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Title: MILLING QUALITY OF RICE PRODUCED USING ORGANIC CULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Author
item Bergman, Christine
item McClung, Anna

Submitted to: Experiment Station Bulletins
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/12/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: There is growing domestic and international demand for crops produced using organic cultural management (OCM). In the U.S., rice is being produced under organic conditions in both California and the Southern U.S. rice growing areas. With the increasing demand for organically produced rice has grown, germplasm is being sought that has high yield potential and desirable end-use quality characteristics under OCM. Several Indica rice lines have been identified that appear to offer a yield advantage when grown under organic conditions. The effect of OCM on the milling quality of Indica or U.S. rice germplasm is not known. An experiment grown in 1999 in Beaumont, TX, compared the effects of OCM to standard cultural practices on rice milling quality. Several Indica lines were grown in four replicated plots in Beaumont, TX, in 1999, using OCM as well as conventional management (CM) using a lower (100 lb/ac) and a higher (200 lb/ac) amount of N (100N and 200N). A conventional U.S. long grain, Cypress, was also studied. Our preliminary results indicate that cultural management does not effect total milling yields. Lower N and OCM treatments resulted in lower whole rice milling yields but a greater degree of whiteness as compared to that of the higher N treatment. There is evidence that some consumers prefer whiter milled rice. The effects of OCM on milling quality will be verified using data from an additional year. Our future efforts in this area include identifying cultivars whose whole milling yields are not negatively impacted by OCM.