Southern Cross University makes headway in research to breed rice that grows without standing in flood-irrigation water
In an attempt to produce a dryer to grow rice breed that reduces the overall environmental footprint, Southern Cross University has embarked on a breeding program backed by a three-year grant from ARC (Australian Research Council) worth $417,391.
If the research is successful, the world’s most economically grown water-saving low-carbon rice will become available for consumers and has the potential to increase our current production level worth $250 million to $1 billion within 5 years.
The University’s initiative will be led by Dr Szabolcs Lehoczki-Krsjak, a Research Fellow in Rice Breeding and Genetics, and with the backing of the Australian Research Council who has awarded an Industry Fellowship for ‘Speed breeding with a twist for water-saving low-carbon rice.
The Industry Fellowship project will allow Dr Lehoczki-Krsjak to continue exploring sustainable ‘dryland’ rice production in the NSW Northern Rivers where the region’s abundant rainfall is the crop’s water source rather than irrigation.
The Natural Rice Company, based at Kyogle NSW, is the project’s industry partner.
Dr Lehoczki-Krsjak explains the program, “The ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship will support us in developing a ‘speed-breeding’ method by extending the rice growing period to investigate stress tolerance and to grow and select two crops per year at the nursery.
“My aim is to examine drought and cold tolerance in rice and, once I’ve found genotypes with the necessary stress tolerance level, I’ll dissect their genetic background to identify which part of their genome carries stress tolerance genes.
“This will help us to develop climate smart varieties of rice. These ‘climate smart’ dryland varieties will provide significant benefit by transforming rice production to save water and lower the carbon footprint while maintaining productivity and profitability.
“Methane, the second-most important greenhouse gas contributor, is produced by bacteria that live in the soil of the flooded paddies under oxygen-restricted conditions. These bacteria are way less active in methane emission under dryland rice production,” added Dr Lehoczki-Krsjak.
Dr Lehoczki-Krsjak’s earlier research, conducted in conjunction with Southern Cross University’s Professor Tobias Kretzschmar, has seen the development of new ‘climate smart’ lines of rice that not only help save irrigation water but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by our rice industry.
These ‘climate smart’ rice include dryland-grown black rice that is high in natural fibre and antioxidant anthocyanins, making them a healthy – and tasty – dietary choice.
“The ARC Fellowship, combined with the Northern Rivers’ unique climatic conditions and its rice growers’ community, together with Southern Cross University’s in-house rice experts and a strong ongoing partnership with our industry partner, The Natural Rice Company, provide the perfect scenario for me to continue my research into climate smart rice,” Dr Lehoczki-Krsjak concluded.
Steve Rogers, General Manager of The Natural Rice Company, said he was excited to continue working with Southern Cross University, “Producing dryland rice eliminates methane and irrigation. This needs to be the goal of food production into the future.
“The climate we have here in the Northern Rivers is very unique for rice-growing. It’s probably the most unique dryland rice producing area in Australia. It is great to be a partner with Southern Cross University for Szab’s ARC Industry Fellowship,” Steve Rogers concluded.
It is expected the project will deliver direct environmental benefits by:
- supporting the development of new ‘climate smart’ rice varieties that require less water to produce high yield, thereby safeguarding natural waters used for irrigation
- facilitating dryland rice productivity and profitability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the rice industry
- enhancing the share of eco-friendly dryland rice in Australian rice production
The ARC Industry Fellowships Programs help build innovation in the industry, community organisation, not-for-profit, and other government and publicly funded research sectors, and to facilitate the adoption, translation and commercialisation of Australian research over time.
Watch the video about the black rice breeding program at Southern Cross University here.
ARC Industry Fellowship project summary
Rice has one of the highest environmental footprints among crops worldwide, because of the water use and methane emission during production. This project aims to combine drought and cold tolerance traits of rice, necessary for ecofriendly dryland production, through a field-based speed breeding approach. It will allow to rapidly advance and select drought and cold tolerant rice genotypes and will generate new knowledge on the genetic drivers of combined stress tolerance. Expected outcomes includes tolerant germplasms for further breeding and variety development purposes. This will lead to ‘climate smart’ dryland varieties and will provide significant benefit by transforming rice production to save water and lower the carbon footprint.