Search

‘Haedeul’ is a high-quality rice variety with early maturing that adapts to the central region of Korea. This cultivar was crossed between ‘Gopum’, which has excellent taste, and ‘Hoban’, which has a low viviparous germination rate and is moderately tolerant of cold, by the rice breeding team of the Department of Central Area Crop Science, NlCS, RDA, in 2017. In early-transplanting cultivation, the heading date of ‘Haedeul’ was July 24 in central area of Korea, which was seven days later than that of ‘Jopyeong’. ‘Haedeul’ had a culm length of 75 cm and 99 spikelets per panicle. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Haedeul’ was 7.7%. It showed resistance to blast and bacterial blight (K1, K2, K3 race), but was susceptible to the K3a race of bacterial blight, stripe virus, dwarf and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant-hoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited a translucent and medium short grain shape. The cooked rice grains of ‘Haedeul’ had an excellent palatability index (0.61) and lower amylose content (18.0%) than that of ‘Jopyeong’. The grain milling characteristics were better than those of ‘Jopyeong’, especially the head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (94.9%). ‘Haedeul’ milled rice productivity averaged 5.32 MT/ha at five sites under ordinary cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Baromi2” is an improved resistant early maturing rice variety with floury endosperm, and is suitable for dry milling. This variety was developed in 2019 by crossing “Suweon542,” which is ideal for dry milling, and “Jopyeong” by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration. The heading date of “Baromi2” was July 27 in the Honam Plains, 17 d earlier than that of “Seolgaeng.” The culm length of “Baromi2” was 76 cm, which was almost the same as its check variety “Seolgaeng”; additionally, its panicle length, panicle number, and 1,000 grain-weight of brown rice were 23 cm, 11, and 18.4 g, respectively. “Baromi2” showed strong resistance against rice blast, bacterial blight, and stripe virus disease, but was susceptible to dwarf and brown and small brown planthoppers. The milled rice yield of “Baromi2” was approximately 475 kg/10a in the local adaptability test for 3 years in the late planting culture. The grain hardness of “Baromi2” with a floury endosperm was 2 and 3 times lower than that of “Seolgaeng” with opaque endosperm and “Jopyeong” with transparent endosperm, respectively. The rice flour of “Baromi2” exhibited superior physicochemical characteristics with respect to granule size and damaged starch content compared with any other check varieties. These results inferred that “Baromi2” was suitable for dry milling and for the processed rice industry, owing to its lower milling costs and eco-friendly milling methods (Registration No. 9052). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Alchanmi’, a japonica rice variety, was developed from a cross between ‘Junam’ and ‘Chilbo’ by a rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science and Icheon, Agricultural Technology Center in 2018. The heading date of ‘Alchanmi’ was August 10 in the middle plain area—two days later than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Alchanmi’ had a culm length of 69 cm, 16 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, and 103 spikelets per panicle. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Alchanmi’ was 24.4%. It showed resistance to blast, bacterial blight (K1, K2, K3 race), and stripe virus, but was susceptible to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited a translucent and medium short grain shape. The cooked rice grains of ‘Alchanmi’ had an excellent palatability index (0.7) and showed lower amylose content (18.6%) than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The grain milling characteristics of ‘Alchanmi’ were better than those of ‘Hwaseong’, especially the head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (96.2%). ‘Alchanmi’ showed 5.83 MT/ha of milled rice productivity at 6 sites under ordinary cultivation (Registration No. 8132). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The damage caused by typhoons to rice production has been increasing. To reduce this damage, wind-tolerant rice breeding programs have been conducted at the Yeongdeok substation (YS) of the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS). This study was conducted to examine the effects of these wind-tolerant rice breeding programs. Under the wind-tolerance screening facility (WTSF), the wind-tolerance of 17 rice varieties bred at NICS (usual rice) and 20 rice varieties bred at YS (wind-tolerant rice) were analyzed by evaluating six traits: white spikelet (WS), white panicle (WP), degree of wind damage (DG), ratio of ripened grain (RRG) at control (RRG_C) and treatment (RRG_T), and reduction rate of RRG between control and treatment (RRG_R). Wind-tolerant rice showed more wind-tolerant characteristics than usual rice, such as lower WS, WP, DG, and RRG_R and higher RRG_T and RRG_C. In the principal component analysis, wind-tolerant rice showing a similar direction for RRG_T and RRG_C were located separately from the usual rice. The adaptability tests of wind-tolerant rice were conducted by evaluating eight yield-related traits in the wind-prone areas. Wind-tolerant rice was divided into three clusters by K-means clustering analysis using WP and RRG_T with the WTSF, RRG, and yield in the wind-prone areas. Among the three clusters, YC2 had the strongest wind tolerance performance, followed by YC3 showing moderate wind tolerance, and YC1 the weakest wind tolerance. ‘Sinbo’, a variety belonging to YC2, exhibited the strongest wind tolerance and high yield potential among all varieties. The wind-tolerant rice varieties bred at YS could be used practically to prevent wind damage and utilize breeding materials to enhance the wind tolerance of rice varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Sangbo’ is a japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety with high head rice grain ratio and good ripened grain color, as well as resistance to rice dwarf virus (RDV) and bacterial blight disease (BB). It was developed by the rice breeding team of the Yeongdeok Branch of the National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, Korea, in 2015. This variety was derived in the 2002 summer season from a cross between ‘Yeongdeog32’, with high eating quality, and ‘Nampyeong’, with a high milling ratio. In 2012, a promising line, YR24256-142-5-3-1-1-2, selected by the pedigree breeding method, was designated the name, ‘Yeongdeog59’. After performing a local adaptability test at nine locations from 2013 to 2015, ‘Yeongdeog59’ was released with the name ‘Sangbo’ in 2015. ‘Sangbo’ has a culm length of 77 cm and a medium-late growth duration. This variety was resistant to K1, K2, and K3 races of bacterial blight, along with the dwarf virus, and was moderately resistant to leaf blast disease. Based on the results of a panel test, ‘Sangbo’ has translucent and clear milled rice kernel without white core and belly rice, and good eating quality. The yield potential of ‘Sangbo’ in milled rice was approximately 6.21 MT/ha at the ordinary fertilizer level of the local adaptability test (LAT). This cultivar would be adaptable to the middle plain, south plain, Yeongnam plain, east coastal area, and south mid-mountainous areas of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have enabled large-scale cost-effective genotypic analyses, and consequently, obtaining reliable phenotypic data has now become a major bottleneck in data-driven plant breeding. In order to construct a phenotype database for commercial rice varieties released by the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, we initiated a systematic phenotype evaluation project, with the aim of investigating the major agronomic traits of Korean rice varieties released during the period between 1979 and 2017. Despite the narrow genetic background, we found that the days to heading (DTH) and culm length (CL) of the 297 Korean rice varieties assessed exhibited wide phenotypic variation under different environments. Under normal planting cultivation in 2018, the DTH ranged from 48 to 104 days in Suwon, 46 to 111 days in Wanju, and 39 to 97 days in Miryang, with CL values ranging from 59 to 134 cm, 55 to 122 cm, and 57 to 106 cm, respectively. During early planting cultivation in 2019, the DTH ranged from 56 to 113 days (Suwon), 58 to 109 days (Wanju), and 58 to 100 days (Miryang), with corresponding CL values ranging from 63 to 119 cm, 55 to 93 cm, and 51 to 115 cm. Despite the difference of one month in planting dates in 2018 and 2019, DTH in the different years and regions showed highly significant positive correlations (r=0.90-0.98), whereas CL showed positive but weaker correlations (r=0.45-0.82). Furthermore, we detected a weak, although significant, correlation between DTH and CL in each environment (r=-0.18-0.35). Analyses of additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) were conducted for DTH and CL to identify rice varieties with stable phenotypes under different environments. We anticipate that the findings of this study will provide a useful rice phenotype database to facilitate genotype-phenotype association studies and data-driven rice breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice research in Korea during the past 100 years has gone through tremendous changes and improvements as the country underwent a turbulent history of transformation. Full-scale R&D modernization began in the 1970s, when the government focused policy on achieving self-sufficiency in rice in order to establish the foundation for national economic growth. A major landmark was reached by the development of the rice variety “Tongil” and its cultivation technology, which was at the core of the unprecedented Korean “Green Revolution”. Since achieving self-sufficiency in rice, the breeding goal of Korea moved from increasing yield to improving grain quality as more consumers began to seek high quality food products in the 1980s. This change led to the establishment of the high quality rice breeding platform for enhancing the global competitiveness of Korean rice to cope with the opening of domestic rice market in the 2000s. Currently, the major breeding goals in rice are developing premium quality cultivars for table rice and specialized cultivars for boosting processed food industry. To date, the National Institute of Crop Science has released a total of 300 rice cultivars, including 202 table rice and 98 specialized usage cultivars. Diverse technologies have been developed and utilized for breeding new rice cultivars to meet changing needs. In the next 100 years of rice breeding, the convergence of traditional crop improvement technologies and the new breeding technologies utilizing recent advances in biotechnology will play a crucial role in enhancing breeding efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jungmo1022’, a japonica rice cultivar, was developed by a cross between ‘Jinbu31’ (IT212616) and ‘Gyodong23’ (IT213764) by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science, Korea, in 2000. ‘Jinbu31’ is tolerant to cold, and ‘Gyodong23’ is early maturing with high yield potential. The growth period of ‘Jungmo1022’ in paddy fields was 116 days on the North-middle highland in Korea, shorter than that of ‘Jinbu’. The culm length of ‘Jungmo1022’ was 67 cm, which was 2 cm shorter than that of ‘Jinbu’. There were 91 spikelets per panicle in ‘Jungmo1022’. The elite line was developed by shuttle breeding in a cold screening field at Chuncheon and highland Jinbu sites in order to screen for cold tolerant varieties. Forty-five lines with more than 50% fertility were selected from the F2 generation in the cold screening field, and the line SR28990-B-2-2-2 was selected by the pedigree breeding method through F3-F7 generations cultivated on the North-middle highland in Jinbu. During the yield trial conducted in 2008-2009 yield trial, an early heading, high-yielding, and cold tolerant line ‘Jinbu 48’ was selected for the local adaptability tests conducted from 2010 to 2012. The early maturing and cold-tolerant ‘Jinbu 48’ was superior to ‘Jinbu’ in exhibiting shorter heading delay, reduced culm length, and spikelet fertility under cold temperature. The new line showed a milled rice productivity of 5.69 MT/ha at Jinbu sites under North-middle highland cultivation and was registered as a new cultivar ‘Jungmo1022’ (Registration No. 5563). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rice cultivar ‘Misiru’, which is ideal for rice flour production by dry milling, was developed by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Korea, in 2017 to vitalize the rice processing industry. It is derived from a cross between ‘Daeripbyeo1’ and ‘Seolgaeng’. ‘Misiru’ was grown on a middle plain area by ordinary cultivation methods. The heading date was on August 13, culm length was 85 cm, and there were 12 panicles and 112 spikelets per panicle. The ripened g rain ratio was lower than that of ‘Hwaseong’; however, the 1,000 brown rice weight was 30.8 g, about 8 g heavier than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Misiru’ showed medium resistance to blast but susceptibility to bacterial blight, viruses, and insect pests. It was resistant to lodging, whereas pre-harvest sprouting rate and cold tolerance were similar to those of ‘Hwaseong’. The milled rice appeared non-glutinous opaque, with opaque grain rate of 83.7%. The rice grain was soft and starch granules in the endosperm were of spherical type, similar to wheat. The grain contained 6.4% protein and 18.6% amylose (the content of the latter was similar to that in ‘Hwaseong’). However, its milled rice recovery rate was lower than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The average size of dry-milling rice flour was 64.4 μm, and the rate of damaged starch was 5.2%, lower than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Misiru’ milled rice yield was 5.66 MT/ha, 8% higher than the yield potential of ‘Hwaseong’. The cultivar ‘Misiru’ is thus suitable for rice flour production by dry milling (Grant No. 7682). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Jinhan’, a japonica rice variety, was developed from a cross between ‘Cheolwon68’ (IT218244) and ‘Junghwabyeo’ (IT260473) by the rice breeding team at National Institute of Crop Science in 2015. ‘Cheolwon68’ is early maturing and resistant to blast disease, and ‘Junghwabyeo’ is a cold-tolerant and high-quality variety. The growth duration of ‘Jinhan’ in the paddy field was 116 days in the Northern Central Highland in Korea, which was similar to that of ‘Jinbu’. The culm length of ‘Jinhan’ was 61 cm, which was 10 cm shorter than that of ‘Jinbu’. The panicle of ‘Jinhan’ was composed of 66 spikelets. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Jinhan’ was 33.2%. ‘Jinhan’ showed resistance to blast disease, but was susceptible to stripe virus, dwarf and black-streaked dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice grains of ‘Jinhan’ showed an excellent palatability index (0.23) and lower protein content (5.7%) than that of ‘Jinbu’. The grain milling characteristics of ‘Jinhan’ were similar to those of ‘Jinbu’. ‘Jinhan’ showed a milled rice productivity of 5.43 MT/ha at four sites cultivated in the Northern Central Highland (Registration No. 7318). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Yeongbo’ is a variety of japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) with good eating quality, resistance to rice stripe virus, rice dwarf virus, and bacterial blight disease. It was developed by the rice breeding team of the Yeongdeok Branch, National Institute Crop Science, Rural Development Administration in 2014. This variety was derived from a cross between ‘Yeongdeog35’ with good eating quality and ‘Saekyehwa’ with good plant type in the 2002 summer season. A promising line selected through the pedigree breeding method, YR24269-1-2-1-2-3-3, was designated as ‘Yeongdeog57’ in 2011. After a local adaptability test at nine locations from 2012 to 2014, ‘Yeongdeog57’ was released under the name of ‘Yeongbo’ in 2014. ‘Yeongbo’ had a short culm length of 66 cm and medium growth duration. This variety was resistant to K1, K2, and K3 races of bacterial blight, rice stripe virus, and dwarf virus, and moderately resistant to leaf blast disease. ‘Yeongbo’ had translucent and clear milled rice kernel without white core and belly, and good eating quality according to a panel test. The yield potential of ‘Yeongbo’ in milled rice was approximately 5.75 MT/ha at an ordinary fertilizer level in the local adaptability test. This cultivar would be adaptable to middle plain area, south plain area, Yeongnam plain area, east costal area, and south mid-mountainous area. (Registration No.6804) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oryza sativa ‘Sinbo’ is a cultivar of japonica rice with good eating quality as well as resistance to rice dwarf virus (RDV) and bacterial blight disease (BB). It was developed in 2013 by the rice breeding team of Yeongdeok Branch, National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, Korea. This cultivar was derived from a cross between ‘Yeongdeog34‘, a cultivar with good eating quality, and ‘Saekyehwa’, a cultivar of a good plant type, in summer of 2002. A promising line (YR24264-25-3-2) selected using the pedigree breeding method was designated as ‘Yeongdeog55’ in 2010. After carrying out the local adaptability test at nine locations from 2011 to 2013, ‘Yeongdeog55’ was published under the name of ‘Sinbo’ in 2013. ‘Sinbo’ is a medium-late maturing cultivar with a short culm length of 70 cm. This cultivar is resistant to K1, K2, and K3 races of bacterial blight as well as to dwarf virus, and it is moderately resistant to leaf blast disease. The results of the panel test indicated that ‘Sinbo’ has translucent and clear milled rice kernel without white core and belly rice as well as good eating quality. The yield potential of ‘Sinbo’ was approximately 5.67 MT/ha at the ordinary fertilizer level in the local adaptability test (LAT). This cultivar could be adaptable to the middle plain, south plain, Yeongnam plain, east costal area, and south mid-mountainous area of South Korea. (Registration No. 5643) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Chamdream’ is a medium-late maturing, high-quality rice cultivar developed in 2014 by the crop breeding team of Crop Research Division, GARES, Hwaseong, Korea, in cooperation with the rice breeding team of the National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, Korea. ‘Chamdream’ was first developed in 2004 from a backcross between the F1 hybrid ‘Samgwang/Jojeongdo’ and ‘Samgwang’ cultivar. The heading date of this cultivar is August 17 th in Gyeonggido Province. Its culm length is 79 cm and it has 15 panicles per hill and 115 spikelets per panicle. It is a medium-grain brown rice cultivar with a weight of 22.9 g per 1,000 grains. Its cold tolerance is lower than that of ‘Hwaseongbyeo’ and its degree of lodging tolerance is similar to that of ‘Hwaseongbyeo’. This cultivar is resistant to bacterial leaf blight and stripe virus diseases and moderately resistant to rice blast diseases, but it is susceptible to other virus diseases and pests. The appearance of milled ‘Chamdream’ rice is clear and its protein content is 5.4%, which is lower than that of ‘Hwaseongbyeo’. The palatability of cooked ‘Chamdream’ rice is better than that of ‘Chucheongbyeo’ which is mainly cultivated in Gyeonggido. Its milling ratio is 76.8% which is higher than that of ‘Hwaseongbyeo’. The yield of milled ‘Chamdream’ rice was 5.9 MT/ha in the local adaptability tests in standard cultivation in four regions from 2012 to 2014. ‘Chamdream’ is highly adaptable to the environmental conditions of Gyeonggido Province, especially to the southern region of Han River. (Registration No. 6065) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘Hangaru’ is a rice variety derived from a cross between ‘Seolgaeng’, which is suitable for making rice wine, and ‘Daeripbyeo1’, which has a heavy grain weight (34.8g) and is suitable for deep fried rice, by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, in 2017. The heading date of ‘Hangaru’ was August 18 and was 10 days later than check variety, ‘Hwaseong’, in Suwon. It had a culm length of 79 cm and 102 spikelets per panicle, and showed similar tolerance to ‘Hwaseong’ when exposed to cold stress. ‘Hangaru’ showed medium resistance to blast disease, but susceptibility to bacterial blight, viruses and brown planthoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited an opaque and non-glutinous endosperm. The 1,000 grain weight of brown rice was 32.9 g, which was 10.8 g heavier than that of ‘Hwaseong’; the protein content was 7.0% and the amylose content (19.2%) was similar to that of ‘Hwaseong’. The milled rice recovery rate was lower than that of ‘Hwaseong’. However, opaque grain percentage of milled rice was 88.1%. The hardness of the rice grain was soft and the starch granule shape in the endosperm was round, similar to wheat. The average size of rice flour was 71.0 μm and the damaged starch rate was 6.4%. These results showed that this variety could be suitable for dry milling rice flour production. ‘Hangaru’ had a yield of 5.42 MT/ha of milled rice productivity in ordinary cultivation, which was 99% of that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Hangaru’ was adaptable to the middle plain area and Mid-west coast of Korea (Registration No. 7270). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Jungmo1033’, a japonica rice variety, was developed by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 1992. It is derived from a cross between a native variety ‘Jagwangdo’, which has translucent milled rice and medium maturity; and ‘Hwayeong’, which is an elite line with bacterial blight resistance and mid-late maturity. The heading date of ‘Jungmo1033’ was August 10 in the middle plain area of Korea, which was two days later than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Jungmo1033’ has a culm length of 79 cm, which was 5 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, and 105 spikelets per panicle. ‘Jungmo1033’ showed resistance to bacterial blight (K1, K2, and K3 races) and stripe virus, but susceptibility to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf and black-streaked dwarf viruses, and planthoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited translucency and a medium short grain shape. It had an excellent appearance and lower amylose content (19.1%) than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The characteristics related to grain milling were better than those of ‘Hwaseong’, especially head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (94.8%). ‘Jungmo1033’ showed a milled rice productivity of 5.38 MT/ha at 11 sites under ordinary cultivation conditions. (Registration No. 5723) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural usage of phosphorus (P) is largely driven by the amount of P removed from fields in harvested plant matter as offtake needs to be balanced by P fertilizer application. Reducing P concentration in grains is a way to decrease P offtake and reduce P fertilizer requirements or soil P mining where insufficient P is applied. Our objective was to assesses the genotypic variation for grain P concentration present within the rice gene pool and resolve to what extent it is affected by environment (P supply) or associated with genetic factors. About 2-fold variation in grain P concentrations were detected in two rice diversity panels, however, environmental effects were stronger than genotype effects. Genome wide association studies identified several putative loci associated with grain P concentrations. In most cases this was caused by minor haplotype associations with high grain P concentrations while associations with reduced P concentrations were identified on chromosomes 1, 6, 8, 11 and 12. Only the latter type of locus is of interest in breeding for reduced P concentrations and the most promising locus was at 20.7 Mb on chromosome 8, where a rare haplotype that was absent from all modern varieties studied reduced grain P concentration by 9.3%. This and all other loci were not consistently detected across environments or association panels, confirming that genetic effects were small compared to effects of environment. We conclude that the genetic effects detected were not sufficiently large or consistent to be of utility in plant breeding. Instead breeding efforts may have to rely on small to medium effect mutants already identified and attempt to achieve a more pronounced reduction in grain P concentration through the introgression of these mutants into a single genetic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 787 non-waxy rice lines– 116 hybrids and 671 inbreds–were used to study the apparent amylose content (AAC), gelatinization temperature (GT), and rapid visco analyzer (RVA) pasting viscosity properties of rice starch to understand their importance in breeding better rice varieties. The investigated traits showed a wide range of diversity for both hybrid (HG) and inbred (IG) groups. The combinations of the different categories of AAC and GT were random in HG but were non-random in IG. For inbred lines, the high level of AAC tended to combine with the low level of GT, the intermediate level of AAC tended to have high or intermediate GT, and the low level of AAC tended to have high or low GT. Some stable correlations of the AAC, GT, and RVA properties may be the results derived from the physicochemical relationships among these traits, which rice breeders could utilize for selection in advanced breeding generations. Through cluster analysis, IG and HG were divided into 52 and 31 sub-clusters, respectively. Identifying the cultivars having AAC, GT, and RVA properties similar to that of popular high-quality rice varieties seems to be an interesting strategy and could be directly used for adaptation trials to breed high-quality rice varieties in targeted areas in a more customized manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) is a key concern in combating global food insecurity given the disease is responsible for approximately 30% of rice production losses globally—the equivalent of feeding 60 million people. These losses increase the global rice price and reduce consumer welfare and food security. Rice is the staple crop for more than half the world’s population so any reduction in rice blast would have substantial beneficial effects on consumer livelihoods. In 2012, researchers in the US began analyzing the feasibility of creating blast-resistant rice through cisgenic breeding. Correspondingly, our study evaluates the changes in producer, consumer, and environmental welfare, if all the rice produced in the Mid-South of the US were blast resistant through a process like cisgenics, using both international trade and environmental assessment modeling. Our results show that US rice producers would gain 69.34 million dollars annually and increase the rice supply to feed an additional one million consumers globally by eliminating blast from production in the Mid-South. These results suggest that blast alleviation could be even more significant in increasing global food security given that the US is a small rice producer by global standards and likely experiences lower losses from blast than other rice-producing countries because of its ongoing investment in production technology and management. Furthermore, results from our detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) show that producing blast-resistant rice has lower environmental (fossil fuel depletion, ecotoxicity, carcinogenics, eutrophication, acidification, global warming potential, and ozone depletion) impacts per unit of rice than non-blast resistant rice production. Our findings suggest that any reduction in blast via breeding will have significantly positive impacts on reducing global food insecurity through increased supply, as well as decreased price and environmental impacts in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tiller angle is one of the most important components of the ideal plant architecture that can greatly enhance rice grain yield. Understanding the genetic basis of tiller angle and mining favorable alleles will be helpful for breeding new plant-type varieties. Here, we performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify genes controlling tiller angle using 529 diverse accessions of Oryza sativa including 295 indica and 156 japonica accessions in two environments. We identified 7 common quantitative trait loci (QTLs), including the previously reported major gene Tiller Angle Control 1 (TAC1), in the two environments, 10 and 13 unique QTLs in Hainan and Wuhan, respectively. More QTLs were identified in indica than in japonica, and three major QTLs (qTA3, qTA1b/DWARF2 (D2) and qTA9c/TAC1) were fixed in japonica but segregating in indica, which explained the wider variation observed in indica compared with that in japonica. No common QTLs were identified between the indica and japonica subpopulations. Mutant analysis for the candidate gene of qTA3 on chromosome 3 indicated a novel gene, Tiller Angle Control 3 (TAC3), encoding a conserved hypothetical protein controlling tiller angle. TAC3 is preferentially expressed in the tiller base. The ebisu dwarf (d2) mutant exhibited a decreased tiller angle, in addition to its previously described abnormal phenotype. A nucleotide diversity analysis revealed that TAC3, D2 and TAC1 have been subjected to selection during japonica domestication. A haplotype analysis identified favorable alleles of TAC3, D2 and TAC1, which may be used for breeding plants with an ideal architecture. In conclusion, there is a diverse genetic basis for tiller angle between the two subpopulations, and it is the novel gene TAC3 together with TAC1, D2, and other newly identified genes in this study that controls tiller angle in rice cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study we carried out a genome-wide association analysis for plant and grain morphology and root architecture in a unique panel of temperate rice accessions adapted to European pedo-climatic conditions. This is the first study to assess the association of selected phenotypic traits to specific genomic regions in the narrow genetic pool of temperate japonica. A set of 391 rice accessions were GBS-genotyped yielding—after data editing—57000 polymorphic and informative SNPS, among which 54% were in genic regions. Results: In total, 42 significant genotype-phenotype associations were detected: 21 for plant morphology traits, 11 for grain quality traits, 10 for root architecture traits. The FDR of detected associations ranged from 3 · 10−7 to 0.92 (median: 0.25). In most cases, the significant detected associations co-localised with QTLs and candidate genes controlling the phenotypic variation of single or multiple traits. The most significant associations were those for flag leaf width on chromosome 4 (FDR = 3 · 10−7) and for plant height on chromosome 6 (FDR = 0.011). Conclusions: We demonstrate the effectiveness and resolution of the developed platform for high-throughput phenotyping, genotyping and GWAS in detecting major QTLs for relevant traits in rice. We identified strong associations that may be used for selection in temperate irrigated rice breeding: e.g. associations for flag leaf width, plant height, root volume and length, grain length, grain width and their ratio. Our findings pave the way to successfully exploit the narrow genetic pool of European temperate rice and to pinpoint the most relevant genetic components contributing to the adaptability and high yield of this germplasm. The generated data could be of direct use in genomic-assisted breeding strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil salinity is a major constraint to rice production in large inland and coastal areas around the world. Modern high yielding rice varieties are particularly sensitive to high salt stress. There are salt tolerant landraces and traditional varieties of rice but with limited information on genomic regions (QTLs) and genes responsible for their tolerance. Here we describe a method for rapid identification of QTLs for reproductive stage salt tolerance in rice using bulked segregant analysis (BSA) of bi-parental recombinant inbred lines (RIL). The number of RILs required for the creation of two bulks with extreme phenotypes was optimized to be thirty each. The parents and bulks were genotyped using a 50K SNP chip to identify genomic regions showing homogeneity for contrasting alleles of polymorphic SNPs in the two bulks. The method was applied to ‘CSR11/MI48’ RILs segregating for reproductive stage salt tolerance. Genotyping of the parents and RIL bulks, made on the basis of salt sensitivity index for grain yield, revealed 6,068 polymorphic SNPs and 21 QTL regions showing homogeneity of contrasting alleles in the two bulks. The method was validated further with ‘CSR27/MI48’ RILs used earlier for mapping salt tolerance QTLs using low-density SSR markers. BSA with 50K SNP chip revealed 5,021 polymorphic loci and 34 QTL regions. This not only confirmed the location of previously mapped QTLs but also identified several new QTLs, and provided a rapid way to scan the whole genome for mapping QTLs for complex agronomic traits in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative trait loci conferring high grain yield under drought in rice are important genomic resources for climate resilient breeding. Major and consistent drought grain yield QTLs usually co-locate with flowering and/or plant height QTLs, which could be due to either linkage or pleiotropy. Five mapping populations used for the identification of major and consistent drought grain yield QTLs underwent multiple-trait, multiple-interval mapping test (MT-MIM) to estimate the significance of pleiotropy effects. Results indicated towards possible linkages between the drought grain yield QTLs with co-locating flowering and/or plant height QTLs. Linkages of days to flowering and plant height were eliminated through a marker-assisted breeding approach. Drought grain yield QTLs also showed interaction effects with flowering QTLs. Drought responsiveness of the flowering locus on chromosome 3 (qDTY3 . 2) has been revealed through allelic analysis. Considering linkage and interaction effects associated with drought QTLs, a comprehensive marker-assisted breeding strategy was followed to develop rice genotypes with improved grain yield under drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with rice root morphology provides useful information for avoiding drought stress and maintaining yield production under the irrigation condition. In this study, a set of chromosome segment substitution lines derived from 9311 as the recipient and Nipponbare as donor, were used to analysis root morphology. By combining the resequencing-based bin-map with a multiple linear regression analysis, QTL identification was conducted on root number (RN), total root length (TRL), root dry weight (RDW), maximum root length (MRL), root thickness (RTH), total absorption area (TAA) and root vitality (RV), using the CSSL population grown under hydroponic conditions. A total of thirty-eight QTLs were identified: six for TRL, six for RDW, eight for the MRL, four for RTH, seven for RN, two for TAA, and five for RV. Phenotypic effect variance explained by these QTLs ranged from 2.23% to 37.08%, and four single QTLs had more than 10% phenotypic explanations on three root traits. We also detected the correlations between grain yield (GY) and root traits, and found that TRL, RTH and MRL had significantly positive correlations with GY. However, TRL, RDW and MRL had significantly positive correlations with biomass yield (BY). Several QTLs identified in our population were co-localized with some loci for grain yield or biomass. This information may be immediately exploited for improving rice water and fertilizer use efficiency for molecular breeding of root system architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain length is an important quantitative trait in rice (Oryza sativa L.) that influences both grain yield and exterior quality. Although many quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for grain length have been identified, it is still unclear how different alleles from different QTLs regulate grain length coordinately. To explore the mechanisms of QTL combination in the determination of grain length, five mapping populations, including two F2 populations, an F3 population, an F7 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, and an F8 RIL population, were developed from the cross between the U.S. tropical japonica variety ‘Lemont’ and the Chinese indica variety ‘Yangdao 4’ and grown under different environmental conditions. Four QTLs (qGL-3-1, qGL-3-2, qGL-4, and qGL-7) for grain length were detected using both composite interval mapping and multiple interval mapping methods in the mapping populations. In each locus, there was an allele from one parent that increased grain length and another allele from another parent that decreased it. The eight alleles in the four QTLs were analyzed to determine whether these alleles act additively across loci, and lead to a linear relationship between the predicted breeding value of QTLs and phenotype. Linear regression analysis suggested that the combination of eight alleles determined grain length. Plants carrying more grain length-increasing alleles had longer grain length than those carrying more grain length-decreasing alleles. This trend was consistent in all five mapping populations and demonstrated the regulation of grain length by the four QTLs. Thus, these QTLs are ideal resources for modifying grain length in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rice variety ‘Daebo’ is a japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) with good eating quality, lodging tolerance, and resistance to rice stripe virus (RSV) and blight bacterial disease (BB). It is developed by the rice breeding team of Yeongdeog Substation, National Institute Crop Science, RDA in 2011. This variety derived from a cross between ‘YR21247-68-1' with good plant type and ‘Yeongdeog35' with good eating quality conducted in 2002 summer season. A promising line, YR23940-B-17-1-2, selected by bulk and pedigree breeding method was designated as the name of ‘Yeongdeog51' in 2008. After the local adaptability test was carried out at seven locations from 2009 to 2011, ‘Yeongdeog51' was released as the name of ‘Daebo’ in 2011. ‘Daebo’ is short culm length as 63 cm and medium-growth duration. This variety is resistant to races, K1, K2, and K3 of bacterial blight and stripe virus and moderately resistant to leaf blast disease resistance. ‘Daebo’ has translucent and clear milled rice kernel without white core and belly rice, and good eating quality as a result of panel test. The yield potential of ‘Daebo’ in milled rice is about 5.93 MT/ha at ordinary fertilizer level of local adaptability test. This cultivar would be adaptable to middle plain, south plain, mid-west costal area, and south mid-mountainous area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Mogyang', a new high biomass yield and whole crop silage rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar, is developed by the rice breeding team of National Institute of Crop Science, R.D.A., Suwon, Korea, during the period from was to 2010 and released in 2011. It was derived from a cross between SR24592-HB2319/IR73165-B-6-1-1. This cultivar has about 118 days of growth duration from seeding to heading and has long and erect leaves (culm length 93 cm). It has tough thick culm with strong lodging tolerance. This cultivar has a few less tillers per hill and markedly more spikelet numbers per panicle. ‘Mogyang' has wide and stay green leaf compared other whole crop silage varieties. This new variety has grain shattering resistance and disease resistance for blast and dwarf virus. This variety has good qualities for whole crop silage with high TDN (Total Digestive Nutrient) yield and low NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber) and low ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber) compared to common high grain yield varieties. The biomass and TDN yield performance of ‘Mogyang' was 59.5% (chemical properties), 17.7 MT/ha (biomass yield), individually in local adaptability test for three years. ‘Mogyang' is adaptable to central plain area, southern plain area of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Baegjinju 1' is a new Japonica rice variety developed from a cross Ilpum (MNU)-10-2-GHI-3 and 'Seoanbyeo' by a rice breeding team of National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, during the period from 1995 to 2005. This variety has heading date of August 23 in central plain area of Korea. It has a good semi-elect plant type and resistance to lodging with strong culm. The number of panicles/hill of 'Baegjinju 1' is more than that of 'Hwaseongbyeo'. and milled rice of that shows dull and medium short grain. It has very low amylose content (11.5%) and similar gelatinization temperature and good texture characteristics of cooked brown and milled rice compared with 'Baegjinju'. It has moderate to leaf blast, but susceptible to bacterial blight, virus disease and insect pests. The yield performance of this variety is about 4.92MT/ha in milled rice in local adaptability test for three years (2003-2005). 'Baegjinju 1' is adaptable to central and southern plain areas of Korea [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]