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Quality A High Priority For Rice Breeders
BRUCE SCHULTZ
CROWLEY, LA.
Development of specialty rice varieties to compete with foreign imports has been an important part of the breeding projects at the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station for many years.
Probably the most famous specialty variety developed at the Rice Research Station is Della which was developed by Dr. Nelson Jodon and released in 1973. Della has typical long grain cooking characteristics and a very distinct, pleasant aroma when cooking. This variety is still grown today.
In 1998, the variety Dellmati was developed by Dr. Farman Jodari, now a rice breeder in California.
Dr. Steve Linscombe, director of the Rice Research Station and rice breeder, said Dellmati was developed to compete with Basmati, a long-grain aromatic rice that elongates when cooked.
Linscombe said Dellmati was competitive with Basmati. “It had very nice aroma along with the elongation characteristic.”
Yield was not as high as conventional varieties, he said, but it had the potential to be sold for a higher price because it was a specialty rice. Imported Basmati sells for a very high price here in the U.S.
Linscombe said despite its good qualities, Dellmati never gained traction in the marketplace. “It’s not like you can just grow it, and somebody is going to buy it. Nobody really took it upon themselves to develop that market.”
Two varieties with characteristics very similar to Thai jasmine were developed at the Rice Research Station by Dr. Xueyan Sha, a rice breeder now working at the University of Arkansas. Named Jazzman and Jazzman 2, the long-grain varieties have the aroma and soft cooking characteristics favored in many Southeast Asian dishes. It was thought Jazzman and Jazzman 2 could offset some of the Thai Jasmine imported into the U.S.
A new company, Jazzmen, was formed in New Orleans to sell this specialty rice. A picture of musician Louis Armstrong is prominently displayed on the packages available on many grocery shelves across the Gulf Coast.
John Morgan, vice president of Louisiana Rice Mill, said much of this rice was sold overseas, and the African nation Ghana bought a large portion.
But Vietnam, which also grows a version of Jasmine, undercut the price of American Jazzman in the foreign market, Morgan said.
“Vietnam has really blown us out of the market. Ghana was a big market.”
Farmer Jimmy Hoppe with a bag of his aromatic rice.
Photo by Bruce Schultz
Jimmy Hoppe, a rice farmer in Fenton, La., has grown the Jazzman varieties as well as Della and Dellmati.
Hoppe said it was only because of the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana rice check-off program that the specialty varieties have been made available. “Without LSU, there wouldn’t be any of this available to grow.”
He said the Louisiana Rice Research Board decided in the mid-1990s to fund more specialty variety development by using check-off funds. “The Research Board made it a priority to compete with the imports coming into the U.S.”
Hoppe said the next generation of Jazzman has the Clearfield trait. “It will give us the ability to plant it on land that may have a problem with red rice.” ∆
BRUCE SCHULTZ: Assistant Communications Specialist, LSU AgCenter
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