IRRI developing rice variety for El Niño

LOS BANOS, Laguna – The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is developing a drought-resistant rice variety which could withstand the harsh effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

"We are trying to develop a rice variety that can be grown during periods of El Niño," said IRRI director for partnerships Dr. William Padolina during a press briefing of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) annual general meeting which has some 500 of the world’s top agricultural scientists discussing programs to feed a teeming hungry population of 1.2 billion impoverished people. This is the first time that the CGIAR meeting is being held outside Washington DC.

The target of IRRI, said Padolina is to perfect a drought-resistant rice variety that could be planted in harsh, dry areas with very little or scant rainfall. This should benefit rice-growing countries hit by the hot weather phenomenon where little or lack of rainfall results in soaring rice prices as supply tightens. For countries like the Philippines, it could mean less dependence on rice imports to ensure all-year supply.

Almost all of the people in Asia, or 60 percent of the world’s population, rely on rice as a staple.

Padolina explained the IRRI’s target is to try to bring down the water requirement for planting rice by at least 50 percent. Currently, about 5,000 liters of water is needed to produce one kilogram of rice.

Padolina said the research work for developing a drought-resistant rice variety will involve combining genetic engineering and conventional breeding methods.

"What we are doing is to find the gene is existing rice varieties that are drought-resistant and incorporate this into rice varieties already planted on a commercial scale," Padolina said.

Once IRRI completes its study, which Padolina said is expected to be done in five years, this will be shared to other rice research institutions that can do their own field-testing.

Padolina said IRRI’s study should be easier, especially with China already agreeing to share its research on rice genome.

The genes control essential characteristics of the rice plant, such as aroma, resistance to pests and diseases, and other agronomic traits.

This is one of the most significant developments in the history of modern rice research. The rice microarray was developed based on the genome map of the indica species of rice, which is grown in tropical and subtropical Asia.