Texas A&M Agrilife Research Projects To Enhance Rice Yields, Health Benefits

Studies explore new rice breeding technology to improve quality and advance purple rice

Two new Texas A&M AgriLife Research projects are advancing rice breeding strategies to improve productivity for growers while creating new opportunities in health-focused markets.

Led by Shyamal Talukder, Ph.D., AgriLife Research rice breeder, geneticist and assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, the combined efforts bring more than $1.1M in research funding to support Texas rice innovation. One project aims to improve yield and quality in main and ratoon rice crops, while the second seeks to enhance the health benefits and commercial viability of purple rice.

Together, the projects will employ traditional breeding techniques as well as advanced technologies like unmanned aerial systems, or UAS-based high-throughput phenotyping, genomic selection and artificial intelligence, AI.

Testing new technologies for rice yield and quality
The first project, Breeding Rice to Enhance Main and Ratoon Crop Yield and Quality Using UAS-based Imaging, Phenotypic and Genomic Selection, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, aims to modernize the rice breeding pipeline.

The team’s work to improve rice yield and quality in main and ratoon crops will be driven by a multipronged approach. They will establish a UAS-based precision phenotyping system for rice breeding, develop molecular markers for desirable rice crop traits, and develop a cost-effective marker panel for genomic selections and machine learning.

“The project will establish an integrated platform that streamlines precision imaging, high-throughput phenotyping, marker identification, genomic selection and machine learning for rice improvement, facilitating transdisciplinary collaboration and integration,” Talukder said.

“Our research will substantially shorten the traditional rice breeding cycle, contributing to quicker release of new rice varieties with enhanced yield and quality in ratoon and main crops. The overall goal is to support U.S. rice producers and maintain the competitive edge of the U.S. rice industry in the global economy.”

His project team includes Yubin Yang, Ph.D., AgriLife Research integrated cropping systems management researcher and assistant professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont, and Mahendra Bhandari, Ph.D., AgriLife Research remote-sensing crop physiologist and assistant professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi. Both are in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.

Breeding healthier purple rice
Talukder’s second project, Enhancing the Health Benefits of Purple Rice Rich in Anthocyanins Using Traditional Breeding and Multi-omics Techniques, funded by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, focuses on overcoming yield challenges that have limited the commercial adoption of nutrient-dense purple rice.

His rice breeding research will bring together traditional breeding and big data processing to increase nutrient profiles and yields in new purple rice varieties.

The project’s co-lead is Tim Paape, Ph.D., USDA-ARS research geneticist, Bryan-College Station.

“The research is designed to develop rice varieties with enhanced health benefits, which will benefit rice producers by expanding their production portfolio and consumers with healthy grains, increasing the impact of rice products,” Talukder said.