C A L I F O R N I A
FieldCrops A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Plant breeders at the Rice Experiment Station in the Butte County farming community of Biggs are producing herbicide-tolerant rice varieties that retain high cooking quality—a key for exports.
New rice breeds can fight disease and preserve taste ByBob Johnson Plant breeders at theRiceExperiment Station inBiggs continue to roll out newvarieties that shouldmake growers’ work a little easier ormore profitable. warmer areas of the Sacramento Valley. Rice breeders noted that the most important characteristic of this new variety is its cooking quality, which qualifies it as the first premiumCalrose variety.
The Achilles’ heel of M-211, however, is its susceptibility to blast, a common fungal disease that impacts rice. When severe, it can cause significant injury to the crop. Because variety resistance is important in controlling blast, breeders said it is critical to begin with clean seed andmanage nitrogen and crop residue carefully when growing a variety such asM-211. The experiment station next year is poised to release a breakthrough rice variety with herbicide tolerance fromconventional breedingmethods. “19Y400 will probably be released next year as our first ROXY variety,” said Kent McKenzie, who recently retired as director of the station. He continues to work as a con- sultant onherbicide-tolerant rice to theCaliforniaCooperativeRiceResearchFoundation and the crop protection company Albaugh. The line of rice known as ROXY, which stands for resistant to oxyfluorfen, are her- bicide-tolerant rice varieties. They began as a variant trait of M-206 medium-grain rice that can be crossed into other varieties using conventional methods and not genetic engineering.
Some of the varieties offer better resistance of commondiseases. Onebrings herbicide tolerance through conventional breeding. All of them figure to produce better yields of high-quality rice. “Our varieties areall highyieldingandhighquality,” saidTeresaDeLeon, a ricebreeder at the experiment station. California rice values stand at $700million to $900millionannually, secondnationally toArkansas.Growersneedhighquality tomaintain their exportmarkets, especially Japan, which buys around a billion pounds of the state’s rice. Growers support andcontrol researchat the station through theCaliforniaCooperative Rice Research Foundation. Participating at the annual Rice Field Day, De Leon stood in plots of medium-grain varieties, including the recently releasedM-211. “M-211 is a very high-yielding variety,” De Leon said. “It is premiumquality, but you have to handle it with tender loving care.” In statewide tests last year, M-211 produced greater yields than all other medi- um-grain varieties, at 9,600 pounds per acre. It is particularly well suited for the
See RICE, Page 8
September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 7
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