Varieties boast high vitamin content, high yield, and tolerance to adverse conditions.

Star Business Report

The Ministry of Agriculture has approved six new rice varieties, including two hybrids, for nationwide cultivation, aiming to boost production and strengthen food security for a growing population.

With the approval, the total number of rice varieties developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) rises to 127, according to a press release.

The six rice varieties include one enriched with vitamin E, one high-yielding and lodging-resistant, and another tolerant to salinity and also resistant to blast disease.

Three other varieties include a cold-tolerant strain for haor regions and two hybrid strains designed to withstand lodging.

The newly developed BRRI Dhan 115 is a vitamin E- and antioxidant-rich variety. It is also Bangladesh’s first high-yielding black rice variety.

Its grains contain 14.98 mg/kg vitamin E and 29.12 mg/kg C3G, a beneficial antioxidant. The average yield is 7.4 tonnes per hectare, the statement said.

BRRI Dhan 116 is a high-yielding, late-maturing variety for the Boro season. The plant is strong and sturdy, making it resistant to lodging.

Lodging in rice refers to the bending of stems near ground level. This makes the crop difficult to harvest, causing a significant drop in yield. Therefore, lodging-resistant crops generally produce higher yields.

In yield trials across ten regions, this variety produced about 13.75 percent higher yields than BRRI Dhan 92. The grain is also finer than that of BRRI Dhan 92, making the new variety a potential substitute for the old one.

The average yield is 8.59 tonnes per hectare. Moreover, it can reach the maximum yield of up to 10.36 tonnes per hectare.

BRRI Dhan 117 is a short-duration, salt-tolerant, and blast disease-resistant variety for the Boro season. Its average yield is 8.6 tonnes per hectare, which can increase to as much as 9.90 tonnes per hectare. The protein content of the grains is 9.3 percent.

BRRI Dhan 118 is a cold-tolerant rice variety suitable for haor regions.

Usually, haor areas experience unexpected flooding around the time rice reaches its semi-mature to mature state, causing a huge drop in yield. However, BRRI Dhan 118 can be sown early, and it will be at the reproductive stage during such floodings. As it is cold-tolerant at that stage, it will survive through the submersion.

Such a situation will not cause sterility, and the variety can yield at least 6.0 tonnes per hectare. The medium-sized grain has a protein content of 9.1 percent.

BRRI Hybrid Dhan 9 is lodging-tolerant and salt-tolerant to some extent. From seedling to maturity, it can tolerate salinity levels of 4-8 dS/m. In coastal regions, the yield is 6.5-7.0 tonnes per hectare. The grains are medium in size, and the protein content is 9.3 percent.

BRRI Hybrid Dhan 10 is also lodging-tolerant. Under normal field conditions, farmers can gain yields of 9.7-10.7 tonnes per hectare. The grains are slender, and the protein content is 9.1 percent.

Including the newly developed varieties, BRRI has developed 39 rice varieties that are tolerant to adverse conditions such as floods, drought, salinity, and waterlogging, the statement said.

Published Date: February 8, 2026