Each year, foundation seed rice is available from the Rice Experiment Station. Listed below are the available varieties, parish allocations, prices and a brief description of each variety that will be offered for sale.

Caffey is a medium grain variety that has good yield potential, consistently out yielding Jupiter and Neptune. Caffey has shown excellent milling and grain characteristics. It has a very bold and uniform grain which is typically favored by medium grain customers.

Jupiter is a very high yielding semidwarf, medium grain variety. Compared to Bengal, Jupiter has improved resistance to panicle blight, sheath blight and straighthead. It has shown good seedling vigor and milling quality. The grain size of Jupiter is somewhat smaller than that of Bengal.

Neptune (tested as LA0402028) is a semi dwarf early maturing medium grain. It has excellent yield potential, very good milling quality and a bold grain that is similar to that of Bengal. Neptune also has good levels of resistance to current blast races.

Cocodrie is a high yielding, high quality long grain that is four to five days earlier than Cypress. The variety has good seedling vigor, while it is also slightly more susceptible to straighthead. It has consistently out-yielded Cypress, although milling yields aren't as consistent as Cypress has been under adverse conditions.

Jazzman was developed from a cross (made in 1996) between a Chinese aromatic line (96a-8) and the Arkansas variety, Ahrent. Jazzman has typical jasmine rice cooking quality, which includes a 2-AP (the chemical for aroma) content of 597 ng/g, amylose content of 14.8 percent, alkali spread value of 6.1, translucent slender grains, and the characteristic of cooking sweet, glossy and soft. Jazzman has high grain yield potential and very good milling yields. The average yield of Jazzman in 34 multi-location in- and out-state trials was 6,954 lbs/A, compared with 7,565 and 6,756 lbs/A for Cheniere and Cypress, respectively. In those trials, the head rice yield of Jazzman was 63.1 percent, compared with 63.5 percent and 64.5 percent for Cheniere and Cypress, respectively. Jazzman has similar maturity, height and lodging tolerance as Wells. Limited data also suggests that Jazzman has improved resistance to sheath blight and blast over conventional varieties such as Cypress and Cocodrie. In contrast to Jasmine 85, Jazzman has smooth leaves, sheaths, hulls and no dormancy.

Jazzman-2 is the latest Jasmine-type variety. Jazzman-2 has enhanced specialty characteristics that include a very strong aroma, a slender kernel, and a less sticky cooking texture. Jazzman-2 shows good yield potential that is similar to or slightly less than original Jazzman. It has comparable or slightly better milling yield and is 4 days earlier and 4 inches shorter than Jazzman. Jazzman-2 also appears to be susceptible to sheath blight, bacterial panicle blight and straigthead disorder.

Cheniere (LA) is an early, high yielding, high-quality semi dwarf long grain. It has displayed excellent yield potential, good lodging resistance and moderate resistance to physiological straighthead. It is susceptible to blast and sheath blight. The variety has displayed excellent grain quality characteristics and is similar in maturity to Cypress.

The deadline for applications will be Monday, Jan. 10, 2011. Applications received after Monday, January 10 will not be considered for the first allocation. A standard procedure for allocation of Foundation Seed Rice has been established. A copy of the procedure is available at the county agents office for your information.

Immediately after the deadline, we will submit the seed rice allocation summary to the experiment station. You will receive a letter from the station with information pertaining to your allocation, payment and pickup procedure.

Remember, all applications must be turned in to this office by Monday, Jan. 10 2010. If you have any questions, please call 337-788-8821. For more information call or come by the county agent's office.