Development and Registration of 'Frontière', a High‐Protein Rice Cultivar. Issue 3 (18th May 2017) - Wenefrida, Ida
Abstract : An inbred, high‐protein, rice ( Oryza sativa L.) cultivar development project was initiated at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in 2005 to develop high‐protein, commercial cultivars that were highly adaptable to the growing conditions and common cultural practices in the southern US rice growing regions. 'Frontière' (Reg. No. CV‐150, PI 674794) is the first cultivar produced by this project and was released in 2015. It was developed from the cultivar Cypress through induced mutation by means of cellular selection. Frontière has an average protein content of 11%, about a 53% improvement from the protein content of typical US cultivars, such as 'Cocodrie', 'Cheniere', 'Catahoula', 'Francis', and Cypress. Frontière is adapted to the rice growing areas in Louisiana and has a stable grain protein content in multiyear tests. Its protein content also remained consistent when grown in the Puerto Rico winter nursery. It is a very early, semidwarf, long‐grain rice with 91.5 cm average height and 85 d from emergence to 50% heading. Similar to Cypress, Frontière is moderately susceptible to rice blast fungus [ Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Sacc.] races IB‐1, IB‐49, and IC‐17 and highly resistant to races IG‐1, IH‐1, IB‐33, IB‐54, and ID‐13. It is susceptible to sheath blight. Frontière's average yield was 7560 kg ha −1 (10% less yield over Cypress or 13% less yield over Cocodrie). It has an excellent milling quality (60.5% whole grain and 68.9% total milling yield), an average amylose content of 21.8%, and an intermediate gelatinization temperature. Despite its close similarity to the cultivar Cypress in amylose content, its grain has distinctive cooking characteristics due to its increased protein content.