Genetic resources

Baibinge 1, a medium-duration upland rice variety with good grain quality released in Rpublique Dmocratique du Congo
B. Mateso, K. Bantodisa, M. Musepena, L. Kombozi, and B. Lienge, Centre de Recherches Agronomiques de lInstitut National pour lEtude et la Recherche Agronomique (INERA), B.P. 2015 Yangambi via Kisangani, Rpublique Dmocratique du Congo

Upland rice cultivation is the most practiced in the Rpublique Dmocratique du Congo. This represents more than 90% of the total rice area. Among upland rice varieties, Lienge is the most cultivated, particularly in the eastern part of the country. It is a medium-duration (120140 d), 150-cm-high, blast-resistant, and lodging-tolerant variety with a yield averaging 3.5 t ha1. Lienge was particularly selected for its long and slender grain and high volume of expansion at cooking. It was released in 2001 to replace RY1 (IRAT2, yielding 3.2 t ha1), a sticky-grain rice when cooked, which was less acceptable to consumers, who prefer rice that is harder, flakier, and whiter, and that remains soft even after overnight storage. Besides Lienge, two medium-duration rice varietiesNERICA4 and NERICA6were selected during PVS trials conducted in 2004 at the INERA research center and stations, and released in the country in 2007, with 2.5 tons of foundation seeds produced at the Yangambi research center. However, in spite of their high yield potential (3.03.5 t ha1 without fertilizers), NERICA4 and NERICA6 were not readily adopted because of their susceptibility to insect attacks during storage. NERICA6 was susceptible to neck blast, whereas NERICA4 has a high proportion of broken grains (3040%), shows hardness of hull at milling, and has poor threshability, making manual processing difficult. In 2001, two crosses were made at the Yangambi research center. We aimed to develop a number of acceptable medium-duration (120140 d), medium-height (130150 cm), lodging-tolerant, blast-resistant, and high-yielding (more than 3.5 t ha1) varieties with good grain characteristics (length more than 9 mm; length/width of at least 3; width/thickness more or less 1; 1,000-grain weight more than 30 g; and endosperm translucency at least 70%) and good cooking quality (amylose content at least 22%; cooking volume expansion more than 350 mL 100 g1). Seven pure breeding lines were selected from two crosses, PR68-11bGL/Araguaia (PR92) and IR47686-09-2-4/Araguaia (PR93). These were

2010

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

Genetic resources
compared with Lienge during two wet cropping seasons in 2004 (April-August) and 2007 (August-January) at Yangambi (Table 1). Soil at the site was loamy with 3040% clay and was lighter at the surface, favorable enough for the rice crop. Annual rainfall and monthly temperature averages were 1,605.4 mm and 25.3 C, respectively. The 2-year experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Plots were 3 m 5 m, in which four to seven seedlings per hill were sown at 30 20-cm spacing. No fertilizer was applied in the plots. Yield improvement was observed during the 2007 cropping season (in the second cropping season) with all entries, except for PR92-42-3-2-3 (Table 1). On average, three breeding lines, PR92-42-3-2-3, PR93-75-3-3, and PR9375-3-1-1, respectively, yielded 9%, 11%, and 14% more than the check variety Lienge. All test entries, except for PR92-107-3-1-1, were tolerant of lodging and had good grain characteristics comparable with those of Lienge (Table 2). Endosperm translucency of PR92-42-3-2-3 and PR93-75-3-2-3 was low (76%) however, but above the minimum required (70%) for quality material. Moderate resistance to leaf blast, the common fungal disease in the country, was found only in PR93-75-3-1-1. Three breeding lines, PR92-42-3-2-3, PR93-75-3-3, and PR93-75-3-1-1, were selected as promising varieties. PR93-75-3-1-1, yielding 4.0 t ha1 on average, was released in 2007 as Baibinge1. High endosperm translucency and volume expansion at cooking, and good resistance to leaf blast, are its main advantages over the other two, resulting in high preference by both consumers and farmers.

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International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

Genetic resources

Table 1. Yield of seven selected breeding lines and check variety Lienge, Yangambi/INERA Research Centre, Rpublique Democratique du Congo.
Breeding line/variety Lienge (check) PR92-107-3-1-1 PR92-42-3-2-3 PR92-42-3-6 PR93-75-3-1-1 PR93-75-3-2-3 PR93-75-3-1-2 PR93-75-3-3 Av CV (%)
a

Cross OS6/IRAT13 PR68-11b-GL/Araguaia PR68-11b-GL/Araguaia PR68-11b-GL/Araguaia IR47686-09-2-4/Araguaia IR47686-09-2-4/Araguaia IR47686-09-2-4/Araguaia IR47686-09-2-4/Araguaia 2004 3.3 bc 2.8 c 4.3 a 3.3 bc 3.5 b 3.3 bc 3.1 bc 3.5 b 3.4 9.2

Main yield (t ha1)a 2007 3.6 b 4.0 ab 3.3 b 3.5 b 4.5 a 3.9 ab 3.9 ab 4.2 a 3.8 12.1

Av 3.5 bc 3.4 c 3.8 ab 3.4 c 4.0 a 3.6 bc 3.5 bc 3.9 a 3.6 6.1

In a column, means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly from each other at the 5% level by Duncans multiple range test.

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International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

Genetic resources
Table 2. Plant characteristics of seven selected breeding lines and check variety Lienge, Yangambi/INERA Research Centre, Rpublique Democratique du Congo (av of 2-year observations [2004, Apr-Aug, and 2007, Aug-Jan]).
Characteristic Days to 50% flowering Duration (d) Culm length (cm) Panicle length (cm) Productive tillers (no.) Lodging (score)a Threshabilitya Spikelet fertility (%) Filled grains panicle1 (no.) Grain length (mm) Grain width (mm) Length/width Width/thickness 1,000-grain weight (g) Translucency (%) Volume expansion at cooking (mL 100 g1) Disease reaction Brown leaf spot Leaf blast Leaf scald
a

Lienge (check) 94 124 116 27 14 3 9 91 201 9.80 3.00 3.27 1.36 36 91 389

PR92-107-3-1-1 92 120 118 28 13 4 9 89 208 9.95 2.84 3.50 1.33 33 89 415

PR92-42-3-2-3 92 119 117 26 13 3 9 88 212 9.48 2.80 3.39 1.29 30 76 431

PR92-42-3-6 89 117 117 30 14 3 9 87 195 10.64 2.78 3.83 1.32 31 87 354

PR93-75-3-1-1 92 120 117 29 17 2 9 93 218 9.33 2.83 3.30 1.30 32 90 462

PR93-75-3-2-3 90 118 117 30 13 2 9 87 214 9.27 2.87 3.23 1.29 32 76 431

PR93-75-3-1-2 90 119 106 28 13 2 9 89 217 9.08 2.82 3.22 1.32 31 80 385

PR93-75-3-3 95 125 108 28 14 3 9 89 202 10.04 3.04 3.30 33 85 397

MS MS MR

MS MS MS

MR MS MR

MS MS MS

MR MR MS

MS MS MR

MS MS MS

MS MS MR

Scored using the Standard evaluation system for rice, June 1988. MS = moderately susceptible, MR = moderately resistant.

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

2010