IRRI launches International Rice Genebank collection

These include types of rice that are popular in certain rice-growing countries or are more resilient to climate change effects

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has unveiled a new resource, the Released Variety Panel (RVP). This panel includes over 130 sequenced rice varieties. The seed is available upon request by scientists and breeders through the International Rice Genebank (IRG), and the sequences are available on the SNP-Seek Database.

The release of this new set, facilitated by IRRI’s Rice Breeding Innovations department, aims to increase the awareness and utilisation of plant types and genotypes of improved rice varieties grown by rice farmers. These include types of rice that are popular in certain rice-growing countries or are more resilient to climate change effects.

Through the High-Density Rice Array (HDRA) and the 3,000 Rice Genomes Project (3k RGP), many upstream scientists have become more familiar with IRG’s collection of germplasm/landraces, having identified many valuable traits/genes/QTLs/donor accessions. However, the plant traits and alleles of modern/improved varieties that breeders have developed may differ from the diversity panels.

In addition, the RVP can facilitate linking upstream rice research with impact pathways. This can help provide benchmarks for varieties with several beneficial traits. Since many of the accessions in the RVP are currently grown by rice farmers, using these lines as benchmarks could increase the likelihood of upstream research results reaching farmers’ fields.