DR. TYLER MUSGROVE \ BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
We are a little over a month away from the first seed drill hitting the ground to start the 2026 rice season in Louisiana. It’s no secret that variety selection remains one of the most critical decisions a producer can make, and it seems with each passing year, this decision becomes more and more of a daunting task. Here, I’ll outline just a couple of considerations as we move into 2026.
In recent years, half of all our rice acres were made up of just three or four varieties. This generally includes one Provisia variety, one Clearfield, and one or two conventional varieties. On this list, PVL03 continues to make up roughly a quarter of our rice acres and continues to perform with excellent yield potential both in the first crop and ratoon crop.
In keeping with the yearly trends, CLL19 was our second most popular variety in 2025, driven mainly by good yield quality and milling characteristics. In terms of conventional long grains, Cheniere has been in the conversation as being one of our top-performing conventionals. Over the past couple years, Avant has really come on as the predominate conventional, long-grain option. However, there are continued concerns with blast resistance, which are looking to be addressed with a future variety release of a new conventional, long-grain very similar to Avant (LA21-1008) in the next couple years.
In the medium-grain market, Jupiter and Titan are our two long-standing medium grains in the state. In 2025, we discovered a new planet in the medium-grain solar system with the commercial release of Venus. This is a newly released medium‑grain variety that has demonstrated 10% increased yield potential and improved stability compared with both Jupiter and Titan across multiple years of testing. Much of our state’s medium‑grain rice is grown for specific food markets, so maintaining those quality parameters remains essential. Early work with processors suggests Venus fits well within those requirements, making it a strong candidate for growers looking to improve their medium‑grain acres.
While PVL03 continues to anchor much of our Provisia acreage due to its strong first‑crop and ratoon performance, a new Provisia option will enter the conversation in 2026. PVL05 is the next step in the Provisia line and was developed to address some of the variability seen with PVL03 across environments. In testing, PVL05 has shown more consistent performance and solid yield potential, particularly in situations where PVL03 has not always been the best fit. That said, this stability may come with some tradeoffs, including marginally lower ratoon yields compared to PVL03. For growers dealing with variable field conditions or looking for another Provisia option to better match specific acres, PVL05 adds flexibility rather than replacing PVL03 outright.
Finally, I just want to touch on some observations we saw in terms of variety management. Many of our producers had to navigate untimely rains in the early part of 2025, which impacted our split-nitrogen applications. This was particularly noticeable with respect to Avant for some producers. Avant is a very early maturing, semi-dwarf variety, and that speed caught some of our producers off guard when it came to that split-nitrogen application. This meant that some acres were delayed in receiving nitrogen due to varietal traits in addition to environmental factors.
For disease management, varieties possessing blast-resistant genetics are closely monitored for breaks. This year, we saw DG263L break for one of our producers, and it resulted in considerable yield loss. Thankfully, DG263L does not possess the Pita-2 gene, which many of our varieties depend on for blast resistance. Beginning in 2023, we received reports of significant control failures with respect to late-season stem borers. Most of these failures were in PVL03 and subsequent variety testing revealed PVL03 tended to be the most susceptible to stem borer infestation. Whether this is due to attraction or flat-out poor resistance is yet to be determined, but we continue to advise producers to increase stem borer scouting in later plantings of PVL03, relative to other varieties.
Looking ahead to 2026, I have no doubt we’ll learn something new about a couple varieties that we wouldn’t have expected, and each year brings a new surprise. That being said, future variety selection will continue to demand careful thought and attention to detail. No single variety is a perfect fit for every field, and lessons learned from both successes and setbacks in recent years reinforce the value of matching genetics with field history and management capacity. Staying engaged with trial data, watching for emerging pest and disease issues, and closely following varietal performance across environments will be key to managing risk. While new varieties and traits add options, sound decision making based on farm history will remain foundational for a successful rice crop. ∆
TYLER MUSGROVE \ LSU AGCENTER