Breeding of a new rice [Oryza sativa] cultivar with low amylose content ""Silky-pearl""

""Silky-pearl"" is a new rice cultivar with low amylose content developed at the National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, NARO, and was registered as ""Norin 375"" by the Ministry of Agriculture. Forestry and Fishery (MAFF) in 2001. This cultivar was selected from the progenies of a combination of Tankei 2019/Fukei 143. ""Tankei 2019"", one of the parents, is a strain with low amylose content derived from a mutant developed at the National Institute of Agrobiological Resourses and named ""Norin PL14"" in 1991. On the other hand, ""Fukei 143"" is an early nonglutlnous straln and became the cultivar named ""Yamauta"" In 1991 The maturrty of ""Silky pearl"" is almost the same as that of ""Hitomebore"", a nonglutinous leading cultivar and is classified as a medium group in the Tohoku region. When it is compared to ""Hitomebore"", the culm height is shorter, the number of panicles are obviously more and lodging resistance is higher. It has a true resistance gene ""Pia"" to blast and the field resistance to leaf and panicle blasts are moderate. Cold tolerance at the reproductive stage is moderate and seed dormancy is also moderate. For grain yields it is 9% higher than ""Hitomebore"" and the 1000 grain weight is about 21g . The grains look slightly white like those of a glutinous cultivar because of low amylose content which usually amounts to 7 - 9%. The amylose content varies with the temperature during the ripening stage about 11-20 days after heading. As for eating quality, the taste of warm rice is as good as that of ""Hitomebore"" which like ""Koshihikari"" has the best eating quality, while the taste of cold rice is obviously better than that of ""Hitomebore"". It also has better eating quality than ""Snow pearl"", which has low amylose content and was released in 1998, because unfavorable glutinous smell is weaker. Since ""Silky-pearl"" has low amylose content and good eating quality, it can be used for many purposes such as for mixing with unsticky rice and for processing instant foods. Since it has moderate maturity and short stiff culms, it is adapted to fertile lowland areas in the Tohoku region.