Rice Variety Trials, 2021

 

Bruce Linquist, UCCE Rice Specialist, Dept of Plant Sciences, UC Davis

Nine uniform breeding line trials were conducted throughout the rice growing regions of California in 2021 by UC Cooperative Extension scientists in cooperation with rice breeders at the Rice Experiment Station (RES). This ongoing project allows you to compare the performance of older and upcoming varieties in an area near you. Except for the RES test, all trials are performed in actual grower fields. This allows standard varieties to be compared with preliminary and advanced breeding lines across a range of environments, farmer practices, and disease levels. Three similar tests were conducted at RES – one test for each of the three growing zones. All tests were water seeded except for San Joaquin.

Testing advanced and preliminary lines under a variety of conditions remains a critical aspect of releasing varieties adapted to changing cultural practices, markets, and pests. Results are divided into three zones:

• Zone 1: the Wylie Ranch • (Glenn County) and the Dennis Ranch (Colusa County).

• Zone 2: the Larrabee Ranch (Glenn/Butte County) and the Schohr Ranch (S. Butte County).

• Zone 3: the Lauppe Ranch (S. Sutter County), the Erdman Ranch (District 108, Yolo County), the Rehman Ranch (south Yolo County), the Del Rio Ranch (San Joaquin County), and the Rue Ranch (District 10, Yuba County).

The table shows the various sites and the five year averages for standard varieties and the new ROXY variety (19Y4000) coming out soon. You should be able to examine sites near you and get an idea how your current varieties perform compared to other varieties. Considerable detailed information is also contained in the full report covering other varieties and breeding lines.

Equipment and Service

This project also provides a centrally located equipment pool for planting, fertilizing, treatment applications and harvesting rice. Other UC projects in this report rely on this equipment pool and technical assistance for their research. Assistance was provided to approximately 16 trials including the 9 variety tests already referenced. The two combines were maintained according to the established maintenance schedules.

Education

The project also disseminated research-based information to California rice producers, dryer operators, millers, and the public through a virtual winter grower meeting, field demonstrations, personal communication, and other printed material. The annual Rice Breeder’s Field Tour where the RES breeders evaluate each test was hosted in the Fall. The UCCE rice website is online at rice.ucanr.edu and new materials are being added as they become available.

Location M105 M206 M209 M210 M211 19Y4000
Colusa 8292  8864  9030  8884  9248  9000 
Glenn 9164  8964  9232  9040  9042  9260 
N. Butte 9000  8822  9090  9050  9842  9133 
S. Butte 9448  9558  9096  9720  9470  9187 
Sutter 9354  9370  8906  9612  9760  8793 
Yolo 9724  9434  9568  9216  9848  8937 
S. Yolo* 8463  7650  7530  7830  7377  8760 
Yuba 7862  8016  7876  7950  8090  7027 
San Joaquin** 10700  10090  8590  9950  9940  10710