Variety Approval, Release and Registration Sub-Committee under National Seed Board that met on 20 March 2008 officially released and registered a new rice variety named ‘Sunaulo Sugandha’ along with complete package of practices for farmers to cultivate in terai, inner terai and foothills up to 500 masl in Nepal.

The new rice variety released after 10 years’ research and experiments at different research stations and farmers’ fields at different locations coordinated by Local Initiative for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LIBIRD) in collaboration with National Rice Research Program under Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), CAZS-Natural Resources, Bangor University, UK and Jaskelo Youth Club (JYC), Chitwan. This was developed using client oriented breeding (COB) approaches. The variety has been recommended to cultivate in terai and inner terai under both irrigated and rain-fed conditions in cropping patterns: Rice-Winter vegetables-Mungbean/Maize/Chaite rice/vegetables; Rice-Fallow-Mungbean/Chaite rice/Spring rice; Rice - Potato-Maize/Chaite rice; Rice-Wheat-Fallow; Rice-Mustard-Maize/Chaite rice/Mungbean.

This variety has been released as it is high yielding and has good aroma and eating quality that gives higher market price. It is non-lodging and responsive to applied fertilizers, has long panicles, gives high straw yields, has high milling recovery. It is also found resistant to leaf and neck blast diseases. It has an yield potential of 5.5 t/ha and maturity period of 151 days from seeding.

The meeting of the Sub-Committee was held under the Chairmanship of Dr. Nanda Prasad Shrestha, Executive Director of NARC.