Utilization of rice (Oryza sativa) germplasm for upland rice improvement

Abstract

Hairmansis A, Supartopo, Yullianida, Sunaryo, Warsono, Sukirman, Suwarno. 2015. Utilization of rice (Oryza sativa) germplasm for upland rice improvement. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 1 (1): 14-18. Upland rice cultivation in Indonesia covers about 1.15 million hectare areas and has significant contribution in national food security. However, rice production in upland areas is constrained by several biotic and abiotic stresses. High-yielding rice varieties which adapt to the upland condition are needed to maintain yield stability in upland areas contributing the increase in national rice production. Upland rice breeding programs are aimed to develop high-yielding varieties which are tolerant to the adverse environment in upland areas. To achieve the goal, the breeding programs utilize a diversity of rice gene pool mainly from Oryza sativa species. One of the initial steps in upland rice breeding program is hybridization to combine desirable traits into one breeding population. A number of crossing methods are used in the hybridization including single cross, top cross, double cross and backcross. The hybridization in 2014 from a diverse germplasm collection resulted in a number of potential new upland rice breeding populations. Th breeding populations are potential resources to further development of new high-yielding upland rice.