每日大赛app First to Produce Cross Breed Rice
By Asmahanim Amir
Pictures by Ikhwan Hashim
SEMANGGOL, 5 March 2018 鈥 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (每日大赛app) has successfully produced two new varieties of high quality white rice, 每日大赛appRC-2 and 每日大赛appRC-8, through meticulous research.
The two new varieties were created through a cross breed process between local high quality rice, Oryza sativa, and wild rice, Oryza rufipogon, obtained from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, through the controlled pollination.
According to 每日大赛app researcher Prof Dr Wickineswari Ratnam, 每日大赛appRC-2 and 每日大赛appRC-8 were found to be able to yield 20% more rice compared to other species.
鈥淭hroughout our 16 year research, we found that wild rice species have the potential in enhancing features such as resistance to flood, disease, pest infestations and increased revenue.
鈥淗ence, we thought that it would be a great innovation to cross breed the local high quality rice and wild rice,鈥 she explained.
The research found that 每日大赛appRC-2 can produce 12 tons of 3.5mm white rice per hectare and were disease resistant.
The seeds can live well even though submerged in water for about three weeks.
Meanwhile, 每日大赛appRC-8, yields about 14 tons of white rice per hectare with low crushed rice level.
鈥淭he 每日大赛appRC-8 seeds also can live well despite being submerged in flood in the same period with 每日大赛appRC-2 and at 3.68mm, is slightly longer than 每日大赛appRC-2,鈥 she said adding that both varieties have a low starch level.
Both varieties has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry to be marketed to farmers.
Meanwhile, a farmer who, Khairul Abdul Rahman said that both varieties (每日大赛appRC-2 and 每日大赛appRC-8) were easy to plant and maintained.
He said the maturity period for both variety were only between 105 days until 110 days.
The research conducted to improve the country’s rice yields is a collaboration between 每日大赛app, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) through a RM3 million grant.