Rice: Progress in Breaking the Yield Ceiling

The ideotype approach has been used in breeding programs at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and in China to improve rice yield potential. First-generation new plant type (NPT) lines developed from tropical japonica at IRRI did not yield well due to limited biomass production and poor grain filling. Progress has been made in the second-generation NPT lines developed by crossing elite indica with improved tropical japonica. Several second-generation NPT lines outyielded the firstgeneration NPT lines and indica check varieties in both dry and wet seasons. China’s “super” rice breeding project has developed several F1 hybrid varieties using the combination of an ideotype approach and utilization of intersubspecific heterosis. These hybrid varieties produced grain yields of 12 t/ha in onfarm demonstration fields, 8-15% higher than the hybrid check varieties. The yield improvement was not due to increased crop duration so that cropping intensity will not be affected by adopting these new varieties in rice-based cropping systems. The success of China’s “super” hybrid rice was partially the result of assembling the good components of IRRI’s NPT design in addition to the utilization of intersubspecific heterosis. For example, both designs focused on large panicle size, reduced tillering capacity and improved lodging resistance. More importantly, improvement in plant type design was achieved in China “super” hybrid rice by emphasizing the top three leaves and the panicle position within a canopy in order to meet the demand of heavy panicles for large source supply. Success of “super” hybrid rice breeding in China and progress of NPT breeding at IRRI suggest that an ideotype approach is effective for breaking the yield ceiling of irrigated rice crop in rice-based cropping systems.

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