Cold-tolerant rice varieties to reduce water demand

The Australian rice industry is doubling new rice breeding lines with an ambitious plan to improve water-use efficiency.

Australian ricer growers are hoping to almost double their water efficiency in five years.

The rice industry is pinning its hopes of rapidly reducing water use on an ambitious genetics program.

Newly appointed Rice Breeding Australia senior rice breeder Dr Chris Proud said an accelerated rice breeding program was a central pillar of the industry’s bid to meet its goal of producing an average 1.5 tonnes of rice per megalitre of water by 2030.

The target is a big leap from current industry averages of 0.8 to 0.9 tonnes per megalitre.

Dr Proud, who started in his new job for just over two months ago, said he was confident there would “a rather dramatic increase” in the number of new rice breeding lines assessed by his team.

“We’re hoping to at least double or triple what used to be evaluated, if not more,” he said.

The goal of the research would be to produce more cold-tolerant rice varieties, cutting down on water demand to keep crops at stable temperatures during critical breeding windows.

“Cold tolerance is seen as a very important role in delivering that (water productivity) to the grower,” he said.

Rice crops are inundated with water to protect them from temperature extremes during their critical panicle initiation stage. Picture: Emma Jane Industry

“There’s a really critical stage in rice that’s about two weeks before the crop flowers. If (the plant) gets exposed to cold temperatures, in your really susceptible lines you get reduced grain setting, and so reduced yield.

“Currently, what we recommend as an industry is to do permanent water: flooding to 25cm. That protects the plants from any cold damage. So if we’re able to increase that level of cold tolerance, we’ll be able to reduce the need to be doing that deep water and shallow water, and maybe eventually without any water at all.”

Dr Proud said it was too early to say whether the industry would reach its water efficiency target in five years.

“Whether its five years or 10 years, we’re striving for that goal,” he said.