New salt-tolerant rice varieties released in Indonesia

By Aris Hairmansis and Nafisah New salt-tolerant rice varieties, Inpari 34 Salin Agritan and Inpari 35 Salin Agritan, have been released in Indonesia. Multilocation trials show that their average yield is 5.1 tons/ha, and 5.3 tons/ha, respectively. Dendang (HYV) under saline condition in Karangampel, Indramayu district. Salinity is a major problem in rice production along coastal areas in Indonesia. Salinity damage to the rice crop frequently happens during dry season because of sea water intrusion into paddy fields. In many cases, farmers need to replant their rice field several times after sea water inundates it. An example is what happened in Karangampel, Indramayu district. To overcome salinity problem in rice areas, the Indonesian Centre for Rice Research (ICRR) released in 2014 two new salt-tolerant rice varieties named Inpari 34 Salin Agritan and Inpari 35 Salin Agritan. The two varieties were introduced by IRRI in 2008. Inpari 34 refers to IR78788-B-B-10-1-2-4-AJY1 while Inpari 35 is CSR90-IR-2.  FL478 (check tolerant) and Dendang (HYV) as comparison, their performance under saline condition  Karawang, West Java, October, 2010. These two varieties released specifically for salinity-affected lowland rice areas in Indonesia. Multilocation field trials of these two lines in affected areas began in 2010 and were completed in 2012. Inpari 34 takes 102 days to maturity, while Inpari 35 matures in 106 days. The two released varieties have hard cooked rice texture.  IR78788 (Inpari 34, Salin Agritan) In collaboration with IRRI through CURE, seeds of these two varieties are being multiplied at the ICRR experimental station for distribution to farmers in salt-affected areas in Indonesia. While dissemination of these two varieties is being done, breeding efforts to improve salinity tolerance of other rice varieties is continuously carried out at the ICRR. These two varieties have been used as donors in crosses with popular Indonesian varieties. Moreover, under the CURE project, field trials of other new salt-tolerant rice lines are underway in the key site Karangampel, Indramayu district.  The authors are rice breeders from Indonesian Centre for Rice Research (ICRR). Printed in CURE Matters Vol. 5 No. 1 May 2015. Page 3-4. Posted in IFAD Asia: http://goo.gl/EAiOD2 For more information, visit: International Rice Research Institute (www.irri.org) Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (cure.irri.org) CURE at IFAD Asia (asia.ifad.org/web/cure) CURE at Facebook (facebook.com/CURE.IRRI)