The Rice Research Board has provided monies for an AgCenter Communications project to develop a research report highlighting board-funded projects. This publication serves as a report to rice producers about the results from LSU AgCenter projects that their check-off dollars funded. It also serves as a marketing piece for the board and rice industry.

Revised Rice Production Handbook available

Rice farmers will have to learn to get along without molinate, popularly known as Arrosolo, an effective herbicide on sprangletop.

Rice farmers will have an additional weapon to fight rice water weevils this year.

An experimental rice line has to undergo screening for resistance to several diseases before it is considered for advancement in the LSU AgCenter’s rice breeding program.

Has the cause of the mystery malady been solved? LSU AgCenter agronomist Dr. Dustin Harrell has a suspect in the form of zinc deficiency. But the jury is still out.

LSU AgCenter plant pathologist Dr. Jong Hyun Ham is working on a project to map genes resistant to major rice diseases, including sheath blight and bacterial panicle blight.

Research by LSU AgCenter rice researcher Dr. Ida Wenefrida has found multiple benefits from her work aimed at increasing the protein level of rice.

Dr. Xueyan Sha knows that as a rice breeder, his current projects are more interesting to farmers than his past accomplishments.

The Rice Research Board has provided monies for an AgCenter Communications project to develop a research report highlighting board-funded projects. This publication serves as a report to rice producers about the results from LSU AgCenter projects that their check-off dollars funded. It also serves as a marketing piece for the board and rice industry.

The LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station has launched a hybrid rice program, but it could be several years before any results are available for farmers.

Rice farming in 2009 was much easier and less stressful than the previous year for one main reason – no hurricanes. But bad weather plagued north Louisiana producers, nevertheless.

Improvements in methods and technology for rice farming have been dramatic during the past century of the Rice Research Station’s existence.

The LSU AgCenter has approved the release of two new Clearfield lines for the 2010 growing season, according to Dr. Steve Linscombe, LSU AgCenter rice breeder.The first Clearfield medium-grain (CL261) will be available in the spring for seed and limited commercial production. The line has good yield potential and very good milling and grain quality.Linscombe said work will continue on more medium-grain Clearfield lines..

The Rice Research Board has provided monies for an AgCenter Communications project to develop a research report highlighting board-funded projects. This publication serves as a report to rice producers about the results from LSU AgCenter projects that their check-off dollars funded. It also serves as a marketing piece for the board and rice industry.

The Rice Research Board has provided monies for an AgCenter Communications project to develop a research report highlighting board-funded projects. This publication serves as a report to rice producers about the results from LSU AgCenter projects that their check-off dollars funded. It also serves as a marketing piece for the board and rice industry.

The new and continued projects funded by the Louisiana Rice Research Board

Rice Research Report Masthead

Broadleaf weeds and sedges have become more problematic in recent years in North Louisiana rice fields, probably because of the increased use of Command and other herbicides with limited broadleaf and sedge activity, according to Dr. Bill Williams, an LSU AgCenter weed management specialist at its Scott Research, Extension and Education Center.

LSU AgCenter entomologist Dr. Mike Stout is continuing his work to help farmers with their No. 1 insect pest, the rice water weevil.

Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter Extension rice specialist, has become a traveling correspondent, relaying observations and thoughts in his weekly “Field Notes.”

LSU AgCenter rice breeder Dr. Xueyan Sha makes a cross by using a flowering rice plant from the greenhouse.

Improvements in rice varieties are likely from the RiceCAP project, a collaboration involving the LSU AgCenter, eight other universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

LSU AgCenter Communications has been actively supporting the efforts of the Louisiana Rice Research Board, rice growers across the state and AgCenter faculty members involved in rice research for more than eight years.

The new federal farm bill passed recently by Congress has increased the level of complexity faced by farmers.

The threat of Cercospora will remain a slight possibility for the 2009 crop, even though it hasn’t been a widespread problem since 2006, according to Dr. Don Groth, LSU AgCenter pathologist at the Rice Research Station.

LSU AgCenter molecular biologist Dr. Herry Utomo is on a mission to find genes of interest to improve rice varieties.

After 12 years of development by the LSU AgCenter, an experimental line of an aromatic Jasmine-type rice is a likely candidate for release for the 2009 growing season.

Members of the Louisiana Rice Research Board

We just completed another usual unusual year. It seems each crop year is unique in its own way. We look to this next one in 2009 and we see uncertainty even more than ever. As Donald Rumsfeld once said, “We have a list of known unknowns.”

Herbicide drift often occurs when it seems the morning air is still and calm, according to Dr. Eric Webster, LSU AgCenter weed specialist.