Grain Quality Considerations

 
 

Rice quality means different things to different people and it is region specific. Best quality type of one region may not be liked at all by another region. Therefore, breeding for better quality hybrids depending upon the local requirement assumes added significance. Acceptance of hybrids by consumers is primarily determined by cooking and eating quality characteristics. The price which the farmers get for their produce is also determined by quality traits. The Chinese hybrids introduced earlier, besides being poorly adaptable to our conditions, had a very poor grain quality. At present hybrids are developed by using the locally developed parental lines and those introduced from IRRI.

  
 

All the released hybrids in India and the promising pre-released hybrids have moderately acceptable quality but they cannot be compared with some high quality varieties such as Samba Mahsuri in Andhra Pradesh, White Ponni in Tamil Nadu and Basmati varieties of northern India. Separate breeding programmes have to be initiated to develop hybrids of very high quality.

 
 

Hybrids have been evaluated for quality characteristics. Some of the hybrids viz., ADTRH-1 and DRRH-1 possess good quality characters (Table 5). With the availability of large number of CMS lines and the pollen parents, it would be possible to develop hybrids with desired quality characters.

 
 
Hybrid/ Variety Grain Type Milling % Amylose Content(%) Alkali value Tenderness on touching (After cooking) Stickiness (After cooking) Taste After cooking)
DRRH-1 LS 65.2 24.0 4.2; 4.3 4.4 4.3 3.4
CNRH-3 LB 69.3 27.8 3.1; 3.8 3.0 4.3 2.7
MGR-1 MS 67.6 31.4 - 3.4 3.7 2.6
CORH-2 MB 60.5 26.3 3.6; 4.5 3.6 3.3 2.8
ADTRH-1 LS 70.2 24.7 3.9; 4.6 3.7 4.3 2.8
APHR-2 LS 69.0 27.5 2.3; 2.6 4.0 2.8 2.6
KRH-2 LB 72.6 27.5 2.0; 2.0 3.7 4.0 2.9
Sahyadri LS 67.6 26.2 - 4.3 3.2 3.1
PA 6201 LS 69.7 24.0 2.4; 3.3 3.4 2.7 2.8
PHB-71 LS 66.0 24.2 2.4; 3.3 3.4 4.3 2.8
Jaya SB 71.7 27.5 7.0; 7.0 3.8 3.4 2.8
Rasi SB 68.5 30.8 7.0; 7.0 3.8 4.5 2.6
Swarnadhan SB 60.6 29.1 7.0; 7.0 4.0 4.6 3.2
Sambha Mahsuri MS 69.0 23.8 3.0; 4.0 4.1 4.5 3.6
Vikas LS 66.5 27.2 6.0; 6.0 2.6 1.1 2.0
 
 

IR58025A is the commonly used female parent of the released hybrids. This line has long slender grains with slight aroma and hence hybrids developed by using this line are medium slender to long slender and they too have mild aroma. Presence of aroma is not liked by some consumers especially in south India. Therefore, efforts are underway to identify alternate commercially useable CMS lines..

 
 

Development of basmati hybrids is taken up at New Delhi, Kapurthala, Karnal and Pantnagar centres. In the multi-location evaluation over three year period, Basmati hybrid Pusa RH10 has recorded an yield advantage of 926-1600 kg/ha over the yield of Pusa Basmati. The hybrid Pusa RH-10 has been released for general cultivation in 2001.