Chasing climate-ready glutinous rice for food security in Thailand and Laos

Professor Apichart Vanavichit, Director of the Rice Science Heart affords perception into how the subsequent era of glutinous rice varieties are crucial to meals safety in Thailand and Laos

Rice might be broadly categorised based mostly on cooking properties as glutinous and non-glutinous. Cooked glutinous rice is sticky, translucent, and chewy with a candy aftertaste, whereas non-glutinous rice is fluffier, and fewer sticky and candy.

Moreover, Glutinous rice comprises extra amylopectin, whereas non-glutinous rice comprises extra amylose.

Origin of glutinous rice

There are three teams of glutinous rice-based on grain sizes, small (japonica), medium (upland), and lengthy slender (indica) grains. The origin of glutinous rice has develop into a scorching matter for dialogue by evolutionists who speculate that glutinous rice has two roots. Glutinous rice has been grown within the Better Mekong Sub-region (GMS), particularly in Laos, for 4,000 – 6,000 years, and at the least 2,000 years in Yunnan, China, by Tai ethnic teams. Specifically, ethnic teams in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos helped preserve upland rice variety. Moreover, Laos has contributed probably the most exceptional genetic variety in glutinous rice to the Worldwide Rice Genebank on the Worldwide Rice Analysis Institute (IRRI).

The important thing to meals safety

Laos and Thailand are the one international locations that eat glutinous rice as main steady meals. Laos consumes glutinous rice at 171 kg per yr, the very best per capita consumption globally. In Thailand, glutinous rice is important for family consumption within the north and northeast at 125-155 kg per capita per yr. Thai farmers sometimes develop side-by-side, glutinous rice for family consumption and Hommali rice for money. The present consumption of glutinous rice in Thailand has been on the rise just lately because of the recognition of the northeastern cuisines in eating places and road meals amongst Thais and vacationers. From 2021 to 2026, the demand for glutinous rice is growing healthily.

Sticky rice isn’t just sticky

Glutinous rice offers excessive amylopectin for the meals and beverage industries. China is the key importer of glutinous rice from Thailand and Vietnam, primarily for alcohol manufacturing. In contrast to such industrial utilisation, glutinous rice cooking is a delicacy that begins from rice cooking. Glutinous rice can’t be appropriately completed in an extraordinary automated rice cooker however is dependent upon conventional streaming practices in a singular bamboo basket. Completely different glutinous rice varieties are different significantly on cooking qualities reminiscent of levels of stickiness, chewiness, hardness, and perfume.

Cultivation of glutinous rice in Thailand

Thailand is the world’s prime glutinous rice producer on 3.17 Mha, producing about 7-7.5 MT and exporting about 7% yearly. RD6, the most well-liked glutinous rice in Thailand and Laos, is broadly grown within the northeast of Thailand. RD6 and Thai Hommali Rice (KDML105 and RD15) are the three most cultivated rice varieties occupying lowland rain-fed areas, constituting about 70% in northeastern Thailand.

Fluctuations in rainfall distribution and poor soil fertility are crucial constraints within the northeastern lowland rain-fed. Originated from gamma radiation of KDML105, RD6 is as inclined to most biotic and abiotic stresses just like the progenitor. Resilience to infertile soil, delicate drought, salinity, and acid sulfate soil profit high-quality Thai Hommali Rice and RD6 (Bureau of Rice Analysis and Improvement, Thailand Rice Division, 2010). Nonetheless, RD6 has nonetheless been the most well-liked glutinous rice in Thailand and Laos due to its soft-sticky and fragrance high quality of cooked rice.

New waxy rice growth

Grain yield of glutinous RD6 and Thai Hom Mali Rice is as little as 2.32 t/ha on account of their genetic makeups, soil infertility, and the shortage of irrigation system in the principle northeast space in Thailand. Conventional Thai RD6 and Lao TDK1 are tall, photoperiod delicate, and inclined to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. RD6 has superior cooking high quality with a robust aroma. Nonetheless, it is vitally weak to blast and bacterial blight illnesses, simply lodged, and illiberal to flood and drought, important manufacturing constraints within the lowland rain-fed areas.

To be accepted by farmers and shoppers, new rice strains are improved to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses and maintain comparable cooked rice high quality as RD6 for extended softness, stickiness, chewiness, and perfume. As a result of cooking glutinous rice is time-consuming, preservation is handy for farmers and employees to eat the leftover later. Due to this fact, extended soft-stickiness is a crucial attribute of cooked glutinous rice to stop staleness. This cooked rice high quality is the hallmark for the genetic enchancment of glutinous rice for family consumption in Thailand.

By complete gene pyramiding developed by the analysis crew on the Modern Plant Biotechnology and Precision Agriculture (APBT), newly improved RD6 varieties are designed to withstand flash flooding, bacterial leaf blight, leaf blast, brown planthopper and gall-midge. Specifically, specializing in cover structure reminiscent of decreasing plant stature, sturdy stem, and early flowering is crucial for the subsequent era of glutinous rice varieties.

New excellent glutinous rice varieties focusing on the northeast space are launched for farmers. The primary well-known glutinous rice is Thanyasirin, a photoperiod delicate selection with superior cooking high quality just like RD6 however withstanding lodging. It’s excellent in its resistance to a broad spectrum of blast strains. The following selection, Nan 59, is a semi-dwarf photoperiod delicate selection with the identical cooking high quality as RD6 and extra traits reminiscent of resistance to blast and bacterial leaf blight.

Nan 59 has been the favorite selection due to its excessive yielding in a sustainable low manufacturing value. The most recent era named Hom Naga is excellent for early flowering with good cooking high quality, tolerance to flash flooding and drought, and resistance to blast and bacterial blight. Now farmers can develop Hom Naga two occasions yearly.

With help from the breeding crew in Thailand, enhancing TDK1 for resistance to flash flooding, bacterial leaf blight, leaf blast, brown planthopper, and grain yield has been achieved by the shut collaboration between Thailand and Laos. The brand new high-yielding TDK8 was launched for farmers in Laos. It’s fragrant, has good cooking high quality with brief stature, early maturing (130-135 days), and most of all, resistance to lodging and leaf blast illness.

These varieties have helped Thai and Lao farmers enhance grain yields at low inputs that permit extra for his or her households, earn extra earnings via greater yields than conventional varieties, and are extra capable of face up to the impacts of local weather change.

Price-benefit of latest varieties

The number of many tailored RD6 varieties, reminiscent of Thanya Sirin and Nan 59, guided farmers and stakeholder communities in a farmers’ participatory program. Such a tactic induced farmers to voluntarily undertake new glutinous rice varieties and carry out good farmers’ protected seed practices for sustainability and benefit-sharing amongst farmers, breeders and rice millers.

For the favored Thanya Sirin, the financial advantages are primarily to farmers, by way of growing their income from yield enhancement each for consumption and gross sales and decreasing manufacturing prices. The current worth of web advantages in 2018 was 150 million baht. The benefit-cost ratio was seven occasions over the expense, for one baht of analysis funding, seven-baht return. In conclusion, the funding in glutinous rice breeding is economically value it and has already generated excessive advantages for society.

Acknowledgement

These tasks have been supported by the Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture (ISA), Cluster and Program Administration Workplace (CPMO), Nationwide Science and Expertise Improvement Company (NSTDA) (Grant quantity P-18-52711) and NSRF through the Program Administration Unit for Human Sources and Institutional Improvement, Analysis, and Innovation (Grant No. B16F630088).