Registration of ‘Jazzman’ Aromatic Long-Grain Rice

‘Jazzman’ (Reg. No. CV-134, PI 658006) is the first U.S.-bred jasmine-type, soft-cooking, aromatic, long-grain rice (Oryza sativa L.) with a glabrous leaf, sheath, and hull and no dormancy. It was developed from a single cross by the modified pedigree selection procedure at the Rice Research Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Crowley, LA, and officially released in December 2008. Jazzman was tested under the experimental designation RU0402125 in the Louisiana Commercial Advanced trial at either six or seven locations, as well as in the Uniform Regional Rice Nursery (URRN) in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas during 2004–2008. Jazzman is a moderately early maturing and conventional-height cultivar with commercially acceptable grain and milling yields, translucent slender grains, and a strong aroma. In 34 replicated Louisiana statewide and multistate URRN trials, Jazzman had average main- and ratoon-crop yields of 7.8 and 1.5 t ha⁻¹, respectively. When averaged across years and locations, Jazzman had a head rice yield of 63.6% and a total milled rice yield of 69.6%. Jazzman has the typical jasmine-type cooking quality: a low amylose content, low gelatinization temperature, and an average 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline content of 436 ng g⁻¹. Under both artificial inoculation and natural infection, Jazzman was found to be moderately susceptible to sheath blight [caused by Thanatephorus cucumeris (A.B. Frank) Donk (anamorph Rhizoctonia solani Kühn)], bacterial panicle blight (caused by Burkholderia glumae), and the physiological disorder straighthead but moderately resistant to blast [caused by Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr (anamorph Pyricularia grisea Sacc.)]. Successful development of Jazzman rice, which is well-adapted to the Gulf- and Mid-South rice-growing regions, should enable the U.S. rice industry to compete with Asian exporters in high-value aromatic-rice niche markets.