Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
other advanced research centers around the world. FLAR and its many
members from 17 of the LAC countries have a platform in which new
research
findings can be rapidly extended to farmers, resulting in
signi
cant impacts on food production, rural poverty, and food security
(Zorrilla et al. 2013).
B. Breeding for Irrigated Conditions in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Traditional rice cultivars have dominated the rice area planted in Rio
Grande do Sul (RS) State in southern Brazil since their introduction
in the late-nineteenth century until the early 1970s. At the end of this
period, the principal rice cultivars grown were Caloro (short grain),
Farroupilha (medium grain) and Selection 388, Agulha, EEA 404, and
EEA 406 (long grain). Their low yield potential and inferior grain
quality, associated with a tall, leafy plant type and susceptibility to
lodging, led producers to seek new alternatives. Long-grain cultivars
such as Bluebelle, Dawn, Belle Patna, Starbonnet, Bluebonnet, Labelle,
Bonnet 73, and Lebonnet were introduced from the United States in
1972
-
1973.
Rice farmers adopted these
tropical japonica
-type cultivars quickly. In
-
1981), they dominated the rice cultivated area in Rio
Grande do Sul, reaching a maximum in 1980
ve seasons (1976
1981 (385,000 ha). These
U.S. cultivars, although requiring best management practices, had the
important advantage of superior grain quality.
The introduction of high-yielding
indica
cultivars from CIAT brought
about a new scenario in southern Brazil. Cultivars such as CICA 4 (1973)
and IRGA 408 (1975) were the
-
first to be grown (Table 5.4). These
cultivars had a high yield potential but poor grain quality that limited
their adoption. Four years later (1979), as a result of cooperative work
among IRGA, CIAT, and Embrapa, the
first successful semidwarf variety
(named BR-IRGA 409) was released in Brazil. This variety is adapted to
the growing conditions of Rio Grande do Sul and it has the grain quality
required by industry and Brazilian consumers. The adoption of high-
yielding semidwarf cultivars was very quick and, in 10 years,
95% of
the rice area was occupied by cultivars of this group, especially BR-IRGA
409 and BR-IRGA 410. Nowadays, semidwarf or modern-type cultivars
occupy almost the entire rice area in RS. IRGA has released 21 cultivars
from this group in the 1979
>
2013 period, as shown in Table 5.4. Five of
them were developed and released in partnership with Embrapa.
Semidwarf cultivars had a signi
-
cant impact on the rice industry of
Rio Grande do Sul, consolidating it as the largest rice producer in Brazil
and the main rice-exporting state. The high yield potential of these
