LA Farm & Ranch - Jan. 2008 - The LSU AgCenter has released two new rice varieties for seed production in 2008. Both varieties were developed at the Rice Research Station located near Crowley. The two new varieties are a long grain that has been named ‘Catahoula’ and a medium grain called ‘Neptune.’

Louisiana grows both grain types but is predominated by long-grain acreage (over 90%). Long grains are characterized by long slender grains (greater than 3 to 1 length/width ratio) and typically possess cereal chemistry characteristics that cause them to cook dry and flaky. This grain type is the main type sold in the United States as a white milled package product for consumption. Long grains are also used in many prepared products and are often processed to be sold as parboiled or converted rice. Long-grain rice is also commonly used in the food service industry, as well as in cereal products (e.g. Kellogg’s Crispix). Medium-grain types possess shorter, plumper grains (between 2 and 3 to 1 length/width ratio). They also have cereal chemistry qualities that are quite different from long grains and cause them to cook moist and somewhat sticky. Medium grains are also milled and sold as a packaged white milled product and are favored by some consumers, especially in southern Louisiana. This grain type is also used in many cereal products (e.g. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies). While the brewing industry uses both grain types, more medium grain is generally used in the production of beer. Both grain types are also processed and sold as brown rice products.

In rice variety development, the first step is generally to cross (produce an F₁ hybrid between) two or more existing varieties and/or breeding lines. The cross that created Catahoula was between LA9502008-A and ‘Drew.’ This cross was made in 1997, which will provide an idea of the length of time involved in rice variety development. LA9502008-A is a line that is closely related to the popular variety ‘Cocodrie’ that was released by the AgCenter in 1998 while Drew is a variety that was released from Arkansas and was widely grown in the 1990s. Catahoula (tested as LA0302082) appears more similar in plant type to Cocodrie but also possesses some of the superior characteristics of Drew. The new variety averages about 37 inches in height, which is very similar to Cocodrie and ‘Cheniere,’ another popular Louisiana variety. Typically, Louisiana producers prefer varieties that are less than 40 inches in height and possess good straw strength, which provides more resistance to lodging (plants falling over) prior to harvest. Catahoula is similar in the number of days from planting to maturity to Cocodrie and Cheniere and also has shown good second crop potential, which is very important in southwest Louisiana. Most importantly, the new variety has consistently shown a yield advantage over the two older varieties and has displayed very good milling and other quality characteristics. One of the very good characteristics Catahoula inherited from its parent Drew is excellent resistance to the important rice disease blast. The new variety has shown good adaptation throughout the rice growing regions of Louisiana, as well as the other rice producing states in the southern United States.

Neptune (tested as LA0402028) is a high yielding semidwarf medium grain that was developed from a complex cross (‘Bengal’//’Mercury’/’Rico 1’/3/Mercury/Rico 1/Bengal). Bengal is a medium grain released by the AgCenter in 1992 that is still grown on a limited acreage. Mercury (Louisiana release) and Rico 1 (Texas release) are older varieties that were last grown in the early 1990s and replaced by Bengal. Neptune is similar in productivity to ‘Jupiter,’ which was released by the AgCenter in 2004. It has shown yield potential slightly below that of Jupiter but much higher than that of Bengal. The new variety has shown very good milling quality and has a grain that is much larger than that of Jupiter. Many medium-grain processors prefer a larger, bolder grain. Neptune is similar to Jupiter and Bengal in plant height and maturity and has a very good disease resistance package with good tolerance to most major rice diseases of importance in Louisiana. While medium grains do not typically produce good second crop yields as consistently as most long grains, Neptune has shown very good characteristics for second crop production.

A limited amount of foundation seed of both of these varieties will be available for 2008 production from the Rice Research Station. Foundation seed is allocated to Louisiana producers by a formula based on the previous year’s rice acreage in each parish. Thus, if a certain parish produced 17 percent of the total Louisiana acreage in 2007, that parish will be allocated 17% of the foundation seed for each variety in 2008. After these initial allocations, any remaining seed is re-allocated to producers whose requests were not met. If any seed remains after Louisiana producers’ requests are satisfied, seed then will be sold to out-of-state growers.

In addition to the two new varieties, foundation seed of the following varieties will be available from the Rice Research Station for 2008: Cocodrie, Cypress, Cheniere, ‘Trenasse,’ Jupiter, and ‘Della.’ For more information on foundation seed, contact your parish extension agent or Mr. Larry White, director of the foundation seed program, E-mail or 337-788-7531.

Permission granted 01/09/08 by B. Leonards (LA Farm & Ranch Magazine) to republish article on www.lsuagcenter.com.