Author
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McClung, Anna |
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MARCHETTI, M - COLLABORATOR |
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Submitted to: Workshop on Role of ARS in Meeting Research Needs of the Rice Industry
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 2/21/2001 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Development of rice cultivars that have high yield, superior milling quality, and can be used in high-value markets will help sustain the U.S. rice industry. Creation of cultivars that carry disease defense genes will reduce the need for fungicides which will decrease input costs and reduce the environmental impact. Since its inception some 70 years ago, the ARS varietal improvement program at Beaumont, TX has developed 33 rice cultivars for production in the Southern U.S. Many of these have been used broadly throughout the region and have served as key parents in other breeding programs. During the last decade, particular emphasis has been placed on improving the disease resistance of rice cultivars. As a result of this, several new cultivars with improved resistance to rice blast and sheath blight diseases have been released. Even though we have been successful in producing cultivars having new combinations blast resistance genes, keeping these genes together in the development of new cultivars will be difficult. We have progressed in developing molecular markers that are highly accurate in predicting the presence of blast resistance genes and can be used in the breeding process. We have also demonstrated that molecular markers are a means by which cultivar development time can be reduced. In collaboration with W.D. Park at Texas A & M University, we used molecular markers to develop two specialty rice cultivars in only five years as compared to the usual 7 to10 year process. We have fully integrated molecular genetics technology into our conventional breeding program and are pursuing the development of genetic markers for a wide array of traits that are pertinent to U.S. rice industry |
