New Texas long-grain release offers stronger yield potential than Presidio • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Texas A&M AgriLife Research is releasing Trinity, a new conventional long-grain rice variety with better first- and second-crop yield potential than Presidio — a previous Texas release that’s the most widely grown inbred in the state. Formerly known as RU1603178, Trinity was developed by ... Read More »
The Healthy Crops team, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have used gene tools to develop new varieties of disease-resistant rice that U.S. and Colombian regulators have determined are equivalent to what could be accomplished with conventional breeding. Bacterial blight can reduce rice yields by up to 70%, with the heaviest losses typically experienced by smallholder rice ... Read More »
• By Fred Miller • Christian De Guzman has joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as an assistant professor and rice breeder at the Rice Research and Extension Center near Stuttgart. De Guzman was a rice breeder and researcher at Southeast Missouri State University’s Rice Research Farm in Malden for four years before joining the Arkansas Agricultural ... Read More »
Karen Moldenhauer had already announced her June 30 retirement when Bob Scott, director of the Rice Research and Extension, said he needed to visit with her. Moldenhauer, a professor and rice breeder for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture since 1982, knew what was coming. After all, Scott had just accepted an offer to become director of Arkansas’ ... Read More »
• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Since acquiring Bayer’s rice breeding program in 2015, Nutrien Ag Solutions has mostly flown under the radar developing new rice cultivars for the U.S. market. That will change in 2021 with the launch of DGL-263X, a high-yielding, high-quality, long-grain inbred variety in final development and the first commercial rice cultivar under the DynaGro brand, ... Read More »
• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • The Louisiana State University AgCenter showed off a number of promising varieties that potentially could be released in coming years during its recent first-ever virtual rice field day. The annual event, held at the university’s H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station near Crowley, was changed to an online format this year after the coronavirus ... Read More »
Despite coronavirus restrictions, rice breeding programs continue albeit with a few changes. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • In mid-March, University of Arkansas rice breeder Xueyan Sha decided only a few days before his scheduled trip to the university’s Puerto Rican winter nursery to cancel it because of the coronavirus outbreak. Although the move meant he wouldn’t be able to ... Read More »
• By Fred Miller • Jewel, a new mid-season, long-grain rice variety from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, offers high yields and resistance to most known blast races. In 14 Arkansas Rice Performance Trials conducted over three years, Jewel averaged 187 bushels per acre, said Karen Moldenhauer, professor and rice breeder for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. ... Read More »
The American Multi Cultural Ethnic Coalition recently honored Louisiana State University AgCenter rice researcher Ida Wenefrida as one of the Top 20 Global Woman of Excellence for 2020 at a recent Chicago ceremony. The honor recognizes women from around the world, including Poland, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand and Africa. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago presented the awards at a ... Read More »
Scientists at University of California, Davis, have used CRISPR technology to genetically engineer rice with high levels of beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. The technique provides a promising strategy for genetically improving rice and other crops. The study was published today in the journal Nature Communications. Rice is a staple food crop for more than half the world’s population. ... Read More »
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