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Four new hybrid combinations developed at the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station showed highly promising results in 2020.
“We made good progress this year developing new hybrid combinations for the Louisiana rice industry,” said Jim Oard, AgCenter hybrid rice breeder. “With these new candidate hybrids, we’ve upped the game.”
The hybrid breeding program grew roughly 20,000 small-plot rows in 2020.
Two early maturing Clearfield long-grain lines, CLH134 and CLH103, were tested at the Rice Research Station and at the station’s South Farm.
Both lines have good grain quality, and they showed an average 12% yield increase over LAH169, an LSU AgCenter hybrid that had shown promise in recent years. Oard said the lines also showed a 15% yield advantage over conventional Clearfield varieties CL111, CL153 and CL151.
“We will continue to evaluate these lines next year,” Oard said.
He said two new Provisia hybrids, PVL148 and PVL149, tested in 2020 showed good yield potential comparable to many commercially available hybrids.
He said the line grown in a trial at the South Farm had a 30% yield advantage over PVL02 and a 20% yield advantage over LAH169.
The Provisia hybrids have good grain length and low chalk, he said. The hybrid program in 2021 will continue to work with the Provisia and Clearfield lines in preliminary yield trials, Oard said. He said an additional 500 new combinations will be tested.
Jim Oard, LSU AgCenter hybrid breeder, inspects a plot of an experimental hybrid line. Oard has developed several lines that have potential for commercial release.
Democ Rebong, a Ph.D. student, inspects panicles used to produce hybrid F1 seed in isolation. The plastic barriers are used to prevent cross-pollination from other hybrid plants.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture
