IRRI, partners release 28 new rice varieties

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners released at least 28 new rice varieties for governments of eight countries in Asia and Africa in 2014, the IRRI said Friday.

These newly-released varieties possess high-yielding and stress-tolerant traits that can help farmers overcome challenges, such as the negative effects of climate change, in their rice growing ecosystems. Some of the varieties released are flood-tolerant (India), drought-tolerant for rainfed rice areas (Nepal), and salinity-tolerant (Gambia and the Philippines).

IRRI has released more than a thousand modern rice varieties in 78 countries since its founding in 1960, according to the Manila-based research organisation.  

"The work never stops. New challenges arise due to climate change and decreasing resources, which is why we need to keep revisiting our agenda and stay responsive to the needs of our farmers and consumers," ," a release said quoting Eero Nissila, IRRI's head of breeding and leader of its global rice research partnership in varietal improvement, as saying

Scientists implementing IRRI's breeding agenda were sharing the latest in their varietal improvement work during IRRI Breeders' Week, happening now at IRRI, 23-27 March 2015, it mentioned.

Critical improvements are being made to IRRI's breeding infrastructure, which needs to be more responsive to the requirements of current and future rice demand. Responsiveness requires increasing rice genetic gain in yield and pursuing an agenda that's driven by what consumers need and prefer. Taken together, these improvements are called Transforming Rice Breeding (TRB), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it said.

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