Chairman's Report-86
 

 

 

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Rice Research Board Chairman, Steven L. Dennis

 

 

 Your Rice Research Board, working in cooperation with growers, made 1986 a banner year on many fronts. Our estimated average statewide yields increased to 7,700 pounds per acre, our best ever.

We burned more rice straw with fewer problems than any season since the controlled straw-burning program was started. This is a credit to growers' willingness to follow rules and guidelines designed to protect our air. Also, this past year we were successful in reducing herbicide residues in rivers and drains. Although these are significant improvements, public concerns for health and safety may require state agencies to further strengthen controls on straw burning and herbicide use. These public concerns require us to use our research talent and resources to protect air and water as well as to maintain and improve rice production.

Your industry has funded very talented and innovative rice research teams. They are working to solve many perplexing problems with the excellent research facilities of the Rice Experiment Station, the University of California and the USDA Regional Research Center. We look forward to the day when profitable uses for rice straw are discovered and developed. New, more efficient rice herbicides are under test that use low application rates and are expected to reduce herbicide residue problems.

The Biggs Rice Experiment Station continues to deliver varieties that please farmers, handlers and consumers. Marketing opportunities are being improved with the development and release of new and better short- and medium grain varieties as well as new long grain, Calmochi, and aromatic types. The Crop Improvement Association is working with breeders to keep farmers supplied with high quality seed through the seed certification program.

The University of California continues research on control of weeds, rice diseases, invertebrate pests and the improvement of cultural and harvesting techniques. We greatly appreciate the good work of the U.C. Cooperative Extension farm advisors for their help to farmers in applying new research discoveries to actual farm situations.

Enjoy this, your 1987 Annual Report of the Rice Research Board.


Research Highlights

The 1986 fall rice straw burn program was the most successful one in the past six years, with 287,183 acres burned and the second lowest coefficients of haze readings.

Promotional activities with new rice products have increased interest in the use of rice bran in foods.

Two very promising new rice herbicides, Londax and Whip, continue to provide good weed control and appear to be less persistent in drainage water than current herbicides.

 Peak concentrations of the rice herbicides Ordram and Bolero in the Sacramento River were the lowest since 1980, and no fish kills could be attributed to herbicides.

Both field and laboratory studies proved the zinc oxide applied to Bolero treated waters rapidly reduced herbicide levels in drainage water. This might be a useful treatment in emergency situations, but wide-scale use cannot be advised at this time.

The incidences and severity of aggregate sheath spot have increased in California in recent years. Management practices such as nitrogen fertilization rates were less important than the variety in explaining differences in field trials.

Two new chemicals, Alsystin and diflurbenzuron, prevented the eggs of the adult rice water weevils from hatching, and field trials showed that their use significantly reduced larvae numbers.

M-102, a new early medium-grain variety approved for release in 1987, outyielded M-101 in all but the coolest  locations and is more resistant to stem rot and lodging.

Over 90 new experimental rice varieties were tested in nine statewide varietal trials. One experimental, 85-Y-136, an early short grain variety, led in yield and was approved as "certification pending." Its release will be based on 1987 performance trials.

The USDA rice geneticist is working on a procedure for large-scale natural crossing, a new possible system for hybrid rice production, and on the use of cell culture and mutagenesis to discover genetic resistance to a promising environmentally safe herbicide.

Water management treatments alone cannot provide adequate weed control. Best yields were produced from a combination of herbicides and shallow water held at 2 inches for 75 days, after which water depth was increased to 8 inches.

Two new methods were evaluated for determining nitrogen fertilizer needs for rice prior to planting. Both gave good results, but the chemical method was more rapid than a biological method requiring two weeks.

Open versus covered swath harvesting comparisons showed improved head rice yields from folding the windrow to protect the panicles from direct exposure to the sun during drying.

Moisture content at harvest time is the dominant environmental factor influencing head rice yield, but varieties differ in moisture content levels required for good head rice.

 

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