Scientists work to remove chalkiness in rice, improve yield

Jul 21, 2011, 8:17 GMT

Manila - The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said Monday its scientists were working on identifying a gene in rice that could help remove chalkiness in the grain, an undesirable trait that devalues the staple food by up to 25 per cent.

The Philippines-based IRRI said the white, opaque parts are weaknesses in the grain of rice, and can flake off or cause the grain to break during milling.

The lost production downgrades the quality of the rice, and decreases the returns for farmers.

Melissa Fitzgerald, head of IRRI9s grain quality and nutrition research, said identifying the gene that causes chalkiness could help scientists come up with rice varieties that are chalk-free.

Fitzgerald has led a team of scientists in IRRI in studying rice chalkiness for the past 15 years and in 2010, the group was able to identify major regions in the rice genomes that are responsible for the trait.

'Currently, there are only a few commercially available rice varieties that have genuinely low chalkiness,' she said. 'Our discovery can help us improve on this.'

Zhao, a member of Fitzgerald's research team, said the group was also working on generating different breeding lines to develop new chalk-free rice varieties that farmers can use.

'These can help farmers increase the amount of edible rice they harvest, produce higher quality rice, increase profit and deliver higher quality rice to consumers,' he said.