The latest rice varieties at a glance

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

NEW RICE VARIETIES are released every year by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) as the national Rice Technical Working (RTWG) led by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) continues to conduct nationwide testing of promising rice lines bred by the public and private sectors.

In 2007 alone, the NSIC approved a total of 11 varieties – seven inbreds and four hybrids – as commercial varieties. The inbreds and two hybrids were approved on April 2007. Another two hybrids were approved on December 4, 2007. As of now, new varieties are yet to be released this year. All the four hybrids were bred by the private sector.

These varieties are recommended for commercial production in irrigated lowlands, but could also be grown in favorable rainfed lowlands.

In a recent paper by Mrs. Thelma F. Padolina of PhilRice, she said the varieties developed by a nationwide group of researchers enabled Filipino farmers to keep pace with increasing complex problems in the rice industry. The researchers conduct the NCT [National Cooperative Tests] of promising rice lines in multiple sites simultaneously to identify varieties for nationwide and/or location specific needs.

Mrs. Padolina added that screening protocols have been improved, thereby raising the quantitative and qualitative efficiency of rice varieties. Improved varieties have been released for areas where regular rice cannot be easily grown, such as saline and cool elevated areas.

“Early maturing varieties allowed escape of many-on-farm production constraints such as pest outbreaks, typhoons, floods, and drought,” Padolina said. “It also allowed the design of new cropping systems such as double, triple or diversification of crops.”

Marker-aided breeding generated bacterial leaf blight resistant varieties were released and specialty rices such as aromatic and glutinous varieties were also identified and released.

Moreover, hybrids bred by the private sector included in the NCT were accredited and commercialized to increase productivity.

Even as we also continue to write about newly released varieties from time to time, we still receive inquiries from farmers. Thus, we present here in a capsule the characteristics of recently released varieties hoping that it will help interested readers.

The 11 varieties are: NSIC Rc148 (Mabango 2), NSIC Rc150 (Tubigan 9), NSIC Rc152 (Tubigan 10), NSIC Rc154 (Tubigan 11), NSIC Rc156 (Tubigan 12), NSIC Rc158 (Tubigan 13), NSIC Rc160 (Tubigan 14), NSIC Rc162H (Mestiso 8), NSIC Rc164H (Mestiso 9), NSIC Rc166H (Mestiso 10), and NSIC Rc168H (Mestiso 11).

NSIC Rc148 is special rice owing to its good grain and eating quality with slight aroma. It can be prepared as sweet pinipig. Its average yield is about 5 tons/hectare (t/ha) as a transplanted crop. It is early maturing at 11days and could be grown in both dry and wet seasons. It has intermediate resistance to blast, bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight, white stemborer, green leafhopper and brown plant hopper

NSIC Rc150 can be grown as transplanted or direct seeded crop. It is early maturing at 109 days and has moderate resistance to blast, bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight and stemborer, as well as good milling and head rice recovery. However, it should not be planted in tungro hot spot areas. It is moderately susceptible to green leafhopper, and brown plant hopper

NSIC Rc152 is adapted to transplanted (TPR) and direct seeded (DSR) cultures, maturing in 109 days and 102 days, respectively. It is moderately resistant to blast, bacterial leaf blight, white and yellow stemborer, and green leafhopper.

NSIC Rc154 is the second variety developed via marker-aided selection with bacterial leaf blight resistance. It is adapted to irrigated lowlands during dry and wet seasons under TPR and DSR cultures, early maturing at 110 days, and moderately resistant to white stemborer, green leafhopper and brown plant hopper. Caution should be done in areas with high incidence of blast and tungro virus diseases

NSIC Rc156 is also adapted to TPR and DSR cultures and has superb performance in the dry season with an average yield of 7.1 t/ha. It is early maturing at 104 to 111 days and moderately resistant to stemborers and brown planthopper. It is susceptible to diseases.

NSIC Rc158 is adapted to TPR and DSR cultures during the wet and dry seasons with an average yield of at least 7 t/ha. It has intermediate reactions to blast, bacterial leaf blight and tungro and moderate resistance to white stemborer.

NSIC Rc160 is high yielding with 12.7% yield increase over PSB Rc82 in the dry season. It has premium milling quality (71.1% recovery) and, hence highly acceptable to consumers, as well as intermediate reactions to blast bacterial leaf blight and green leafhopper. Caution should be done in areas with high incidence of tungro, stemborer and brown plant hopper

NSIC Rc162H is high yielding with early maturity and suitable to Luzon, Regions 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and ARMM. It is moderately resistant to dead hearts and whiteheads caused by yellow and white stemborers, and has intermediate resistance to blast and sheath blight.

NSIC Rc164H is high yielding during the wet season under TPR culture. It is adapted to Region 2, Cordillera Administrative Region and similar places in Luzon. It has intermediate reaction to blast, but susceptible to bacterial leaf blight, tungro, yellow stemborer and brown planthopper.

NSIC Rc166H is high yielding in selected locations. It is suitable to irrigated lowland areas in Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Davao provinces preferably during the dry season under TPR culture. It matures early at 108 to 113 days, has moderate field resistance to major diseases and insect pests, high milling recovery (68.7%), and moderate reactions to major diseases. Its grain quality is better than IR64, which is still the most popular variety today.

NSIC Rc168H is recommended for Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Davao provinces, Bohol and Bukidnon and similar areas where IR64 is adapted. It is suitable as transplanted crop, has better yield performance in the DS, excellent eating quality, and a wide spectrum of insect resistance.

(Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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