Upland Rice Breeding in Brazil:
Progress and Perspectives
Flavio Breseghello
Head of Research and Development
Embrapa Rice and
Embrapa Rice and Beans
Santo Antônio de Goiás, Brazil

Amount of Rice Produced in Upland and
Irrigated Systems in Brazil
g y
14000
12000
20%
10000
8000
55%
Production Upland
,000 t
x 1,
6000
4000
Production Irrigated
2000
0
1986
6
1987
7
1988
8
1989
9
1990
0
1991
1
1992
2
1993
3
1994
4
1995
5
1996
6
1997
7
1998
8
1999
9
2000
0
2001
1
2002
2
2003
3
2004
4
2005
5
2006
6
2007
7
2008
8
2009
9

Variation of Area Planted and Yield of
Upland and Irrigated Rice in Brazil
p g
7000
Yield Irrigated
g
6000
5000
4000
000 ha
80%
3000
Area Upland
x 1,0
Yield Upland 50%
2000
1000
Area Irrigated
0
1 986
1 987
1 988
1 989
1 990
1 991
1 992
1 993
1 994
1 995
1 996
1 997
1 998
1 999
2 000
2 001
2 002
2 003
2 004
2 005
2 006
2 007
2 008
2 009

Opportunities for Sustainable Upland
Rice Production
Rice Production
Sprinkler
Sprinkler
Irrigation
Crop‐livestock‐
forest integration
Pasture renovation
Crop rotation

Upland Rice in No‐Tillage System
Rice in No Tillage
North of
N h f
Mato Grosso
3.5 t/ha
45 cm
45 cm

Importance of Drought Tolerance
Soil water storage Soil water storage
capacity: 30 mm capacity: 50 mm
Low Risk (20%)
Intermediate Risk (50%)
High Risk ( %)
(80%)

Drought Phenotyping in the Field
(
(Porangatu Station)
g )

Drought Phenotyping in Soil Columns

Paper accepted for publication in Crop Science
PROGRESS OF 25 YEARS OF UPLAND
25 YEARS OF UPLAND
RICE BREEDING IN BRAZIL

Data from records of 26 years
Year Number of trials Total number of Number of new Number of field
lines tested lines from plots
Embrapa
E b
1984 12 54 37 700
1985 38 58 26 2052
1986 19 77 40 1358
1987 10 67 9 674
1988 23 54 4 1484
1989 10 34 9 792
1990 8 32 16 450
1991 16 34 3 1060
1992 15 60 23 944
1993 24 79 24 1477
1994 19 44 9 1536
1995 39 49 12 2597
1996 22 28 6 2046
1997 26 32 13 2143
1998 33 37 21 2552
1999 32 42 16 2485
2000 34 45 16 2756
2001 24 34 15 2297
2002 18 28 9 1819
2003 27 28 9 2733
2004 26 25 10 2408
2005 27 26 13 2299
2006 18 28 13 1830
2007 25 18 5 1520
2008 31 17 6 1841
2009 27 23 12 1835
Arithmetic Mean 23.2 40.5 14.5 1,757
Total 603 493 376 45,688

Statistical Analysis
Group j: set of lines debuting in VCU in year j
Mixed model:
“Group” fixed, all other factors random
Yijkmn = μ + gj + li/gj + ak + tm/ak + bn/atkm + εijkmn
BLUE of Group means
BLUP of lines
f
Generalized Linear Regression:
θ = (X` V‐1 X)‐1 (X` V‐1 Y)
θ = [α, β]
β is the genetic gain per year
g g p y

Results: Change in Grain Type

Factors Restraining Genetic Gain for GY
• Very strict grain quality parameters
parameters.
• Non durable blast disease resistance
Non‐durable resistance.
• Too b d target population of environments.
broad l f

Factors Accelerating Genetic Gain for GY
• Early selection for grain yield.
• Recombination of high‐yielding families.
• Homogenization of cycle duration, plant
height and grain type, allowing stronger
selection pressure on grain yield
yield.

The Rice Breeding Scheme
Generation Traits N. of Type of exp.
materials
Crosses 200 ||||||
tion populatioon
200
ite recurrent
F2 – ERC YIELD
F3 – VS1 BLAST 20 ::::::::::
PLANT TYPE
select
1000
Eli
F4 – EOF BLAST |||||||||...||
||||||||| ||
Cultivar deve
GRAIN QUALITY
F3:5 – ERF YIELD 250
GRAIN QUALITY
elopment
F3:6 – VS2 BLAST 50 ::::::::::
PLANT TYPE |||||||||...||
F7 – EOL BLAST 2000
YIELD
F6:8 –
F6 8 EP GRAIN QUALITY 500
YIELD
F6:9 – ER GRAIN QUALITY 50
YIELD
F6:10 –
F6 10 VCU GRAIN QUALITY 10

The Recurrent Selection Approach
IRRN, v. 34, 4 p. 2009

The same methods are being applied to
are being to
irrigated lowland rice, with similar results:
LINE CROSS GY (kg/ha)
BRA 040081 (BRS Pampa) IRGA 417/CNA7830 12,984 a
BRA 040079
BRA 040079 IRGA 417/CNA7830
IRGA 417/CNA7830 11,994 a
11,994 a
BRA 040311 JAVAÉ/CNAi9039 11,793 a
BRA 040257 DIAMANTE/CNA8642 11,583 a
BRA 040075 IRGA 417/CNA7830 11,320 a
BRA 040286 IRGA 417/CNA7830 11,235 a
BRA 040308 TAIM/CNAi9050 11,208 a
BRA 040307 TAIM/CNAi9050 10,918 a
BRA 040272
BRA 040272 IR22/CNA8502 10,917 a
10 917 a
Mean of Checks
(BR‐IRGA 409, IRGA 417, BRS 7 Taim, BRS 6 Chuí) 8,589 c

BRS Sertaneja
BRS Sertaneja

Upland Rice Breeding:
The Way Forward
y
• Improve drought tolerance through better root system.
• Ad t t
Adapt to no‐till and wider row spacing.
till d id i
• Explore the genetic diversity for biotic and abiotic stress
tolerance.
tolerance
• Implement MAS for blast resistance and grain quality.
• T t and i
Test d incorporate strategic t
t t t i transgenics or mutants.
i t t
• Develop aerobic rice hybrids.

The Brazilian Rice Breeding Project
(Leader: Dr. Orlando Peixoto de Morais)
)
The 2009 – 2013 project includes:
p j
• 10 Embrapa Centers:
CNPAF, CPACT, CPAO, CPAF‐RO, CPATU, CPAA, CPAF‐RR, CPAMN,
CENARGEN, SNT
• 6 State Institutions:
IRGA, EPAGRI, EPAMIG, EMPAER‐MT, SEAGRO‐TO, SEAGRO‐GO
IRGA EPAGRI EPAMIG EMPAER MT SEAGRO TO SEAGRO GO
• 7 Universities:
UFLA, UFG, UFSM, UFT, UNITINS, URCAMP, UNIPAMPA.
UFLA, UFG, UFSM, UFT, UNITINS, URCAMP, UNIPAMPA.