introduction of new rice cultivar, shafagh

in recent years most activities of rice research institute, has been focused on introduction of high yielding as well as high quality rice cultivars. in 1994, 185 lines introduced from international rice research institute (irri) to rice research institute of iran (rrii), were evaluated in observational and statistical experiments in rrii for two years, and eight lines were selected. these lines had better performance, morphological characteristics, early maturity and higher yield than other lines. results of different experiments carried out during next five years, showed that line ir67015- 94-2-3, introduced later as shafagh cultivar was more high yielding and stable in different environments of mazandaran province compared to the other lines. this cultivar is medium in maturity with average yield of 7.7 tha-1. the best planting space for shafagh cultivar is 20 x20 and 18 x 30 cm for traditional and machine transplanting, respectively. based on different experiments on soil analysis and crop requirements, 115 kg n ha-1, 50 kg p2o5ha-1 and 50 kg k2o ha-1 are recommended. results revealed that this cultivar has similar responses as nemat and dasht cvs to all major diseases and pests, but more tolerant to lodging. its plant height and thousand-grain weight are around 110 cm and 25g, respectively. (also see tables 1 and 2 in farsi text).