Seeds of a new rice plant, popularly known as "super rice," are not yet available for planting in farmers' fields. What the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, the Philippines, developed and harvested are prototype breeding lines of the rice plant which the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is currently field-testing.
Gurdev S. Khush, IRRI's principal plant breeder, clarified that the new plant type, as it is now, is still susceptible to diseases and insects and further research and tests are aimed at the incorporation of disease- and insect-resistance and improving the grain quality. Thus, the new rice plant will be not be available to farmers for another five years.
The new plant type was conceptualized in 1988. Breeding work started in 1989 when about 2,000 varieties from the IRRI germplasm bank were grown to identify donor plants for various traits. Hybridization work was undertaken in 1990. Since then, more than 1,300 crosses have been made. About 65,000 breeding lines have been produced, and plant types with desired traits have been selected. After only five years, the new desired plant type became available in 1994.
"Scientists at IRRI are attempting to breed resistance to pests and diseases into it while further research by scientists in national research institutions, like the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), will then incorporate other desirable characteristics -- such as those specific to taste -- to meet individual country requirements," Khush adds.
"When finally made available to farmers and coupled with promising fertilizer management technology, the new rice plant will likely produce on the same amount of land with the same amount of fertilizer -- under ideal conditions -- 25 percent more grains than the current high-yielding varieties," Khush says. After fine tuning, field evaluation and seed multiplication, new plant type lines will be available for on-farm production by the year 2000.
IRRI News Release