Karim, A New Rice Cultivar for Cultivaton in Semitropical Regions of Kohgilouieh-ve-Boyrahmad Province and Similar Climatic Regions

To introduce a new rice cultivar with high grain yield and desirable cooking characteristics for the warm regions of Kohgilouyeh-ve-Boyrahmad province, 203 lines of rice originated form IRRI breeding program were evaluated in preliminary and advanced yield trials from 1993 to 2000 in Choram Agricultural Research Station. In each year, data were recorded from different agronomical and morpho-physiological traits, and also for milling recovery, grain size, grain shape and appearance, cooking and eating characteristics. Based on the overall results, the line A7983 IR 62873-511-1-9 producing 7.748 tha-1 grain yield (mean of all years) showed no significant difference with the check cultivar Choran1 (7.862 tha-1), but in view of different stability parameters, showed very good stability for yield production in different years. The results of physico-chemical tests on cooking characteristics showed that this line with 20.72 percent amylase content, soft gel consistency and low gelatinization temperature (in compared to check cultivar with 27.92 percent amylose content, hard gel consistency and low gelatinization temperature) possessed a desirable cooking quality. It was moderately resistant to rice blast disease in many experimental and farmer’s fields. Due to better agronomic and especially cooking characteristics, this line was officially registered by Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization in December 2008 as a new rice cultivar named Karim.