The LSU AgCenter recently released three new rice varieties from the research conducted at the Rice Research Station. Each variety has been given a unique name – Jazzman-2, Caffey and CL152. The industry uses the names to designate these varieties throughout the time they are produced and often well beyond their commercial production. The variety name is important because multiple facets of the seed industry are based on the name. These include seed certification and seed sales and delivery. When rice farmers book seed for the upcoming planting season, they book by weight volume of a specific certification class of a specific variety name. Many cultural management decisions are variety-specific, and these recommendations are typically based on research conducted by numerous AgCenter scientists while the variety is in development prior to its release. These management decisions can include seeding rate and depth, nitrogen fertilization rates and timings, and herbicide and fungicide choices, as well as deciding which field to harvest first. The latter is based on the fact that some varieties can stay in the field longer than others without significant quality reductions. In addition, the variety name is crucial once a shipment of rice reaches the mill. While in some cases different varieties can be co-mingled, in other cases they cannot. This is certainly true with aromatic specialty varieties.

We are often asked how variety names are derived. The LSU AgCenter has a formal procedure for release of a new variety. When a breeder decides that an experimental line warrants consideration for release, a request is made to the director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. This request includes a data summary comparing the potential new variety with those currently being grown. The director then appoints a committee of experiment station scientists to evaluate the data and make a recommendation to the director, who then makes the final decision. If that decision is positive, the breeder is asked to recommend a name for the new variety, and again, the director has final approval.

There is no uniform system for rice variety names, but names often follow a pattern. We have typically chosen a name for our conventional long grains that will associate them with Louisiana. Examples include Lacassine (a French name given to a river system in southwest Louisiana, as well as a town in Jeff Davis Parish), Cypress (a common Louisiana tree associated with swamps and other wetlands areas), Cocodrie (the French term for alligator), Cheniere (a French word associated with elevated areas along the coast, such as Cheniere au Tigre and Grand Chenier), Trenasse (a French word associated with trails through marsh areas), and Catahoula (a central Louisiana parish, a town in St. Martin parish and the name associated with a famous Louisiana breed of dog).

Many medium-grain varieties have been given a name to associate them with planets or other celestial bodies. This tradition was begun by Dr. Nelson Jodon (a famous U.S. Department of Agriculture rice breeder who worked at the Rice Research Station for many years) when he named a medium grain Saturn upon its release in 1964, which was in the heyday of early U.S. space exploration efforts. Later medium grains released from the station have included Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune. The Arkansas breeding program has released Mars and Orion.

We have also named a few varieties after individuals who have made major contributions to the rice industry. These include Jodon (for the breeder mentioned earlier), Earl (for Earl Sonnier who was a Rice Station scientist and director of the seed program for many years), and the new variety Caffey. This variety is named for Dr. H. Rouse Caffey, who was director of the Rice Station in the 1960s and early 1970s. Dr. Caffey then went on to serve in a number of administrative positions within the LSU system, including chancellor of the LSU AgCenter. Dr. Caffey always was and continues to be a strong advocate of AgCenter rice programs, as well as the overall Louisiana rice industry.

Our specialty varieties also have meaningful names. The two most recent releases from Dr. Xueyan Sha’s efforts are Jazzman and Jazzman-2. These names also reflect a tie-in to Louisiana roots while subtly conveying the message that these varieties have the unique cooking and aromatic characteristics associated with jasmine types of rice most typically grown in south-central Asia.

The Rice Station has in recent years developed a number of varieties for use with the Clearfield production system for the control of the noxious weed red rice. Because of a licensing agreement of this LSU AgCenter-derived technology, while we develop these varieties, we turn them over to others (BASF and Horizon Ag) for commercialization. Horizon Ag has developed a unique naming system for these varieties that includes CL (Clearfield) and a number that indicates grain type and relative maturity class, as well as order of release. Thus, the new variety CL152 is a Clearfield type, long grain (indicated by the number 1), early maturity group (indicated by the number 5), and the second release in that series (indicated by number 2). By contrast, the recent release CL261 is a Clearfield medium grain (indicated by the number 2), mid-to-late maturity (indicted by the number 6), and the first in that series (indicted by the number 1).

Varieties are important well beyond the time they are produced commercially because they are used as germplasm in our breeding. Thus, the name bestowed on a rice variety will have importance for a very long time indeed.

Permission granted February 15, 2011, by B. Leonards (LA Farm & Ranch) to republish article on www.lsuagcenter.com.