'FRANCIS' RICE HITS THE FIELD

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STUTTGART – Seed producers are growing registered seed for a new high-yielding, long-grain rice variety, developed by University of Arkansas rice breeders, that will be available for growing in 2003.

Certified Francis seed will be widely available to producers in 2004, said Don Dombek, coordinator of the U of A crop variety improvement program.

The new rice variety, Francis, sets new standards for yields, said Karen Moldenhauer, U of A Division of Agriculture rice breeder. It tops LaGrue and Wells, the U of A's highest-yielding varieties, in performance trials in Arkansas and surrounding states.

"Rough rice grain yields of Francis have consistently ranked as one of the highest in the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials, being either equal to or greater than the yields of LaGrue and Wells in all three years of the tests," Moldenhauer said. "It averaged 220 bushels an acre over three years in the Uniform Rice Regional Nursery."

The Uniform Rice Regional Nursery tests rice yields and other characteristics in five states. In the same test, LaGrue averaged 208 bushels and Wells averaged 203 bushels, she said.

Moldenhauer said Francis, designated during breeding as RU9901081, is a very-early-maturing variety with a growing season similar to Cocodrie. It has the same disease package as LaGrue. "Francis, like LaGrue and Wells, is susceptible to common rice blast in greenhouse tests," she said. "As is the case for Wells, however, blast has not been a problem for Francis in field tests."

Francis is rated resistant to brown spot and narrow brown leaf spot, moderately resistant to leaf smut, moderately susceptible to sheath blight, susceptible to stem rot and false smut, and very susceptible for kernel smut.

It has strong straw, indicating resistance to lodging, Moldenhauer said.

Life Science is about research on Arkansas issues involving agriculture, food, the environment, families and communities. The research is conducted by scientists at Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.