Raipur: Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU), Raipur, has been granted Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) by the Centre over a rice variety with anti-cancer properties, developed by the institute.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA) of the Central government has granted conservation and propagation rights of the rice variety, christened as Sanjeevani, to the university, an agriculture scientist associated with the project said.
The rice variety has its origin in tribal region in Sukma district under south Bastar in Chhattisgarh.
Research work on the ‘therapeutic’ rice has been going on in the university for the past five years and it may take another year for the rice variety to hit the market, a scientist involved in the project told this newspaper on Thursday.
“The rice variety is currently in the clinical trial stage in the Tata Memorial Hospital”, Dr Deepak Sharma, agriculture scientist involved in the project told this newspaper.
The clinical trial is the final stage of the research project before being granted scientific validation of the anti-cancer properties in the rice variety.
The rice variety has already successfully undergone vitro test and mouse model trials, he added.
The parent plant species of the rice variety is ‘Laicha’, a traditional paddy crop grown in the tribal district of Sukma, according to Dr Sharma.
The traditional knowledge among the local tribals about its medicinal properties has brought ‘Laicha’ into focus, leading to development of the Sanjeevani rice variety, he added.
As per the traditional knowledge among the local tribals, pregnant women deliver healthy babies if they take cooked ‘Laicha’ rice.
The health division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is also involved in the project for scientific validation of the therapeutic properties of the rice variety.
“During the mouse model trial, it was seen that the cancer cells disappeared after being administered various doses of the therapeutic rice”, sources said.
The immune-booster properties of the rice variety have already been scientifically validated and a paper in this regard has been published in the 2022 edition of International Journal of Royal Society of Biochemistry, London, according to him.
Five other rice varieties developed by the IGAU have also been granted conservation and propagation rights by the PPVFRA.
They are Chhattisgarh variety 1919, Chhattisgarh hybrid variety 2, Bauna Luchai, Trombay Chhattisgarh Sona variety, and Bhabya variety.
