TODD MILLER \ BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
The adage “variety is the spice of life,” is often used to promote the idea that trying new and different things makes the world around us more interesting. And while few would consider rice “spicy,” two new varieties of the grain will be released in 2026 thanks to the breeding program at the LSU AgCenter’s H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station.
According to Adam Famoso, director and rice breeder of the research station, PVL05 and Venus will become commercially available during the next year. PVL05 is a long-grain variety and an evolution from PVL03, Louisiana’s most widely grown variety, while Venus is more of a typical medium grain.
Famoso said that PVL05 has demonstrated improved yield and yield stability, however its ratoon (second crop), potential isn’t as robust as PVL03’s and the milling yield isa little lower as well, so the question is, why release it? Famoso said it’s to give growers options that might better fit their particular needs.
“PVL03 has been a very impactful variety overall, but in some environments it hasn’t been a great fit. The increased stability of PVL05 may provide a better alternative in those cases,” he said.
As a standard medium-grain variety, Venus, was developed in the medium-grain breeding program led by AgCenter researcher Brijesh Angira and has demonstrated improved yields and stability across years over the widely grown medium-grain varieties – Jupiter and Titan. According to Angira it fits the grain quality parameters expected of a U.S. medium grain and they are working with end users to get it characterized.
“With Venus, we’re doing a lot of work with Kellogg’s right now to get it approved for use in Rice Krispies and other products,” Famoso said. “Certain markets want particular grain quality parameters and that’s why we have so many grain classes.”
Famoso gave an example of the aromatic class where the imports into the United States are far more than it exports. He said it’s important to the U.S. industry to balance that out through breeding and development, which is what the rice research station is set up to do.
In addition to PVL05 and Venus, there are other new commercial and pending varieties in the pipeline across the different market classes.
CLHA03 is a Clearfield long-grain variety with a high amylose content, which is highly desired by key Latin American export markets for its nonsticky cooking properties. CLHA03 offers very competitive yields and performance compared to previously released long-grain varieties.
Fitzgerald is a conventional Jazzman (Jasmine) variety that was first grown commercially in 2025. Initial field performance has been positive with improved yield over other Jazzman types seen in most of the reports.
LA22-1082 is an IMI-herbicide resistant line (similar to Clearfield) that is planned for commercial release in 2027. This line is a typical southern long grain and has excellent blast resistance. There is excitement around this line because after four years of testing it has demonstrated excellent yield potential and stability, with very strong second crop potential and excellent milling and grain quality attributes.
“LA22-1082 has performed extremely well across the last four years and has outperformed all the current varieties in terms of first and second crop yield potential, milling and grain appearance,” Famoso said. “We have a seed increase planted in Puerto Rico this winter and it will be used to plant seed production fields in 2026 with a target commercial release in 2027.”
LA21-1331 is a Della type, which is aromatic, similar to Jazzman, but unique in that it has the cooking properties of a typical long grain. These cooking properties result in a less sticky texture compared to Jazzman.
According to Famoso, LA21-1331 has demonstrated consistent yield performance over Della-2, the existing Della-type being produced. Famoso says the station is considering releasing it, and the program has purified seed and milled samples to share with those who are interested in exploring a new Della-type variety.
“We’re going to give samples to those who grow it for their markets to see if they like it,” he said.
Avant, a traditional long grain, has become the most widely grown conventional long grain in Louisiana and it did well overall in 2025 according to Famoso.
A lingering concern with Avant is that it does not harbor the broad-spectrum blast disease resistance that many of the new varieties have. A similar variety, LA21-1008, has similar attributes to Avant with early flowering and strong ratoon potential, but has the blast resistance and slight yield improvements.
“It’s not leaps and bounds better than Avant, but it is an improvement, and the added security of the blast resistance could be critical when we have a year with severe blast disease,” Famoso said. ∆
TODD MILLER \ BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
Variety test plots at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley. Photo by Olivia McClure