Embrapa launches rice cultivar for Maranhão

This year, BRS A706 CL was launched, an irrigated rice cultivar with a medium cycle and high production potential, recommended for irrigated environments in several states in Brazil, including Maranhão. The cultivar brings together the best of Embrapa's rice genetics with BASF's Clearfield technology, called CL. This technology offers great efficiency in weed control as it is resistant to a herbicide with a full-action molecule; it controls a wide range of weeds and is selective to rice, a fact that makes the technology innovative in the management of these invasive plants.

In Maranhão, the BRS A706 CL can be used both in irrigated rice areas (such as Arari and Vitória do Mearim) and in favored rainfed areas (such as São Mateus, Itapecuru Mirim and other municipalities that grow rice in the floodplains of Maranhão). . The new rice cultivar is the result of more than ten years of research by Embrapa's rice improvement program, involving adaptation tests in different regions of Brazil, adjustments in phytotechnical management, plant health, grain quality and culinary quality. The result is a cultivar that brings together characteristics of agronomic interest with the commercial quality of grains valued by the market.

The BRS A706 CL's main characteristics are: high production potential (more than 15 tons per hectare in irrigated area); presence of stay green and tolerance to lodging; broad adaptability to pre-germinated and direct seeding environments; and grain quality for the supply of raw materials for brands that wish to sell ‘premium’ line products. 

“We carried out final trials in the producers' area for recommendation in the state and the new cultivar will certainly be another strong ally of rice farming in Maranhão, alongside the cultivars already planted, such as BRSMA 357, BRS A704, BRS A502, BRS Pampeira and BRS Catiana, among other Embrapa cultivars, which are already the majority in the state”, says analyst Carlos Santiago. For researcher Guilherme Abreu, from Embrapa Cocais, “in tests in Maranhão, in a favored rainfed area, the BRSA706 CL showed a productivity of eight tons, with a cycle of 110 days. It is yet another technology that is enough to guarantee the sustainability of rice farming in Maranhão”.

According to experts, the great advantage of using CL cultivars is the ease of weed management, using only one herbicide that combats all invasive plants of economic importance in rice cultivation, especially red rice, the main invasive plant, which It is resistant to conventional herbicides.