PB 1718 Paddy Basmati

PB 1718 is a notified Pusa basmati variety for the Kharif season, with extra-long slender grains, good cooking elongation and basmati aroma. It was released carrying genes for resistance to bacterial leaf blight (BLB) — IARI bred it as the BLB-resistant version of PB 1121 with the xa13 and Xa21 genes, and PAU rates it resistant to all ten BLB pathotypes present in Punjab.

Please read this before you buy

PB 1718 is grown exactly like PB 1121 — same dates, same low nitrogen, same grain class — but without the BLB worry. It is not blast resistant, so scout for blast as usual. About 121 cm tall (PAU); do not push urea or it will lodge.

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
• Direct seeding option (PAU): PB 1718 is on PAU's list for unpuddled direct-seeded basmati — sow 15–30 June in medium to heavy soils only, 8–10 kg seed per acre in 20 cm rows, first irrigation about 21 days after sowing

How to sow

• Method: raise a nursery and transplant into puddled fields
• Seed rate: 4–5 kg per acre of nursery seed (IARI practice; one 4 kg pack per acre); PAU advises up to 8 kg of heavy, water-sorted seed per acre
• Nursery: about 160 sq m (6.5 marla) for one acre; sow sprouted seed thinly
• Seed treatment (foot rot): Trichoderma asperellum 2% WP at 15 g per kg seed just before sowing, plus a 6-hour seedling root dip at 15 g per litre before transplanting; or carbendazim + mancozeb 75 WS at 3 g per kg (PAU)
• Seedling age: 25–30 days (5–6 leaves)
• Spacing: 20 cm × 15 cm (33 hills per sq m), 2 seedlings per hill, 2–3 cm deep; 15 × 15 cm if transplanting late
• Pack size: 4 kg

Manure and fertiliser (per acre)

• Basmati needs less nitrogen than coarse paddy — too much nitrogen makes the crop lodge. The PAU basmati dose for PB 1718 is below; phosphorus and potash as per soil test
• Green manure: if dhaincha or sunnhemp has been buried before puddling, give no urea at all
• Nitrogen: 36 kg urea per acre, 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
• Phosphorus (P₂O₅): skip if the previous wheat got its recommended dose; in deficient soils 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 where the field has shown deficiency
• Direct-seeded basmati: 54 kg urea in three equal splits at 3, 6 and 9 weeks after sowing (PAU)

Water, weeds and pests

• Irrigation: keep standing water in the field for 2 weeks after transplanting, as for transplanted paddy; then irrigate two days after the ponded water has soaked in. No stress at flowering; stop irrigation about 15 days before harvest
• Weeds: pre-emergence herbicide as a sand mix 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 at 20–25 days. Rotate herbicide groups
• Pests: watch for stem borer, leaf folder and plant hoppers. Thresholds: 2% dead hearts (basmati), 10% folded leaves, 5 hoppers per hill. Prefer neem (azadirachtin 5%, 80 mL per acre) at pest start; avoid synthetic pyrethroids
• Diseases: watch for leaf blight and blast. BLB resistance is built in, but still use disease-free seed and keep nitrogen low. For blast, PAU recommends azoxystrobin + difenoconazole 325 SC 200 mL per acre in 200 L water at maximum tillering and ear emergence
• Spraying: spray only at threshold, as per label / your state advisory. Basmati for export has strict residue limits — use only advisory-approved products

Harvest

• Duration: about 135–145 days seed to seed (ICAR: 135 days; PAU: 114 days after transplanting) — late October to early November
• Stage: when the grains are fully mature and the straw turns yellow — do not wait for dead-ripe, it shatters
• Threshing: the same or next day after cutting, to keep head-rice recovery
• Grain: extra-long slender, good elongation and aroma

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

Please quote variety name PB 1718 when ordering.

Agronomy helpline: 9107062062