg (PAU)
• Seedling age: 25–30 days (5–6 leaves). Older seedlings form nodes and tiller less
• Spacing: 20 cm between rows × 15 cm between hills (33 hills per sq m), 2 seedlings per hill, 2–3 cm deep; 15 × 15 cm if transplanting late
• Plant type: semi-dwarf but about 120 cm tall (PAU) — tall for a basmati, so it lodges with excess nitrogen
• Pack size: 4 kg

Manure and fertiliser (per acre)

• Green manure: dhaincha or sunnhemp buried a day before puddling is the best base for basmati — if the field has been green manured, give no urea at all (PAU)
• Nitrogen: only 36 kg urea per acre for PB 1121, in two equal splits at 3 and 6 weeks after transplanting — no basal urea. Apply when water is not standing and irrigate on the third day. More nitrogen gives tall growth, lodging and more disease, not more grain
• Phosphorus (P₂O₅): skip if the previous wheat got its recommended phosphorus; in phosphorus-deficient soils give 75 kg single superphosphate (about 12 kg P₂O₅) before the last puddling
• Potash (K₂O): only where the soil test shows deficiency
• Zinc: 25 kg zinc sulphate heptahydrate (21%) or 16 kg monohydrate (33%) at puddling if the field has shown zinc deficiency (rusty-brown lower leaves, stunted tillerless seedlings 2–3 weeks after transplanting)
• Leaf colour chart: if you use PAU-LCC, start matching leaves 21 days after transplanting and give 9 kg urea whenever 6 of 10 leaves are lighter than shade 4

Water, weeds and pests

• Irrigation: keep water ponded for 2 weeks after transplanting, then irrigate two days after the ponded water has soaked in. No water stress at flowering. Stop irrigation about 15 days before harvest
• Weeds: pre-emergence herbicide mixed in 60 kg sand within 2–3 days of transplanting (e.g. pretilachlor 50 EC 600 mL or pendimethalin 30 EC 1–1.2 L per acre), or bispyribac-sodium 10 SC 100 mL per acre in 150 L water at 20–25 days when weeds have 2–4 leaves. Rotate herbicide groups
• Stem borer: basmati is highly susceptible. Spray at 2% dead hearts; prefer neem (azadirachtin 5%, 80 mL per acre) at pest start, then advisory-approved insecticides as per label
• Leaf folder and planthoppers: leaf folder at 10% leaf damage; from a month after transplanting tap plants weekly — spray at 5 hoppers per hill. Do not use synthetic pyrethroids, they flare up hoppers (PAU)
• Blast: watch leaf spots at maximum tillering and neck rot at ear emergence; PAU recommends azoxystrobin + difenoconazole 325 SC 200 mL per acre in 200 L water at maximum tillering and ear emergence
• Bacterial leaf blight: PB 1121 is susceptible — use disease-free seed, no excess nitrogen, no nitrogen after 6 weeks, do not pond water continuously
• Export residue limits: basmati for export is tested for residues — use only advisory-approved products, at label dose, and respect the waiting period

Where it will not do well

In fields where bacterial leaf blight or blast comes every year — PB 1121 has no resistance to either. Blast is worse in sub-montane (kandi) areas and wherever heavy nitrogen is used.

Harvest

• Duration: about 140–145 days seed to seed; about 107 days after transplanting (PAU) — normally late October to early November
• Stage: as soon as the ears are nearly ripe and the straw has turned yellow. Late harvest means shattering and broken grain in milling
• Threshing: the same or next day after cutting — delayed threshing cuts head-rice recovery
• Grain: extra-long, slender, with excellent elongation on cooking

Crop practices follow state agricultural university recommendations for North India; confirm doses for your district with your Kern dealer or KVK.

अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले सवाल

PB 1121 की नर्सरी और रोपाई कब करें?

नर्सरी 1–15 जून और रोपाई 1–15 जुलाई, 25–30 दिन की पौध से।

एक एकड़ में कितना बीज लगेगा?

नर्सरी के लिए 4–5 किग्रा प्रति एकड़ — 4 किग्रा का 1 पैक 1 एकड़ के लिए (PAU: 8 किग्रा भारी बीज)।

कितना यूरिया डालें?

केवल 36 किग्रा यूरिया प्रति एकड़, रोपाई के 3 और 6 सप्ताह बाद दो बराबर हिस्सों में; बेसल यूरिया नहीं।

रोपाई की दूरी कितनी रखें?

कतार से कतार 20 सेमी और पौधे से पौधा 15 सेमी, प्रति हिल 2 पौधे।

फसल कितने दिन में पकती है?

बीज से बीज 140–145 दिन, यानी रोपाई के लगभग 107 दिन बाद।

Please quote variety name PB 1121 when ordering.

Agronomy helpline: 9107062062

किसानों की ज़ुबानी

पी बी 1121 — किसान राजेश शर्मा, खेड़ी चोपटा, हिसार