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The primary goal of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's Arkansas Rice Foundation Seed Program is to make rice seed of newly released and proven cultivars available to Arkansas growers as quickly as possible. Foundation seed is then sold to certified seed growers who multiply it into either registered or certified seed for sale to rice producers. This study focuses specifically on the sales of Arkansas pure-line rice foundation seed in Arkansas. The objective is to evaluate the impact of Arkansas rice foundation seed sales on acres of public and proprietary rice lines in Arkansas. Seemingly unrelated regression was used to evaluate the impacts of Arkansas rice foundation seed sales on both public (pure-line) acres and proprietary (Clearfield and hybrid) acres since 2000. The results indicate the sale of Arkansas rice foundation seed has significant impacts on Arkansas rice acres, and these impacts vary depending on the types of rice cultivars grown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arkansas rice breeding program has the ongoing goal to develop new long- and medium-grain cultivars as well as specialty cultivars including aromatics and Japanese quality short-grains. Cultivars are evaluated and selected for desirable characteristics. Those with desirable qualities which require further improvement are utilized as parents in future crosses. Important components of this program include: high-yield potential, excellent milling yields, pest and disease resistance, improved plant type (i.e., short stature, semidwarf, shorter maturity, erect leaves), and superior grain quality (i.e., low chalk, cooking, processing and eating). New cultivars are continually being released to rice producers for traditional Southern U.S. markets as well as for emerging specialty markets, which are gaining in popularity with rice consumers. This report describes the progress of the long-grain and specialty rice pure-line rice breeding efforts at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]