Advances in

2012
TP-Citation.indd i 5/28/2012 3:17:13 PM

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Suggested citation: Jena KK, Hardy B, editors. 2012. Advances in temperate rice research.
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Contents
Foreword v
Temperate rice in Australia 1
R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell
Temperate japonica rice in Bhutan 15
M. Ghimiray
Temperate rice in Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) 27
Z. Khalikulov, T. Karlikhanov, and Z. Djumanov
Temperate rice in Chile 29
K. Cordero Lara
Temperate rice in China 33
Z.-K. Li, Z. Hua, Y. Gao, and G.-M. Sui
Temperate rice in Japan 41
H. Kato, K. Matsushita, and M. Yano
Temperate rice in Korea 43
K.H. Kang and Y.G. Kim
Temperate rice in Nepal 49
A.K. Gautam and N.P. Shrestha
Development of indica/japonica rice lines at the Philippine Rice Research Institute 59
E.C. Arocena and T.F. Padolina
Problems of growing rice in Russia and ways to solve them 85
E. Kharitonov
Rice food security and production in Turkey 89
N. Beşer, H. Sürek
Temperate rice in the U.S. 97
T.H. Tai
Temperate rice in Uruguay 103
E. Deambrosi, F. Pérez de Vida, and A. Roel
iii
Contents.indd iii 5/28/2012 3:15:05 PM

Foreword
Global warming as well as biotic and abiotic stresses are major threats to rice produc-
tion. Even though temperate japonica rice occupies only 20% of the rice cultivation
area worldwide, the decline in its production is a major cause of food insecurity. The
Temperate Rice Research Consortium (TRRC), established by the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) in cooperation with the Rural Development Administration
(RDA), Republic of Korea, is an appropriate forum to tackle the various constraints of
temperate rice production. I am pleased to know that the members of the TRRC have
submitted papers for the book Advances in temperate rice research, which I believe
will be an important document for temperate rice improvement.
Several constraints limit rice production and productivity in temperate rice-
growing countries and high-altitude regions in the tropics. Several million hectares of
rice cultivation area in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South and North America
are affected by low temperature every year, resulting in annual yield loss of 1–3.9 t/ha.
Low temperature at the seedling stage damages boro rice production in Bangladesh and
in high-altitude regions of Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Nepal. The temperate
rice germplasm in some temperate countries such as Kazakhstan, North Korea, and
Uzbekistan has narrow genetic diversity with low yield potential (2–3 t/ha). Biotic
stresses such as blast and bacterial blight diseases affect rice production because of
the disease-conducive environment in temperate as well as high-altitude regions.
Collaborative research related to increasing production in temperate and high-
altitude regions is important for rice improvement. In the areas of higher latitude, the
rice-growing season is characterized by long days, greater solar radiation than in the
tropics, a greater diurnal temperature range with lower night temperature limiting
respiration losses, and lower disease pressure. Under these conditions, yield potential
is considerably higher than in the tropics. Research and sharing of information can
therefore play a pivotal role in understanding how yield potential can be increased.
Keeping in view world food security, we need to stabilize temperate rice pro-
duction by creating solutions to the constraints in different countries. We therefore
developed a coordinated research strategy through the TRRC jointly with the mem-
bership of 20 countries where temperate rice is produced, marketed, and consumed.
I am very pleased that TRRC activities are continuously supported financially by
Korea’s RDA. Other countries such as Russia and Turkey have made small contribu-
Foreword.indd v 5/28/2012 3:16:35 PM

tions to strengthen TRRC activities. The research products on high yield potential,
blast disease resistance, and cold tolerance are shared among the member countries
to develop improved varieties.
There is a need to strengthen the TRRC for enhancing scientific linkages and
close collaboration among the members to develop valuable germplasm. IRRI makes
a strong effort to be a partner with the members of the TRRC that are committed to
using the latest knowledge and technologies for the improvement of temperate rice,
which will eventually benefit the rural and urban poor in many countries.
Robert S. Zeig
Zeigler
i le
igl r
Director General
vi
Foreword.indd vi 5/28/2012 3:16:38 PM

Temperate rice in Australia
Russell Reinke, Geoff Beecher, Brian Dunn, and Peter Snell
Rice production in Australia is limited to a relatively small geographic area in the

southwestern part of New South Wales (NSW) (Fig. 1). Between 1,000 and 1,500
rice farmers grow rice in the Murrumbidgee Valley in NSW and the Murray Valley in
NSW and Victoria. The average size of an Australian rice farm is around 300 hectares;
however, rice is produced on an average of 60 hectares per annum, allowing a 4-year
rotation between rice and other annual crops, and has historically included a legume
pasture phase for livestock production. Most farms now have a cropping phase only,
alternating between summer crops (including rice) and winter crops. In the absence of
water limitations, annual rice production ranges from 0.8 to 1.4 million tons of paddy
rice. The highest annual production was 1.7 million tons in 2001.
The key factor affecting recent production of rice in Australia has been limited
water supply as a result of prolonged and severe drought conditions from 2002 until
2010. The impact on production is strongly evident in Figure 2. When irrigation water
is not limited, 100,000–130,000 ha are devoted to rice production annually and the
entire crop area is fully irrigated, using between 1,400 and 1,800 GL (1 GL = 109 liters)
of irrigation water. The farm-gate value of the industry is around US$200 million,
but, after processing, packaging, and flow-on effects to local communities, this rises
to approximately $650 million.
The Australian rice industry faces a changing operating environment, with future
production likely to average 800,000 tons of paddy rice and be more variable than in
the predrought years. Projected climate variability will likely lead to reduced water
availability, and the legislative reduction in the amount of irrigation water available
to farmers through the Sustainable Diversion Limits arising from the Murray-Darling
Basin Plan and other policy responses will lead to restricted production.
Although production has risen and fallen according to water availability,
average yields have remained high. Drought conditions and the associated reduction
in irrigation water supply have not affected yield because Australian rice farmers
restrict the area sown to be commensurate with water availability at the beginning
of the growing season. Hence, in a season of restricted production, the average yield
generally remains high (Fig. 2).
The variation in average yields is principally due to low-temperature events
during the reproductive stage of the crop. Progress on addressing this abiotic constraint
Australia.indd 1 5/28/2012 1:17:32 PM

Fig. 1. The rice-growing region in Australia is centered on the Murray and
Murrumbidgee river systems in southern New South Wales.
Production (000 t) Yield (t ha–1)

2,500
10
2,000
8
1,500
6
1,000
4
500 2
0 0
1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005
Year
Fig. 2. Australian rice production and average yields for the period 1925 to
2011. The industry is based in southwestern New South Wales, with minor
production in northern Victoria. Note the extreme decline in production after
2000 due to water limitations.
has been relatively slow because of the absence of a consistently cold selection
environment and limited opportunity to establish an off-season nursery for testing.
Stringent rules govern the movement of germplasm into the rice-growing area owing
to strict quarantine regulations aimed at preventing the introduction of rice diseases,
2 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

thereby precluding the use of such nurseries. Note that the low-yield events in Figure
2 uniformly reflect low-temperature damage during the reproductive phase and, since
1985, average yields in cold seasons have risen from 6 t ha–1 to around 7 t ha–1. Crop
management also plays a role in this increase, with increasing use of deep water (20–25
cm) during the reproductive period to help insulate the crop against low-minimum-
temperature events.
The main research providers for the Australian rice industry include the NSW
Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), a division of the NSW Department
of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and universities, including
Charles Sturt University, Sydney University, Southern Cross University, and the
University of Queensland. Relatively few human resources are directed at rice
research. NSW DPI has two rice breeders, two research agronomists together with
technical staff, a cereal chemist with three technical staff, and a number of extension
personnel.
Major research targets

The key organization for funding and coordinating rice research in Australia is the
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and the research
program aims to improve the productivity and sustainability of the Australian rice
industry through the organization, funding, and management of a research, develop-
ment, and extension program that is aligned with industry reality and stakeholder needs
(RIRDC 2011). The following research targets are drawn directly from the RIRDC’s
5-year plan for rice research, from 2012 to 2017.
Rice breeding
Because the Australian rice industry does not have any of the major rice pests and
diseases, the rice breeding program is able to focus primarily on yield and quality traits.
The rice breeding program seeks to respond to an evolving production environment
by developing stress-tolerant rice varieties (tolerant of cold, heat, and drought) that
reduce water use and maintain or enhance eating quality and yield.
The specific objectives of the breeding program follow:
• Reproductive-stage cold tolerance—to improve year-to-year stability of
production and water productivity.
• Yield potential—to drive overall profitability in the rice farming system.
• Grain quality—including grain size and shape, grain appearance, milling
(maximum whole grain after milling), and cooking quality (texture, gloss,
softness on cooling).
• Shorter growth duration—principally to save water, but also to maximize
management options and flexibility for rice growers.
• Improved tolerance of abiotic stresses such as straighthead (a physiological
disorder resulting in malformed and empty florets), salinity, heat, and transient
drought during establishment.

• Seedling vigor—to attain rapid establishment under the relatively low-
temperature conditions at sowing and to build adequate biomass to support
high yield.
• Lodging resistance.
Precision agriculture and sustainability

Precision agriculture and whole-farm system research offer further opportunity for
rice production efficiency gains as well as identifying options for profitable rice-based
farming systems in northern Australia. Understanding spatial variation and developing
prescription tools for maximizing production are a priority. Rice growers, using yield
loggers in their harvesters, report single-field yields from 8 to 18 t ha–1.
Precision agriculture as a new management technology for farmers has developed
through the use of global positioning systems, remote sensing of crop performance,
and ground-based sensors of variations in soil properties—tools that allow the spa-
tial monitoring of soil properties and crop growth. The technology to allow variable
rate application of crop inputs is already available to farmers by both ground rig and
aerial application.
However, the question of which factors contribute to soil, crop, and yield
spatial variability and which factors should be used as a basis for zoning for the use
of the variable rate application of inputs, to increase field profitability, remains to
be answered. Precision agriculture already applies to rice growing in southeastern
Australia with significant effort applied to identifying suitable land for rice, thus
reducing percolation losses under rice fields and increasing water productivity. Varia-
tions in crop growth and yield related to land-leveling practices and the exposure
of deep subsoil have been clearly identified. Work is continuing on the applications
of nitrogen, phosphorus, and zinc required to reduce the poor growth and yield of
rice on exposed subsoil material.
Targeted application of in-crop nitrogen is done at panicle initiation using
remote-sensing imagery of crop biomass/vigor variability and through targeted crop
sampling based on the imagery and use of NIR spectrometry of the rice plant material
to estimate crop nitrogen content.
Although new production systems such as Delayed Permanent Water provide
water savings of 10–20%, they also present a new set of crop establishment and man-
agement challenges (Dunn and Gaydon 2011). Crop establishment on heavy gray self-
mulching clays remains problematic, with genetic and agronomic solutions sought to
minimize this constraint. The Australian rice industry also recognizes the importance
of investing in sustainability, and is actively involved in exploring the feasibility of
new production areas in northern Australia and the challenge of understanding and
embracing the carbon economy through quantifying greenhouse gas emissions under
current and developing rice production systems.
Crop inputs, crop protection, and grain receival

The cost and effectiveness of crop inputs, including fertilizer and fuel, are significant
drivers of grower profitability. Protecting the crop from weeds, pests, and diseases

in a changing natural and regulatory environment is an ongoing challenge for grow-
ers. Possible expansion of the industry into northern Australia exposes production to
new biosecurity threats. Receiving the best price for the quality and variety of grain
produced provides important production signals for growers. This objective addresses
input effectiveness and cost along with post-farm-gate investments in the rapid as-
sessment of grain quality.
Extension, communication, and partnership development

This research objective recognizes and addresses the changing nature of public support
for extension, the expansion of private-sector alternatives, including farmer groups, and
the viability of new electronic communication systems. It also sets out to reinvigorate
existing research partnerships.
Human capital formation and succession planning

The rice R&D plan requires appropriate human capital to implement it. When research
funding was limited due to ongoing drought conditions, human capital formation was
restricted in order to fund core research commitments. The current plan will rectify
this underinvestment and the program must target research, industry, and grower skills.
Blue sky research

In this plan, “blue sky” research is defined as including novel or unproven approaches
to industry concerns and high-risk/high-reward investments that tackle industry op-
portunities outside the program’s core business. For illustrative purposes, blue sky
research might include the use of polymer films to retain soil moisture and heat, novel
uses for rice hulls and stubble, or the integration of new enterprises such as fresh fish
production into the rice farming system.
Constraints to improving rice production

Water availability
The overriding constraint to rice production in southeastern Australia within each crop-
ping season is the availability of irrigation water. The environment is characterized by
an annual rainfall of approximately 350 mm, and high evapotranspiration throughout
the growing season (October-March); hence, there is complete reliance on irrigation
water to produce the crop.
Further, climate change predictions suggest a 16–25% reduction in average
Murray-Darling stream flows by 2050 and a 16–48% reduction by 2100 (Pittock
2003, Christensen et al 2007, CSIRO 2008), which will likely result in reductions to
irrigation water allocations in the future. In addition to forecast changes in rainfall and
runoff, proposed legislative changes will act to limit the amount of water available to
farmers for agricultural production.
Implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will result in the application
of Sustainable Diversion Limits, which are the maximum long-term annual quanti-
ties of water that can be taken on a sustainable basis from the entire basin that will

not compromise the environmental assets and the ecosystem functions, or limit the
productive base of the water resource (Murray-Darling Basin Authority 2011).
The need to reduce rice water use is a longstanding goal, and Humphreys et
al (2006) reported that the average field input water productivity (WP) of the total
NSW rice crop over the past 20 years has almost doubled. This has been largely due
to increased yields with the introduction of semidwarf cultivars, and partly due to
reduced water use per rice field through monitoring and a policy of not growing rice
in fields in which water use exceeds a threshold. Further, electromagnetic induction
soil surveys have identified low-permeability areas more suitable for rice (Beecher
et al 2002), resulting in reduced rice production on soils where substantial amounts
of water are lost through percolation past the root zone. The net effect has reduced
average rice crop water use for the region (Humphreys and Robinson 2003).
A more recent innovation is to restrict water supply during the vegetative stage
of crop growth in order to improve input water productivity. Dunn and Gaydon (2011)
reported on two seasons of field experiments and confirmed that input water savings can
be achieved by delaying the application of continuous flooding until just prior to panicle
initiation in drill-sown rice on red-brown earth soils in southeast Australia. Additionally,
the experiments demonstrated increased input water productivity from higher levels
of imposed crop water stress during the initial nonflooded period. Irrigation intervals
of 160 mm cumulative evapotranspiration (including a crop factor, Kc) or more prior
to delayed continuous flooding significantly improved input water productivity above
that of the conventional drill-sown treatment (by 17% in year 2). Irrigating at 80/Kc-
mm intervals resulted in a significant but lesser (9%) input water productivity increase
over the control in the same year. Results from both trials are summarized in Table 1.
Low temperatures
The main cause of year-to-year variation in yield is the occurrence of periods of low
minimum temperatures (<15 °C) during the reproductive stage. Average environmental
conditions are shown in Figure 3, with high solar radiation throughout the growing
season and a large diurnal range in temperature. Although the average minimum
temperature during the reproductive stage is around 17 °C, variability about this mean
is significant. It is common for temperatures to fall as low as 11 or 12 °C within the
critical reproductive phase.
An example of the extreme temperature variability is shown in Figure 4. These
data are from the 2009-10 rice season, and they show a sawtooth pattern of minimum
and maximum temperatures during the early weeks of January 2010. Maximum
temperatures steadily climbed from around 30 ºC to more than 40 ºC over the course
of a week before dropping by 10–15 ºC quite rapidly. Minimum temperatures followed
the same pattern, and three excursions below 15 ºC took place during the first 3 weeks
of January 2010.
The entire reproductive stage usually spans the period from early-January to
mid-February. Although long-term maximums average around 33 C and minimums
around 17 C during the microspore development stage, the likelihood of damaging
minimum temperatures (15 C or less) is approximately 25% (Erskine and Smith

Table 1. Grain yield at 14% moisture for year 1 (200 kg N ha–1) and year 2 (225 kg N
ha–1), ETo, rain, net water input (supply + rain − surface drainage), and input water pro-
ductivity for two experiments. After Dunn and Gaydon (2011).
Grain yield ETo Rainfall Net water Input water
(t ha–1) (mm) (mm) input (mm) productivity
(kg m–3)
Year 1
Control 10.9 1,411 104 1,560 0.70
40 mm 9.2 1,382 104 1,400 0.66
80 mm 10.2 1,404 104 1,410 0.72
160 mm 10.1 1,411 104 1,330 0.76
LSD (P < 0.05) 0.9 90 NSa
Year 2
Control 13.4 1,402 212 1,500 0.89
Flood 11.4 1,316 210 1,710 0.67
80/Kc mm 12.3 1,469 219 1,280 0.97
160/Kc mmm 12.2 1,482 219 1,180 1.04
LSD (P < 0.05) 0.9 160 0.10
aNS = nonsignificant.
Temperature (°C) Solar radiation (MJ m−2 d−1)

35 30
30 28
25 26
20 24
15 22
10 20
5 18
er r r r y r y ch
ob be be ua ua ar
ct m m n br M
O ve ce Ja Fe
No De
Month
Fig. 3. Temperature and solar radiation throughout the rice-

growing season at Yanco Agricultural Institute (35°S). Solid
blue lines are maximum and minimum temperatures; red
line is solar radiation. The solid bar at the base of the figure
indicates the vegetative (green), reproductive (red), and matu-
ration (brown) phases, respectively, for an average rice crop.

Temperature (°C)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
Maximum
10
Minimum
5
0
n n n n n n n n n n n b b b b b b
Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 3 6 9 12 15 18
Date
Fig. 4. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures during January and February
2009 at Yanco Agricultural Institute. Note the diurnal range of approximately 15
ºC and prolonged period of high temperatures in late January and early February,
followed by low temperatures in mid-February.
1983). Rice crops are generally sown to ensure that this temperature-sensitive stage
occurs during the period when average temperatures, based on more than 40 years of
weather records, are greatest. Hence, it is not possible to adjust either sowing time
or maturity to further reduce the chance of damage. Year-to-year variability in yield
is primarily associated with low-temperature damage occurring during microspore
development, and to a lesser extent during anthesis. Angus and Lewin (1981) proposed
a simple model of this effect and were able to forecast rice yields with an accuracy
of 0.58 t ha–1.
Drill-sown trials with sequential sowing dates, including cold-tolerant control
varieties with varying sensitivity to cold, have been shown to be an effective screening
technique, capitalizing on naturally occurring fluctuations in minimum temperatures
to assess variation in cold-induced sterility (Farrell et al 2006). The system involves
sowing the nurseries earlier and later than the recommended sowing times to increase
the likelihood of exposure to naturally occurring cold events. Minimum temperatures
are closely monitored throughout the growing season to highlight when the 9-day
average minimum temperature is 15 ºC or lower. Ten days after the minimum
temperature threshold has been breached, individual panicles that are at flowering
stage in the nurseries are tagged, as these are the panicles that were exposed to
low temperatures at the microspore development stage. At maturity, these tagged
panicles are harvested and assessed for the percentage of fertile spikelets. Results
from this system of screening are shown in Figure 5, indicating the spikelet fertility
in four populations following exposure to varying degrees of naturally occurring
low temperatures. Low-temperature water, pumped from the lower levels of a small
nearby reservoir, is used to exacerbate the impact of low temperatures in addition to

Spikelet fertility (%) Minimum temperature (9 days)
100 24
80
18
60
12
40
Ambient temperatures
6
20
0 0
0 30 60 90
Day of year
Fig. 5. Percentage of filled spikelets per panicle for four segregating populations
superimposed on the 9-day average minimum temperature during the critical mi-
crospore development phase. Each point represents one panicle. For the left-most
population, the 9-day average minimum temperature during pollen microspore
development was 15 ºC and the percentage of fertile spikelets was quite evenly
distributed between 0% and 90%. For the right-most population, the 9-day aver-
age minimum was 13 ºC, resulting in a similar range in spikelet fertility. The two
remaining populations were less affected by low temperatures.
shading to decrease the warming effect of solar radiation following a low-minimum-

temperature event.
This screening system has been used in the development of the rice variety Sherpa
(Reinke and Snell 2011), which has demonstrated better cold tolerance than current
commercial varieties throughout the on-farm testing program before release. Sherpa
(tested as breeding line YRM69) had higher spikelet fertility than the commercial
cultivars Millin, Quest, and Opus in a series of cold-tolerance nurseries, and had
spikelet fertility similar to that of the cold-tolerant standard varieties Baijieming and
Jyoudeki (Table 2).
Available genetic resources and type of genetic resources needed

The breeding program at Yanco maintains a small germplasm collection of approxi-
mately 1,400 varieties and breeding lines. A pivotal issue in the expansion of this
important resource has been the assignment of intellectual property rights to varieties
through the mechanism of plant breeders’ rights and, in the U.S., through the granting
of utility patents. This has affected the free exchange of germplasm, with the organi-
zations that own the intellectual property insisting that, in the event of a commercial
cultivar being produced from germplasm exchanged, royalty payments would need

Table 2. Mean spikelet fertility and standard errors for tagged panicles (number of panicles in
parentheses) for varieties that experienced low night temperatures during young microspore
development in cold-tolerance nurseries conducted over four crop seasons. An early and late-
sown nursery were conducted in 2008.
Variety 2008 2008 2006 2007 2010
Baijiemang 78.02 ± 1.04 (12) 76.67 ± 4.09 (9) * 78.08 ± 3.55 (6) *
Jyoudeki 74.35 ± 2.58 (14) * 83.17 ± 0.99 (17) 83.10 ± 3.09 (7) 93.24 ± 0.26 (220)
Quest 67.12 ± 2.94 (26) 68.49 ± 2.58 (18) 54.51 ± 2.63 (14) 77.92 ± 2.61 (9) 85.64 ± 0.52 (91)
Opus 62.63 ± 2.67 (37) 77.92 ± 1.91 (25) * 83.01 ± 3.18 (2) *
YRM69 78.26 ± 2.50 (16) 80.48 ± 1.94 (14) 67.48 ± 1.93 (13) 86.55 ± 1.37 (15) 91.32 ± 0.48 (54)
Millin 71.04 ± 3.41 (17) * 57.33 ± 2.55 (14) 86.04 ± 1.02 (9) *
to be negotiated according to the proportionate representation in the pedigree. The

imposition of these legal requirements has limited germplasm exchange and eroded
the flow of new germplasm to the rice breeding program at Yanco.
For the future, a ready flow of new varieties is crucial to the success of the
program, to provide additional genetic variation for cold tolerance, drought stress,
and traits associated with adaptation to water-limited conditions across a range of
growth stages. Further genetic variation is also required to prepare for heat tolerance
at critical growth stages under global warming scenarios.
Universal adoption of the standard material transfer agreements (SMTAs) de-
veloped by the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture may well assist in this regard.
One of the key issues facing the Australian rice industry is the imperative to
reduce water use and improve water productivity. There is a need to define a clear
strategy for the development of water-saving rice. Research is necessary into the ex-
tent of water savings through avoiding flooded conditions and, in particular, the yield
penalties associated with exposure to more variable temperatures using this approach.
An alternative would be the manipulation of seedling vigor, establishment, and crop
maturity so that the rice crop is flooded for the shortest possible period consistent with
the development of sufficient biomass to support high yield potential. Crosses with
aerobic germplasm have already been made and populations are under development;
however, selection protocols have not been developed for the Australian environment,
which includes heavy clay soils, high evapotranspiration during the peak of the growing
season, a large diurnal temperature range, and extreme seasonal temperature variability.
Strategies used, including biotechnology

Rice research in Australia is mainly based in the southeast corner of the continent
where the rice industry is also located. The institutes involved are universities, federal
and state government research institutes, as well as private research organizations.

Because most research projects are funded by the RIRDC, research subjects are
integrated with the immediate requirements of the rice industry and the rice improve-
ment program at Yanco. Rice research in Australia was boosted significantly by the
Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Rice Production (Rice CRC), which
was in effect from 1998 to 2005. The Rice CRC funded research in all areas from
rice production to rice processing and commercialization. After discontinuation of the
Rice CRC in 2005, the RIRDC continued to support some of these research projects.
Research at the plant level mainly focuses on grain quality, plant nutrition (nitrogen),
disease resistance, water-use efficiency, and reproductive-stage cold tolerance—the
main yield-limiting factor of the Australian rice industry. However, investments are
also made in developing enabling technologies that will be beneficial to the breeding
program in the future.
Rice grain quality has always been a central part of the rice breeding program
at Yanco. In particular, the program has focused on the objective measurement of rice
grain quality. Australia is not a traditional rice-based culture; hence, few experienced
rice consumers can evaluate differences in breeding lines. Thus, objective methods have
been developed to evaluate the combination of aroma, texture, mouth feel, springiness,
stickiness or dryness, the appearance of white rice, or the glossiness of cooked rice. For
most of the 1970s and ’80s, the Australian rice industry focused on just two types of
rice. Both were relatively low-amylose soft-cooking types. One was a medium-grain
rice and the other long-grain. Since the early 1990s, the focus has expanded to a total
of seven grain quality classes, including standard medium grain, larger medium grain
for Middle Eastern markets, short-grain Japanese types, bold and chalky Arborio types,
fragrant long grain, firm-cooking long grain, and soft-cooking long grain.
Two innovations have had a substantial impact on the rice breeding program in
recent years. They are the implementation of the Cervitec grain inspector as a high-
throughput method for examining visual quality on an individual grain basis and the
integration of molecular marker testing for the microsatellite marker associated with
granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS) activity in the temperate japonica germplasm
group.
The capacity to measure length and width on all samples passing through the
unreplicated and replicated stages has vastly improved our knowledge of grain di-
mensions, allowed better description of chalk distribution among lines, and provided
information to select against cracked or fissured grains and thereby improve milling
quality. A composite image in Figure 6 shows how grains with stress cracks have a
sharp line of differentiation between the two colors, which can then be detected by
training the artificial neural network that forms part of the Cervitec machine.
The measurement of apparent amylose using marker technology has improved
the efficiency and effectiveness of selecting for specific cooked-grain texture. The
integration of the molecular marker test as a routine element of the breeding program
at the F5 generation allows faster and more accurate selection in relatively early genera-
tions. Thus, we can choose parents based on their genotype and make more directed
selection at early stages, keeping a higher proportion of lines to test for more complex
quantitative traits such as yield and agronomic characteristics.

Fig. 6. Composite image of rice grains analyzed by the Cervitec™ 1625,
showing a sharp differentiation of color in grains with stress cracks.
The breeding program emphasizes conventional breeding approaches, with ex-

tensive use of bi-parental crosses, triple or top crosses, and backcrossing to incorporate
specific traits such as cold tolerance into adapted backgrounds. The commercial seg-
ment of the rice industry has decided on a policy of not allowing genetically modified
rice to be grown within the rice quarantine area in order to protect its markets. This
does not preclude research into genetic modification, but means that it is carried out
via partner research organizations, and not at Yanco Agricultural Institute.
Expectations from the TRRC and possible contributions to the TRRC

In Australia, the sources for funding of rice research are limited. Significant periods
of drought conditions and stringent water restrictions have in recent years put a lot of
pressure on the rice industry. Lower rice production and concomitant lower research
levies have reduced the capacity of funding bodies to support rice research at a time
when larger research investments are needed to secure the future of the industry. The
current climate confronts the rice industry with the following problems that need
addressing:
• Improvement of abiotic stress tolerance: cold, drought, and heat tolerance.
• Improvement of water-use efficiency.
• Continuing the trend of tailoring varieties for specific international markets.
• The future threat of climate change, via high temperatures at critical growth
phases or greater temperature variability.
The solutions to these problems are likely to require drastic changes in farming
practices for Australian rice farmers, for instance, a shift to aerobic rice. All these

changes require urgent investments in the breeding program and in fundamental
research to back up the breeding program (e.g., an understanding of the physiologi-
cal traits necessary for enhanced cold tolerance, tolerance of transient drought stress
and adaptation to aerobic production systems, and the relevant molecular markers to
facilitate selection for these traits). However, little funding is now available to support
new research initiatives.
Our expectations of the TRRC are to
• Facilitate the exchange of germplasm for breeding future temperate japonica
rice.
• Organize meetings between the partners on a regular basis to discuss research
progress and exchange information in order to mitigate the isolation of the
Australian rice industry from other rice production regions.
• Interact with other temperate rice programs and further the understanding
of the genetic basis of rice grain quality traits and their modification in new
breeding lines.
• Attract funding from parties interested in temperate japonica rice for collabora-
tive research projects, for example, exchange of people (students), and travel.
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Notes
Authors’ addresses: Russell Reinke, International Rice Research Institute, National Institute
of Crop Science (NICS), RDA, 151 Suin-ro, Gwonsun-gu, Suwon 441-857, Republic
of Korea and E.H. Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (NSW Department of
Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University), Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute,
NSW DPI, Private Mail Bag, Pine Gully Road, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650,
Australia; Geoff Beecher, Brian Dunn, and Peter Snell, NSW Department of Primary
Industries, Yanco Agricultural Institute, Private Mail Bag, Yanco NSW 2703, Australia.

Temperate japonica rice in Bhutan
Mahesh Ghimiray
Status of japonica rice
Rice in Bhutan
Rice is indispensable in the Bhutanese culture, tradition, religion, way of life, and
livelihood itself. More than 79% of the population is engaged in farming, with rice
as the main crop. Rice is the most important and most preferred food crop of Bhutan
and it is grown from tropical lowlands (200 m) in the south up to elevations as high
as 2,800 m in the north. The total rice area in the country is estimated to be 18,635
ha (Table 1), almost all of which is irrigated. The average national rice yield is 2.92
t ha–1. Domestic rice production was 54,325 tons in 2006, which meets only about
50% of the national requirement. The deficit is met from imports, averaging about
35,000 tons of milled rice annually from India. One of the cherished goals of the Royal
Government of Bhutan is to obtain self-sufficiency in rice production.
Rice environments
The rice environments in Bhutan are broadly grouped into four zones according to
altitude and rainfall: the warm temperate, dry and humid subtropical, and wet sub-
tropical zones (Table 2).
Warm temperate (high-altitude) zone. The warm temperate high-altitude zone
includes mainly the valleys of Paro and Thimphu, higher altitude areas of Punakha
and Wangdue valleys, and parts of other districts. Approximately 20% of the total
rice area falls in this zone. The highest altitude where rice is grown is about 2,800 m
in Bumthang. Cultivation of rice at this altitude is a recent initiative and technologies
are still being refined. During the rice-cropping season, the high-altitude environment
has a low-high-low temperature pattern such as in Japan, northern China, and Korea.
Therefore, low temperature is a problem in the early growth stage and also in the
reproductive and ripening stages.
The climatic conditions allow only one crop of rice in a year. Rice is sown in
February-March, transplanted in late May to mid-June, and harvested in October. Day
temperatures during the growing season are generally not a major constraint. How-
ever, minimum temperature of below 15 °C combined with low water temperature at
seedling and tillering stage can cause cold damage. Rainfall in this zone is rather low
Bhutan.indd 15 5/28/2012 2:22:23 PM

Table 1. Paddy area and production in 2006.
District Harvested area (ha) Total production (t) Yield (t ha–1)
Paro 1,196 4,876 4.08
Wangdue 1,252 4,883 3.90
Chhukha 512 1,507 2.95
Dagana 1,362 2,967 2.18
Gasa 52 117 2.25
Ha 68 138 2.03
Bumthang 3 11 4.20
Lhuentse 513 1,405 2.74
Mongar 527 1,500 2.85
Pemagatshel 44 140 3.19
Punakha 1,760 6,906 3.92
S/Jongkhar 733 1,385 1.89
Samtse 3,288 6,640 2.02
Sarpang 3,054 9,762 3.19
Thimphu 609 1,965 3.23
Trashi Yangtse 376 1,257 3.35
Trashigang 1,021 3,913 3.83
Trongsa 648 1,487 2.29
Tsirang 1,180 2,511 2.13
Zhemgang 437 956 2.19
Total 18,635 54,325 2.92
Source: RNR Statistics, MoA.
Table 2. The four rice agroecozones of Bhutan.

Rice zones Altitude (m) Rainfall (mm)
Warm temperate 1,800–2,800 (high) 650–850
Dry subtropical 1,200–1,800 (mid) 850–1,200
Humid subtropical 800–1,200 (mid) 1,200–2,500
Wet subtropical 200–800 (low) 2,500–5,500
and hence rice is grown as an irrigated crop. Small springs and the main rivers are the
sources of irrigation. River water remains cold throughout the year since it originates
from the snow-clad higher mountains.
Dry subtropical (medium-altitude) zone. The dry subtropical zone includes
broad valleys of Wangdiphodrang and Punakha, and hill slopes and narrow valleys
of Trongsa, Tashigang, Mongar, and Lhuentse. This is a mid-altitude zone with lower
rainfall. In the lower valley bottoms up to an elevation of 1,500 m, low temperature
is not a major problem for a single crop of rice. Rice is sown in March-April, trans-
planted in June, and harvested in October-November. Two crops of rice could also be
grown. The first crop, transplanted in March by using seedlings raised in a poly-tunnel
nursery, can be harvested in July and immediately an early-maturing second crop can
be planted, which is harvested in November.
Humid subtropical (mid-altitude) zone. The humid subtropical (mid-altitude) zone
includes the hills of Tsirang, Samtse, Gelephu, Tashigang, Zhemgang, Pemagatshel,
16 M. Ghimiray
Bhutan.indd 16 5/28/2012 2:22:26 PM

and Chukha. This is a distinct humid hilly environment with substantially high rainfall.
Almost all the rice is grown under irrigated conditions. The rice terraces are carved in
hill slopes. Upland rice is also grown mainly in Zhemgang on a small scale under the
traditional slash-and-burn tseri system. The dry and humid subtropical zones account
for about 42% of the total rice area. Low temperature is not a major problem during
the early crop growth stage. However, humid conditions favor disease development.
Wet subtropical (low-altitude zone). The wet subtropical low-altitude zone in-
cludes mainly the districts of Samtse, Gelephu, and Samdrupjongkhar and accounts
for about 38% of the national rice area. It is a high-rainfall environment with higher
temperatures. Diseases and insect pests are more common. Soil conditions are poor
compared with those of other zones. Rice is grown mainly as an irrigated crop. How-
ever, in areas where irrigation is not assured, the crop is grown under rainfed condi-
tions. Yields are generally lower than in other zones. The climatic conditions permit
two crops of rice in a year though this is not practiced for varied reasons.
Traditional rice varieties

The traditional rice varieties of Bhutan are grown under diverse agro-climatic condi-
tions and show high diversity. The landraces have adapted to this diverse environment
and are unique genetically and morpho-agronomically. Not many systematic studies
have been carried out to unravel their genotypic and phenotypic composition. Tradi-
tional varieties are generally heterogeneous for various traits; however, quantitative
data to illustrate such heterogeneity are generally lacking. Morishima et al (1990)
reported that Bhutanese landraces were highly polymorphic within a field and they also
observed “weedy types” associated with a high degree of seed shedding and sterility.
Nationally, more than 65% of the total area under rice is still planted to tradi-
tional varieties, reflecting the high adaptability and suitability of these cultivars in the
traditional farming systems. At higher altitudes, local rice is broadly classified into Bja
maap (red pericarp rice) and Bja kaap (white pericarp rice). Maaps are predominant
at high elevations, while Kaaps are more common at lower elevations.
In contrast to the red rice in other countries that is considered a weed, the high-
altitude Bhutanese red rice is favored for its eating quality and commands a premium
price in the local market compared with the white rice. The red coloration of the
pericarp is usually controlled by a dominant gene (Rc), which is commonly distributed
in wild and weedy types as well as in native cultivars (Oka 1988).
Bhutanese farmers grow and maintain a diverse range of local cultivars. A
single farmer cultivates two to five rice varieties on small patches of land, exhibiting
an excellent example of practical in situ conservation at the farm level (Duba et al
1995). The different varieties are meant to satisfy the varied needs of farmers, such
as for tho (cooked rice), zaw (puffed rice), sip (beaten rice), torm (divine ritualistic
figures), wine distillation, special religious occasions, etc. On-farm rice diversity is
thus a reflection of the tradition, religion, and culture of the Bhutanese people.
The high-altitude varieties are characterized by cold tolerance at the seedling
stage, tall stature, long growth duration, medium to low tillering, late leaf senescence,
good panicle exsertion, high spikelet fertility, high shattering, fewer grains per panicle,
Bhutan.indd 17 5/28/2012 2:22:26 PM

heavier grains, red pericarp, intermediate amylose, and lack of seed dormancy (Chettri
1992). Some of the popular high-altitude varieties, especially from the valleys of Paro
and Thimphu, are Naam, Hasey, Kochum, Thaembja, Bjanaab, Dumbja, Zhechem,
Chumbja, Uzum, Dagozam, Sombja, Khembja, Rey Sakha, and Hamzam. Many of
these cultivars could be the local variants of a major genotype selected over a number
of years to suit micro-environments and farmers’ needs. Some varieties are cultivated
for specific purposes. For example, Dumbja is used for sip making as it is one of the
few high-altitude varieties with white grains. Red-grain varieties are rarely used to
make rice sip and zaw. Dumbja is also a sought-after variety for religious festivities.
Area, production, and productivity of japonica rice

The high-altitude areas where japonica rice is grown (above 1,800 m) make up about
20% of the total rice area (3,727 ha) and contribute about 30% to the total rice pro-
duction (Table 3). Compared with other zones, the yield of japonica rice in the high-
altitude areas is much higher (average 4.10 t ha–1) although the area is limited. This
is mainly due to relative freedom from insect pests and diseases, high soil fertility,
and cooler climate at the ripening stage. Climatically, this zone is highly favorable
for rice production.
Institutions and human resources for research

The research setup in the country has four Renewable Natural Resources Research
Centers (RNRRC) guided by the Council for RNR Research of Bhutan (CoRRB)
under the Ministry of Agriculture (Fig. 1).
RNRRC Bajo is given the national mandate to coordinate research on rice and
liaise with regional and international research institutes for the exchange of informa-
tion, expertise, and genetic materials. However, the main center for conducting the
actual research on japonica rice is RNRRC Yusipang due to its location in Thimphu
at an altitude of 2,300 m. The other RNRRCs also carry out rice research pertinent
to their regions. The RNRRCs have their subcenters strategically located to cover all
the rice agroecologies.
Table 3. Current rice area and production by altitude zones.

Altitude zone Area Current production Current yield
(ha) (t) (t ha–1)
High 3,727 15,280 4.10

(1,800–2,800 m) (20%)
Mid 7,827 25,655 3.15
(800–1,800 m) (42%)
Low 7,081 12,887 1.82
(below 800 m) (38%)
Total 18,635 53,822 2.95
18 M. Ghimiray
Bhutan.indd 18 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

Ministry of
Agriculture
CoRRB
RNRRC RNRRC RNRRC RNRRC

Bajo Yusipang Jakar Wengkar
Subcenter Subcenter Subcenter Subcenter

Tsirang Darla Bhur Limithang
Fig. 1. Organogram of the research system in Bhutan.
In terms of human resources for rice research, only six officer-level staff with
BSc or MSc degrees are fully engaged in research. These staff cater to the research
needs of all the rice environments. The officer staff are supported by research assistants
and field technicians. Agricultural extension is decentralized to the districts headed by
the district agricultural officer. About 200 extension staff are posted at the subdistrict
or block level.
Research initiatives and progress on japonica rice

In 1995, a severe blast epidemic caused by the fungus Pyricularia grisea swept through
the higher elevations (1,800–2,800 m) and affected an area of about 1,200 ha with an
average severity of 71%. The indigenous rice varieties were severely threatened. To
avoid future epidemics, the Ministry of Agriculture formulated a long-term strategy
to develop blast-resistant, high-yielding, cold-tolerant varieties for high-altitude areas.
IRRI was invited to help.
Started in 1987, RNRRC Bajo already had a rice shuttle breeding program
with IRRI that focused on the improvement of native Bhutanese varieties. Starting
in 1996, the crossing of high-altitude varieties from Bhutan with blast-resistant and
cold-tolerant varieties from elsewhere was expedited. Actual crossing was done at
IRRI and F2 seeds were shipped to Bhutan for selection, which was done at Geynekha
(a known blast hotspot) jointly by RNRRCs Bajo, Yusipang, and the National Plant
Protection Center at Semtokha. The aim was to develop improved rice varieties having
blast resistance for Bhutan highlands.
The most visible impact of this program has been the identification and release
of three new rice varieties that have sufficient tolerance of blast (Fig. 2) and cold and
that outyield the local varieties. Two of the new varieties (Table 4), Yusirey Maap and
Yusirey Kaap, are the direct result of the collaborative breeding program. The new
Bhutan.indd 19 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

Blast-resistant Local
varieties varieties
Fig. 2. Screening and selection of blast-resistant varieties at Geynekha.
Table 4. Pedigree and main traits of new rice varieties in Bhutan.

Cross designation Parents Local names Main traits
IR66068-B-B-31-2-1 YR3825-11-3-2-1// Yusiray Kaap White grains; 90–95 cm
YR3825-11-3-2-1/ tall; 170–180 days; average
Barkat yield of 7–8 t ha–1a
IR62746-B-4-8-1-1 Suweon 359//IR41996- Yusiray Maap Red grains; 115–120 cm

118-2-13/Thimphu Maap tall; 170–180 d; average
grain yield of 7–8 t ha–1
aAverage yield of local varieties is about 4.5 t ha–1.
varieties are widely grown by farmers in Thimphu and Paro. Along with crossbred
materials, introductions from other countries were also evaluated. A locally selected
variety from the highlands of Nepal, Chummrong, was identified with adequate toler-
ance of blast and cold. This variety was also released in Bhutan as Khangma Maap.
The screening and selection of varieties have now been shifted to a new site at
Khachadrapchu and the program continues. Local staff now do crossing at the site.
Apart from variety work, research on management aspects (nutrient management,
weed management, nursery practices, etc.) is also given equal importance. One of the
obnoxious weeds in the high-altitude areas is Potamogeton distinctus, locally known
as “shochum” (Fig. 3). Yield reduction due to this weed has been recorded as high as
37%, despite farmers’ practice of one to two hand weedings. Manual weeding is not
very effective due to the weed’s nature of easy propagation from any vegetative part,
but affordable weedicides are not available locally.
Another pressing problem for farmers is the emergence of “weedy” rice among
cultivated fields. The farmers of Thimphu and Paro reported the problem first in 1997
20 M. Ghimiray
Bhutan.indd 20 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

Fig. 3. Shochum in a transplanted rice field.
to the Ministry of Agriculture. Since then, research has been done in collaboration
with IRRI and the weedy types have been identified as Oryza sativa f. spontanea, a
hybrid between wild and cultivated rice (Loresto 1998). The weedy rice contaminates
the cultivated crop, leading to yield loss and increasing weed pressure. The weedy
rice is highly shattering and perpetuates year after year from dropped seeds. Although
several recommendations are given to farmers, it remains a problem.
Constraints in japonica rice production

Japonica rice production in Bhutan faces several constraints. The major ones follow.
Low genetic yield potential of native varieties

The traditional rice varieties are typically tall, weak stemmed, and prone to lodging
at maturity. Their genetic potential is limited by their plant architecture and they do
not respond well to additional inputs such as inorganic fertilizers. Most of the native
varieties have red pericarp, which is a preferred trait among farmers and consumers.
The local varieties are highly diverse morphologically and perhaps genetically. No
detailed studies at the molecular level have been conducted so far. Their yield potential
is limited to about 5 t ha–1 under the best management practices by farmers. More than
80% of the rice area in the temperate zone is grown to local varieties.
Damage from cold temperature

The air temperatures during seedling growth and at the later ripening stage hover
around 15 °C or below, making the rice varieties highly susceptible to cold injury. In
the traditional method of raising seedlings, seeds are sown in February when tempera-
tures are low and the seedbed duration extends over 3 months before transplanting.
Bhutan.indd 21 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

The temperatures begin to drop sharply in September and, if transplanting is delayed,
cold injury during flowering and ripening is inevitable. Therefore, high cold tolerance
at seedling and ripening stages is a requirement.
Blast and other diseases

All the native Bhutanese varieties are susceptible to rice blast and the blast pathogen
population is diverse in the high altitudes (Thinlay 1998). The 1995 blast epidemic
affected the entire temperate rice region and resulted in losses estimated at 1,099 tons
of paddy or an equivalent Nu 11 million (US$1 = Nu 42). In the high altitudes, blast
occurs late in the season and infects the neck and nodes, leading to severe losses.
Knowledge about different pathogen populations with different virulence is limited,
which is a constraint for an effective resistance breeding program. Apart from blast,
sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is common in the high altitudes, which
also merits research attention.
Weeds
Apart from grasses and sedges, temperate rice fields are infested by an aquatic weed,
“shochum” (Potamogeton distinctus), which is very difficult to control manually. The
weed spreads rapidly, propagating from any living plant part, and the underground
parts easily overwinter and grow back in the following year. It also spreads through
irrigation water. Farmers normally carry out two to three hand weedings but this
practice does not ensure complete removal of weeds from their fields. The use of the
herbicide butachlor to control grasses and sedges, as is widely practiced by farmers,
eliminates weed competition and allows shochum to proliferate. Some herbicides such
as Sanbird (pyrazolate) and NC 311 (pyrazosulfuron-ethyl) have been identified as
effective (Ghimiray 1993) but they are not available locally. The actual costs (after
importing) are also prohibitive to farmers.
Weedy rice
Temperate rice fields are highly infested with weedy rice identified as Oryza sativa f.
spontanea, possibly a hybrid between wild and cultivated rice. It is very difficult to
identify weedy rice at the early growth stage and its highly shattering trait ensures its
perpetuity in rice fields. Substantial losses occur in terms of both quality and quantity.
Suboptimal management practices

Farmers normally rely on organic sources (farmyard manure, home-made compost)
to fulfill the nutrient requirements of rice. The average amount applied ranges from
10 to 12 t ha–1. This amount may be inadequate in fields where inherent fertility is
poor and where micronutrients are deficient. Suboptimal plant density due to wide
spacing is another common feature. Rice transplanting and harvesting are usually
delayed because of religious and superstitious beliefs (waiting for an auspicious day
to begin at the community level), which often leads to grain shattering and yield loss.
22 M. Ghimiray
Bhutan.indd 22 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

Available genetic resources and their improvement
There is quite a rich diversity of traditional rice varieties in the temperate zone of
Bhutan. Farmers grow and maintain an array of varieties for their varied needs such as
for staple food, alcohol brewing, snacks such as sip and zaw, and speciality varieties
for religious purposes. These varieties have high adaptation to local growing condi-
tions and management systems. Some of the popular varieties are listed in Table 5.
Table 5. Some popular temperate rice varieties of Bhutan.

Variety name Altitude (m) Village District
Kochum 2,570 Drugyal Dzong Paro

Thaemja 2,450 Phubana Paro
Hasay 2,440 Ngoba Paro
Janaab 2,410 Nabesa Paro
Khemja 2,400 Dophu Paro
Rey Kaap 2,400 Longona Paro
Gyamo Kaap 2,400 Misi Paro
Naam 2,380 Joshilo Paro
Kambja 2,350 Jagathang Paro
Dumbja 2,300 Acho Paro
Sombja 2,300 Nabesa Paro
Zamsa Kaap 2,300 Zamsa Paro
Kochum Maap 2,300 Phondo Paro
Gangju Kochum 2,288 Lango Paro
Janam 2,230 Changkha Paro
Zhechum 2,140 Kharapji Paro
Machem 2,100 Issuna Paro
Khemjya (awned) 2,010 Chongkha Paro
Kuchum 2,010 Chongkha Paro
Chumbja 2,440 Dechencholing Thimphu
Dangrey 2,440 Chapcha Thimphu
Bjanam 2,385 Simtokha Thimphu
Punakha Cupo 2,379 Chalumanfe Thimphu
Uzum 2,360 Taba Thimphu
Hamzam 2,260 Chalumaphey Thimphu
Kurtepja 2,260 Chalumaphey Thimphu
Ray Sakha 2,200 Kabjisa Thimphu
Ray Naab 2,100 Sisina Thimphu
Ngaja 1,830 Mendegang Thimphu
Guenja 1,800 Mendegang Thimphu
Dagozam 1,700 Mendegang Thimphu
Zakha Kaap 1,700 Mendegang Thimphu
Zakha Maap 1,700 Mendegang Thimphu
Dorilo Maap 1,800 Tomji Haa
Rey Naab 1,750 Rabji Haa
Rey Maap 1,950 Shabji Haa
Rey Kaap 1,950 Shabji Haa
Bhutan.indd 23 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

With the assistance of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the
International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), nationwide rice collection
missions were fielded in the 1980s. This resulted in about 200 accessions. More
recently, the research and extension staff of the Ministry of Agriculture have been
trained to undertake germplasm exploration and collection. Three training programs
were organized annually from 1996 to 1998 with expert trainers from an IRRI-SDC
project that included Bhutan as a collaborator. Rice collection expeditions have now
resulted in a total of more than 350 accessions that are presently conserved at the Ge-
netic Resources Center of IRRI. A working collection is also maintained at RNRRC
Bajo. Facilities for medium- and long-term storage are now built at the National
Biodiversity Center, Thimphu, and we are hoping to repatriate the collection from
IRRI and also add to the collection.
The type of genetic resources needed for the country include prebreeding and
crossbred materials for the temperate areas with cold tolerance and blast resistance
as the main traits. Such materials can be directly selected under Bhutanese conditions
or used in in-country breeding programs.

So far, only conventional breeding methods are employed to some extent for the
improvement of temperate rice. Such a program is running on a small scale for want
of adequate human resources. The research system lacks advanced facilities, biotech-
nology, and molecular laboratories.

For a small country such as Bhutan with a modest rice research program, there is
much to gain from the Temperate Rice Research Consortium. Some of the obvious
benefits and expectations are
• Building and upgrading of technical capacity for rice research and develop-
ment. This would include both short training courses and long-term courses
leading to MSc and PhD degrees. The identification of relevant courses,
institutions, and facilitation of funds is crucial.
• Exchange and availability of appropriate genetic materials for selection and
breeding for Bhutanese conditions. Cold tolerance and blast resistance are
important characteristics.
• Exchange of scientific knowledge and expertise.
• What Bhutan can contribute to the TRRC is its vast rice genetic resources
for research and development for similar environments elsewhere.
24 M. Ghimiray
Bhutan.indd 24 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

References
Chettri GB. 1992. An analysis of morpho-agronomic traits, isozyme polymorphism, and cross
compatibility of traditional rices (Oryza sativa L.) of Bhutan. An M.Sc. thesis submitted
to the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines.
Duba S, Ghimiray M, Dorji Y. 1995. Rice postharvest management systems in Paro and
Wangdue-Punakha valleys. RNRRC Technical Paper No. 2. Bajo.
Ghimiray M. 1993. A review of rice variety improvement in Bhutan. A paper presented at the
Research Review Meeting, Royal Banquet Hall, Thimphu.
Loresto GC. 1998. Report on the exploration of farmers’ fields in Paro and Thimphu valleys.
IRRI, Philippines.
Morishima H, Shimamota Y, Sato T, Yamagishi H, Sato YI. 1990. Observation on wild and
cultivated rices in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Thailand. Report of study tour in 1989-90.
National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan.
Oka HI. 1988. Origin of cultivated rices. Japanese Scientific Societies Press, Elsevier.
Thinlay. 1998. Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe grisea, in Bhutan and development of
strategies for resistance breeding and management. A dissertation submitted to the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, for the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences.
Notes
Author’s address: Principal research officer, RNR Research Centre, Bajo, Bhutan.
Bhutan.indd 25 5/28/2012 2:22:27 PM

Temperate rice in Central Asia
(Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan)
Zakir Khalikulov, Torekhan Karlikhanov, and Zamonkhodja Djumanov
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are two Central Asian countries that grow temperate rice.
Table 1 presents data on rice area, production, and productivity in these two countries.
Two rice research institutes exist in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan has the Uzbek Research Institute of Rice located near Tashkent.
Kazakhstan has the Priaralsky Scientific Research Institute of Agroecologies and
Agriculture near Kzyl Orda City (near the Aral Sea). In total, the Uzbek Research
Institute of Rice employs 59 people, of whom 36 are researchers, 8 are candidates of
science, and 3 are doctors of science. It has seven departments: (1) rice breeding and
physiology, (2) seed production, (3) agrochemistry, (4) patents and information, (5)
laboratory grain cultures, (6) agrotechniques, and (7) mechanization. The institute
has a central experimental site with 185.57 ha as well as branches in Karakalpakstan,
Andijan, and Khorezm provinces. Until now, 12 rice varieties have been released in
Uzbekistan. Ten of these varieties are japonica (Avangard, Alanga, Arpa-shaly local,
Gulzar, Jayhun, Istiqbol, Nukus-2, Sanam, Tolmas, and UzRos 7-13) and two are
indica (Lazurniy and Istiqlol). The main breeding activities at the institute focus on
japonica rice varieties. The first national long-grain indica rice variety, Lazurniy, was
released in 1981. Currently, 12 more rice varieties are being tested by the State Variety
Testing Committee.
The Priaralsky Scientific Research Institute of Agroecologies and Agriculture
employs 67 people, of whom 40 are researchers, 7 are candidates of science, and 7 are
doctors of science. There are seven departments: (1) rice breeding, (2) seed production,
(3) crop husbandry, (4) soil quality and agrochemistry, (5) vegetables and melons, (6)
livestock, and (7) patents and information.
Major research targets for improving japonica rice and production technologies
Currently, rice breeding targets are higher yield (7–9 t ha–1), early maturity (95–115
days), 68–70% more rice output from paddy, and lodging resistance, as well as resis-
tance to salinity, and especially higher water-use efficiency. In addition, researchers
are working in the region to introduce a new rice-soybean crop rotation. For this
purpose, there is a need to breed new rice varieties with the above characteristics for
better adaptability in this new crop rotation. Moreover, some emphasis is placed on
new rice production technologies in the region using raised-bed planting, minimum
tillage, and direct seeding, which are expected to improve soil fertility.
Temperate rice in Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) 27
Central Asia.indd 27 5/28/2012 2:26:00 PM

Constraints to japonica rice production and improving japonica rice
• Lack of knowledge on biotechnologies
• Soil quality degradation, including an increase in salinity, loss of humus, etc.
• Shortage of water resources, especially in Uzbekistan
• Inappropriate pest and disease management in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan now has 730 accessions of japonica rice and Uzbekistan has 2,986 ac-
cessions. These rice accessions are mainly japonica type. The countries now need
high-yielding, early-maturing, lodging-resistant accessions.

Currently, traditional crossing methods do not use biotechnology.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have the possibility to exchange rice accessions with the
TRRC for use in the selection process of different rice varieties from different nurser-
ies, and to develop and implement joint projects in the improvement of rice varieties.
The TRRC could provide capacity building and training, including in biotech-
nology, for rice researchers in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Table 1. Rice area, production, and productivity in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Year
Country
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Area harvested (000 ha)
Kazakhstan 72.16 53.73 65.60 83.48 76.30 74.99
Uzbekistan 131.77 39.49 64.39 120.99 66.10 52.48
Production (000 t)
Kazakhstan 214.30 198.70 199.09 273.34 275.85 310.00
Uzbekistan 154.80 67.80 175.10 333.70 181.23 165.79
Yield (t ha–1)
Kazakhstan 2.97 3.70 3.03 3.27 3.62 4.13
Uzbekistan 1.17 1.72 2.72 2.76 2.74 3.16
Notes
Authors’ addresses: Z. Djumanov, Uzbek Rice Research Institute, Uzbekistan; T. Karlikhanov,
Prearalsky Scientific Research Institute for Agroforestry and Agriculture, Kazakhstan; Z.
Khalikulov, CGIAR Program Facilitation Unit for Central Asia and Caucasus, Tashkent,
Uzbekistan.
28 Z. Khalikulov, T. Karlikhanov, and Z. Djumanov
Central Asia.indd 28 5/28/2012 2:26:02 PM

Temperate rice in Chile
Karla Cordero Lara
Rice cultivation in Chile

Rice has been grown in Chile since the late 1930s and the area, yield, and produc-
tion have been variable over time. This crop uses irrigated soils with a high content
of clay and/or impermeable layers of soil, with drainage problems that hamper the
establishment of other crops. The rice area is located in three regions, Region VI
(2%), Region VII (79%), and Region VIII (19%), all located in the central area of
the country. The central valleys of Chile have a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry
summers and cold and rainy winters.
The average yield of rice has been improving in recent years, due to good
results from the research conducted primarily by the Instituto de Investigaciones
Agropecuarias (INIA); these methodologies have allowed the national average yield
to rise consistently, from about 26 qqm ha–1 in 1965 to more than 58 qqm ha–1 in the
last three seasons. These technologies include the use of improved varieties, increased
mechanization, and better management of crop fertilization, weed control, and water
management. It is estimated that current varieties with national average yield can
reach 65 qqm ha–1. Good farmers exceed 70 qqm ha–1 and, in some years, can achieve
100 qqm ha–1, a performance close to the estimated potential of varieties. In relation
to management conditions, rice is grown only in areas under irrigation and flood, by
pregerminated direct seeding, usually in October and the first week of November. It
is fertilized with N, P, and K and only chemical control of weeds is done during the
growing season, since Chile has no pests or diseases of economic importance. The
harvest is between March and April, and the entire production is for domestic con-
sumption.
Sowing area has been declining in recent years, now being 22,000 to 28,000
hectares.
Domestic production reaches 121,000 to 140,000 tons of paddy rice annually. The
crop is produced mainly by small farmers. According to the last agricultural database,
the average area per farmer reached 10 ha, the largest being 200 to 500 hectares.
Domestic producers have very good potential. World population growth will
cause an increase in demand for rice production, but Asian countries no longer have
a sufficient amount of surface area, so the Southern Cone countries will play an im-
portant role in future rice production.
Chile.indd 29 5/28/2012 2:27:24 PM

Around 40% of the total rice consumption in Chile is imported. The imported
grains are long and narrow, while domestic production is preferably long and wide
grain. Domestic consumers still discriminate very little for quality, but there is a
tendency to discriminate by brand in the middle and upper social strata. In fact, mills
concentrate their offer in three quality segments: grade 2 (70%), grade 1 (16%), and
parboiled (precooked) (9%).
The Rice Breeding Program at INIA

The Ministry of Agriculture created the Rice Breeding Program in 1953, which became
part of INIA since its creation in 1964, located at the Regional Research Center (CRI)
Quilamapu in Chillán, Region VIII (37º South latitude).
Since the establishment of INIA, the program has been developed at a national
level, being active across the whole rice area. The main objectives of the rice breeding
program are
  To increase yield potential.

To achieve tolerance of low temperatures.
To improve the quality of the grain (industrial, commercial, and culinary).
To obtain earliness.
 To produce varieties with suitable agronomic characteristics (lodging resis-
tance, height of about 1 m, panicle threshability, efficient use of nutrients,
etc.).
To achieve tolerance of stem rot and sheath blight.
To increase diversity in types of rice (glutinous and aromatic).
To achieve tolerance of herbicides.
The Rice Breeding Program has turned its efforts to the production of long, wide,
and translucent grain varieties, and has taken some steps in the process of diversify-
ing the types of rice. Specialty rice, which is that which is not common, in relation
to shape, size, amylose content, endosperm color, and aroma, has a better price than
standard rice that is sold more commonly in the world.
One of the recommendations of the expert who visited Chile, Dr. Ram Chaudhary,
is that Chile “should move toward specific niche markets. Rice production could be
diversified into specialty rice for which demand and prices are growing very fast.”
The different types of rice that are sold in the world today have opened a new path in
the orientation of the national Rice Breeding Program.
Our program is now using conventional breeding, through methods of pedi-
gree selection and breeding populations. The most advanced lines to be presented
as varieties are submitted to a Regional Committee for their release and then to the
National Committee. Then they are registered and tested by the Chilean Agricultural
and Livestock Service, which gives a license or patent for marketing.
30 Karla Cordero Lara
Chile.indd 30 5/28/2012 2:27:27 PM

Notes
Author’s address: Agricultural engineer, M.Sc., plant breeder, Instituto de Investigaciones
Agropecuarias, CRI Quilamapu, Avda. Vicente Méndez 515, Chillán, Chile.
Chile.indd 31 5/28/2012 2:27:27 PM

Temperate rice in China
Zhi-Kang Li, Zetian Hua, Yongming Gao, and Guo-Min Sui
The Chinese population is projected to surpass 1.5 billion by 2030. As the staple food
for most Chinese people, rice production has to increase by 50% in order to meet the
projected demand. With a total annual production of 51.8 million tons, temperate
japonica rice has been playing an important role in meeting the food demand of 1.3
billion Chinese people. Japonica rice is now grown on 25.5% of the total rice-growing
area and it produces 28.8% of the total rice production in China. About 45% of the
japonica rice is produced in northeast China and Helongjiang is the largest japonica
rice-producing province, with approximately 2.5 million ha of japonica rice. Because
of its good eating quality and higher prices, growing area and demand for japonica
rice are on the rise in China recently despite the decrease in total rice lands as a result
of fast economic development and urbanization in the last 20 years. Based solely on
conventional breeding approaches, Chinese scientists have made significant progress in
raising the yield potential of japonica rice during the last 50 years. This was achieved
in the 1990s by developing new plant type lines formulated by professor Yang Shouren
in Shengyang Agriculture University. These high-yielding new plant type japonica
rice varieties typically have dark green leaves, compact plant type, erect or semierect
panicles, and high spikelet density, which can reach 13 t ha–1 under ideal conditions.
Progress in developing hybrid japonica lines has also been made and new japonica
hybrids currently account for only about 7% of the total japonica area in China and
can reach 14 t ha–1. China has built up tremendous capacity in rice breeding and
research during the last 20–30 years, with a total of 4,000+ rice breeders/geneticists
and 5,000+ other scientists working on rice. The conventional breeding approach
has been and remains the predominant method. More than 250 new rice inbred and
hybrid rice varieties are now released to farmers annually, including approximately
100 japonica cultivars.
The process of conventional breeding by hybridization involves the genera-
tion of genetic variation for traits of interest by making crosses between differ-
ent parental lines, selecting for superior individuals with improved target traits
resulting from recombination of the parental genes in the segregating populations
of the line crosses, and fixing rare superior individuals (genotypes) by continued
selection and selfing, for developing new lines. The success of conventional
breeding depends largely on two things: (1) the total amounts of useful genetic
China.indd 33 5/28/2012 2:29:47 PM

variation for target traits in breeding populations and (2) the accuracy and ef-
ficiency of selection for the useful genetic variation of target traits resulting
from the recombination of parental genes. Thus, the more than 250,000 rice
germplasm accessions, including both cultivated types and their wild relatives,
maintained in crop gene banks worldwide, contain almost all gene resources for
the future improvement of this important crop. However, a startling fact is that more
than 95% of the rice germplasm collections worldwide have never been used in any
breeding programs. At least three reasons are responsible for the low use frequency
of germplasm. First, past efforts in studying germplasm resources were limited to the
evaluation and description of phenotypic variation of morpho-physiological traits,
resistances to biotic and abiotic stresses, etc., in order to identify those accessions
with extreme phenotypes for traits of agronomic importance to be used as “trait
donors” or as genetic stocks for breeding and genetic studies of target traits.
Unfortunately, the accessions with extreme phenotypes are very few, particularly
for resistances to biotic and abiotic stresses and, more often, those few accessions
with extreme phenotypes are landraces with poor yield potential under modern
high-input agriculture.
Second, the line-crossing procedures of conventional breeding schemes involve
only a few parental lines. Thus, limited genetic variation for any target trait is present
in breeding populations involving closely related parents, from which it would be hard
to select and identify individuals with overall performance superior to that of parental
lines and novel genotypes for target traits resulting from rare gene combinations. At
present, little is known about the useful genes in the germplasm and the genetic basis
underlying traits of agronomic importance. In practice, breeders have been choosing
germplasm accessions as the parents in their breeding programs based largely on line
performance in target traits. Thus, the inconsistency between genotype and phenotype
for most complex traits, particularly quantitative traits, often misleads breeders.
Third, different types of molecular markers have been used extensively to char-
acterize the genetic diversity of rice germplasm. Although these studies provide good
estimates of the genetic diversity at the molecular level and phylogenetic relationships
among different germplasm accessions, it remains unclear how useful these types of
information would be for guiding breeders to use the germplasm more efficiently. As a
result, the direct consequence of this low use of germplasm resources by conventional
breeding approaches is the well-documented “monoculture” or low genetic diversity in
commercially grown rice cultivars and their vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Japonica rice production in China faces a number of abiotic and biotic problems.
Of the former, water shortage and drought, cold, salinity, and overuse of N fertilizer
are the most important ones. Rice blast and false smut are the most important biotic
problems. To solve these problems, Chinese rice scientists are calling for the initiation
of a “Doubly Green Revolution” by developing “green” super rice varieties, which
can produce high yield with less resources (water and fertilizer) and better disease
or insect control. To overcome these problems, a national rice breeding network, the
China National Rice Molecular Breeding Network (CNRMBN), was begun in 1998.
The CNRMBN currently consists of 17 research institutions across China with finan-
34 Zhi-Kang Li, Zetian Hua, Yongming Gao, and Guo-Min Sui
China.indd 34 5/28/2012 2:29:49 PM

cial support from the Ministry of Agriculture (948 programs). The CNRMBN was
defined as a national breeding network in which the development of large numbers
of trait-specific introgression lines (ILs) in elite genetic backgrounds by large-scale
BC breeding (the material platform for gene/QTL discovery and DQP (Designed QTL
Pyramiding)), deep exploitation of useful genetic diversity from the primary gene pool
of rice, effective selection for target traits, discovery/allelic mining and characterization
of QTL networks for traits of agronomic importance, and targeted trait improvement
by DQP based on accurate genetic information from QTL networks in the well-
characterized ILs are well designed and integrated. The goal of the CNRMBN was to
develop superior inbred and hybrid rice cultivars with a significant improvement in
yield stability, yield potential, and grain quality for the major rice-growing areas in
China. The original objectives of the CNRMBN were the following:
• To broaden the genetic base of rice cultivars in the major rice-growing areas
of Asia by maximizing gene flow from the primary gene pool into elite genetic
backgrounds through large-scale backcross breeding activities.
• To exploit the hidden diversity of the primary rice gene pool for improving
complex target traits.
• To develop IL sets for elite rice genotypes adapted to major rice ecosystems.
• To discover and characterize large numbers of QTLs and QTL networks
underlying important rice traits; and to mine allelic diversity at important
QTLs.
• To establish a genetic and phenotypic database for the developed ILs.
• To train a new generation of molecular rice breeders for China.
Of the 17 research institutions, nine are focusing on japonica rice. The CNRMBN
has two technical components. The first one was to establish two gene pools, an elite
gene pool (EGP) and a donor gene pool (DGP). The EGP consists of 30 commercially
grown inbred varieties and parents of the best hybrid cultivars that were predomi-
nantly commercial varieties in different rice ecosystems of China, provided by the
17 participating institutes (each contributing one to three locally best commercial
cultivars). The DGP consists of 169 lines that were selected to represent the maximum
geographic and genetic diversity within Oryza sativa according to our knowledge.
The DGP lines are largely complementary to the EGP lines in geographic origin, and
contain several dozen landraces that have never been used in any previous breeding
programs. Based on an assay with 101 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers (Yu et
al 2003), 68.2% of the parents belonged to the indica subspecies, 30.3% belonged to
the japonica subspecies, and 1% were intermediate types derived from indica/japonica
crosses, plus a deepwater rice, Jalmagna, from India, which forms a single solitary
group. The genotypic data at 101 SSR markers form the molecular database of the
parental lines, which have been greatly expanded during our gene/QTL discovery
activities.
The second technical component of the CNRMBN involved massive BC breed-
ing activities in all participating institutes to develop genomewide ILs for target traits
in elite genetic backgrounds. In this process, each of the participating institutes used
China.indd 35 5/28/2012 2:29:49 PM

one to three locally best commercial cultivars as recurrent parents (RPs) and the rest
of the lines in the EGP and DGP as donors to introgress desirable traits (QTLs) of the
parental gene pools into the elite RP genetic backgrounds. The outputs will be many
sets of ILs for all EGP lines. Specifically, each of the participating institutions used its
one to three locally best adapted EGP lines as recurrent parents and the rest of the EGP
and DGP lines as donors to create large numbers of BCnF2 bulk populations. Then, the
BCnF2 bulk populations were screened for target traits, which were determined by each
participating institution. The BC progeny having target traits from the screening were
selected and progeny tested for both target traits and general performance in direct
comparison with the RPs. Those homozygous BC progeny confirmed to have the target
traits were identified as trait-specific ILs.
CNRMBN activities in China have resulted in the development of 49,412 BC3/BC2
bulk populations in 21 elite Chinese rice genetic backgrounds (Table 1), including six
sets of japonica BC bulk populations. Large-scale screening of these bulks has resulted
in the development of 7,491 ILs with one or more improved traits (tolerance of drought
and salt, N and P use efficiency, disease resistance, and improved yield). In addition, the
BC breeding activities have already resulted in the release of 16 new inbred or hybrid
cultivars, with 40 promising ones in multilocation yield trials (Table 1).
Several distinctive features make our BC breeding program unique. First, it is
the largest one ever reported regarding the numbers of donors and screened traits. In
particular, the BC breeding program began without evaluating parental lines for the
target traits. In other words, the donors in the CNRMBN were not selected based on
phenotype for any specific target traits but on the geographic pattern of the genetic
diversity in worldwide rice germplasm collections. Thus, these donors could be con-
sidered as a sample of the core collections of the primary gene pool of rice. Second,
selection (screening) for tolerance of a particular stress was not based on donor per-
formance for the target trait. Several important results were obtained regarding the
amount of genetic variation for abiotic stress tolerance in the primary gene pool of
rice and these suggest approaches for more efficient exploitation of this rich source
of genetic diversity.
The most important conclusion is that there are tremendous amounts of “hidden”
diversity in the primary gene pool of rice for all the traits we screened. This hidden
diversity was reflected in at least two aspects. First, BC progeny showing transgres-
sive performance of the target traits over the parental lines were obtained in most
BC populations for all abiotic stresses we screened regardless of the performances
of their donors. Because the levels of different abiotic stresses applied in our screen-
ing for drought, salinity, submergence, anaerobic germination, zinc deficiency, and
low-temperature germination were very severe and typically killed the RPs and most
donors, the selected BC progenies unlikely survived by escaping the stress (Table
2). This suggests the wide presence of genes for improved stress tolerance in the
donors, which in some cases were not expressed in the donor phenotype (Ali et al
2006). Furthermore, our results indicate that the subspecific differentiation of indica
and japonica within O. sativa does not seem to have specific implications regarding
useful genetic variation for most traits we screened in this study.
China.indd 36 5/28/2012 2:29:49 PM

Table 1. A total of 49,412 BC3F2/BC2F2 bulk populations and 7,491 ILs for specific traits derived
from 2,451 crosses between 21 elite Chinese rice genetic backgrounds and 203 donors world-
wide developed in the CNRMBN.
Genetic background Type (subsp.)a N1b N2 N3 N4 N5 Institutec
Chaoyou 2 Inbred/restorer (J) 117 2,915 645 CAAS

Shuhui 57 Restorer (I) 147 2,140 1,258 CAAS
Minghui 86 Restorer (I) 125 2,670 875 CAAS
Zhengshan 97 Maintainer (I) 123 1,390 958 4 1 HUA
9311 Restorer (I) 97 2,741 298 3 HUA
Zhong413 Restorer (I) 149 2,500 1,300 SAAS
Hanfeng Maintainer (J) 113 2,023 – SAAS
Chenghui 448 Restorer (I) 105 2,762 1,179 4 2 SCAAS
Chuanxiang 29B Maintainer (I) 105 1,834 277 3 3 SCAAS
Liaojing 454 Inbred (J) 98 2,494 906 2 SAU
Fen-Ai-Zhan Inbred (I) 104 2,560 2,078 5 GAAS
Yue-Xiang-Zhan Inbred (I) 100 1,690 – GAAS
C418 Restorer (J) 138 2,685 3,407 3 2 LAAS
Yunhui 290 Restorer (I) 123 2,528 427 3 1 YAAS
DJY1 Inbred (J) 170 2,534 62 1 YAAS
Zaoxian 14 Inbred (I) 100 2,605 761 2 1 AAAS
M3122 Restorer (I) 100 1,023 142 3 1 AAAS
Zihui 100 Restorer (I) 105 2,098 1,459 2 1 AAAS
Hui 752 Restorer (I) 127 3,192 1,203 4 JAAS
F6 Restorer (I) 127 3,458 7 2 JAAS
Zhong-You-Zao 81 Inbred (I) 78 1,570 23 3 CNRRI
Total 2,451 49,412 7,491 40 16
aI and J represent indica and japonica subspecies. bN , N , N , N , and N represent the numbers of crosses,
1 2 3 4 5
BC3F2 or BC2F2 bulk populations, introgression lines (ILs) for specific target traits, promising lines tested in yield
trials and genotyped with DNA markers, and new cultivars developed. cCAAS, HUA, SAAS, SCAAS, CNRRI, SAU,
GAAS, LAAS, YAAS, AAAS, and JAAS represent Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural
University, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China National
Rice Research Institute, Shengyang Agricultural University, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Liaoning
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sci-
ences, and Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Table 2. Some promising drought-tolerant and high-yielding japonica lines have been developed.
ILs Number Shandong Hainan Beijing
Stress Nonstress Stress Nonstress Stress Nonstress
C418 (check) 10.67 15.46 12.75 16.28 13.23 17.96
C418/C71 10 14.52 17.91 15.92 18.75 18.75 20.99
ILs-check/ 36.1**a 15.8 24.9* 15.2 41.7** 16.9
check (%)
C418/ 6 14.30 17.26 12.45 13.21 16.84 20.89
Zaoxian14
ILs-check/ 34.0** 11.6 –2.4 –18.9 27.3* 16.3
check (%)
a** and * = significant at 0.01 and 0.05 level.
China.indd 37 5/28/2012 2:29:49 PM

Second, it was quite common to identify BC progeny with extreme phenotypes
(tolerances). For instance, many BC progeny survived the severe zinc deficiency stress
that virtually eliminated the best check, Madhukar (a landrace showing the highest
zinc deficiency tolerance in more than 9,000 germplasm accessions screened). For
salt tolerance, many ILs showed better tolerance than the tolerant checks, Pokkali and
Bicol.
Third, when defined as the number of superior plants identified per BC popu-
lation, the selection efficiency for abiotic stress tolerances in BC populations was
highly dependent upon genetic background. In this study, a common population size
of 100–250 plants was used in target trait screening of the BC populations. Under the
highly stringent stress conditions for most target traits (the average selection intensity
was less than 10%), this population size allowed the identification of surviving plants
in most BC populations. The differences between the recurrent genetic backgrounds
were at least partially attributable to the differences between the RPs for the trait-
enhancing alleles they carry.
Fourth, selection efficiency was affected to a large extent by levels of stress ap-
plied. Our results indicated that high stress could significantly increase the accuracy
of selection and reduce the number of total selected plants to a manageable size. For
instance, the EC 12 dS m–1 normally used for screening salt tolerance at seedling
stage was apparently too low since more than 80% of the plants in many BC popula-
tions were little affected by this level of stress. Instead, the EC 24 dS m–1 used in this
study was more suitable for screening BC progeny from more susceptible recurrent
parents such as NPT, and the EC 30 dS m–1 was better for those with a moderate level
of ST (salinity tolerance) (IR64 and Teqing). Thus, it is necessary to adjust the level
and timing of stresses based on the performance of RPs in BC breeding programs.
Nevertheless, applying an appropriate level of stress in breeding for different types
of stress tolerance remains a challenge. Fifth, selection efficiency for different target
traits varies in different BC generations. Much higher numbers of surviving plants
were identified in BC2 populations than in BC3 populations. This is not surprising
since the number of QTLs from donors in random BC3 populations is expected to be
only half of that in BC2 populations. Finally, it is generally believed that the levels of
tolerance of/resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses tend to follow the order of wild
species > landraces > modern cultivars, and the reverse is true for yield potential under
modern cultivation as a result of domestication and long-term artificial selection.
Our results have challenged the general belief that resistance to/tolerance of
biotic and abiotic stresses is more easily discovered in the wild species of cultivated
plants than in the cultivated types themselves. Nevertheless, the wide presence and
random distribution of genes for stress tolerance in the primary gene pool of rice are
certainly good news for plant breeders. The high probability of being able to identify
large numbers of stress-tolerant progeny in advanced BC populations achieved in this
study demonstrated that, despite the complex genetics and the diverse physiological
mechanisms underlying abiotic stress tolerances, introgression of genes from a diverse
source of donors into elite genetic backgrounds through BC breeding and efficient
selection is a powerful way to exploit the hidden diversity for genetic improvement
China.indd 38 5/28/2012 2:29:49 PM

of complex phenotypes, though the genetics of this “hidden” diversity for complex
phenotypes remains a challenging but promising task for plant scientists to understand
in the years to come.
Major progress for molecular breeding of japonica rice in the CNRMBN includes
the following:
1. More than 800 crosses made between 7 elite japonica lines and 198 donors,
and advanced to BC2–BC3.
2. More than 1,000 BC3 bulk populations in three elite japonica genetic back-
grounds developed and stored in SAGIC (Shanghai Agrobiological Gene
Center).
3. More than 200 BC populations screened for different target traits and ap-
proximately 2,000 ILs developed.
4. More than 200 genes/QTLs for DT (drought tolerance), CT (cold tolerance),
and ST (salinity tolerance) discovered and mapped for important traits using
japonica ILs.
5. Four new cultivars developed, which are being tested in multilocation yield
trials, and a large number of promising lines are in the pipeline.
6. A highly efficient breeding strategy, “breeding by designed QTL pyramid-
ing,” developed and demonstrated.
In conclusion, demand for and growing area of japonica rice are steadily on
the rise in China. Conventional breeding has produced many high-yielding japonica
rice varieties and hybrids in China; however, the genetic diversity of japonica rice in
China has narrowed and it shows vulnerability to important biotic and abiotic stresses.
A new breeding strategy by integrating molecular markers with conventional japonica
breeding programs is in place and has proven useful for identifying and moving im-
portant alleles from donor lines. A highly efficient molecular breeding strategy based
on introgression lines and accurate genetic information from identified QTLs are in
place and are being extensively used in developing superior japonica rice cultivars
with significantly improved yield stability and yield potential (Tables 3 and 4). Chinese
rice breeders and scientists are willing to establish a fruitful collaborative relation-
ship with scientists from other countries in japonica rice research in the adoption of
conventional and modern biotechnology to benefit both commercial and subsistence
farmers in China and the developing world.
References
Ali AJ, Xu JL, Ismail AM, Fu BY, Vijaykumar CHM, Gao YM, Domingo J, Maghirang R, Yu
SB, Gregorio G, Yanagihara S, Cohen M, Mackill D, Li ZK. 2006. Hidden diversity for
abiotic and biotic stress tolerances in the primary gene pool of rice revealed by a large
backcross breeding program. Field Crops Res, 97:66-76.
Yu SB, Xu WJ, Vijayakumar CHM, Ali J, Fu BY, Xu JL, Jiang YZ, Marghirang R, Domingo
J, Aquino C, Virmani SS, Li ZK. 2003. Molecular diversity and multilocus organization
of the parental lines used in the International Rice Molecular Breeding Program. Theor.
Appl. Genet. 108(1):131-140
China.indd 39 5/28/2012 2:29:50 PM

Table 3. Yield performance of some new promising japonica hybrids using restorers developed
by BC breeding in the CNRMBN.
Plant height Yield
Hybrid DSHa PPH PL SF (%) KGW (g) HTC (%)
(cm) (t ha–1)
Liao30A/C372 159 120.5 13.4 19.9 85.8 25.6 11.83 9.41

Liao52A/C349 158 121.4 14.4 24.0 84.3 25.4 12.28 13.49
Liao99A/C372 161 110.4 15.1 16.9 89.6 25.4 12.66 17.01
Liao95A/C362 160 123.4 13.8 20.1 80.9 26.1 12.88 19.04
Liao52A/C372 160 122.2 14.8 26.1 69.4 24.6 11.88 9.81
Liao15A/C372 160 118.6 14.0 27.5 85.9 24.3 11.65 7.72
Liao52A/C358 159 124.6 11.9 19.9 89.6 25.4 11.49 6.19
Liao95A/C349 158 121.2 11.6 19.1 86.7 25.3 12.03 11.24
Liaojing 9 161 118.6 15.6 16.0 92.4 24.6 10.82 0
(check)
aDSH= duration from seeding to heading , PPH = panicles per hill, PL = panicle length, SF = spikelet fertility,
KGW = kilo-grain weight, HTC = higher than check.
Table 4. Summarized activities in QTL identification and verification by DQP experiments in the
CNRMBN.
Type
GB N1b N2 N3 N4 N5 Institutec
(subsp.)a
Liaojing 454 Inbred (J) >150 6 150+ 26 624 CAAS/LAAS
Chaoyou 1 Inbred (J) >150 6 300+ CAAS/TAAS
C418 Restorer (J) >200 8 300+ 30 583 CAAS/LAAS
Total >300 20+ 750+ 56 1,207
aJ= japonica, I = indica. bN1, N2, N3, N4, and N5 represent the number of QTLs, traits, introgression lines (ILs),
pyramiding crosses, and pyramiding lines, respectively. cCAAS = Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, LAAS
= Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, TAAS = Tianjing Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Notes
Authors’ addresses:
Zhi-Kang Li and Yongming Gao: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences. 12 Zhongguancun South St., Beijing 100081, China; Zetian Hua: Tianjin
University of Sciences and Techniques, 11 Muning Road, TEDA, Tianjin 300457
China; Guo-Min Sui: Liaoning Rice Research Institute, 129 Fengyang Road Sujiatun,
Shengyang 110101, China.
China.indd 40 5/28/2012 2:29:50 PM

Temperate rice in Japan
Hiroshi Kato, Kei Matsushita, and Masahiro Yano
The Japanese islands are located between 23.5° and 45.3° N latitude and belong to
a temperate climate zone. Our rice cultivation is carried out on plains and in basins
where irrigation water is abundant. Almost 100% of the rice fields are irrigated. The
agricultural population has decreased to 2.5 million and about 50% of these people are
over 65 years old. However, potential rice production exceeds the demand for rice. To
prevent overproduction, a policy aiming at the alternative use of rice fields has been
promoted. Of the 2.6 million ha of rice fields, only 1.6 million ha were planted with
rice in 2003. Brown rice productivity was about 5 t ha–1 in 2003. This was equivalent
to 6.8 t ha–1 of unhulled rice yield. Most of the varieties are japonica, whereas indica
varieties account for only 0.2%. Our major constraints to rice production are wind
and flood, cool summer, and rice blast. Usually, typhoons cause wind and flooding
damage in the southern and northern areas. Cool summer and rice blast cause yield
losses mainly in the northern area and the elevated mountainous areas. In addition,
damage from high temperature and rice-ear bugs has occurred frequently more recently.
These two stresses cause an increase in pecky and white immature grains, which lower
grain grades and prices.
Notes
Authors’ addresses: Hiroshi Kato and Kei Matsushita, National Agriculture and Food Research
Organization; Masahiro Yano, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences.
Temperate rice in Japan 41
Japan.indd 41 5/28/2012 2:30:24 PM

Temperate rice in Korea
K.H. Kang and Y.G. Kim
Rice is a traditional staple food crop in Korea, providing 31% of the calories for 49
million people and 25% of farming income in rural areas. Rice was grown on 1,010,000
hectares as of 2010, accounting for 58% of the total arable lands, with total production
of around 5 million tons per annum.
Rice cultivation takes place in the irrigated lowlands mostly by machine-
transplanting methods and hand-transplanting is practiced on only 1.2% of marginal
rice land.
During rice growth periods spanning 6 months from mid-April to mid-October,
average temperature changes from the lowest of 13 °C in April and October to the
warmest of 25 °C in August. Thus, rice cultivation can easily face cold injury in
spring and autumn. Currently, only japonica rice cultivars are grown in Korea. Since
the experience of unprecedented yield loss from cold damage in 1980, cultivation of
the high-yielding “Tongil-type” rice cultivars declined rapidly and only high-yielding
japonicas have been grown in farmers’ fields since 1990. In 2010, 20 mid- to late-
maturing japonica cultivars were grown on 891,493 hectares, accounting for 92.9%
of total rice area, and the cultivation of functional rice cultivars is increasing, which
accounts for 4.3% of rice area.
The National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) is a government-funded crop
research institution under the Rural Development Administration (RDA), in which
nationwide rice research programs are an integral part of NICS programs. Rice re-
search programs cover all rice research areas, such as rice genetics, breeding, rice
quality evaluation, rice cultivation and physiology, postharvest, and biotechnology,
etc. Also, two institutions are affiliated with NICS, the Department of Rice and Winter
Cereal Crops and Department of Functional Crops. These research institutes conduct
independent rice programs directed toward improving rice production of local areas
of the southwestern and southeastern parts of Korea. Also, the provincial agricultural
research institutes under provincial (self-governing) governments have their own rice
research programs to attempt to solve rice problems facing provinces.
Korea.indd 43 5/28/2012 2:31:59 PM

The primary mission of the japonica rice breeding program in Korea is to develop su-
perior cultivars that assure maximum and stable benefits for producers and consumers.
Therefore, breeding efforts have been devoted to improving grain quality, yield poten-
tial, resistance to diseases and insect pests, and tolerance of environmental stresses.
Especially, recent progress in the free trade agreement between countries is prompting
rice breeders to develop premium-quality rice for Korean farmers’ and consumers’
acceptance. In this, breeding efforts are directed to developing superior cultivars with
improved marketability, milling recovery, and palatability. For this purpose, simple
and effective mass-screening methods, including molecular markers to select elite
breeding materials, should be established.
Diversified grain types with high-value endosperm are important breeding
targets for various food-processing activities. Developing specialty rice other than
ordinary cultivars could increase rice consumption and international competitiveness.
A variety of endosperm variants such as glutinous rice, giant embryo, strong aroma,
black-purple rice, low and high amylose, high lysine content, and high mineral nutri-
ents, etc., have been developed and are being incorporated into the elite high-yielding
cultivars. Mutation breeding also successfully demonstrated its ability to create genetic
variants with high-value endosperm in Korea. Breeding efforts for the diversification
of morphological and physicochemical characteristics will be continuously intensi-
fied to enhance the usability for various food-processing and health-related purposes.
However, disease and insect susceptibility of the specialty rice cultivars is projected
to be a major drawback that needs to be overcome soon.
The importance of multiple resistance to disease and insect pests and tolerance
of abiotic environmental stresses such as low temperature, drought, and adverse soil
demonstrates an increasing demand for environment-friendly cultivar development.
In tackling this problem, biotechnology is expected to play an important role related
to the enhancement of host-plant resistance to insects and diseases. Currently, wide
hybridization with useful alleles of wild rice and alien gene transfer are bringing about
rapid progress to broaden gene pools for environment-friendly rice cultivars.
The decrease in available labor and rising cost for labor in rural areas are moti-
vating rice farmers to shift from transplanting to direct seeding. Current high-yielding
cultivars in Korea were selected and bred for transplanted rice culture. The design
of new resource-use-efficient cultivars for direct seeding requires new knowledge on
the biological growth potential of rice. Components of a new plant type concept for
greater resource-use efficiency and yield potential may include (1) enhanced foliar
growth with reduced tillering; (2) less foliar growth and enhanced assimilate export
from leaves to stems along with sustained high nitrogen concentration; (3) a steeper
slope of the vertical N concentration gradient in the leaf canopy, with more N present
in the uppermost stratum; (4) expanded capacity of stems to store assimilates; and (5)
improved reproductive sink capacity, with a prolonged ripening period.
Shorter growth duration and earliness of rice cultivars are major factors for
high stable production in a multiple cropping system with cash crops. These cultivars
44 K.H. Kang and Y.G. Kim
Korea.indd 44 5/28/2012 2:32:41 PM

should have such characteristics as faster leaf development, higher daily productivity,
early vigor, and a good root system.
Rice breeding is a very complex science and many genetic problems need to
be solved. Therefore, we believe that genetic knowledge and molecular technology
should be integrated into rice breeding programs to enhance the efficiency of rice
breeding for achieving another Green Revolution in rice.
Constraints to japonica rice production and improving japonica rice

Japonica rice production in Korea has been quite successful in maintaining self-suf-
ficiency in rice production due to the development of high-yielding and high-quality
japonica cultivars during the past 30 years. We believe that this achievement can be
attributed to the rice yield potential of modern japonica cultivars released to farmers
and the most adequate rice cultivation practices used by Korean farmers.
However, only five to six high-quality rice cultivars are predominantly grown
in the country and the continued use of the same varieties for an extended period is
likely to lead to a breakdown in resistance to diseases and insects, causing genetic
vulnerability. Especially, the current emphasis on the top-quality rice in the world
could entail the development of japonica cultivars without substantial resistance to
pests and diseases in the near future. In addition, as the provincial government in
Korea stressed rice policy for the production of environment-friendly rice products
as a way to meet consumers’ demand for no or low use of agrochemicals, worrisome
prospects loom for yield loss and quality deterioration from damage by diseases and
insects. This highlights the importance of breeding for durable resistance to pests and
diseases and maintaining varietal diversity.
The aging of Korean farmers, the lower rice price due to rice imports, and
the high cost of rice production have been the main practical concerns about rice
production in Korea. It is also noteworthy that per capita rice consumption in Korea
decreased dramatically from 120 kg in 1990 to 73 kg in 2010, which could suppress
rice production in Korea.
Temperate japonica rice has been known to have less genetic variability than
indica rice. Despite the narrow genetic diversity in japonica rice, breeders have made
positive improvements for yield potential by conventional selection procedures while
maintaining the desired grain quality characteristics. However, multiple resistance
to major pests and environmental stresses should be strengthened in japonica rice to
counteract future global climate changes.

Rice breeding goals in Korea have been diversified since 1990; hence, rice breed-
ers have many genetic needs that must be met to reach these goals. Especially, in
anticipation of global climatic changes in the near future that could cause unstable
rice production, genetic resources with tolerance of drought, salinity, and cold and
resistance to diseases and lodging are needed. However, these genetic resources are
Korea.indd 45 5/28/2012 2:32:42 PM

preferred to be associated with desirable grain quality. During the past years, Korean
breeders have mostly been dedicated to breeding cultivars targeted for clear grain ap-
pearance, good eating quality, and appropriate grain shape. The physicochemical traits
of Korean cultivars have become simple and similar; hence, diversifying grain traits is
necessary with grain dimension from 3 to 10 mm, 1,000-grain weight from 10 to 70 g,
amylose content from 0 to 37%, protein content from 4% to 18%, pericarp color from
yellow-white to black-purple, and diverse aroma, embryo size, amylopectin structure,
and mineral composition. For boiled rice, the current high-quality japonica cultivars
should be complemented with high milling recovery and more nutritional content.
Specialty rice varieties need to be developed that would possess more diverse
grain shape and physicochemical properties for a wide range of industrial purposes.
To strengthen the cultivation safety of japonica cultivars, wild rice germplasm
should be secured to be used for long-term breeding. To develop short-growth-duration
and direct-seeded rice cultivars for raising the efficiency of paddy rice fields and low-
cost production, genetic resources possessing an adequate basic vegetative phase with
relatively less photoperiod and temperature sensitivity are required. Also, direct-seeded
rice requires low-temperature germination, excellent seedling stands, and tolerance
of lodging and high density in Korean conditions.
In Korea, a hybridization breeding method followed by pedigree selection has been

routinely and commonly used in rice breeding programs. A systematic rice breeding
program using this hybridization method started in 1915 and more than 200 cultivars
were developed by this method.
Besides the hybridization method, other breeding technologies such as rapid
generation advancement using a glasshouse, mutation, anther culture, heterosis, and
molecular marker-assisted selection have been added to rice breeding programs,
providing valuable tools to increase rice breeding efficiency.
Mutation breeding
The mutation breeding method by irradiation and chemical mutagens has often been
used for special purposes. In the 1990s, modifying grain quality characteristics was
successfully done by induced mutation. Three japonica cultivars, Goami 2, Beakjinju,
and Seolgang, were produced through methylnitrosourea (MNU) treatment of Ilpum,
a nonwaxy cultivar with the highest eating quality. Goami 2 has fibrous, nondigestible
starch in the endosperm and is good for obese and diabetic patients. Beakjinju is a
dull grain mutant with half-waxy content (9.1% amylose content) and it is suitable for
brown rice recipes because the boiled rice does not easily become rigid after cooking.
Seolgang is an opaque mutant with normal amylose content of 19.3%. This nontrans-
parency is attributed to the even distribution of fine porosity in between starch granules
in the endosperm. Because of this endosperm structure, Seolgangbyeo is suitable for
manufacturing fermented foods such as rice kozi, sweet rice drink, and rice wine, etc.
Korea.indd 46 5/28/2012 2:32:42 PM

Other related grain mutants with functionality or milling property could be
detected if efficient screening techniques were available. Also, these useful mutants
could be used as genetic stocks for mapping and molecular cloning of agronomically
important genes.
Rapid generation advancement and anther culture breeding

Currently, the two most important technologies for shortening the breeding period are
rapid generation advancement and anther culture. Korea grows a single crop of rice per
year and it takes 13–15 years for the development of one cultivar under Korean climatic
conditions. However, greenhouse facilities that allow two or three experimental rice
crops a year have reduced the breeding cycle by 8–10 years for one cultivar.
Theoretically, anther/pollen culture is the fastest way to reach homozygosity. The
haploid breeding through anther culture technique can also improve selection efficiency
and save field space and labor. A rice anther culture breeding project that started in 1977
has been boosted up to a core project in the national rice breeding program. Through this
method, 23 rice cultivars have been released since the development of the first anther-
derived rice cultivar, Hwaseongbyeo, in 1985. Although the breeding period by anther
culture could be different according to situations, it took 5–6 years by anther culture
for a cultivar to be developed under a normal breeding schedule. Anther culture and
the rapid generation advancement technique have been routinely used in rice breeding
programs.
Wide hybridization
In Korea, the wide hybridization program started in the late 1980s, with the objective
of transferring useful traits from wild Oryza species into the leading Korean varieties.
It was hoped that a successful transfer of resistance to/tolerance of biotic and abiotic
stresses and increased yield potential could be made from wide crosses with AA and
other genome wild species into japonica cultivars. Currently, introgression lines with
resistance to major diseases and insects, and a yield increase of 8% to 27% over a
check variety, were successfully produced among the advanced backcross populations
derived from crosses between O. glaberrima (AA), O. rufipogon (AA), and O. minuta
(BBCC). These lines were analyzed with molecular markers such as simple sequence
repeats, restriction fragment length polymorphisms, and amplified fragment length
polymorphisms, and the wild alleles for increased yield were identified in the O. sativa
genome, suggesting that useful transgressive variants could be created through wide
hybridization between genomes. These lines could be used as the crossing parents to
incorporate trait-improving alleles from wild species into cultivated rice.

According to various estimates, Korea needs to produce 38% more rice by 2025 to
satisfy food security. This demand would be met from reduced agricultural land,
less water and labor, and reduced fertilizers and agricultural chemicals. To meet the
Korea.indd 47 5/28/2012 2:32:42 PM

challenges of more rice production under such constraints, we need to increase yield
potential and obtain greater stability in japonica rice varieties.
The next attempts will be to protect and stabilize the gains in genetic improve-
ment that have already been achieved. More emphases will therefore be placed on
multiple resistance to diseases and insect pests, and tolerance of environmental stresses
such as low temperature, drought, and adverse soil. Wide hybridization using wild
species would be an efficient research target that is worthy of international pursuit
with the use of biotechnology tools.
Breaking through the current yield ceiling may be possible when genotypes
with a capacity for greater production of total biomass are identified. One strategy is
to modify the canopy architecture of modern semidwarf high-yielding cultivars by
minimizing unproductive tillers. The F1 hybrid cultivar is another possible approach
for the maximum use of heterosis in japonica rice development.
Notes
Authors’ address: Rice Research Division, National Institute of Crop Science, RDA.
Korea.indd 48 5/28/2012 2:32:42 PM

Temperate rice in Nepal
A.K. Gautam and N.P. Shrestha
Rice is the major food crop in Nepal, supplying 38.5% of dietary energy, 29.4%
of dietary protein, and 7.2% of dietary fat (FAOSTAT 2003). The crop is grown in
diverse agroecosystems from lowland Terai to high hills. It was cultivated on 1.549
million hectares, with production and productivity of 4.21 million tons and 2.72 t
ha–1, respectively, in 2005-06 (MOAC 2006). As rice is grown under diverse soil and
climatic conditions, growth in rice production is lower (2.07% per annum) than the rate
of population growth (2.2% per annum). Ecologically, rice is produced in three zones,
Terai and inner Terai-like environment (60–900 m), valleys and mid-hills (1,000–1,500
m), and high hills or mountains (>1,500 m), under different water regimes and land
types with varying crop seasons (Table 1). The high hills or mountains consist of cool
temperate regions whereas mid-hills consist of warm temperate regions.
The crop plays a significant role in the national economy, contributing 20% of
agricultural GDP and accounting for 58% of total food grain production covering more
than 50% of the agricultural area (MOAC 2006). The rice crop has three important
by-products (rice straw, bran, and husk) that contribute substantially to agriculture,
livestock, and agro-based industry. Rice straw meets 32–37% of total digestible nutri-
ent for livestock; in turn, about 39 million tons of dung are available annually from
cattle and buffalo in addition to milk and meat. Not only is rice a key source of food;
it is also a major employer and source of income for the poor. Double cropping of
rice ceases at around 900 m and reaches its altitude limit at 2,600 m (Sthapit 1995).
Area, production, and productivity of temperate rice including japonica

There is an increasing trend of rice yield per unit area in the country for the last
two decades except for some lower values in some years (Fig. 1). This was due to
prevailing drought in those years as 49% of the rice area is rainfed. Temperate rice
consists of about 28.8% of the total rice area, producing 27.1% of total production
with productivity of 2.55 t ha–1 (Table 2) (MOAC 2006). In warm temperate regions,
three districts (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur) are the major potential areas
for obtaining high yields compared with other districts in the country. These three
districts cover 27,600 ha under japonica rice, with productivity ranging from 4.5 to
Nepal.indd 49 5/28/2012 2:34:31 PM

Table 1. Major rice production systems in Nepal.
Agroecological zone Altitude (m) Water regime and land type Crop season
A. Terai and inner Terai
Boro rice 60–200 Irrigated lowland Oct.-June
Chaite rice 60–300 Irrigated lowland March-July
Normal rice 60–300 Irrigated lowland, rainfed lowland June-Nov.
Deepwater rice 60–100 Deepwater lowland May-Dec.
B. Valley and mid-hills
Chaite rice 300–900 Irrigated lowland Feb.-June
Normal rice 300–900 Irrigated and rainfed lowland May-Nov.
Upland rice 300–900 Rainfed upland April-Aug.
Warm temperate rice 900–1,500 Irrigated and rainfed wetland June-Oct.
C. High hills
Cool temperate rice 1,500–2,621 Irrigated and rainfed wetland April/May-Oct.
Area, production, and yield

5,000
Area (000 ha)
4,500
Production (000 t)
4,000 Yield (kg ha–1)
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 -9 00 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0
9 84 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 9-2 000 001 002 003 004 005
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 99 2 2 2 2 2 2
1
Years
Fig. 1. Area, production, and yield of rice in Nepal.
5.1 t ha–1. In cool temperate regions, japonica rice area covers about 13,000 ha, with
productivity ranging from 0.76 to 2.20 t ha–1.
A total of 20 rice varieties have been released for cultivation in warm and temper-
ate regions of the country (Table 3). Four Taiwanese japonica rice varieties, Taichung
176, Chainung 242, Tainan 1, and Chainung 2, were introduced in 1950 in Nepal. The
yield of these semi-dwarf varieties was found to be very impressive in fertile soil and
they became successful in replacing some of the local landraces in the Kathmandu
valley. These varieties were released in 1967 for general cultivation. These varieties
were grown mainly for beaten rice (Chyura) and for a type of local liquor called Jand.
The beaten rice from japonica rice fetches a higher price than indica type; therefore,
50 A.K. Gautam and N.P. Shrestha
Nepal.indd 50 5/28/2012 2:34:33 PM

Table 2. Area, production, and yield of rice in different ecological zones
(2005-06).
Ecological belts Area (ha) Production Yield
(tons) (kg ha–1)
Mountain 64,676 128,658 1989
(cool temperate) (4.2%) (3.1%)
Hills 381,591 1,011,219 2,650
(warm temperate) (24.6%) (24.0%)
Terai (plan area) 1,103,180 3,069,402 2,782
(tropical and subtropical) (71.2%) (72.9%)
All Nepal 1,549,447 4,209,279 2,717
there is a demand for japonica rice in the Kathmandu valley and other cool temperate
regions. Nowadays, there is demand for japonica rice in the plains area of the country
(subtropical area) to be grown as winter rice, that is, boro rice.
Some other newly released rice varieties are also japonica type. Joshi and Bimb
(2004) performed isozyme analysis on 39 rice varieties, of which 13 were identified
as japonica type. These varieties are Chainung 242, Chandannath 1, Chandannath 3,
Chhormmrong, Khumal 11, Khumal 5, Khumal 6, Khumal 7, Khumal 9, Machhapu-
chhre 3, Manjushree 2, Palung 2, and Taichung 176.
Institutions involved in temperate rice research

Rice cultivation is the main activity to improve the livelihood and enhance the eco-
nomic growth of rural people. Nepal has to raise rice production to 5.7 million tons by
2030 for food sufficiency (FAO 2004). To achieve this goal and address the require-
ments of each production and agroecological domain, the National Rice Research
Program (NRRP) has established a network with different research stations. The Na-
tional Rice Research Program and Agricultural Botany Division (ABD) are the major
government organizations responsible for breeding work in rice. Moreover, the ABD
has the responsibility to do breeding work for temperate rice. Varietal testing as well
as generating production technologies are done at the following Agricultural Research
Stations: Pakhribas (1,300 m), Kabre (1,930 m), Lumele (1,650 m), Dailekh (1,450
m), and Jumla (2,380 m), located from warm temperate to cool temperate regions.
Recently, the Biotechnology Unit located at Kathmandu has also begun some work,
mainly isozymatic characterization of rice varieties and landraces.
Human resources in temperate rice research

Scientists working in different agricultural research stations and disciplinary divisions
are working for varietal improvement as well as the generation of technologies for
higher production in the fields of agronomy, soil science, pathology, and entomology.
Five rice breeders from the National Rice Research Program, Agricultural Botany
Nepal.indd 51 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Table 3. List of rice varieties released for hills and mountains of Nepal.
Rice variety Method of improvement Origin Year of Yield Recommendation
or parentage release (t ha–1) domain
1. Tainan-1 Tsai-Yuanchung/Dee- Taiwan 1967 6.6 Warm temperate

Geo-Woo-gen
2. Chainan-2 Cluamohu/Shiniri- Taiwan 1967 7.8 Warm temperate
Aikoku/Taicdhung 65
3. Chainung-242 Hsingchio /Taichung Taiwan 1967 7.3 Warm temperate
170//Taipei 7/Taichung
45
4. Taichung-176 Tsai-Yuanchung/Dee- Taiwan 1967 7.9 Warm temperate
Geo-Woo-gen
5. Himali Cica 4/Kalu IRRI 1982 6.4 Warm temperate
6. Kanchan CR 126-42-5/IR2061- IRRI 1982 7.6 Warm temperate
21-3
7. Khumal-3 China 1039/IR580 India 1983 6.5 Warm temperate,
Chaite, and Barkhe
8. Palung-2 BG 94-2/Pokhreli Nepal 1987 6.1 Cool temperate
Masino
9. Khumal-2 Jarneli/Kn-LD-361- Nepal 1987 5.6 Warm temperate
DLK-2-8
10. Khumal-4 IR28/ Pokhreli Masino Nepal 1987 6.3 Warm temperate
11. Khumal-7 Chaina 1039 DEF MUT/ IRRI 1990 7.0 Warm temperate
Kn 18-361-1-8-6-10
12. Khumal-9 K 28-76-D-1/Kn18-214- IRRI 1990 6.7 Warm temperate
1-4-3
13. Khumal-5 Pokhreli Masino/KA-1B- Nepal 1990 6.7 Warm temperate
361-BLK-2-8
14. Chhmrong Dhan Selection from Nepal 1991 4.2 Cool temperate
Ghandruk Local (1,300–2,000 m)
15. Machhapuchhre 3 Fuji 102/Chhomroong Nepal 1996 5.0 Cool temperate
Dhan (1,300–2,000 m)
16. Khumal 6 IR13146-45-2-3/ IRRI 1999 7.8 Kathmandu valley
IR7492-18-6-1-1-3-3 and similar areas
17. Chandannath 3 Selection from Yunlen-1 China 2002 6.0 Jumla valley
(2,300 m) and
similar areas
18. Chandannath 1 Selection from Jingling China 2002 6.0 Jumla valley and
78-102 similar areas
19. Khumal 11 Akudaka/Barkat Nepal 2002 10.0 Kathmandu valley
20. Manjushree 2 Fuji 102/NR10157// Nepal 2002 8.3 Kathmandu valley
Jumli Marsi/
IR9129-159-3//kn-
lb-361-1-8-6-3)
21. Khumal-8 Jumli Marsi/IR36 Nepal 2006 8.9 Foothills to mid-hills
of Nepal
Nepal.indd 52 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Division, and ARS, Jumla, Dailekh, and Lumle, are working to improve temperate
rice. Plant pathologists are working to develop rice varieties resistant to blast and its
management. An entomologist is looking to manage rice insects. An agronomist and
soil scientist are engaged in how to make temperate rice cultivation more profitable
in a sustainable way by managing natural resources. Two biotechnologists are also
working in temperate rice research.
Research issues and targets for improving temperate and japonica rice and produc-
tion technologies
The hills and high hills of temperate regions cover 28.8% of the total rice area, with
51.6% of the total population, but they have lower yield than tropical and subtropi-
cal areas, that is, the Terai (plain area) of the country. Indica rice is mostly grown in
these regions, which have lower productivity than japonica rice. Rice has to be made
available locally to feed the ever-growing population in these regions. Japonica rice
has the genetic ability to outyield indica rice. A new management system should be
developed and extended to farmers to optimize input use, increase efficiency, and cut
production costs. Therefore, the following are the major research issues and targets
for improving temperate and japonica rice along with their production technologies:
• High-yielding and leaf- and neck-blast-resistant rice varieties.

• Rice-eating consumers prefer less sticky or nonsticky rice at the time of
cooking; therefore, rice varieties with better eating quality are needed.
• Cold tolerance at different crop growth stages.
• The cropping pattern is different in different locations. Long-duration rice
varieties delay the planting of a second crop, which ultimately affects yield.
Therefore, short-duration rice varieties are needed.
• In hills and high hills, 63.4% and 58.2% of the rice area is under rainfed
conditions (MOAC 2006). Drought can prevail at any stage of crop growth.
For this situation, drought-resistant rice varieties should be developed.
• Specific adoption of japonica rice varieties in the temperate rice-growing
areas of the country.
• High-yielding japonica genotypes with resistance to cold injury (seedling
stage) for winter-season (boro) rice in plains area.
• Nursery management for healthy seedlings to cope with cold injury.
• Natural resources are declining day by day and need to be managed in a
sustainable way so that they can be used to achieve sustainable production
of rice.
• Genotypes with higher yield cannot express their potential until the required
inputs and management are proved in a collective way and in an integrated
approach.
Nepal.indd 53 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Constraints to production and improvement in temperate rice, including japonica
rice
The yield gap is the primary constraint to increased growth in rice production in
both tropical and temperate areas, and bridging the yield gap is the most immediate
opportunity for increasing rice production. Rice yields are low and a large yield gap
exists between what farmers are harvesting in their rice fields and what has been
demonstrated by researchers (Adhikari 2004). Temperate rice experiences mainly cold
injury at various crop growth stages along with blast disease in Nepal (Shrestha 1979).
Specific adoption of japonica rice in certain locations of Nepal is limited to eating
quality as this rice is sticky in nature. The following are the constraints that limit the
improvement and production of both temperate and japonica rice:
• Consumers’ preferences
• Limited germplasm
• Low genetic base of japonica rice
• Cold injury at various crop growth stages
• Leaf and neck blast
• Sterility in high hills (mountains) due to long-duration varieties
• Poor panicle exsertion
• Lack of area-specific information about farmers’ preferences, priority prob-
lems, and indigenous management practices
• Declining soil fertility, poor plant nutrition and crop management practices
• Lack of low-cost rice production technology
• Small and fragmented landholdings
• Untimely and inadequate input/credit supply
• Inadequate postharvest technologies
• Poverty and illiteracy
• Poor marketing facilities
Genetic resources: availability and requirement

Rice research in Nepal began in 1951 with the collection and evaluation of landraces.
Since then, a rice improvement program for hills and mountains also started simul-
taneously. During that period, the genetic resources for cold tolerance were limited
to local germplasm. A systematic coordinated rice research program established in
1972 has developed linkages with IRRI under the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research for the exchange of germplasm. NRRP has been receiving an
International Rice Cold Tolerance Nursery (IRCTN) from IRRI since 1975 and using
the outstanding rice lines directly or indirectly after rigorous evaluation. The ABD in
consultation with the rice program started evaluation of a National Rice Cold Toler-
ance Nursery in 1978, including exotic, self-developed, and local landraces at dif-
ferent testing sites. Eight varieties were developed using IRCTN material as a donor
parent. Chhomrong Dhan is a local selection and Chandannath 1 and 3 are selections
from Jingling 78-102 and Yunlen 1, respectively. Fuji 102, Akiyudaka, Yungeng 3,
Nepal.indd 54 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Zenith, and Barkat have been selected and used as donor parents for cold tolerance
in breeding programs.
After the introduction and release of Taiwanese japonica rice varieties, they
were also used in breeding programs to develop high-yielding, cold-tolerant, and
blast-resistant rice varieties. Cold-tolerant landraces Jumli Marshi, Pokhreli Masino,
Jarneli, Anadi, Chhomrong, Phalame, and Kali Marshi are available and are being
used in breeding programs.
The available genetic resources are not sufficient to address the constraints of
temperate rice along with japonica rice. Therefore, genetic resources are required for
the following:
• Cold tolerance at different growth stages

• Less sticky rice varieties with good eating quality
• Blast and BLB resistance
• Tolerance of low air and water temperature at seedling stage for boro rice
• Better straw quality
Strategies for temperate rice research

Inventory of the information
Rice is grown from 900 to 2,621 m. The needs and requirements differ from farmers
to consumers due to variation in the agroecosystem. Farmers need high-yielding,
cold-tolerant, and disease-free rice varieties whereas consumers need cheaper high-
quality rice. The problems of farmers are also different. They have their own skill
and knowledge to manage the rice crop. Information on these aspects is limited.
Therefore, the first step should be to collect area-specific information about farmers’
preferences and indigenous management practices beforehand to develop strategies
for temperate rice research.
Characterization, evaluation, and use of landraces

Nepal has a diversity of local landraces in the hills and mountains that are not fully
exploited. Both indica and japonica types have cold tolerance and other favorable
traits and can be used to improve temperate rice. Chhomrong, Jumli Marshi, and
Jurneli are such landraces.
Biotechnology and genetic enhancement

Recent advances in rice biotechnology have produced new tools to increase the ef-
ficiency of evolutionary and evaluation phases of rice breeding (Khush and Brar
1998). Thus, biotechnology has a key role to play in combination with conventional
plant breeding in the genetic enhancement of temperate rice, particularly in relation
to disease resistance, stress tolerance, and quality improvement. Therefore, QTL map-
ping and marker-assisted selection for stress tolerance, blast resistance, and quality
aspects should be considered.
Nepal.indd 55 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Sustainable production technologies
Sustainable rice production technologies are required. Closing the gap between poten-
tial and actual yield requires integrated approaches. An integrated rice crop manage-
ment system is based on the understanding that overcoming limits in production has
been extremely successful in closing the yield gap. Research on resource conservation
technologies can lead to a significant reduction in the cost of production, particularly
by increasing input-use efficiency. The development of low-cost technology is neces-
sary in view of its growing importance.
Postharvest technology and agro-processes

Postharvest losses of rice continue to be enormous, ranging from 10% to 37% (FAO
2000). Significant progress can be made in increasing rice output by reducing post-
harvest and milling losses. Demand is growing for better quality rice, which should
provide a stimulus for upgrading the milling infrastructure in the temperate rice-
growing areas of the country.
Participatory rice technology transfer

Once rice technology, either varieties or production and management, is developed, it
must be evaluated and validated with the participation of users. The extension of these
technologies in isolation has experienced no or little adoption by farmers. Farmers’
participatory varietal selection (PVS) and participatory technology evaluation and
development along with other stakeholders is essential to have an impact from rice
improvement and development.
Expectations from the Temperate Rice Research Consortium

In the age of globalization, rice research and development would be ineffective working
independently. The solution is collective action of temperate rice-growing countries to
join forces and share collaboration in the field of genetic material exchange and skills
and knowledge for temperate rice research and development. The Nepal Agricultural
Research Council has limited financial resources for rice research and development
in temperate rice and requires support for strengthening basic and strategic research.
Skills and knowledge of scientists need to be improved. Infrastructure and laboratories
have to be developed and strengthened.
Contributions to the TRRC

The country has a diversity of landraces for cold tolerance and has developed high-
yielding rice varieties. These materials can be shared with other partner countries of the
TRRC for the improvement and development of rice varieties for temperate regions.
Different people are working for temperate rice research and development, and their
views, ideas, and skills can be exchanged among the partner countries.
Nepal.indd 56 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

References
Adhikari NP. 2004. Rice research and production in Nepal: current status and future direction.
In: Gautam et al, editors. Rice research in Nepal. Proceedings of the 24th Summer Crop
Workshop, 28-30 June 2004, NARC, NRRP, Hardinath, Dhanusha, Nepal.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2000. Information network on postharvest opera-
tions. Information extracted from DeLucia and Assenato. 1994, FAO Agriculture Services
Bulletin No. 93.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2004. Sustainable rice-based production and people’s
livelihood. Int. Rice Comm. Newsl. 52:15-18.
FAOSTAT. 2003. Agricultural statistical data base. Available at http:/apps.fao.org/Rome.
Khush GS, Brar DS. 1998. The application of biotechnology in rice In: Ives CL, Bedford BM,
editors. Agricultural biotechnology in international development. Wallingford (UK):
CAB International. p 92-121.
Joshi BK, Bimb HP. 2004. Classification of Nepalese rice cultivars based on isozymes. In:
Gautam AK et al, editors. Rice research in Nepal. Proceedings of the 24th National
Summer Crops Research Workshop held at Khumaltar, Kathmandu, Nepal, during 28-
30 June 2004. p 175-187.
MOAC (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives). 2006. Statistical information on Nepalese
agriculture 2005/2006 (2062/2063). HMG, MOAC, Agriculture Business Promotion and
Statistical Division, Sing Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Sthapit BR. 1995. Seed regulatory frameworks in Nepal: variety testing, selection and release
system for rice and wheat crops in Nepal. ODI/CA25, United Kingdom.
Shrestha KP. 1979. Report on rice breeding for cold tolerance materials. Proceedings of the
5th Rice Improvement Workshop held at Department of Agriculture, Nepal, 27 Feb-2
March 1978.
Notes
Authors’ adresses: A.K. Gautam, Co-ordinator, National Rice Research Program, Hardinath,
Nepal; N.P. Shrestha, Executive Director, Nepal Agricultural Research Council.
Nepal.indd 57 5/28/2012 2:34:34 PM

Development of indica/japonica rice
lines at the Philippine Rice Research
Institute
Emily C. Arocena and Thelma F. Padolina
Our indica/japonica breeding program focused on two ecosystems. One was irrigated
lowland (IL) areas, the major rice-producing areas in the Philippines. The varieties
developed were high yielding to obtain rice self-sufficiency. The varieties possessed
excellent grain quality and resistance to insect pests and diseases, lodging resistance,
non-to-moderate shatterability, and no on-the-panicle sprouting.
The other was cool elevated (CE) areas, where low temperature causes crucial
injury to rice plants such as stunted growth or sterility, leading to unstable rice produc-
tion. Therefore, incorporation of cold tolerance was a must, followed by high yield,
good grain quality, and shattering resistance. Potential areas for this type of rice are
the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), where two types of rice are required:
(1) short-duration (6 months) improved bulu with tolerance of low temperature at the
seedling stage during the dry season, and (2) short-duration (5 months or less) mod-
ern varieties with tolerance of low temperature at the reproductive stage in the wet
season (WS). The WS environment is about 5,000 ha but the potential area is about
100,000 ha. In other areas with low-temperature problems, tropical japonica types
were acceptable. Target areas are in the Cagayan Valley, Quezon Province, Bukidnon
in Mindanao, and Canlaon, Negros Occidental, in the Visayas.
The program was implemented with three strategies. First, a japonica/indica
(J/I) cross was employed, especially to improve grain quality and yielding capability.
Second, on-site breeding for cold tolerance was undertaken in order to screen resistant
or tolerant plants in hot-spot areas. Third, interdisciplinary collaboration at PhilRice
was maximized to facilitate rice breeding.
Constraints to varietal improvement

Hybrid sterility in indica/japonica crosses
The behavior of hybrid sterility was studied in the 1993 WS on three single-cross F1
progenies between japonica varieties and Philippine indica leading varieties along
with parental varieties. In the following 1994 DS, the sterility of subsequent backcross
B1F1 progenies was compared with that of F1 progenies. Results indicated that the
expected high hybrid sterility of the three single-cross F1 progenies was as high as
77.0%. However, sterility declined to 23.1% in the progenies of subsequent backcrosses
(Table 1). This finding benefited I/J breeding (Rice Breeding Records, 1993-1996).
Philippines.indd 59 5/28/2012 3:03:51 PM

Table 1. Hybrid sterility of F1 progenies of J/I crosses and subsequent back-
cross (B1F1), 1993 WS-DS.
Materials Year/season Sterility (%) No. of spikelets
(P1) Koshihikari 1993 WS 7.1 65
(P2) PSB Rc 10 1993 WS 15.1 134
(F1) P1/P2 1993 WS 75.2 133
(B1F1) P1/P2 *2 1994 DS 27.3 135
(P1) Koshihikari 1993 WS 7.1 65
(P2) BPI Ri 10 1993 WS 11.0 118
(F1) P1/P2 1993 WS 73.0 100
(B1F1) P1/P2 *2 1994 DS 24.1 117
(P1) Toyonishiki 1993 WS 7.2 89
(P2) BPI Ri 10 1993 WS 11.0 118
(F1) P1/P2 1993 WS 82.8 119
(B1F1) P1/P2 *2 1994 DS 18.0 114
Ave. sterility (%)
P1 P2 9.8
F1 77.0
B1F1 23.1
Cold damage
In the Philippines, particularly in the highlands of the Cordillera Region, the rice crop
is exposed to low temperature during the seedling stage in the dry season (DS) and at
the flowering phase during the wet season (WS). Cold tolerance was evaluated in the
natural conditions of the target sites during both growth stages. In the DS, cold dam-
age was manifested in the rate of germination (poor), slow growth, leaf discoloration
from yellow to white, and stunted growth, whereas, in the WS, the damage is more
serious and causes poor panicle exsertion, asynchronous flowering, spikelet sterility,
and poor grain filling. The sterile type of cold injury is due to the failure of microspore
development under low-temperature conditions (Satake 1989). In the selection pro-
cess, one of the most visible criteria used for cold tolerance during the reproductive
stage was panicle exsertion as reported by Nanda and Seshu (1979). Vergara (1991)
further stated that low temperature causes poor emergence of panicles, because the
last internode fails to elongate. This poor exsertion prevents spikelet exposition to
allow proper pollination and even support disease infections, which contribute to
further reductions in yield.
Blast
Concomitant to low-temperature stress, the most common disease is blast. In the
Cordillera, both leaf and panicle blast become serious when the plants are under cold
stress. Hence, an equally important breeding objective was blast resistance. PJ13 and
PR27137 were resistant to blast under Benguet conditions.
60 E.C. Arocena and T.F. Padolina

Viviparity or on-the-panicle sprouting
The other major breeding consideration was viviparity or on-the-panicle sprouting,
which is a barrier to the development of indica/japonica varieties. It is most pronounced
when japonica rice varieties are used as donors to incorporate yield capacity or grain
quality. Even Koshihikari, Japan’s leading variety with the highest sprouting resis-
tance, has not generated promising progenies. Most often, its progenies have even
lower resistance than Koshihikari. Re-crossing with indicas could reduce sprouting
but would accelerate another serious problem—heavy shattering.
Shattering habit
Now that mechanization has advanced to more than 95%, shattering becomes an un-
favorable trait since it causes significant losses not only during the threshing process
but also in preharvest and harvesting activities. It is currently considered of great eco-
nomic importance and a major breeding consideration (Fukuta 1995). For example, in
the wet season, when typhoons commonly occur and cause serious lodging, varieties
must resist shattering. In the Cordilleras, where the methods of harvesting and storage
also require nonshattering types, japonica germplasm, which is mostly nonshattering
types, was used to improve the breeding lines.
Breeding strategies
Selection of parental donors from introduced germplasm
Introduced japonica germplasm was evaluated at cool elevated sites to identify superior
types for direct use as a variety or for use in the crossing work. Duplicate samples of
248 introduced varieties and breeding lines that had been selected for cold tolerance
since 1993 were further evaluated at Benguet State University (BSU), La Trinidad,
Benguet, and Banaue, Ifugao, during the 1996 DS. As a result, entries with seasonal
adaptation were selected. Nine japonicas were phenotypically acceptable in La Trini-
dad and eight were selected in Banaue based on across-DS testing (Table 2). Criteria
for selection were as follows: seedling vigor as a measure of cold tolerance in the
seedling stage from extra vigorous to vigorous, leaf color from green to dark green
shade, and appropriate plant structure. The best entry, PR27137-CR153, has passed
National Cooperative Trials (NCT) and is now in the last phase of evaluation prior to
recommendation to the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC). Similarly, across the
WS, 18 entries were selected that exhibited reproductive-stage cold tolerance, fairly
good fertility, sufficient growth volume, and moderate reaction to blast (Table 3). A
majority of these entries, however, were further used in hybridization to improve cold
tolerance and blast resistance.
Artificial cold-tolerance screening

Through the JICA High Productivity Rice Technology Project, breeding was also
pursued using japonica/indica crosses with japonicas as donor parents for cold toler-
ance. An artificial cold-tolerance facility was also built to augment field screening
using cool-water treatment with a temperature of 18.9–19.0 °C submerged in 30-cm

Table 2. Phenotypic acceptability and other agronomic traits of selected japonica varieties
across the DS in two locations, La Trinidad and Banaue, 1993-96 DS.
Entry Seedling Phenotypic Leaf Htd TL PnL Remarks
vigora acceptabilityb colorc (cm) (no.) (cm)
La Trinidad, Benguet
1. Norin PL 8 2 1 PG 73.5 23.5 15.0 Adequate GV
2. Hexi 15 1 3 DG 80.8 16.8 15.5 Vigorous
3. Hexi 25 2 1 DG 81.5 20.3 16.3 Adequate GV
5. PR27402-CR60 1 3 G 64.3 20.8 16.5 Good fertility
6. PR27384-CR76 3 3 G 59.5 12.0 15.3 –
7. PR27137-CR153 1 1 PG 67.0 14.0 16.3 Good fertility,
nonshattering
8. PR27396-CR192 3 3 PG 75.0 20.5 21.0 Good fertility
9. PR27401-CR183 2 3 PG 62.8 16.3 17.3 Good fertility
Banaue, Ifugao
1. Norin PL 8 3 3 PG 75.0 15.3 17.8 Good fertility
2. Aikawa 1 5 5 G 81.0 6.5 19.5 Low tillering
and fertility
4. Hexi 30 3 3 DG 71.8 7.8 16.0 –
5. PR27387-CR98 3 4 G 65.3 24.8 18.3 Panicle
weight type
6. PR27396-CR192 5 2 PG – – – Panicle
weight type
7. Yunzen 79-19 3 3 DG 89.8 4.3 20.5 Adequate GV
8. Wansan 66 3 3 G 63.0 8.0 17.5 Early, good
fertility
a1 to 2 = extra vigorous, 3 = vigorous, 5 = normal. b1 = excellent, 3 = good, 4–5 = fair. cPG = pale green, G =
green, DG = dark green. dHt = plant height, PnL = panicle length, TL = productive tillers, GV = growth volume.
water depth from panicle initiation to heading (Fig. 1). Spikelet sterility was evalu-
ated on the test entries.
This facility is expected to accelerate the breeding process delayed by the un-
stable conditions at the target sites.
Shuttle breeding
Screening of advanced breeding materials at the target sites (shuttle breeding) relied
on natural conditions. These lines were improved by the incorporation of desirable
characters of the japonicas into local varieties. Screening for field resistance to blast
was also done at the target sites and an induced screening laboratory for blast was
also started at PhilRice CES to study partial resistance.

Table 3. Selected japonicas with their outstanding traits evaluated across wet
seasons at Banaue and La Trinidad cold-tolerance sites, 1994-96 WS.
No. Variety/line Maturity class Source Outstanding traita
1 Bega Very early Romania CT, F
2 Norin PL 8 Very early Japan CT, GV, F, MR to blast
3 Dalizhaoxi Early China CT, GV
4 Diangen 8 Early China CT, GV
5 Hexi 2 Very early Japan F
6 Hexi 3-1 Early Japan CT, GV, F
7 Hexi 5 Very early Japan CT, GV, F
8 Hexi 9 Very early Japan F
9 Hexi 13 Very early Japan CT, F
10 Hexi 15 Very early Japan F, CT, GV
11 Hexi 25 Very early Japan CT, GV, F, MR to blast
12 Hexi 30 Medium early Japan CT
13 Hwanghae 60 Early Korea GV, CT, F
14 Koihime Very early Japan F
15 Kokonoe-mochi Early Japan F
16 Koshihikari Very early Japan F, CT
17 Todorokiwase Very early Japan CT, GV, F
18 Wan San 66 Early Korea CT, GV, F
aCT = cold tolerance, F = fertility, GV = good growth volume, MR = moderate resistance.
Fig. 1. Artificial cool-temperature tolerance screening facility at PhilRice Maligaya.

Use of mutation breeding and anther culture
In the process, a conventional method supplemented by nonconventional technologies,
including biotechnology such as mutation techniques and anther culture, was employed.
Mutants of japonicas such as Nipponbare generated some useful materials for further
breeding but not as direct varieties. There were no anther culture-derived materials
generated with cold tolerance, only improvements in tillering ability and maturity.
Development of promising lines

In the course of identifying promising lines since 1992, the immediate objective of
varietal improvement was implemented. Stable yield, resistance to insect pests and
diseases, and good grain quality remain the major breeding objectives. Improved
evaluation and selection procedures as well as appropriate screening techniques for
lodging, seedling vigor, cold tolerance, blast resistance, and shattering resistance were
incorporated in the program. As such, the following lines were generated:
1. PR26670-PJ2 was approved as NSIC Rc104 or Balili on 18 January 2002.

Balili can be planted in both seasons but in low- to medium-elevation areas
only. It is a moderately cold-tolerant variety that was selected from line
IR61728-4B-2-1 and its grain quality is similar to that of Todorokiwase, the
mother parent. On average, this variety yielded 4,668 kg ha–1 and 3,868 kg
ha–1 in the DS and WS, respectively, outyielding PSB Rc44 or Gohang by
28.6% during the DS and by 13.7% in the WS. It has moderate field resis-
tance to blast. Based on a complete resistance test for blast, it was predicted
to possess the pi-i and pi-3 resistance genes. In terms of grain quality, this
japonica-type variety has low amylose and hard gel consistency, which make it
better than some traditional varieties such as Pinidua and Tinawen. It showed
high yield potential in Benguet and Ifugao. Although it did not yield high
in Kalinga and Mt. Province, its actual yield was still higher than that of the
traditional cultivars. The yield and agronomic data, reaction to major pests
and diseases, and grain quality profile of PJ2 are shown in Tables 4 and 5
and Figure 2. PJ2 was approved as NSIC Rc104 or Balili. PJ2 is intended for
cool elevated areas (National Cooperative Testing for Rice Season Reports
1996 DS-1998 WS).
2. Another promising line, PR27137-CR153, was identified as promising in
National Cooperative Trials and is now in the prerelease stage (Variety
Promotion Project) to confirm farmers’ acceptability (Fig. 3). This is the last
step before varietal recommendation.
3. Three highly cool-temperature-tolerant lines, PJ9, PJ10, and PJ13, were
identified for Benguet Province. Eight promising lines, PJ9 to PJ16, were
initially identified. Repeated evaluation across the DS and WS confirmed the
strong cold tolerance, stable field resistance to blast, and good grain quality of
PJ9, PJ10, and PJ13. PJ9 and PJ10 were progenies of the cross Chiyonishiki/
Reiko 2. PJ9 matures in about 145 days and PJ10 in 133 days. Both were

Fig. 2. Field performance and japonica-type kernel quality of PJ2 (NSIC
Rc104 or Balili).
Fig. 3. Promising line PR27137-CR153 in comparison with Kintuman, a

Benguet traditional cultivar, BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2001 DS.

nonshattering. PJ13, on the other hand, was selected from Tohoku 143/Gokei
2. It has very good kernel quality and shows resistance to viviparity. Under
natural blast infection, these elite lines showed a susceptible reaction at the
seedling stage in the blast nursery, but, in field conditions, these lines toler-
ated severe infection. The complete resistance of these lines was analyzed
and the field resistance of these three lines was confirmed to be like that
of Todorokiwase, a Japanese standard variety with strong field resistance.
However, the yielding ability of these lines should be improved.
4. PJ20 (PR26875-4B-7-9-1) has moderate cold tolerance with fairly high yield
potential (4,182 kg ha–1) and strong field resistance to blast during the DS
(Fig. 5).
5. PR29814-B-5-3-1-1 (a new entry) yielded at least 3 t ha–1. The same entry
was the top yielder in Bontoc, Mt. Province. Across all sites, however,
PR29814-B-5-3-1-1 showed wider adaptability since it was adapted in both
the dry and wet seasons.
6. For dry-season adaptation, initial selections were made from the prelimi-
nary yield trial (PYT 2004 DS), which showed better performance owing
to higher cold tolerance, good fertility, and resistant reactions to blast and
bacterial leaf blight. These lines were PR34110-B-45-1 (PR29809-B-13-3/
PJ13), PR34131-B-4-1, and PR34131-B-21-1, both derivatives of the cross
PR26875/PR27137-CR153 (Fig. 7). All three lines matured in more than 150
days.
Fig. 4. PJ9, PJ10, and PJ13 showed cool-temperature tolerance and blast
field resistance at BSU, 1999 WS.

Fig. 5. PJ20, a cold-tolerant and blast-resistant line, with better yielding
potential also in the NCT-CT for WS, 2001.
Fig. 6. PR29814-B-5-3-1-1, its grain characteristics, and growth in the

field, BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2003 WS.
PR34131-B-21-1
PR34110-B-45-1
Fig. 7. Promising lines selected during the 2004 DS at BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet.

Table 4. Yield, other agronomic characteristics, and reactions to pests of PJ2 com-
pared with PSB Rc 44 (based on NCT data).
Item PJ2 PSB Rc44 Yield
(NSIC Rc104/Balili) (Gohang) advantage (%)
A. Yield (kg ha–1)
1. Replicated trials
Dry season 4,668 3,630 28.6
Wet season 3,868 3,403 13.7
Across seasons 4,360 3,543 23.0
B. Maturity (DAS)
Dry season 155 163
Wet season 148 147
Across seasons 152 157
C. Plant height (cm)
Dry season 93 90
Wet season 94 93
D. Productive tillers (no. hill–1)
Dry season 18 15
Wet season 15 14
E. Reactions to
Diseases
Blast 5.8 Ia 8.5 S
Bacterial leaf blight 5.17 I 6.5 S
Sheath blight 6.0 I 6.0 I
Rice tungro virus
Modified 100.0 S 100.0 S
Induced 90.5 S 94.0 S
Insect pests
Deadhearts (SB) – –
Whiteheads (SB) 28.43 S –
Green leafhopper 6.6 MS 7.0 S
Yellow stem borer – –
Brown planthopper 1 – –
Brown planthopper 2 5.4 I 5.5 I
Brown planthopper 3 – –
aI = intermediate, S = susceptible, MS = moderately susceptible.
Current breeding initiatives

Realizing the value-added feature of japonica rice in the Philippines, the IRRI-Korea
collaborative project on the development of japonica rice varieties was expanded with
PhilRice as a NARES collaborator. The objective of the collaboration is to identify
promising japonica materials for tropical cultivation, particularly under the joint project
on Germplasm Utilization for Value Added (GUVA). The breeding objective was to

Table 5. Grain quality characteristics of PJ2 and PSB Rc44.
Grain quality PJ2 (NSIC 104/Balili)a PSB Rc44 (Gohang)
Physico-chemical properties
% amylose 17.6 L 22.5 I
% protein 9.3 9.1
Gel consistency 31.5 H 28.0 H
G.T. score 7.0 L 6.7
Milling potential
% hulls 24.82 22.75 F
% brown rice 75.18 F 77.26 F
% milling recovery 64.15 G2 69.27 G1
% head rice 48.1 G1 38.8 G3
Physical attributes
% chalky grains 6.1 G2 11.3 G3
% immature grains 0.0 Pr 0.0 Pr
Grain length (L in mm) 5.0 Sh 5.2 Sh
Grain shape (L/W) 2.0 I 2.1 I
aH= high, L = low, F = fair, Pr = premium, Sh = short, I = intermediate, G1 = grade 1, G2 = grade 2,
G3 = grade 3.
identify japonica lines with adaptation to the tropics and with eating quality similar
to that of Calrose of the U.S. and with improved plant type. Evaluation and selection
of GUVA lines were conducted at the PhilRice Central Experiment Station in Muñoz,
Nueva Ecija, and Benguet State University in La Trinidad, Benguet, during both the
dry and wet seasons of 2006. In addition, a new set of seeds was screened for blast
disease in BSU during the WS.
PhilRice Maligaya
During the 2006 DS, 163 lines, including check varieties, were evaluated. At PhilRice
Maligaya, the materials were transplanted on 15 February 2006 using a systematic row
arrangement (4 rows with 25 hills per row at 20 × 20-cm spacing). Problems with rats
and severe stem borer damage (whiteheads) were encountered. Yield was estimated
and other agronomic traits were also measured. In Table 6, yields were in the range
of only 300 to 3,458 kg ha–1. The best entry was IR80732-23-3-1-2, which matured
in 108 days, had plant height of 87 cm, and had 17 productive tillers. It was one of
the few entries with good phenotypic acceptability (scale 3) and it exhibited moder-
ate resistance to whiteheads. The three other good entries were YR14323-69-2-3-2-1,
HR17512-11-2-3-1-4-2-3-1, and IR68399-78-2-3-3-1. For stem borer field reactions,
none exhibited strong resistance. However, 48 entries had moderate reactions. All
these good materials will be used in the breeding program.
BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet

At BSU, 7 segregating populations and only 54 selected GUVA lines were planted
under a systematic row arrangement design. Yield performance was estimated using
only five plants. Other agronomic and physiological traits were also observed during

Table 6. Yield and agronomic characteristics of japonica progenies evaluated at CES, PhilRice,
2006 DS.
Entry Designation Yield Maturity Height Tillers Phenotypic Stem

no. (kg ha–1) (30 DAS)a (cm) (no.) acceptability borer
(1–9) reactionb
1 IR78141-157-3-1-1 2,210 104 79 15 5 MR

2 IR79308-23-3-2-3 1,628 106 87 14 5–7 MS
3 IR80096-50-1-1-2 2,785 104 84 16 7 MR
4 IR80097-40-2-3 1,930 107 82 16 7 MR
5 IR80097-7-1-3 2,183 106 85 17 5–7 MS
6 IR80098-11-3-2-2 1,973 107 82 13 7 MS
7 IR80098-28-3-1-2 1,913 105 77 13 5–7 MR
8 IR80103-26-2-2-2 1,150 104 74 13 5–7 S
9 IR80106-4-3-3-2 1,565 104 79 13 7–9 S
10 IR80111-27-2-1 1,490 106 90 18 7–9 S
11 IR80111-6-2-2 1,630 103 88 10 7 MS
12 IR80112-49-1-3 1,800 96 88 12 7 MS
13 IR80126-50-1-2-2 1,158 96 88 12 7–9 MS
14 IR80128-10-2-2-2 1,110 103 85 14 7–9 MS
15 IR80538-4-2-2-2 545 98 85 17 9 S
16 IR80545-7-3-3-3 1,080 103 85 13 7–9 S
17 IR80730-12-2-2-2-2 1,080 103 82 18 7 MS
19 IR80730-1-3-2-1 2,920 101 82 14 5 MR
20 IR80730-17-2-3-3 1,758 102 88 14 5 MR
21 IR80731-15-3 1,483 106 86 15 7–9 MS
22 IR80731-19-1-3-3 1,105 111 85 17 9 S
24 IR80732-1-2-2-1-3 470 96 87 14 9 S
25 IR80732-34-2-1-2-2 2,625 100 89 18 5 MR
26 IR80732-34-2-1-3-2 2,513 95 90 16 5 MR
27 IR80734-15-3-2-2 790 95 83 18 9 S
29 IR80735-10-2-2-3 2,725 109 83 19 5 MR
30 IR80739-25-1-3-1 1,240 97 86 11 7 MS
31 IR80739-4-1-2-2 928 97 92 15 7 MS
33 IR80742-6-1-3-1 1,735 95 94 16 5 MR
34 IR80743-37-1-2-2 1,328 111 98 15 7 MS
35 IR80749-6-1-2-1 2,155 112 93 19 7 MS
37 IR80754-19-3-2-3 1,588 107 87 19 5 MR
39 IR80758-11-2-2-3-2 1,195 96 88 16 5 MR
40 IR80759-14-3-2-2 1,290 106 101 20 5 MR
41 IR80759-21-1-1-3 1,258 94 93 18 5 MR
42 IR80764-12-2-3-3 1,568 94 98 16 7 MS
43 IR80764-12-2-3-3-1 1,258 114 88 16 7 MS
44 IR80765-11-3-2-1 458 96 84 13 9 S
45 IR80765-17-1-2-1-3 715 98 90 15 5 MR
46 IR80767-8-1-2-3 1,338 104 92 18 5 MR
47 IR80768-3-1-3-2 808 95 100 17 7 MS
49 IR80771-18-2-3-3 905 104 93 16 7 MS
51 IR80772-4-3-2-3 1,700 106 97 22 3 MR
53 IR81090-7-1-3 2,500 99 99 20 5 MR
54 IR81090-7-1-3-2 1,483 115 95 14 7 MS
55 IR81091-7-1-2 863 99 94 12 7 MS
Continued

Table 6. Continued.

(1–9) reactionb
57 IR81111-6-2-2 593 99 84 15 9 S
92 IR81551-2-2-3 655 105 75 16 9 S
93 IR81575-21-2-3 473 98 92 17 9 S
94 IR81575-21-3-3 623 106 87 20 5 MR
95 IR81578-22-1-1 925 108 94 18 5 MR
96 IR81578-22-1-2 1,183 100 80 20 7 MS
97 IR81578-22-1-3 870 116 100 10 5 MR
98 IR81218-17-3-2-1 600 115 86 18 7 MS
105 IR79300-15-2-3-2-2 1,628 115 82 19 5 MR
106 IR80096-61-1-2 2,090 105 76 20 7 MS
107 IR80097-40-3-1-3 1,300 111 73 18 5–7 MS
108 IR80098-40-3-1-2 2,238 108 76 22 5–7 MR
112 IR80730-3-2-2-2 2,698 108 72 17 3–5 MR
113 IR80732-23-3-1-2 3,458 108 87 17 3 MR
114 IR80732-34-2-1-2 1,925 95 88 16 3–5 MR
116 IR80747-25-3-2-3 1,063 102 89 18 5–7 MS
117 IR80771-20-3-1-3 1,453 104 91 15 5–7 MS
118 IR80771-7-2-1-3 2,265 103 90 16 3–5 MR
119 IR71121-35-1-1-1-2 1,708 103 79 12 5 MR
120 IR71131-BF 4-B-30-5-2 2,120 107 74 13 5–7 MR
121 IR73688-82-3 1,925 105 89 11 7 MS
122 IR73694-41-2 1,873 108 84 15 3–5 MR
123 IR77221-32-3-3-5 2,643 107 86 14 3–5 MR
124 IR77234-89-4-3-3 3,015 109 84 15 7 MS
125 IR78162-123-2-2-1 2,020 95 92 21 7 MS
126 IR80098-38-3-1-2 2,670 107 84 17 5–7 MS
127 IR80111-11-3-3 1,900 109 74 15 5–7 MS
128 SR22746-68-2-3-4-2-4 1,980 106 75 21 9 S
129 HR17512-11-2-3-1-4-2-3-1 2,705 106 76 24 3 MR
130 HR17570-21-5-2-5-2-2-1-5 2,208 104 78 21 5 MR
131 HR17570-21-5-2-5-3-3-2-4 1,313 103 73 23 7–9 MS
132 HR20654-32-1-3 3,398 104 80 17 3–5 MR
134 IR68331-R-R-B-22-2-2 2,718 107 78 20 5 MR
135 IR68333-R-R-B-19 3,475 104 82 21 3–5 MR
136 IR68333-R-R-B-22 3,020 99 83 15 3 MR
137 IR68349-131-2-2-3 1,533 101 75 22 7 MS
138 IR68352-14-1-1-1 2,575 109 73 24 3–5 MR
139 IR68373-R-R-B-22-2-2 2,768 116 77 22 3–5 MR
140 IR68399-78-2-3-3-1 2,685 116 79 24 3 MR
141 IR71121-35-1-1-1-2 2,840 105 76 23 3–5 MR
142 IR71131-BF 4-B-30-5-2 2,178 116 83 20 5 MR
143 IR72944-1-2-2 1,690 96 79 18 7 MS
144 IR73305-14-2-2 2,025 111 76 14 5–7 MS
145 IR73688-57-2 2,735 106 90 20 5 MR
146 IR73688-82-3 1,878 112 90 18 5–7 MS
147 IR73689-19-1 2,270 107 89 23 5 MR
148 IR73689-76-2 2,043 114 88 14 5–7 MS
Continued

Table 6. Continued.

(1–9) reactionb
149 IR73690-7-2-1-1-3-2-2-1 2,730 116 84 18 7 MS
150 IR73694-41-2 2,660 116 86 15 5 MR
151 IR74506-28-4-3-2-1-3-2-2 1,235 96 83 16 7–9 MS
152 IR74520-29-4-2-2-2-4-1-1 2,085 116 83 22 7 MS
153 SR18518-BF 4-B-12-1-2 2,150 107 86 18 5–7 MS
154 SR22746-68-2-3-4-2-4 2,435 101 80 14 7 MS
155 HR17570-21-5-2-5-3-3-2-4 2,143 106 82 17 5–7 MR
156 HR20654-39-3-5 2,405 106 89 17 5 MR
158 YR14323-69-2-3-2-1 3,220 104 74 18 3 MR
159 YR17104-R-R-B-14-3 503 105 80 18 7 MS
160 Jinmibyeo 1,593 102 70 20 9 S
161 IR72 1,415 101 86 24 7–9 MS
162 Dasanbyeo 818 103 91 23 7–9 MS
163 PJ16 300 105 97 17 9 S
aDAS = days after sowing. bMR = moderately resistant, S = susceptible, MS = moderately susceptible.
the growth phases, including field reactions to blast. Segregating populations were
selected by PhilRice and IRRI and all panicles selected were submitted to IRRI.
General observations are shown in Table 7.
In Table 8, yield estimates were recorded in the range of 1,385 to 9,868 kg ha–1.
A majority of the entries were better than PJ16 (6,244 kg ha–1). Exceptionally higher
yields (>9 t ha–1) were obtained from five GUVA lines, HR24580-21-2, IR80730-3-
2-2-2, IR80754-19-3-2-3, IR80755-1-3-2-1-3, and HR17570-21-5-2-5-2-2-1-5. These
lines exhibited moderate reactions to leaf blast and leaf color from green to pale green.
2006 WS results
PhilRice Maligaya
In addition to the evaluation of the GUVA lines, a hybridization program was imple-
mented using selected lines for yield enhancement of both the GUVA and PhilRice
breeding materials. Thirty-five crosses were generated, which generated 5–192 seeds
(Table 9). These F1 seeds were to be evaluated in the 2007 DS. In Tables 10a to
10c, 102 test entries were evaluated and compared with five check cultivars, IR72,
Dasanbyeo, PJ16, PJ2, and PR27137-CR153. Among the entries, the best check was
Dasanbyeo. All test entries were significantly lower in yield than Dasanbyeo. More-
over, all entries belong to the early-maturing group, with maturity ranging from 98 to
114 days. A majority, however, showed resistant to intermediate reactions to bacterial
leaf blight.

Table 7. General observations on segregating populations, 2006 DS, BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet.
Population Seedling vigor Leaf colora Leaf blast Remarks
(F4 bulk)
KF976 5–9 DG 7–9 Segregating
KF985 3 G 3 Modern plant type
KF986 3 DG 3 Modern plant type
KF1014 3–5 G 5–7 Segregating
KF1015 5–9 G 5–7 Highly segregating
KF1035 1–3 PG 3 Generally good plant type,
(IR83509) not uniform
KF1036 5–7 G-PG 5–7 Bit shorter, wide leaf, not
(IR83510) uniform
aG = green, DG = dark green, PG = pale green.
Table 8. Yield and agronomic characteristics of japonica progenies evaluated at BSU, 2006 DS.
Index no. Entry Designation Yield Height Tillers Leaf Seedling Leaf
2006 DS no. (kg ha–1) (cm) (no.) blast vigor colora
2 1 IR79308-23-3-2-3 6,119 82 14 3 3–5 DG
9 2 IR80106-4-3-3-2 7,390 81 18 – 5 G
11 3 IR80111-6-2-2 3,665 83 13 5 5–7 G
12 4 IR80112-49-1-3 3,663 80 16 3 5–7 G
13 5 IR80126-50-1-2-2 1,725 82 16 3 5–7 G
15 6 IR80538-4-2-2-2 6,486 86 19 – 5 G
16 7 IR80545-7-3-3-3 5,050 83 16 3 5–7 DG
18 8 IR80730-12-2-2-3-3 3,565 89 20 5–7 5–7 G
19 9 IR80730-1-3-2-1 3,750 86 19 5 5–7 G
29 10 IR80735-10-2-2-3 4,523 88 19 – 3 G
31 11 IR80739-4-1-2-2 1,385 88 23 5–7 7 G
37 12 IR80754-19-3-2-3 9,468 87 21 5 7 G
38 13 IR80755-1-3-2-1-3 9,355 91 21 5 5 G
40 14 IR80759-14-3-2-2 5,915 93 20 – 5 G
54 15 IR81090-7-1-3-2 1,765 88 17 5 5–7 G
75 16 IR81238-25-1-2 5,780 87 21 3 3–5 G
78 17 IR81529-13-1-3 7,134 95 20 – 7–9 G
84 18 IR81537-21-3-3 3,965 99 19 3–5 3 PG
93 19 IR81575-21-2-3 1,978 98 18 5 7 G
99 20 HR24580-21-1 6,930 81 20 – 5 G
100 21 HR24580-21-2 9,868 98 20 – 3 G
105 22 IR79300-15-2-3-2-2 7,265 95 19 – 3–5 G
106 23 IR80096-61-1-2 5,398 100 18 – 1–3 G
112 24 IR80730-3-2-2-2 9,555 80 22 3 5–7 G
120 25 IR71131-BF 4-B- 5,108 85 19 5–7 7 G
30-5-2
Continued

Table 8. Continued
Index no. Entry Designation Yield Height Tillers Leaf Seedling Leaf
2006 DS no. (kg ha–1) (cm) (no.) blast vigor colora
121 26 IR73688-82-3 9,133 89 19 – 3–5 PG
122 27 IR73694-41-2 6,900 89 21 – 3–5 PG
124 28 IR77234-89-4-3-3 8,635 82 19 – 7 G
128 29 SR22746-68-2-3- 7,668 72 20 – 7 G
4-2-4
129 30 HR17512-11-2-3-1- 6,398 79 22 – 7 G
4-2-3-1
130 31 HR17570-21-5-2-5- 9,200 83 22 – 5 PG
2-2-1-5
131 32 HR17570-21-5-2-5- 6,640 85 24 – 1–3 PG
3-3-2-4
133 33 HR20654-54-3-5 3,153 85 19 5 7 G
134 34 IR68331-R-R- 5,223 88 20 5 7–9 G
B-22-2-2
136 35 IR68333-R-R-B-22 4,265 90 21 5 7–9 G
137 36 IR68349-131-2-2-3 7,283 79 22 – 1–3 PG
138 37 IR68352-14-1-1-1 7,190 73 19 – 5–7 G
139 38 IR68373-R-R- 5,416 88 20 – 3–5 G
B-22-2-2
143 39 IR72944-1-2-2 6,453 79 22 3–5 5–7 G
145 40 IR73688-57-2 7,535 88 20 – 1–3 PG
146 41 IR73688-82-3 8,829 90 21 – 1–3 PG
147 42 IR73689-19-1 6,505 89 22 – 3 PG
148 43 IR73689-76-2 8,195 88 22 – 1–3 PG
150 44 IR73694-41-2 7,469 88 20 – 3–5 PG
152 45 IR74520-29-4-2-2- 7,448 77 21 – 7 G
2-4-1-1
153 46 SR18518-BF 4-B- 6,521 84 20 – 5 G
12-1-2
154 47 SR22746-68-2-3- 6,115 69 21 – 7 G
4-2-4
155 48 HR17570-21-5-2-5- 7,214 82 20 3 5 G
3-3-2-4
156 49 HR20654-39-3-5 6,753 82 22 – 5–7 G
157 50 HR20654-54-3-5 3,558 83 19 – 5 G
158 51 YR14323-69-2-3-2-1 4,679 69 19 – 5–7 G
160 52 Jinmibyeo 5,583 81 16 – 5 G
162 53 Dasanbyeo 3,710 62 17 – 5 PG
163 54 PJ16 6,244 93 19 3 5–7 G
aG = green, DG = dark green, PG = pale green.

Table 9. Extent of japonica crosses generated for the 2006 WS.
Entry no.a Female parent Male parent Seed set (%)
TJF1 1 IR79308-23-3-2-3 PR30858-6-3-2-1-2-1-2-2-3-2) 28
TJF1 2 IR80754-19-3-2-3 C7541WH-12-2-1 30
TJF1 3 IR81090-18-3-3 PJ21 52
TJF1 4 IR81090-7-1-3 PR30536-B-17-1-3-1-1 30
TJF1 5 PR31379-2B-10-1-2-1-2 18
TJF1 6 IR81091-7-1-2 PR30536-B-17-1-3-1-1 18
TJF1 7 IR81111-6-2-2 PR34159-17-4 60
TJF1 8 IR81537-21-3-3 PR34142-5-1 5
TJF1 9 IR81535-17-1-2 PR30858-6-3-2-1-2-1-5-3-2-3 46
TJF1 10 PR30648-5-4-5-MB-2-2-MB-1 35
TJF1 11 IR81575-21-3-3 PR34056-B-19-1-2 34
TJF1 12 PR34142-5-1 30
TJF1 13 PR30858-6-3-2-1-2-1-2-2-53 92
TJF1 14 PR34159-40-1-1 30
TJF1 15 IR81578-22-1-1 PR31000-B-3-2-1-1 92
TJF1 16 PR30575-B-40-1-2-1-1 50
TJF1 17 Dinorado Susi-20kR-30-3 60
TJF1 18 IR81578-22-1-3 PSB Rc82 56
TJF1 19 C7313WH-19-3-3-1 15
TJF1 20 Matatag 11 18
TJF1 21 IR80732-23-3-1-2 Dinorado Susi-20kR-30-3 10
TJF1 22 IR80732-34-2-1-2 PR30648-5-4-5-MB-2-2-MB-1 19
TJF1 23 IR80747-25-3-2-3 PR37256-1-1 25
TJF1 24 SR22746-68-2-3-4-2-4 IR64 40
TJF1 25 PR34159-40-1-1 40
TJF1 26 SR22746-68-2-3-4-2-4 IR64 29
TJF1 27 IR72 C7313WH-19-3-3-1 70
TJF1 28 Matatag 11 48
TJF1 29 Dasanbyeo PR30575-B-40-1-2-1-1 73
TJF1 30 Dinorado Susi-20kR-30-3 33
TJF1 31 PR33382-25-1-1 85
TJF1 32 PR30858-6-3-2-1-2-1-2-2-1-3 176
TJF1 33 PJ16 (New) restorer line 40
TJF1 34 PR33382-25-1-1 15
TJF1 35 PR31379-2B-10-1-2-1-2 36
aTJF1 = tropical japonica 1st filial generation.

Table 10a. Yield and agronomic characteristics of tropical japonica lines (Group 1) evaluated at CES, 2006 WS.a
Philippines.indd 76
Index no. Selection Yield 1 2 3 4 5 MAT HT TI PL BLB PA
(kg ha–1) (DAS) (cm) (no.) (cm) (1–9)
1 IR78141-157-3-1-1 2,623 ## ## ## 103 99 14 25 MS-S 7–9
2 IR79308-23-3-2-3 3,178 ## ## 107 101 11 16 R 3
3 IR80096-50-1-1-2 2,982 ## ## 103 98 18 19 MR 5
4 IR80097-40-2-3 2,759 ## ## # 102 94 17 21 I-MS 3–5
5 IR80097-7-1-3 2,873 ## ## # 104 88 12 19 I-MS 5

6 IR80098-11-3-2-2 3,121 ## ## 104 85 17 19 I-MS 3–5
7 IR80098-28-3-1-2 2,598 ## ## ## 100 90 14 18 S 7
8 IR80103-26-2-2-2 2,622 ## ## ## 103 77 14 16 I 7
9 IR80106-4-3-3-2 2,827 ## ## # 102 95 10 21 I 3
10 IR80111-27-2-1 2,576 ## ## ## 105 95 20 22 I-MS 7–9
11 IR80111-6-2-2 2,443 ## ## # ## 103 94 – 21 S 5
12 IR80112-49-1-3 2,859 ## ## # 105 88 11 21 I-MS 3–5
13 IR80126-50-1-2-2 2,710 ## ## # 104 91 12 18 I 3
14 IR80128-10-2-2-2 2,796 ## ## # 104 90 10 21 I 3–5
15 IR80538-4-2-2-2 2,910 ## ## # 107 87 14 19 I-MS 3–5
16 IR80545-7-3-3-3 2,997 ## ## 100 85 11 20 MR 3
17 IR80730-12-2-2-2-2 2,749 ## ## 103 85 13 22 MR 3
18 IR80730-12-2-2-3-3 2,534 ## ## ## 105 92 8 24 MR 3–5
19 IR80730-1-3-2-1 3,145 ## ## 100 79 12 19 MS 5
20 IR80730-17-2-3-3 2,602 ## ## ## 106 88 10 21 MR-I 5
21 IR80731-15-3 3,129 ## ## 105 94 10 19 MR-I 3–5
22 IR80731-19-1-3-3 2,624 ## ## ## 104 93 11 22 MR-I 3–5
23 IR80731-19-1-3-3-3 2,579 ## ## ## 104 95 16 20 MS 7
24 IR80732-1-2-2-1-3 1,917 ## ## ## ## 104 94 13 23 MR 3
25 IR80732-34-2-1-2-2 3,677 ## ## 104 92 15 18 R 1
26 IR80732-34-2-1-3-2 3,594 ## ## ** 105 102 15 20 R 1
27 IR80734-15-3-2-2 1,999 ## ## ## ** ## 98 85 10 19 I 1
28 IR80734-22-1-2-2-3 2,640 ## ## ## 105 84 9 22 R 5
29 IR80735-10-2-2-3 3,199 ## ## 103 86 12 20 I 5
30 IR80739-25-1-3-1 2,612 ## ## ## 106 91 10 19 I 7
Continued
5/28/2012 3:03:56 PM
Table 10a. Continued.
Philippines.indd 77
(kg ha–1) (DAS) (cm) (no.) (cm) (1–9)
31 IR80739-4-1-2-2 3,014 ## ## 107 100 13 22 MR 7
32 IR80742-20-3-3-3 2,547 ## ## ## 103 90 10 21 MS 9
33 IR80742-6-1-3-1 3,607 ## ## ** 106 94 16 20 I 5
34 IR80743-37-1-2-2 2,543 ## ## ## 105 98 11 20 MR 7
35 IR80749-6-1-2-1 2,382 ## ## # ## 101 93 15 22 MS 7
36 IR80752-4-1-2-2 2,603 ## ## ## 102 92 14 21 MS 7
37 IR80754-19-3-2-3 2,509 ## ## 102 94 13 21 MR 3
38 IR80755-1-3-2-1-3 2,300 ## ## # ## 105 95 16 21 I 5–7
39 IR80758-11-2-2-3-2 2,826 ## ## # 105 96 12 17 I 3
40 IR80759-14-3-2-2 2,301 ## ## # ## 103 90 11 22 I 3
41 IR80759-21-1-1-3 2,713 ## ## # 104 95 14 20 I 5–7
42 IR80764-12-2-3-3 3,854 ## ## ** 105 103 13 22 I 5
43 IR80764-12-2-3-3-1 2,956 ## ## ## 105 101 9 21 MR 7
44 IR80765-11-3-2-1 3,193 ## ## 103 92 11 23 MR 7
45 IR80765-17-1-2-1-3 3,463 ## ## * 107 91 11 19 MR 3
46 IR80767-8-1-2-3 2,803 ## ## # 105 95 12 22 MR 5–7
47 IR80768-3-1-3-2 3,119 ## ## 104 99 12 19 MR 5–7
48 IR80768-3-1-3-2-1 4,383 ## # * ** 102 100 12 21 I 7
49 IR80771-18-2-3-3 2,409 ## ## # ## 103 100 13 20 MR 3
50 IR80771-7-2-1-3-3 5,052 ** ** ## 115 121 13 22 I 7
51 IR80772-4-3-2-3 3,310 ## ## * 106 97 13 21 MR 3
IR72 5,844 ** ** ** 111 91 18 23 MR 5
Dasanbyeo 5,358 ** ** ** 109 97 19 22 I 5
PJ16 3,358 ## ## * 107 95 12 24 MR 3–5
PJ2 2,427 ## ## # ## 106 98 16 19 MS 3–5
PR27137-CR153 3,769 ## ## ** 106 92 15 20 R 1
aMAT = days to maturity, HT = plant height, TL = no. of tillers, PL = panicle length, BLB = bacterial leaf blight, PA = phenotypic acceptability. ## , # =
Yield significantly lower than the check at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of probability, respectively.
** , * = Yield significantly higher than the check at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of probability, respectively. R = resistant, MR = moderately resistant, S = sus-

ceptible, MS = moderately susceptible, I = intermediate.
5/28/2012 3:03:57 PM
Table 10b. Yield and agronomic characteristics of tropical japonica lines (Group 2) evaluated at CES, 2006 WS.a
Philippines.indd 78
Index no. Selection Yield 1 2 3 4 5 MAT HT TL PL BLB PA
(kg ha–1) (DAS) (cm) (no.) (cm) (1–9)
52 IR81090-18-3-3 3,821 ## ## * 109 102 15 19 MR 3–5
53 IR81090-7-1-3 4,091 ## # ** 107 95 16 20 I 5
54 IR81090-7-1-3-2 4,326 ## # ** 105 97 16 19 I 3
55 IR81091-7-1-2 3,738 ## ## ** 110 96 16 20 MR 5
56 IR81109-12-3-1 2,613 ## ## # 100 99 16 18 MS 7

57 IR81111-6-2-2 3,402 ## ## 109 100 17 21 MR 5
58 IR81216-22-3-1 3,825 ## ## ** 105 94 17 22 MS 7
59 IR81216-7-3-1-2 2,609 ## ## # 101 91 14 21 S 9
60 IR81216-7-3-2-3 3,193 ## ## 100 93 11 21 S 10
61 IR81219-11-1-2 2,415 ## ## ## 99 92 12 22 MR 9
62 IR81219-13-3-1-1 1,637 ## ## ## ## 98 93 14 19 I 9
63 IR81219-13-3-1-3 2,585 ## ## # 98 90 15 20 I 9
64 IR81224-19-3-2 1,383 ## ## ## # ## 99 95 16 24 I 9
65 IR81224-5-1-3 2,777 ## ## # 99 91 13 22 I 5
66 IR81225-28-3-1 3,521 ## ## * 100 93 15 22 I 3–5
67 IR81225-28-3-2-1 3,081 ## ## ## ## 101 100 19 23 I 3–5
68 IR81228-3-2-1-1 3,169 ## ## 100 94 15 20 MS 9
69 IR81230-8-2-2-1 3,756 ## ## ** 102 99 14 21 I 5
70 IR81231-22-1-3 3,702 ## ## * 103 100 15 21 I 5
71 IR81235-23-2-1 2,942 ## ## 98 92 15 19 MS 5
72 IR81238-25-1-2 3,475 ## ## * 101 102 18 20 MS 7
73 IR81528-15-3-3 3,698 ## ## * 97 86 15 20 MS 5
74 IR1529-13-1-3 1,938 ## ## ## ## 99 104 13 20 MS 5
75 IR81532-14-2-1 3,069 ## ## 100 99 14 22 MS 5
76 IR81535-14-3-2 2,778 ## ## # 99 96 15 20 MS 5
77 IR81535-17-1-2 2,073 ## ## # ## 98 86 13 21 MS 7
78 IR81535-17-2-2 2,890 ## ## 99 94 13 25 I 5
79 IR81537-21-2-1 2,624 ## ## # 105 100 16 23 MR 5
80 IR81537-21-3-3 4,244 ## # ** 106 100 17 25 I 3
81 IR81549-20-3-2 3,524 ## ## * 109 114 15 21 R 1
Continued
5/28/2012 3:03:57 PM
Table 10b. Continued.
Philippines.indd 79
(kg ha–1) (DAS) (cm) (no.) (cm) (1–9)
82 IR81551-1-3-3 2,562 ## ## # 101 89 15 21 I 3
83 IR81551-15-1-2 4,340 ## # ** 98 91 15 22 MS 7
84 IR81551-2-1-3 3,276 ## ## 102 102 16 20 MS 5
85 IR81551-2-2-3 2,800 ## ## 101 93 14 20 MS 5
86 IR81575-21-2-3 3,649 ## ## * 106 96 14 21 I 1
87 IR81575-21-3-3 3,514 ## ## * 111 101 17 20 I 5–7
88 IR81578-22-1-1 2,431 ## ## ## 114 96 13 25 R 3
89 IR81578-22-1-2 3,230 ## ## 103 88 15 20 I 3
90 IR81578-22-1-3 3,632 ## ## * 114 100 14 24 R 1
91 IR81218-17-3-2-1 2,864 ## ## 104 100 17 21 I 7
92 HR24580-21-2 2,684 ## ## # 100 102 15 23 MS 5–7
93 IR77856-91-1-4-1 3,326 ## ## 101 89 14 23 I 7
94 IR79038-56-1-3 3,185 ## ## 100 98 16 20 I 5
95 IR79300-15-2-3-2-2 2,990 ## ## 101 92 16 20 I 3
96 IR80096-61-1-2 3,112 ## ## 102 90 13 19 MS 7
97 IR80097-40-3-1-3 2,596 ## ## # 103 90 15 19 MS 7
98 IR80098-40-3-1-2 2,975 ## ## 99 85 18 20 MS 7
99 IR80106-28-3-3-3 3,015 ## ## 104 91 16 21 I 5
100 IR80126-39-1-1-3 2,434 ## ## ## 101 89 16 20 I 7
101 IR80128-19-3-2 2,808 ## ## # ## 104 89 15 24 I 7
102 IR80730-3-2-2-2 3,553 ## ## * 99 86 17 17 MS 5
IR72(1) 5,844 – ** ** ** 111 91 18 23 MR 5
Dasanbyeo(2) 5,358 – ** ** ** 109 97 19 22 I 5
PJ16(3) 3,358 ## ## – 107 95 12 24 MR 3–5
PJ2(4) 2,427 ## ## – ## 106 98 16 19 MS 3–5
PR27137-CR153(5) 3,769 ## ## ** – 106 92 15 20 R 1
aMAT = days to maturity, HT = plant height, TL = no. of tillers, PL = panicle length, BLB = bacterial leaf blight, PA = phenotypic acceptability. ## , # = Yield significantly lower
than the check at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of probability, respectively. ** , * = Yield significantly higher than the check at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of probability, respectively. R =
resistant, MR = moderately resistant, S = susceptible, MS = moderately susceptible, I = intermediate.
5/28/2012 3:03:57 PM
Table 11. Results of blast field screening at BSU, 2006 WS.
Entry Identity Seedling 1st 2nd Remarks
no. vigor reading reading
1 IR80097-40-2-3 9 5 9 Susceptible
2 IR80111-6-2-2 7 5 7 Moderately susceptible
3 IR80112-49-1-3 9 5 9 Susceptible
4 IR80128-10-2-2-2 7 1 3 Moderately resistant
5 IR80730-12-2-2-2-2 9 1 7–9 Susceptible
6 IR80731-19-1-3-3 7 1 7 Moderately susceptible
7 IR80732-34-2-1-3-2 7 1 7 Moderately susceptible
8 IR80734-15-3-2-2 9 9 9 Susceptible
9 IR80734-22-1-2-2-3 7 5 7 Moderately susceptible
10 IR80742-20-3-3-3 7 3 9 Susceptible
11 IR80752-4-1-2-2 9 1 9 Susceptible
12 IR81109-12-3-1 9 1 3 Moderately resistant
13 IR81111-6-2-2 7 5 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
14 IR81216-7-3-1-2 7 7 7–9 Susceptible
15 IR81219-11-1-2 9 3 7–9 Susceptible
16 IR81219-13-3-1-3 5 5 7–9 Susceptible
17 IR81225-28-3-1 5 7 7–9 Susceptible
18 IR81225-28-3-2-1 3 3 7–9 Susceptible
19 IR81528-15-3-3 3 1 5 Intermediate
20 IR81535-14-3-2 7 5–7 7 Moderately susceptible
21 IR81535-17-1-2 7 1 9 Susceptible
25 IR81551-15-1-2 3 5 9 Susceptible
28 IR81218-17-3-2-1 5 5 5 Intermediate
30 IR82127-26-2-2 5 1-3 7–9 Moderately susceptible
32 IR82228-12-2-2 3 5 5 Intermediate
33 IR82228-23-2-3 – – – –
34 IR82225-11-3-1 3 9 9 Susceptible
35 IR82225-15-3-3 – – – –
36 IR82226-34-2-1 – – – –
37 IR82195-10-2-3 3 5 –
39 IR82195-33-1-1 3 9 5 Intermediate
40 IR82195-36-1-3 – – – –
41 IR82195-52-2-1 – – – –
42 IR82198-24-2-2 3 1 5 Intermediate
43 IR82198-33-2-3 3 7 5 Intermediate
44 IR82197-19-2-3 – – –
45 IR82199-6-3-1 3 5 5 Intermediate
46 IR82199-28-1-3 3 1–3 5 Intermediate
48 IR82184-7-3-1 3 9 Dead Susceptible
Continued

Table 11. Continued.
49 IR82184-7-3-3 – – –
50 IR82187-17-1-2 – – –
51 IR82187-17-3-2 3 5 9 Susceptible
52 IR82187-17-3-3 7 3 9 Susceptible
53 IR82125-28-3-3 7 1 9 Susceptible
54 IR82125-30-1-2 5 1 9 Susceptible
55 IR82107-19-1-1 7 3 3–5 Moderately resistant
56 IR82107-29-1-2 7 3–5 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
59 IR82165-21-2-1 9 3 9 Susceptible
60 IR82165-30-2-3 9 1 9 Susceptible
61 IR82166-22-1-2 7 3 9 Susceptible
62 IR82166-36-2-3 9 3 9 Susceptible
65 IR82219-38-2-3 9 1 9 Susceptible
66 IR82219-43-1-1 9 1 9 Susceptible
67 IR82220-8-3-2 7 3 9 Susceptible
68 IR82220-17-3-1 9 1 9 Susceptible
69 IR82220-17-3-2 9 1 9 Susceptible
70 IR82336-27-3-2 9 1 9 Susceptible
71 IR82336-37-2-3 9 3 9 Susceptible
72 IR82340-4-2-1 9 3 9 Susceptible
73 IR82340-7-2-3 9 3 9 Susceptible
74 IR82340-8-1-2 9 3 9 Susceptible
75 IR82340-10-2-3 9 3 9 Susceptible
76 IR82340-13-2-2 9 3–5 9 Susceptible
77 IR82340-14-3-2 9 3–5 9 Susceptible
78 IR81535-14-3-2-2 9 3–5 9 Susceptible
79 IR81535-17-1-2-2 9 3–5 9 Susceptible
80 IR81537-30-3-3-2 9 3–5 9 Susceptible
81 IR81543-22-3-3-3 9 5 9 Susceptible
82 IR81578-22-1-1-2 9 1 9 Susceptible
83 IR81550-11-3-1-3 5 1 9 Susceptible
84 IR81528-15-3-2-2 7 1 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
86 IR81551-1-2-3-3 5 1 3-5 Moderately resistant
87 IR81551-1-3-3-1 5 1 3-5 Moderately resistant
88 IR81551-2-1-3-3 – – 7–9 Susceptible
89 IR81551-2-2-3-2 7 3–5 7–9 Susceptible
90 IR81551-15-1-2-3 3 1 7–9 Susceptible
91 IR81551-15-2-3-2 5 1 7–9 Susceptible
92 IR81216-7-3-1-2-1 7 3 9 Susceptible
93 IR1219-13-3-1-1-1 9 5 9 Susceptible
94 IR81224-1-3-3-3-1 3 3 9 Susceptible
95 IR81228-3-2-1-1-2 5 5 9 Susceptible
96 IR81230-10-2-2-2-1 5 1 5-7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
Continued

97 IR81233-30-2-1-2-2 5 1 9 Susceptible
98 IR81241-26-2-1-2-2 5 5 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
99 IR81111-6-2-3-3-2 5 5 7–9 Susceptible
100 IR81214-6-1-2-3-3 3 3 5 Intermediate
101 IR80538-13-3-2-2-2-1 3 5 7 Moderately susceptible
102 IR80735-18-3-1-2-2-3 5 1–3 9 Susceptible
103 IR0768-3-1-3-2-1-1 3 1–3 5 Intermediate
104 IR79300-15-2-3-2-2 7 1 5 Intermediate
105 IR80747-25-3-2-3 7 1 5 Intermediate
107 IR80106-4-3-3-2 5 1 5 Intermediate
108 IR80126-50-1-2-2 9 1 9 Susceptible
109 IR80730-12-2-2-3-3 9 3 9 Susceptible
111 IR80732-34-2-1-2-2 9 3 7–9 Susceptible
114 IR81219-13-3-1-1 7 1-3 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
115 IR81224-5-1-3 – – –
116 IR81229-17-2-3-2 3 1 3–5 Moderately resistant to intermediate
117 IR81230-10-2-2-2 9 PG 0–3 Resistant to moderately resistant
118 IR81238-25-1-2 5 5 5 Intermediate
119 IR81528-15-3-2 7 1 5 Intermediate
120 IR81529-13-1-3 7 1–3 7–9 Susceptible
122 IR81551-1-3-3 3 1 5 Intermediate
123 IR81551-2-1-3 3 1 5 Intermediate
124 HR17570-21-5-2-5-3-3-2-4 – – –
125 HR20654-54-3-5 – – –
126 HR20654-39-3-5 9 PG 3 Moderately resistant
127 IR78162-123-2-2-1 9 5 9 Susceptible
128 IR80098-38-3-1-2 – – – –
129 IR80111-11-3-3 9 5 9 Susceptible
130 IR77856-91-1-4-1 9 9 9 Susceptible
131 IR80098-40-3-1-2 9 9 9 Susceptible
132 IR80732-23-3-1-2 9 9 9 Susceptible
133 IR80732-34-2-1-2 9 9 9 Susceptible
134 IR80771-20-3-1-3 9 9 9 Susceptible
135 IR68333-R-R-B-22 9 9 9 Susceptible
136 IR68349-131-2-2-3 9 9 9 Susceptible
137 IR68352-14-1-1-1 9 9 9 Susceptible
138 IR68373-R-R-B-22-2-2 7 5 9 Susceptible
139 IR68399-78-2-3-3-1 3 1 5 Intermediate
140 IR68331-R-R-B-22-2-2 7 1 7–9 Susceptible
141 SR18518-BF4-B-12-1-2 9 5 9 Susceptible
142 IR68333-R-R-B-19 9 5 9 Susceptible
143 YR17104-R-R-B-14-3 9 5 9 Susceptible
Continued

144 IR71121-35-1-1-1-2 3 3–5 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
145 IR72944-1-2-2 9 3 9 Susceptible
146 YR14323-69-2-3-2-1 3 1 7–9 Susceptible
147 IR71131-BF4-B-30-5 3 1 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
148 IR73689-76-2 7 1 7 Moderately susceptible
149 IR73694-41-2 5 3 3–5 Moderately resistant to intermediate
150 IR73688-57-2 9 5 5 Intermediate
152 IR73688-82-3 5 3 9 Susceptible
153 IR73690-7-2-1-1-3-2-2-1 9 5 5–7 Intermediate to moderately susceptible
154 IR74520-29-4-2-2-2-4-1-1 5 3 7 Moderately susceptible
155 IR73689-19-1 3 1 9 Susceptible
156 SR22746-68-2-3-4-2-4 9 3 9 Susceptible
157 IR74506-28-4-3-2-1-3-2-2 7 3 9 Susceptible
158 HR17570-21-5-2-5-3-3-2-4 7 1–3 9 Susceptible
159 HR20654-54-3-5 5 3 7–9 Susceptible
160 HR20654-39-3-5 5 1 7–9 Susceptible
161 IR78162-123-2-2-1 9 3 9 Susceptible
162 Jinmibyeo 9 3 9 Susceptible
163 IR72 3 3–5 9 Susceptible
164 Dasanbyeo 5 5 9 Susceptible
165 MS 11 7 3 9 Susceptible
166 PR26881-PJ 16 9 3 9 Susceptible
BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet

In this season, only the blast nursery was established, in September 2006. Some 166
entries were evaluated, using a modified field screening with spreader rows planted
around the test entries. However, the spreader rows had very poor germination. Infected
plants from nearby rice fields were collected and spread in the nursery. Seedling vigor
was also observed. A few entries had poor germination. Two readings were undertaken
for blast infection.
For seedling vigor, only 30 entries had a score of 3 (good); the rest had from 5 to
9. The final reading of blast infection showed severe reactions to most of the entries.
However, it can be noted that the good entries, even if sandwiched among the highly
susceptible entries, exhibited moderate to intermediate field resistance.
Overall, the GUVA lines exhibited a fair performance under Maligaya condi-
tions in yield and other traits. However, it should be noted that the planting schedule
was beyond the normal schedule. Hence, there is a need to re-evaluate the entries
in the 2007 DS. Under La Trinidad conditions, the GUVA lines showed good yields
under a lower temperature regime, which indicates the adaptability of the lines in
semi-temperate conditions. Blast incidence at BSU, La Trinidad, proved to represent
a good screening site. The lines that showed moderate resistance could be good donor
germplasm.

Expectations from the TRRC
1. We are expecting enhanced collaboration to strengthen our japonica rice
breeding program, research, and production technologies
2. Exchange of expertise on the different aspects of varietal improvement and
production
3. Resource sharing specifically on germplasm exchange to broaden the diversity
of our germplasm pool
4. Logistical support
Possible contributions to the TRRC

1. For germplasm exchange, the developed japonica varieties and advanced
breeding lines are ready for sharing with the participating NARES for use
in varietal improvement or direct use.
2. Our expertise and commitment to undertake japonica rice research to help in
the development of technologies for farmers to increase production to attain
self-sufficiency in the target environments.
References
Fukuta Y. 1995. Genetic and breeding analysis of shattering habit using resistant mutant lines
in rice (Oryza sativa L.) Bull. Hokuriku Nat. Agric. Exp. Stn. No. 37 (in Japanese with
English summary).
Nanda JS, Seshu DV. 1979. Breeding strategy for cold-tolerant rices. Report on Rice Cold
Tolerance Workshop. Manila: International Rice Research Institute, Korea: Office of
Rural Development.
National Cooperative Testing for Rice Season Reports 1996 DS-1998 WS. PhilRice, Maligaya,
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
Rice Breeding Records, JICA-PhilRice Collaborative Project, 1993-96. Maligaya, Science City
of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
Satake T. 1989. Male sterility caused by cooling treatment at the young microspore stage in rice
stage plants. XXIX. The mechanism of enhancement in cool tolerance by raising water
temperature before the critical stage. Jpn. J. Crop Sci. 58:240-245.
Kim JK, Vergara BS. 1991. Morpho-anatomical characteristics of different panicles in low and
high tillering rices. Korean J. Crop Sci. 36:568-575.
Notes
Authors’ addresses: Emily C. Arocena, Senior Science Research Specialist, and Thelma F. Pa-
dolina, Chief Science Research Specialist, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Division,
PhilRice, Maligaya, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
Acknowledgement: Breeder-Experts from JICA Technical Cooperation Projects Phase 1 and 2
(1991-2002); Breeder-Experts IRRI-Korean Project on Germplasm Utilization for Value-
Added (GUVA)(2006 to date); Breeding Team, Development of varieties for the cool
elevated areas (1990-2005); Breeder-Experts, PhilRice-Yunnan Agricultural University
(YAU) Technical Collaboration (1993-97).

Problems of growing rice in Russia and
ways to solve them
Evgeny Kharitonov
Several problems in temperate zones limit obtaining maximum rice yield of high grain
quality to meet the requirements of consumers.
The climatic conditions of rice-growing regions all over the world are very dif-
ferent. The main rice output is obtained in tropical zones. Nevertheless, considering
high crop plasticity, rice can be grown under very contrasting conditions.
The peculiarity of Russian rice growing is that rice is cultivated with specially
engineered systems, developed by Russian scientists for the industrial technology of
direct seeding into dry soil.
Heavy soils with limited filtration ability and saline and swampy soils were
reclaimed for rice cultivation. These soils were not fit for any other crop.
Rice growing in Russia is the one of most northern in the world. The main
rice plantings are situated between 44° (Krasnodar territory) and 49° (Republic of
Kalmykiya and Astrakhan region) North latitude.
The yearly sum of efficient temperatures is from 2,700° (Republic of Kalmykiya
and Astrakhan region) to 3,200° (Krasnodar territory). The period with air temperature
higher than 15 °C lasts from 120 to 140 days. Recurrent cold weather sees tempera-
tures from 8 to 10 °C (at the beginning of the vegetative period, May) up to 13 to 15
°C (during the flowering and ripening periods, August).
Despite the unfavorable soil and climatic conditions of the region, rice is culti-
vated in eight regions of Russia. The total area of rice systems in the country is 511,000
ha, but the sown area varies from 140,000 to 200,000 ha/year. The main region of rice
cultivation in Russia is the Krasnodar region, where more than 80% of the total rice
is produced.
Unfavorable factors for rice production in Russia are the same as in other tem-
perate zones: temperature regime, rice diseases, and ecological insecurity.
Rice crop yield in Russia does not exceed 3.5 t/ha. During 2005-10, it became
stabilized at 5.0 t/ha. In 2010, rice crop yield in the Krasnodar region was 6.3 t/ha,
and the best farms obtained from 9.0 to 10.0 t/ha.
Both natural climate and human factors play a significant role in the effective
work of the industry. Rice scientists’ qualifications and their professional education
help us gain high crop yield, and increase rice production.
Russia.indd 85 5/28/2012 3:08:44 PM

Scientific research on rice growing in Russia is carried out by the All-Russian
Rice Research Institute (ARRRI), situated in the Krasnodar region.
Breeding work started here in 1932. The rice gene pool of the ARRRI (work-
ing collection), which includes 6,400 samples, and genetic resources of the Vavilov
Institute of Plant Industry (Saint Petersburg) are used in various breeding programs.
The japonica subspecies makes up 97.6% of the ARRRI collection of varietal
samples. Introduced varieties of this subspecies are always present in the genealogy
of all the most significant Russian rice varieties. They are the source of the most
important features: fast maturity (Kendzo, a Japanese variety, brought from Korea,
is the ancestor of Russian varieties); wide ecological adaptability (k-514, China,
Manchuria); short stem and good productivity (Balilla, a grano grosso (large grain),
Italy); and high quality of milled rice (Saturn from the U.S.).
Russian rice breeders combine traditional methods with new trends in funda-
mental research: biotechnology, biochemistry, physiology, and genetics.
Breeding work is carried out by the method of step hybridization first of all us-
ing varieties from Russian breeding, and a permanent use of definite donor traits from
the global gene pool. The main trend of modern breeding is the release of short-stem
varieties with high yield potential for the biotic and abiotic stress-resistant conditions
of rice growing in Russia.
Part of the soils in Russia used for rice have a different degree of salinity. There-
fore, the development of salinity-resistant varieties is one of the breeding trends in
the country.
ARRRI studies salt-resistance mechanisms, develops new methods of breeding
samples for the evaluation of salt resistance, and carries out a mass screening of breed-
ing lines at different stages of ontogenesis. Such systematic work allowed developing
the following salt-resistant rice varieties: Kurchanka, Sonata, Sonet, Fisht, Anait, and
Sharm.
Comparative evaluation of rice varieties and varietal samples for salt resistance
in breeding of different countries (Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, etc.) was
performed in 2005 at the China National Rice Research Institute (Hangzhou) in the
framework of cooperation with ARRRI. Many varieties belong to Russian breeding.
In Russia, early and mid-duration varieties with a vegetative period of 100–125
days are mostly cultivated. During the sprouting period at low temperatures of soil,
air, and irrigation water, varieties are very often subjected to stress, which causes a
decrease in the number of sprouts and yield loss. Therefore, at ARRRI, breeding for
cold-resistant varieties is carried out. The use of rice varieties Kuban 3 and Severniy
allows us to start rice seeding before the optimal term and to finish harvesting before
unfavorable autumn weather.
Within a framework of the TRRC coordinated by IRRI, ARRRI performs the
work on the development of cold-resistant varieties using germplasm from the Philip-
pines, South Korea, China, Egypt, and other countries. Within the framework of this
work, the methods of evaluating samples for cold resistance in different stages of plant
growth have been advanced, and the lines studied at the breeding nursery have been
developed.
86 E. Kharitonov
Russia.indd 86 5/28/2012 3:08:46 PM

Problems connected with climate change are important for Russian rice grow-
ing. The scientists of the Institute study the variability in productivity of Russian rice
varieties under the influence of this stress factor in order to forecast their reaction to
air temperature rises during the critical vegetative stage (flowering and ripening). Both
intervarietal and intravarietal variabilities are being studied, donors featuring resistance
to high temperatures are being determined, and selection methods for adaptability to
changing environmental conditions are being developed.
Blast is one of the most dangerous rice diseases for Russian rice growing as
well as for other countries.
At the ARRRI biotechnology laboratory, genotyping of a local population of blast
pathogens by both the phytopathological method (on the basis of the use of varietal
differentiators) and marking of the pathogen population is carried out.
As research showed, one of the effective genes in the Krasnodar region is a gene
with race-specific resistance to the Pi-b pathogen, which has already been cloned.
At the Japanese research center (NIAS), Dr. Suprun created an intragene DNA
marker for this gene together with Dr. Fukuoka. We are very grateful to Dr. Okuno,
director of the gene bank at NIAS, for giving us the opportunity of doing research.
This marker helps to perform mass screening of the ARRRI collection, with-
out using a phytopathological test. At present, work on this gene introgression into
prospective rice varieties using an intragene marker is being carried out. Work on
pyramiding other genes with race-specific resistance to blast has also been performed.
The program of Pi-ta, Pi-b, Pi-z, Pi-zt, Pi-1, P-2, and Pi-33 gene introgression into
Russian germplasm in such varieties as Flagman, Boyarin, Yantar, Khazar, Snezhinka,
and Novator has been carried out. Lines with the pyramided resistance genes that
undergo competitive variety testing have been developed.
Within the framework of the TRRC, there has been introgression of the Pi-40
gene using molecular markers. Crossing with the Russian varieties such as Yantar,
Khazar, Severniy, and Novator has been carried out; hybrid material for further co-
operation with TRRC partners has been obtained.
However, a solution to all the problems only by means of breeding programs
even on the basis of the recent achievements in fundamental research is impossible.
Success in obtaining stable yields and solving ecological problems is mainly
achieved by using different growing technologies developed by ARRRI scientists.
If rice plants receive insufficient nitrogen, the plants do not use all their pro-
ductivity potential, and excess N leads to a prolongation of the vegetative period; this
increases the number of sterile spikelets and plant lodging and decreases resistance
to fungus diseases. Therefore, ARRRI scientists pay special attention to the balanced
nutrition of rice plantings in macro- and microelements; and for effective fertilizer
dressing, a system of fertilizer application evaluation for crop yield planned has been
developed, taking into consideration the individual features of each variety.
ARRRI works on integrated plant protection from weeds, pests, and diseases.
Plantings are subject to examination during the vegetative period every year. The
degree of their damage is evaluated and timely measures for saving yield are pro-
vided. On the basis of monitoring the ecological situation in the rice-growing area,
Russia.indd 87 5/28/2012 3:08:46 PM

some factors that negatively affect the plantings and environment are determined
and timely eliminated.
ARRRI carries out research on rice cultivation with periodical irrigation in order
to develop a water-saving irrigation technology that allows not only saving irrigation
water but also cutting down expenses on its delivery. The technology has been tested
on rice-growing farms of the Krasnodar region, where its economical efficiency has
been confirmed under production conditions.
ARRRI has modern scientific equipment for biological, physical, and chemical
research.
Much attention is paid to upgrading the professional level of the staff. Future
specialists study in postgraduate courses of the ARRRI. The Institute’s researchers
consult rice-growing farms on rice cultivation.
ARRRI cooperates with international scientific centers in the area of rice-grow-
ing. On the basis of agreements, joint research with the International Rice Research
Institute (Philippines) and the Rice Research Institute of Sichuan Agricultural Univer-
sity (China) directed toward developing heterosis of rice hybrids is being performed.
There is cooperation with the Agricultural Research Service of the Department of
Agriculture of the U.S.; Center of International Cooperation in Agronomy (CIRAD),
Montpellier, France; Japanese Agricultural Research Center (Hokkaido), etc. Within
this framework, Russian scientists not only undergo training and internships but also do
the testing of rice varieties and samples in contrasting ecological conditions, identify
donors of economically valuable features, and use them in breeding programs and
advanced methods of work with rice germplasm.
We hope that collaborative work will help to unite efforts of rice scientists for
use worldwide in releasing new rice varieties, developing cultivation technologies,
and working out development concepts for rice-growing in the temperate zone in the
near future.
Notes
Author’s address: All-Russian Rice Research Institute, p. Belozerny, 3, Krasnodar, 350921,
Russia.
88 E. Kharitonov
Russia.indd 88 5/28/2012 3:08:46 PM

Rice food security and production
in Turkey
Necmi Beşer, Halil Sürek
Turkey’s rice production increased in the last 10 years as a result of improvements

in soil preparation, planting methods, irrigation, rice cultivars, fertilizer applica-
tion, plant protection, certified seed usage, harvest, and drying conditions. But,
Turkey still has to import 25–30% of its rice consumption. Irrigation water is the
most limiting factor for rice production in Turkey. Rice can be grown in nearly all
regions of Turkey. The most important achievements to improve rice yield are
obtained through variety improvement in Turkey.
Turkey has 18,092,000 ha of cultivated area and 13,907,355 ha of this is used for
cereal production. The most important cereal is wheat and it is grown on 9,350,000
ha, followed by barley (3,640,000 ha), maize (550,000 ha), oats (150,000 ha), rye
(140,000 ha), and rice (59,000 ha) (DIE 2002). The staple food for Turkish people is
wheat and wheat consumption is 200–250 kg per capita. Rice consumption is very
low (about 7–8 kg per capita) when we compare it with wheat consumption (Table 1).
If we look at long-term statistics, we can see that the trend for rice consumption per
capita is going up; on the other hand, the trend for wheat consumption per capita is
going down. Rice production area ranged from 40,000 ha to 100,000 ha, and annual
total milled rice production ranged between 150,000 and 452,000 tons depending on
water availability and government policies during the last 50 years. This production is
not sufficient for domestic consumption; thus, imported milled rice reached 200,000
tons in 1992, and this amount was more than that of domestic milled rice production
in that year (DIE 2002). Since then, rice imports of Turkey continued to increase un-
til 2002, and then began to decrease because of the increase in domestic production
(Table 1). There are two reasons for Turkey’s increasing rice production: an increase
in rice production area and an increase in yield. Yield increases are coming from the
introduction of new varieties and new production technologies. On the other hand,
Turkey exports 20,000–30,000 of tons milled rice each year.
Turkey.indd 89 5/28/2012 3:11:56 PM

Turkey.indd 90
90 N. Beşer and H. Sürek
Table 1. Rice planting area, production, yield, imports, exports, total supply, consumption, and self-sufficiency in Turkey.
Year Planting Production Paddy Production Imports Exports Total supply Consumption Self-
area (ha) (paddy) yield (milled) (milled) (milled) (milled) (milled) sufficiency
(tons) (kg/ha) (tons) (tons) (tons) (tons) (kg/per capita/year) (%)
2000 58,000 350,000 6.03 210,000 310,639 14,386 516,439 7.17 41.44
2001 59,000 360,000 6.10 216,000 323,278 11,760 534,958 7.39 40.64
2002 60,000 360,000 6.00 216,000 404,722 16,041 616,402 8.31 35.66
2003 65,000 372,000 5.72 223,200 125,285 13,937 344,021 4.30 69.34
2004 70,000 490,000 7.00 294,000 283,044 14,648 571,164 7.99 48.99
2005 85,000 600,000 7.06 360,000 221,250 16,580 577,650 8.01 63.82
2006 99,100 696,000 7.02 417,600 167,980 16,790 581,400 8.07 71.28
2007 93,900 648,000 6.90 388,800 236,364 20,948 621,276 8.68 60.46
2008 99,490 753,000 7.57 451,995 183,621 36,494 631,096 7.79 75.66
Source. www.tuik.gov.tr (2008)
5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM
As can be seen in Table 1, there is a need to improve rice production nearly
25% for Turkey to be self-sufficient (Table 1). The main constraint to increasing rice
production is irrigation water (Beşer 1997b). Many climatic areas are suitable for
growing rice and average rice yield is more than 7.5 t ha–1 in Turkey (Table 1) and
rice growing is much more profitable than other field crops, but, rice is grown in a
very limited area because of water shortage.
Rice-growing area and environment

Turkey is situated between 36° and 42°N latitude, and it is divided into seven political
regions. Rice is grown in every region; however, Marmara, especially the European
part of Marmara (Trakya), and the Black Sea Region are the main rice production
areas (Table 2). The main rice-growing provinces are Edirne (in Trakya), Samsun (in
the Black Sea Region), Balıkesir (in South Marmara), and Çorum and Sinop (both in
the Black Sea Region). Rice can be planted in the second half of April as a first crop
and in May or June as a second crop in the Mediterranean, Southeast Anotolia, and
Aegean regions; on the other hand, it is planted in May only as a first crop in other
regions. The number of cloudy and rainy days during the rice-growing period is very
low and the temperature decreases gradually after pollination during grain filling, so
these conditions are very favorable for high paddy yield in Turkey. Nevertheless, cold
water and weather conditions during germination cause difficulties in stand establish-
ment. Cold weather also sometimes affects panicle initiation and flowering in some
regions (Sürek 1998).
Direct seeding is used traditionally as a rice-planting method in Turkey (Beşer
1997a). Seeds are soaked between 24 and 48 hours in water and then drained and left
to pregerminate between 24 and 48 hours, and these pregerminated seeds are broad-
cast by hand or a centrifugal broadcaster into standing water in all regions except
Diyarbakır and Bingöl provinces in Southeast Anotolia (Beşer 1997b). The applied
seed rate is 120–130 kg ha–1 in Southeast Anotolia and 120–180 kg ha–1 in other
Table 2. Rice planting regions and their percentages in Turkey in 2008.
Region Planting area Yield Paddy production Planting area Production

(ha) (t/ha) (tons) (%) (%)
Marmara 67,825 8.03 545,025 68.2 72.4

Black Sea 20,218 7.20 150,876 20.3 20.0
Central Anotolia 4,896 6.93 33,945 4.9 4.5
Mediterranean 987 6.13 6,054 1.0 0.8
Southeast Anotolia 4,830 2.92 14,088 4.9 1.9
East Anotolia 784 4.10 3,214 0.7 0.5
Aegean – – – – –
Total 99,490 7.57 753,000 100 100
Source. www.tuik.gov.tr (2008).
Turkey.indd 91 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

regions (Gaytancıoğlu 1997) and the recommended seed rate is 160–180 kg ha–1 for
Turkish rice varieties and direct-seeding conditions (Anon. 1979-2002).
After 1990, farmers bought more complicated and bigger machinery for soil
preparation. This helped farmers to prepare their paddy fields under all conditions. A
laser-leveling machine, which is used only by rice farmers, may be the most useful
one. Laser leveling gives farmers an opportunity for good stand establishment, good
water management, and having a larger plot size and effective fertilizer and pesticide
application.
All rice varieties grown in Turkey are japonica-type varieties. Turkey’s rice
production is very well mechanized now and yield is high to compete with imported
rice. Rice mechanization, especially in the Marmara Region, has a very high standard
according to other crops. Rice farmers generally use laser leveling and powerful trac-
tors with more than 100 HP. Rice farm size is also larger in the Trakya Region than
in other regions. If there is no water problem, Turkey can be self-sufficient for rice in
ten years because the trend for rice production area in all regions is increasing.
National policies and strategies since 1990 for sustainable rice production
Rice production must be increased around 25% to be self-sufficient in Turkey (Table
1). But, it is very difficult to expand rice-growing area because of water shortages.
Turkey’s climatic conditions are very favorable for rice production; however, Turkish
rice producers can have difficulties in selling their paddy because of cheap imported
rice in some years. Thus, the government establishes some restrictions and increases
the taxes on imported rice, especially during rice-harvesting time in Turkey. There
is special support for rice production like for oil crops; US$50 per ton was paid as a
premium for rice in 2006. In addition to that, the electricity in irrigation is 35% and
25% lower than that of home and industrial use, respectively. The government also
supports rice production by giving a support price during harvesting. There is also
support to encourage farmers to use certified seed. If farmers used certified seed, the
government paid them $65 ha–1 in 2007. The government is also financing nearly
all rice research activities to obtain high-yielding new rice varieties and growing
techniques. Every district has a Rice Commission. Every rice grower must give in-
formation to the Rice Commission about rice production area and place every year
before planting rice. The Rice Commission calculates the rice-growing area using
dams, underground water, and river water sources and gives permission to growers
for their rice-planting area. If there is a water shortage, the Rice Commission observes
the rice-growing area and controls and rotates water. If a farmer grows rice without
getting permission from the Rice Commission, he is punished and water is not given
to him during water-shortage years. Water and mosquito control is the main working
area of this commission. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and DSİ (State
Water Affairs) decide how much area can be planted to rice taking into consideration
water sources. Rice growing is forbidden in the Aegean and some provinces of the
Mediterranean Region because of water shortages and mosquitoes in rice fields near
tourist sites (Beşer 1997a).
Turkey.indd 92 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

To help rice production become self-sufficient, nearly all rice irrigation dams and
systems were built by the government. Government policies changed during the last
ten years and the government left irrigation systems to farmer organizations without
taking any money from them. The farmer organizations do not give any money to the
government for water cost but they pay all management costs and they collect this
money from the farmers according to their rice field size.
The major constraints to sustainable rice production

Irrigation water is the most limiting factor for expanding the rice-growing area to in-
crease rice production (Beşer 1997b). If there is enough water, farmers can grow rice
in nearly all regions in Turkey. Rice has competed with other crops very well in the
last 15 years. To be self-sufficient for rice, Turkey should build new dams or should
find new technologies to grow rice using less water. For this, some research has been
done at the Trakya Agricultural Research Institute, including on drip irrigation in rice.
Turkish rice yield will be about 10 t ha–1 in the near future because some farmers
can harvest more than 10 t ha–1 by using high-yielding varieties and good production
technologies in some areas. The problem is that most of the rice farms are too small
to follow these new technologies and buy the new machines. Large-size farms are
mostly located in Trakya and Marmara regions and new technologies first enter from
these regions.
Blast, bakane, helminthosporium, barnyardgrass, red rice, and some insects
cause economic losses in paddy fields in Turkey. The first blast epidemic occurred in
1995 and then in 1997 in Turkey (Sürek and Beşer 1997) . Immediately after the first
blast epidemic in 1995, information was given to farmers on seed treatment, foliar
application of fungicide, low nitrogen rate, and rotation to prevent their crop from
suffering from a blast epidemic.
Weed control is done effectively by introducing new-generation environment-
friendly chemicals such as Cherokee, Gulliver, Nominee, Chlinger, Londax, Sindax,
etc., and application techniques.
The high-technology combine harvester and dryer were introduced very fast in
Turkish rice production 15 years ago. It has been estimated that combine harvester
use reached nearly100% in 2007. The introduction of new technologies brought some
new problems. Head-rice yield decreased if farmers did not manage well the optimum
harvest moisture and drying conditions. Paddy drying with a paddy dryer also brought
some problems. As is known, fast drying in improper conditions reduces head-rice
yield, and this is seen as a small farmers’ crop because small farmers have to hire a
dryer. They are more careful about harvest moisture content now, but some problems
still occur.
We can say that, if there is enough water for rice cultivation, high yield can be
obtained from early rice varieties in every region of Turkey. But, the regions have
different constraints, as given below.
1. The Marmara Region has a short growing period and early fall rains.
2. The Black Sea Region has a short growing period, early fall rains, cloudiness,
Turkey.indd 93 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

and humid and rainy days during growing, which brings high risk of blast
infection.
3. Southeast Anotolia has high temperature during pollination, which causes
spikelet sterility, and economic competition with cotton and wheat + second
crop (i.e., maize, soybean).
4. The Mediterranean Region has high temperature during pollination, which
causes spikelet sterility, and economic competition with cotton and wheat +
second crop or vegetables.
5. Central Anotolia has a short growing period, low water temperature, and low
night temperature.
6. East Anotolia has a short growing period, low water temperature, and low
day and night temperature.
7. The Eagen Region has economic competition with cotton and wheat + second
crop or vegetables.
Major achievements in rice research and development since 1990

The most important achievement in rice research was obtained in rice breeding in
Turkey. Until 1997, mostly foreign varieties (Ribe, Rocca, Baldo, Veneria, Krasno-
darsky-424) and local varieties (Akçeltik, etc.) were grown in Turkey, although a lot
of Turkish rice varieties were registered. High-yielding Osmancık-97 was registered
in 1997 and nearly 80% of Turkish rice production now comes from that variety. As
a result of growing Osmancık-97, farmers get high quality and yield of paddy. They
also reduce harvest costs with a harvesting combine machine for this semidwarf rice
cultivar. We could say that, with the spread of these varieties, Turkey’s rice production
and yield increased sharply.
Most farmers are using optimum doses of fertilizer, as a result of transferring
research results on fertilizer to farmers. Especially, the time and dose of nitrogen in
rice growing are very important. A lot of research was undertaken at Trakya Agricul-
tural Research Institute on fertilizer in the last 20 years to find optimum doses and
application times for all registered varieties. Before these results, some farmers were
using very low doses of nitrogen; on the other hand, some farmers used 250–300
kg N ha–1, and then they clip the upper leaves of rice to avoid lodging. Optimum
nitrogen doses for Turkish rice varieties range from 140 to 160 kg ha–1 and N should
be applied at least twice. It is also very critical to apply N fertilizer 50–60 days after
direct seeding (at booting stage). With the application of nitrogen within the advised
time and at appropriate doses, farmers can obtain high yield and good-quality paddy
with low cost. They can also prevent their crop from suffering from a blast epidemic.
There is no problem in phosphorus doses; the problem is the application method for
phosphorus; unfortunately, some farmers still apply phosphorus after seeding.
The other important fertilizer is zinc for rice production in Turkey. As a result
of the project undertaken, some regions were found to have zinc deficiency. Zinc ap-
plication has been widening in the Marmara Region very rapidly in the last ten years.
Crop maturity is not synchronized. If zinc deficiency occurs, farmers may have grain
Turkey.indd 94 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

kernels with various moisture content at harvest. Thus, moisture change among kernels
especially reduces head-rice yield during drying. Farmers have obtained higher yield
and quality of paddy with zinc application in the last 3 years in the Marmara Region.
Various plant protection studies were carried out and their results transferred to
farmers, including seed treatment and pesticide application technique for controlling
barnyardgrass, bakane, blast, etc. Blast caused great economic damage in 1995 and
then in 1997 in the European part of the Marmara Region (Sürek and Beşer 1997).
Before this year, farmers did not know that blast could have such a devastating effect
in paddy fields. Farmers were trained about the causes of blast and techniques for
controlling blast. Red rice is also an important problem, especially in rice-growing
areas without rotation. Foundation seed and certified seed are also produced by the
Trakya Agricultural Research Institute to increase yield and quality and reduce red
rice infestation in paddy fields.
Prebasic and basic seeds of all rice varieties are produced by the Trakya Agri-
cultural Research Institute for Turkey. The increase in certified seed uses improved
rice quality and quantity very much because of the reduction in blast, bakanae, white
tip nematode, and red rice infestation in paddy fields.
Farmers used to sow up to 250 kg ha–1 of seed. Agronomic studies at the Trakya
Agricultural Research Institute have shown that a seed rate of 160–180 kg ha–1 is
enough for broadcasting pregerminated seed. These results have been introduced to
farmers. This new seed rate reduced farmers’ inputs and disease risk and increased
farmers’ paddy yield and quality.
Conclusions and recommendations

There is improvement in rice breeding and rice production technologies in Turkey. Paddy
yield and rice quality were increased by introducing new rice varieties and production
methods. Those also increased the competitiveness of Turkish rice. It can be said that
Turkish rice yield will approach 10 t ha–1 in the near future because some farmers can
harvest more than 10 t ha–1 paddy yield by using new varieties and good production
technologies from soil preparation to drying. But, most rice farms are too small to fol-
low these new technologies and buy the new machines. Large farms are mostly located
in Trakya and the Marmara Region and new technologies first enter from these regions.
Turkey should increase rice production by 25–30%. There is not an easy way to
reach this objective. Thus, a lot of research has been carried out and still many things
should be done:
1. Rice is mainly grown in two regions but it is also grown in every region in the
various micro- or macro-ecologies in small quantities. Thus, rice production
area can be extended.
2. Rice breeding studies are carried out only at the two government institutes.
The number of institutes should be increased and the private sector should
be encouraged to enter rice breeding and do more seed multiplication.
3. More plant protection (improvement of blast-resistant varieties) and quality
studies should be done.
Turkey.indd 95 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

4. There is still a gap between experimental and farmers’ yield; thus, there is a
possibility of increasing rice yield with extension and agronomic studies.
5. Some work needs to be done to establish different crop associations. After
establishing rice associations, it is expected that farmers would be more ac-
tive in rice research strategies and rice policies in Turkey.
6. There is also a need to support rice farmers politically against cheap imported
rice.
References
Anon. 2002. Statistics of Directorate of Provinces, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Anon. 1979-2002. Trakya Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü Raporları (Trakya Agricultural Research
Institute Annual Reports, between 1979 and 2002).
Anon. (DIE) 2002. DIE Tarım İstatistikleri Özeti. (S.I.S. Summary of Agricultural Statistics.)
Anon (Tuik). 2008. Tuik, Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (Turkey Statistical Institute). www.tuik.
gov.tr.
Beşer N. 1997. Türkiye Çeltik Üretiminde Mevcut Durum, Sorunlar ve Çözüm Yolları. Ziraat
Müh. Sayı:301:16-19.
Beşer N. 1997. Trakya Bölgesi’nde Değişik Ekim ve Sulama Yöntemlerinin Çeltikte (Oryza
sativa L.) Verim ve Verim Unsurları ile Kalite Karakterlerine Etkisi. (The effects of
planting and irrigation methods on yield and yield components and quality characters in
rice (Oryza sativa L.). PhD thesis. T.Ü. Tekirdağ Ziraat Fakültesi-Tekirdağ.
Gaytancıoğlu O. 1997. The evaluation of production, price and market policies applied in rice
in Turkey. T.Ü. Tekirdağ Agricultural Faculty, Tekirdağ. Ph.D thesis.
Sürek H, Beşer N. 1997. Effect of blast disease infection on rice and milling yield. In the in-
ternational symposium on rice quality, Nottingham, U.K., 24-27 November 1997. Chair
Optiuns Med. 24(3) and paper no.
Sürek H. 1998. Rice production and research in Turkey. Int. Rice Comm. Newsl. 47:29-35.
Notes
Authors’ address: Trakya Agricultural Research Institute. P. Box. 16 - 22100-Edirne/Turkey;
Tel. 284-2358180, Fax: 284-2358210, e-mail: necmibeser@yahoo.com.
Turkey.indd 96 5/28/2012 3:11:59 PM

Temperate rice in the U.S.
Thomas H. Tai
In the U.S., rice production occurs in the Gulf Coast (27° to 31° N latitude—Texas,
Louisiana, and Florida), the Grand Prairie and Mississippi Delta (32° to 36° N lati-
tude—Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri), and the Sacramento Valley
(38° to 40° N latitude—California). All public rice varieties produced in the U.S. are
japonica although in recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of
hybrid rice varieties in the southern U.S., which have been developed in the private
sector. Temperate japonicas (predominantly medium-grain cultivars) are grown
in California and tropical japonicas (mostly long-grain cultivars) are grown in the
southern states. Rice is produced using irrigated direct-seeded systems. Dry seeding
is the predominant planting method in the southern U.S. while water seeding is used
in California and to some extent in Louisiana.
A total of about 3.38 million acres (1.36 million ha; Arkansas, 49%; Louisiana,
17%; California, 14%; Mississippi, 8%; Missouri, 6%; and Texas, 6%) of rice was
planted (3.36 million acres harvested) in 2005. The average yield was 7.4 t ha–1,
ranging from 8.3 t ha–1 in California to 6.6 t ha–1 in Louisiana. Of the approximately
500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of rice grown in California, more than 90% is medium
grain. Short-grain cultivars, which are grown exclusively in California, account for
about 6% of production while long grains, which are primarily grown in the southern
U.S., represent 1% to 2% of California rice. The value of the rice crop is approximately
$1.7 billion and this represents about 2% of the total value of U.S. field crops. The
U.S. is a major exporter of rice, typically trailing only Thailand and Vietnam. About
40% of the rice grown in California is exported to Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, and
Jordan.
Although rice production in the U.S. can be traced back to the seventeenth
century with the introduction of long-grain tropical japonicas to South Carolina from
Madagascar, rice improvement activities began only in the early 1900s. In addition
to those early cultivars, U.S. breeding programs are based on introductions from
Southeast Asia, Japan, and Europe. The development of rice varieties is largely a
public effort in the U.S., with contributions made by U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) breeders and the various states. In recent years, the activities of the USDA
(Agricultural Research Service, ARS; www.ars.usda.gov/) have shifted from breeding
of new varieties to the development and characterization of germplasm (prebreed-
USA.indd 97 5/28/2012 3:14:02 PM

ing) and basic research, including genomics. Major research efforts are located at the
USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center (Stuttgart, Arkansas) and
the USDA-ARS Rice Research Unit (Beaumont, Texas), where projects range from
genetics and germplasm enhancement to disease resistance and grain quality. Other
USDA-ARS scientists located throughout the U.S. also focus on various aspects of
rice research.
All the major rice-growing states maintain active breeding programs. In the
southern states, these breeding programs are operated by the Agricultural Experiment
Stations of the respective state university systems, with strong financial support from
rice growers and producers. Southern rice breeding programs cooperate in an annual
Uniform Regional Rice Nursery, in which advanced lines are tested at various loca-
tions. In California, the public breeding effort is led by the Rice Experiment Station,
which is directly supported by the growers and producers of California. This program
cooperates closely with the University of California at Davis and the USDA-ARS.
In 2005, the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Ser-
vice (CSREES) funded a Coordinated Agricultural Program project aimed at exploiting
the advances in rice genomics. This cooperative project, called RiceCAP (www.uark.
edu/ua/ricecap/), brings all of the major public rice breeding programs and a number
of leading rice and rice-related genomics groups in the U.S. together to address two
major industry problems, milling yield and sheath blight (caused by Rhizoctonia
solani). These problems are of primary interest to southern U.S. rice production.
California and the southern U.S. states represent two distinct temperate environments.
Although there is significant overlap in research targets for the development of im-
proved cultivars and production technologies, each region presents unique challenges
relating to climate, production systems, and markets. Specific differences include an
emphasis on seedling vigor and cold tolerance (both vegetative and reproductive) in
California and disease resistance and improved milling yield in the southern U.S.
cultivars.
In California, the temperate environment provides almost ideal conditions for
rice production as evidenced by some of the highest yields for inbred rice cultivars in
the world. Nevertheless, yield and yield stability are of the highest priority to breeders
as well as maintaining superior cooking and eating quality associated with Califor-
nia medium-grain (Calrose) rice. Typically, the growing season is characterized by
warm, long days and cool nights with very low humidity. As a result, biotic diseases
have relatively less impact than in the significantly more humid environment of the
southern states and California cultivars have little resistance to major pathogens such
as rice blast and sheath blight. Stem rot (caused by Sclerotium oryzae) and aggregrate
sheath spot (caused by Rhizoctonia oryzae-sativae) are the most prevalent diseases
in California. As the predominant planting practice in California is water seeding,
breeding efforts have focused on seedling vigor and cold tolerance as well as lodging
resistance. The cooler temperatures present in California during pollen development
98 Thomas H. Tai
USA.indd 98 5/28/2012 3:14:05 PM

also make breeding for reproductive cold tolerance (tolerance of blanking) a major
target for improvement.
Research priorities in the southern U.S. also include higher yields and better grain
quality (particularly in relation to yield, i.e., milling quality). The humid environment
found in the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast regions is very favorable for fungal
diseases such as rice blast and sheath blight. With the availability of blast-resistant
germplasm, more research emphasis has been placed on sheath blight in recent years.
In general, the tropical japonicas bred for the southern U.S. have better resistance to
fungal diseases, but are less tolerant of low temperatures during pollen development.
Cold tolerance in relation to germination and stand establishment is also of interest in
this region as earlier planting and expanding growing areas further north may solve
water problems to some degree. Since most rice is dry seeded, weed control is the
most costly input and red rice is a major problem. Herbicide-tolerant induced mutants
have been developed and have had some commercial success.
Constraints in japonica rice production and for improving japonica rice

The primary production constraint is the control of weeds, including red rice. GMOs are
currently not an option although induced mutants have been identified and developed
into cultivars now grown in the southern states. Water seeding in California provides
some weed control. Seedling vigor (including cold tolerance) and lodging resistance
are important for water-seeded systems. Although the water supply in California is
not a major issue, competition for water resources in the southern states is increas-
ing and is directly responsible for a reduction in the area under production in Texas.
Declining water resources in the Grand Prairie region of Arkansas are also of concern.
The japonica rice varieties grown in the U.S. are based on two very small pools
of introductions in the southern U.S. (tropical japonicas) and California (temperate
japonicas). This narrow germplasm base represents a major constraint to the genetic
improvement of japonica rice. Intellectual property rights are an extension of this con-
straint as the exchange of germplasm has been restricted in recent years. U.S. breeding
programs are now routinely patenting new cultivars although breeding materials are
openly exchanged among the public rice breeding programs. Concerns over GMOs
represent another constraint to developing improved rice. Recent identification of
GMO-contaminated rice in the southern U.S. has had a negative impact on research
in this area (with the exception of studies to determine outcrossing and to improve
detection).

The U.S. rice germplasm collection is relatively limited. Most breeding programs
focus on germplasm or breeding materials obtained directly from sources. Recent
emphasis has been placed on characterizing a subset of the U.S. collection (about 10%
of the collection or 1,700 to 1,800 accessions) both phenotypically and genotypically
(W. Yan, USDA-ARS, Stuttgart, Arkansas). A collection of genetic stocks (Genetic
USA.indd 99 5/28/2012 3:14:05 PM

stocks—Oryza) has begun at the USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research
Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Among this collection are indica germplasm derived
from IRRI breeding lines that exhibit grain quality characteristics comparable with
those of elite tropical japonicas grown in the southern states (J.N. Rutger, USDA-ARS,
Stuttgart, Arkansas). For some time, it has been recognized that indicas are capable of
very high yields in the southern U.S. although grain quality has been a serious problem
and crossing indicas with tropical japonicas has not produced improved cultivars. The
development of indica germplasm adapted to southern temperate regions (“temperate
indicas”) may prove to be an effective approach to developing improved cultivars
rivaling the elite tropical japonicas. Efforts of the RiceCAP consortium have resulted
in the development of several resources (e.g., mapping populations, marker data, and
expression data) for milling yield and sheath blight resistance (www.uark.edu/ua/
ricecap/). A number of rice mutant populations for reverse genetics have been devel-
oped in the U.S. using transposon tagging (V. Sundaresan, UC Davis) and chemical
mutagenesis (Y. Jia and J.N. Rutger, USDA-ARS, Stuttgart, Arkansas; T. Tai and L.
Comai, USDA-ARS and UC Davis).
Given the small germplasm pools upon which U.S. rice cultivars are based, ac-
cess to more diverse germplasm remains an important need. Japonica germplasm with
very high cold tolerance, resistance to lodging, resistance to stem rot and aggregate
sheath spot, and seedling vigor (in relation to water seeding) would be of interest to
California. Aromatic germplasm is of interest to both California and southern U.S.
breeding programs. In addition to breeding materials, there is significant interest in
mapping populations and mutants (insertional and chemical) for use in the genetic
dissection of milling quality, disease resistance, seedling vigor, and cold tolerance
(particularly reproductive). Although marker-assisted selection (MAS) has been used
to develop a few U.S. cultivars, more cost-effective technologies and the identification
of appropriate situations to apply MAS are concerns.

Currently, strategies for the genetic improvement of japonica rice include conventional
pedigree and backcross breeding, induced mutations (early flowering, semidwarf,
herbicide tolerance), anther culture, and, to a very limited extent, MAS. Hybrid rice is
also employed in the private sector with some success. A novel approach taken by J.N.
Rutger has been the development of indica germplasm adapted to the southern U.S.
using materials generated at IRRI (G. Khush), which have grain quality comparable
with that of the U.S. elite tropical japonicas. The development of genetically engi-
neered rice for the U.S. has been limited to the private sector, with testing performed
in cooperation with some public breeding programs. The lack of acceptance of GMOs,
particularly for export, has strictly limited this strategy.
100 Thomas H. Tai
USA.indd 100 5/28/2012 3:14:05 PM

Possible contributions to the TRRC and expectations from the TRRC
Contributions from my research program would involve cooperative research on
seedling vigor and cold tolerance, resistance to cold-induced blanking, and resistance
to stem rot and aggregate sheath spot. We have recently identified candidate genes
for two major seedling cold-tolerance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) from the widely
grown California cultivar M202. Work is under way to clone and characterize those
genes and assess their impact on low-temperature tolerance under field conditions. A
large recombinant inbred line mapping population derived from the cross M202/IR50
was developed during this project. The population consists of about 480 lines (F10)
that are available for distribution. We have also developed a Nipponbare population
for reverse genetics (Targeting Local Lesions in Genomes, TILLING) using chemical
mutagenesis. A TILLING resource/service is being constructed in cooperation with
Dr. L. Comai (UC Davis) and plants exhibiting various mutant phenotypes are also
being collected for future use/distribution.
It is expected that the TRRC will facilitate the establishment of cooperation in
the area of tolerance of low-temperature stress (additional areas of common inter-
est may also be a focus of cooperative research), including the exchange of genetic
resources (i.e., germplasm, mapping populations, mutants) and data (i.e., genotypic
and expression profiles). It is expected that ideas and expertise will be exchanged
through annual workshops and the hosting of researchers by consortium members.
An important goal should be leveraging available genomics resources to address the
specific needs of temperate rice production.
Notes
Author’s address: USDA-ARS, Davis, CA.
USA.indd 101 5/28/2012 3:14:05 PM

Temperate rice in Uruguay
E. Deambrosi, F. Pérez de Vida, and A. Roel
Rice is one of the most important agricultural products in Uruguay, where more than
90% of production is exported. The rice sector has been very dynamic and has increased
area almost five times and grain yield by 60% since 1970.
Uruguay is growing approximately 160,000 hectares of irrigated rice in rotation
with pastures for beef production; 85% of the area is planted with indica cultivars
adapted to temperate climate and 15% of the area has tropical japonica cultivars. Almost
all are long-grain varieties. Grain yield is the highest in Latin America, reaching 7.3
t ha–1 in the 2005-06 season. Average yield of the last three seasons was 6.5 t ha–1.
Rice research in the country has shown very good integration with the private
sector. The Rice Growers Association (ACA, Asociación de Cultivadores de Arroz)
and Rice Millers Association (GMA, Gremial de Molinos Arroceros) permanently in-
teract with the Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA) Rice Program
to discuss and define research lines and priorities. INIA’s Rice Program has a highly
qualified staff of 18 scientists with master’s and PhD degrees working on different
research topics. INIA also has a good structure and equipment, as well as a long his-
tory of cooperation with international partners such as RDA-Korea, UC-Davis-USA,
USDA-USA, and FLAR (Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego), and private
companies such as Rice-Tec, BASF, etc.
Breeding priorities are in developing tropical japonica and indica long-grain cultivars,
although some work is done on temperate japonica cultivars.
Most local breeding efforts are devoted to developing tropical japonica cultivars
demanded by local rice millers because of their wider marketability. In particular,
breeding is oriented toward long fine-type grains with cooking quality similar to that
of U.S. varieties from southern states. Local crosses and introductions of genetic
material from the U.S. provide genetic variability for breeding.
Japonica germplasm adapts very well to most Uruguayan rice-growing regions
(the traditional rice region is the Merin Lagoon basin that has about 70% of the total
Uruguay.indd 103 5/28/2012 3:13:13 PM

rice area). However, environmental conditions strongly suggest breeding for cold
tolerance in both the vegetative and reproductive stages for gaining yield stability.
A secondary effort has been conducted in breeding temperate japonica cultivars
by introductions and a few local crosses, and, in the medium term, more resources are
going to be devoted in this direction.
Apart from breeding, the INIA Rice Program has an integrated research strategyin
crop management, including nutrition, soil management, pathology, weeds, irrigation,
precision agriculture, and foundation seed production.
Constraints to improving japonica rice production

The following constraints are the most important:
Risk from cold temperature occurring during the reproductive phase
Disease pressure from Sclerotium oryzae and Rhizoctonia oryzae sativae
Weed competition
 Relatively poor adaptation to no-tillage dry direct seeding, low seedling vigor,
and low stand establishing ability compared with indica-type genotypes
Yield plateau already reached, which is below that of indica-type potential

Because of the obligation of the breeding program to keep grain milling and cooking
quality very high due to export market demand, there has likely been a narrowing
of genetic variability of the material used. Sporadic efforts have been made through
foreign introductions (1998 and 2007 both from the U.S.; 2005 from Korea). However,
it is necessary to have a more sustained flow of genetic material for evaluation and
breeding, as well as some supply of resources from prebreeding initiatives. In this
way, the INIA rice breeding program participates in the FLAR partnership, which
successfully provides indica-type breeding material (F3 populations and some sets
of experimental lines).

Some 100–120 crosses are made yearly; populations are grown and selection by pedi-
gree is conducted until the F5 and F6 generations, when some stages of evaluation are
carried out. Grain milling quality, productivity, and disease tolerance (Pyricularia)
are the main screening factors.
104 E. Deambrosi, F. Pérez de Vida, and A. Roel
Uruguay.indd 104 5/28/2012 3:13:15 PM

Through a research agreement with Korea’s Rural Development Administration
(RDA), we incorporated one greenhouse and an outside growing chamber. These facili-
ties allow the extension of our growing season for experimental material, which also
allows detailed studies under well-controlled conditions, specifically for conducting
research and screening on plant material for cold tolerance.
INIA has advanced biotechnology facilities and scientific staff centralized in the
Biotechnology Unit (Las Brujas Experimental Station), which handles the research
requirements of all crops cultivated in the country. Two of these scientists specifically
participate in rice research. Additionally, a new facility is going to be set up shortly at
the rice experimental station (Treinta y Tres) to routinely generate doubled haploids
and use marker-assisted selection in the rice breeding program.

The expectations are that being part of a network that will focus on genetic materials
that are important for our rice production system will allow us to progress on the con-
straints cited above. The highly qualified scientific staff and facilities for conducting
research mean that INIA could make significant contributions to the TRRC.
Notes
Authors’ address: INIA (Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria), Montevideo, CP
12600, Uruguay.
Uruguay.indd 105 5/28/2012 3:13:15 PM

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Copyright International Rice Research Institute 2012

NonCommercial: This work may not be used for commercial purposes.

Mailing address: IRRI, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines

Cover design: Sherri Maigne Meneses

TP-Citation.indd ii 5/28/2012 3:17:15 PM

Contents.indd iii 5/28/2012 3:15:05 PM

Foreword.indd v 5/28/2012 3:16:35 PM

Foreword.indd vi 5/28/2012 3:16:38 PM

Rice production in Australia is limited to a relatively small geographic area in the

Temperate rice in Australia 1

Australia.indd 1 5/28/2012 1:17:32 PM

Production (000 t) Yield (t ha–1)

2 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 2 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

Major research targets

Temperate rice in Australia 3

Australia.indd 3 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

Precision agriculture and sustainability

Crop inputs, crop protection, and grain receival

4 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 4 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

Extension, communication, and partnership development

Human capital formation and succession planning

Blue sky research

Constraints to improving rice production

Temperate rice in Australia 5

Australia.indd 5 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

6 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 6 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

Temperature (°C) Solar radiation (MJ m−2 d−1)

Fig. 3. Temperature and solar radiation throughout the rice-

Temperate rice in Australia 7

Australia.indd 7 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

8 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 8 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

shading to decrease the warming effect of solar radiation following a low-minimum-

Available genetic resources and type of genetic resources needed

Temperate rice in Australia 9

Australia.indd 9 5/28/2012 1:18:16 PM

to be negotiated according to the proportionate representation in the pedigree. The

Strategies used, including biotechnology

10 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 10 5/28/2012 1:18:17 PM

Temperate rice in Australia 11

Australia.indd 11 5/28/2012 1:18:17 PM

The breeding program emphasizes conventional breeding approaches, with ex-

Expectations from the TRRC and possible contributions to the TRRC

12 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 12 5/28/2012 1:18:17 PM

Temperate rice in Australia 13

Australia.indd 13 5/28/2012 1:18:17 PM

14 R. Reinke, G. Beecher, B. Dunn, and P. Snell

Australia.indd 14 5/28/2012 1:18:17 PM

Status of japonica rice

Temperate japonica rice in Bhutan 15

Bhutan.indd 15 5/28/2012 2:22:23 PM

Table 2. The four rice agroecozones of Bhutan.