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New flood-tolerant rice varieties pass field tests in Bangladesh and India

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Davis, California
November 21, 2008

New flood-tolerant rice varieties, developed by an international team of researchers, including scientists at UC Davis, UC Riverside and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, have passed field tests and are expected to soon be available to farmers in Bangladesh and India.

Flooding in those countries annually reduces rice yield by up to 4 million tons -- enough rice to feed 30 million people.

The new flood-tolerant rice plants were developed by identifying a single gene -- called Sub1A -- that is responsible for flood tolerance in rice. Identification of the gene enabled the institute's plant breeders to use "precision breeding" to create the new rice varieties. The new plants are effectively identical to popular, high-yielding rice varieties, except that they recover after severe flooding to produce abundant yields of high-quality grain.

The researchers anticipate that the flood-tolerant rice plants will be available to farmers within the next two years. Because the plants are the product of precision breeding, rather than genetic modification, they are not subject to the same regulatory testing that can delay release of genetically modified crops for several years.

"The impact of these new varieties is evident for farm families as well as at a national production level," said UC Davis rice geneticist Pamela Ronald, following an early November tour with her research colleagues of the flood-tolerant rice field trials in Bangladesh.

"To be part of this project as it has moved from my lab in California to rice fields in Asia has been inspiring, and the project underscores the power of science to improve people's lives," said Ronald, who led the effort to isolate the Sub1A gene. Her laboratory also showed that the gene is switched on when rice plants are submerged in water.

Collaborating with Ronald on the 13-year project were David Mackill, senior rice breeder at the International Rice Research Institute; Julia Bailey-Serres, a geneticist at UC Riverside; Kenong Xu, a postdoctoral researcher in Ronald's laboratory; and researchers at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and the Central Rice Research Institute of India.

Once Sub1A varieties are officially released within the next two years, the key will be dissemination to smallholder farmers in flood-prone areas. The International Rice Research Institute is leading this initiative through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The research that led to the isolation of the Sub1A gene was funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to Ronald, Mackill and Bailey-Serres. The breeding work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the USDA.


From genes to farmers' fields: Waterproof rice set to make waves in South Asia

Delhi, India
November 21, 2008

Source: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

"Waterproof' versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand 2 weeks of complete submergence, have passed tests in farmers' fields with flying colors. Several of these varieties are now close to official release by national and state seed certification agencies in Bangladesh and India, where farmers suffer major crop losses because of flooding of up to 4 million tons of rice per year. This is enough rice to feed 30 million people.

The flood-tolerant versions of the "mega-varieties" -high-yielding varieties popular with both farmers and consumers that are grown over huge areas across Asia - are effectively identical to their susceptible counterparts, but recover after severe flooding to yield well.

A 1-9 November tour of research stations and farms in Bangladesh (photo) and India led by David Mackill (8th from left, standing on low cement wall), senior rice breeder at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), marked the successful completion of a project, From genes to farmers' fileds: enhancing and stabilizing productivity of rice in submergence-prone environments, funded for the past 5 years by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The new varieties were made possible following the identification of a single gene that is responsible for most of the submergence tolerance. Thirteen years ago, Dr. Mackill, then at the University of California (UC) at Davis, and Kenong Xu, his graduate student, pinpointed the gene in a low-yielding traditional Indian rice variety known to withstand flooding. Xu subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Pamela Ronald (7th from left, standing on low cement wall), a UC Davis professor, and they isolated the specific gene -called Sub1A-and demonstrated that it confers tolerance to normally intolerant rice plants. Dr. Ronald's team showed that the gene is switched in when the plants are submerged.

A geneticist from UC Riverside, Julia Bailey-Serres, is leading the work to determine exactly how Sub1A confers flood tolerance.

"Sub1A effectively makes the plant dormant during submergence, allowing it to conserve energy until the floodwaters reced," said Dr. Bailey-Serres.

Typically, rice plants will extend the length of their leaves and stem in an attempt to escape submergence. The Sub1A gene is an evolutionarily new gene in rice found in only a small proportion of the rice varieties originating from eastern India and Sri Lanka. The activation of this gene under submergence counteracts the escape strategy.

"This project has been a great success, not only in its results but also in the truly international collaboration that made the project possible," said Dr. Mackill, referring to the several national organizations, including the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), India's Central Rice Research Institute and Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology.

"The potential for impact is huge," he said. "In Bangladesh, for example, 20% of the rice land is flood prone and the country typically suffers several major floods each year. Submergence-tolerant varieties could make major inroads into Bangladesh's annual rice shortfall and substantially reduce its import needs."

Using modern techniques that allow breeders to do much of their work in the lab rather than the field, Dr. Mackill and his team at IRRI were able to precisely transfer Sub1A into high-yielding varieties without affecting the characteristics-such as high yield, good grain quality, and pest and disease resistance-that made the varieties popular in the first place.

"The impact is evident for farm families as well as at a national production level," said Dr. Ronald. "To be part of this project as it has moved from a lab in California to rice fields in Asia has been inspiring and underscores the power of science to improve people's lives."

Because plants developed through this "precision breeding," known as marker-assisted selection, are not genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the new Sub1 varieties are not subject to the regulatory testing that can delay release of GMOs for several years.

Once Sub1 varieties are officially released within the next 2 years, the key will be dissemination to smallholder farmers in flood-prone areas. IRRI is leading this initiative through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world’s leading rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines, with offices in 13 other countries, IRRI is an autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on improving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies (www.cgiar.org). 

 

 

 

 

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