This document summarizes opportunities for collaboration between Cambodia and Australia on rice research. Key points include: 1) Cambodia and Australia aim to improve drought tolerance, flood tolerance, and resistance to pests and diseases in rice varieties for their respective environments. 2) Objectives include identifying quality traits preferred by consumers, developing early-maturing varieties, and utilizing new tools to select for improved agronomic traits. 3) The project will leverage resources and expertise across institutions in Cambodia, Australia, and IRRI to characterize rice germplasm and make connections that benefit breeding programs across Southeast Asia.

1. Building Synergies
Germplasm for Cambodia
Melissa Fitzgerald
IRRI & UQ
1

2. Partners
2

3. Background
Cambodia Australia
• In the 1990s, 34 lines were • 10 years of drought placed
released in Cambodia in a toll on the Australian rice
the CIAP project. industry.
• These were not widely • Australia investigated re-
adopted, and since then, a opening a rice industry in
handful of pure line tropical Northern Australia
selections from a traditional using material from Asia for
variety have been released. tolerance to biotic stresses.
• What was wrong with the • Testing of material in
IRRI lines? Acceptability? tropical Australia.
3

4. Opportunities
Cambodia Australia
• Yield reducers in the rainfed • Exploring a new set of
season. environmental conditions.
• Now a dry season full of • Australia looking for flood
yield limiting pests and tolerance and resistance to
diseases, and need for early yield reducers and limiters.
generation and new • The Australian rice industry
practices. is highly mechanised.
• Opportunities for • Opportunity to test
improving agronomic traits performance in a
as well as market traits. mechanised situation.
4

5. Objectives
5

6. The growing list of traits…..
• Drought tolerance
• Flood tolerance
• Brown plant hopper resistance
• Short duration
• Quality of rainfed rice
• Quality and market information for DS rice.
• New agronomic management strategies for DS and RF rice.
– Direct seeding
– Fertiliser use
– Certified Seed
– Pesticide application
6

7. Obj 1. Ask the stakeholders
Farmers Millers Traders Consumers
Quality Appearance Appearance Appearance
Duration Breakage Aroma Aroma
Tolerance Softness Softness
7

8. Objective 2 Cambodian germplasm
Dry Season
• Short duration for dry season
• Biotic stress tolerance (weeds, BPH)
• Quality
Wet season
• Drought tolerance
• Submergence tolerance
• Quality
8

9. Screening for drought tolerance
Selections made on yield in drought and
quality when grown in the upland
2010
2011
2012
398 61 42
lines lines lines
The 42 selected lines are now being grown
in drought trials at 3 locations
9

10. Pressures of selection
• Best performing line in
2010 drought trial.
• However, it tastes like
rancid socks and its
texture is like wet
cardboard.
• Rejected on the basis of
quality.
• A great shame to see
such a good plant type
lost to the project.
10

11. PhD project- synergistic spin-off
• Population between Apo and
IR64 in 2002 resurrected in
2010, purified and multiplied.
• Drought trial now harvested.
• Interesting volatile
compounds.
• Genotyped at 4000 loci,
sensory panel and Volatile compounds
IR64 Apo
metabolomic profiling
underway.
• Aim to identify tools to put
IR64 grain on an Apo plant.
11

12. Population development for drought
PRD/CAR3 CAR3/PRD SYNERGY
• Pops developed in a
Gen. # Gen. #
previous project.
BC3F6 39 BC3F7 18
• Resurrected and
BC4F2 23 BC4F8 1 multiplied for this
BC5F2 53 project.
• Now growing in a
replicated drought
trial at CARDI with
harvest in June.
• 8 new crosses made.
12

13. Early duration
• Farmers want dry season varieties with early
duration so that they can fit in a rainfed crop
as well.
• The early duration varieties are all exported to
markets on the Arabian Peninsula, but don’t
go through the normal export channels.
• Vietnam exports this harvest.
• The Arab states primarily consume basmati
rice.
13

14. Duration variation
14

15. Screening for duration
• Selected
2011 on yield
64 IRRI lines and
88 INGER lines duration
2012 • 8 outyielded
38 at 2 locations check, but
398 lines tested 10d longer
30 incl 2 on farm duration.
2012
8 at 3 locations
• Multiple
197 lines tested
locations.
12 INGER
66 BPH
15

16. Early duration basmati style
• Basmati quality includes BC AC
aroma and elongation
after cooking (AC) to
double that of BC.
• 4 out of 17 aromatic lines
elongated with right
ratio.
• These 4 are being tested
in replicated trials.
16

17. Objective 3: Quality of Cambodian rice
• Based on the survey results,
IRRI varieties released last
century were not accepted by
SE Asian jas Basmatis
Cambodian consumers.
• Most of IRRI’s fragrant
germplasm probably had a
basmati parent, and not be
acceptable to jasmine
consumers.
• New research tools enable
fragrance of jasmine and
basmati to be identified.
17

18. Measuring Quality
• Aroma, appearance, softness were the important traits.
• CARDI now equipped for aroma gene, amylose and appearance
measurement.
Training on IRRI’s
instruments.
IRRI GQ staff
training CARDI
staff.
18

19. Identifying quality
PRD/TK • In August 2012 F5 seed shipped to IRRI
and UQ.
• IRRI will extract DNA and send pop for
genotyping (3-4000 loci), and do many
measures of quality and rheology.
• Seeds shipped to UQ for metabolomic
profiling of compounds for taste and
flavour.
• Sensory profiling will be done at IRRI or
UQ.
470 progeny
now at F4 • Aim to find QTLs for Cambodian quality.
19

20. Spin-off project
• In previous project,
found special
compounds in
KDML105 that are
probably in PRD, but
are not in all fragrant
rices.
• Aim to find genes for
these other aromatic
compounds unique to
jasmine rice.
20

21. In Australia
Pandan wangi:
Australia: 7.2 t/ha
• Testing Australian and project Indonesia: 3-4 t/ha
varieties in Northern Australia.
• Finding good yield, low pressure
from biotic stresses in the dry
season.
• Genetic and environmental
differences in yield and duration
under aerobic conditions.
• Need to work out a way to get
quality evaluation done outside
the quarantine area – me at UQ?
21

22. Opportunities for connections- quality
• Most SE Asian countries like
Cambodian style rice so any
QTLs we find for quality will
be useful elsewhere.
• Rice along the Mekong is soft
textured and we are on the
cusp of identifying the gene
that makes them so soft.
• This will have immediate
application in SE Asian
breeding programs.
22

23. Opportunities for connections-duration
Important in Cambodia, Laos, and Bangladesh
23

24. Opportunities for connections- drought
• The rice-growing regions
of Asia all grow rainfed
RF one season
rice. =25000 ha
• If this and the related
projects find drought
resistant germplasm and
tools to create market-
appropriate versions, the
RF double season
application could be =25000 ha
huge.
24

25. We must remember the consumers!
Bangladesh Cambodia Lao PDR
Parboiled rice Glass-like rice Waxy rice
Firm-texture and very springy Aromatic and soft cooking Aromatic and soft and sticky
Boiled in excess water Cooked by absorbing Steamed above boiling
particular amount of water water
25

26. Acknowledgements
• Project partners: CARDI,
GDA, NSWDPI
• ACIAR
• CAVAC (Craig Meisner)
• IRRI Grain Quality lab.
• Supporters of spin-off
projects
– Monsanto Beachell
Borlaug
– GRiSS
– UQ
– UWageningen
26

27. Climate ready rice – water issues
From the makers of
• This new film describes An Inconvenient Truth
with frightening clarity,
the fragility of our future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=fLE3i92LkQk
water supply.
• Our duty to our children’s
children is to ensure that
popular rice varieties use
a lot less water than they
do at the moment.
27