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LSU AgCenter names two new conventional rice varieties In January, Rice Farming reported that Louisiana State University had released an early, high-yielding long grain and a high-amylose long grain for parboiling and export markets — LA192212 and LA20-2126. Both varieties are from Dr. Adam Famoso’s breeding program out Dr. Adam of the LSU AgCenter. Famoso LA19-2212 has now been named Avant, and LA20-2126 has been named Addi Jo. Avant is a cross between LSU AgCenter variety, Cocodrie, and the University of Arkansas variety, LaGrue. It is an early variety with milling yields comparable to other long-grain varieties that have come out of the LSU AgCenter breeding program and has a kernel length around 7 millimeters. Yields from Avant have shown over a period of years to be higher than Cheniere and competitive with Clearfield varieties. Addi Jo is a high-amylose, conventional long-grain variety with amylose levels around 26%. This variety has low chalk and a 7-millimeter kernel length, along with sought-after grain and cooking quality traits. Addi Jo has the Pi-ta gene for blast resistance, along with the Cercospora-resistance gene, which helps in adding qualities good for parboiling, processing and the export market.
Reviton, Rogue receive EPA labels for Arkansas The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new labels for two herbicides, offering growers new tools for the 2022 growing season. Reviton, a marketed tiafenacil formulation, is a broadleaf herbicide newly labeled for aerial applications in Arkansas. Tommy Butts, extension weed scientist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the addition of the 24C classification will likely prove to be a key benefit for growers as spring burndown applications continue. “It’s another tool in the toolbox,” Butts said. “In a year of limited supply and high
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MARCH 2022
Plant pathologist Felipe Dalla Lana joins researchers at the LSU AgCenter’s H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station.
Plant pathologist hired to focus on rice diseases The LSU AgCenter has added plant pathologist Felipe Dalla Lana to its roster of researchers at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station. With nearly a decade of experience studying plant disease in both Brazil and the United States, Dalla Lana brings a wealth of experience from his work in the Midwest applying statistical analysis and modeling to the realm of plant pathology. He said his work as a plant pathologist offers him the freedom to study a variety of crops with ever-evolving challenges. “You have new diseases. You have diseases that become resistant to fungicides. You have new technologies, new cultivars,” Dalla Lana said. “Everything is always changing. It is very dynamic.” Dalla Lana received his doctorate in plant pathology from Ohio State University and was most recently a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State University. The bulk of his research at those universities included research in fungicide efficacy for crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. His academic work focused on several systems of increasing complexity that helped to answer crop pathology questions. “The diseases are always there,” Dalla Lana said. “I was really into understanding how there are some years when diseases are a problem and some years there is not a problem with disease.” To begin his work in south Louisiana, Dalla Lana said he wants to meet with local rice growers to find out what they need from an AgCenter pathologist. He has learned fungicidal resistance to sheath blight is a major concern. Dalla Lana said he takes a three-pronged approach to reaching his research goals. He said farmers want the highest return of investment while consumers want the highest quality product for the lowest price. As a society, he said, people want all those things with the least impact to the environment. “These goals are not always met,” he reflected. “One way to do this is to make our decisions using our knowledge of disease development. My problem here is to identify the key components that can maximize those three things.” Dalla Lana is succeeding Donald Groth, who served many roles, including research director, in his 38-year career at the Rice Research Station. Groth, who retired earlier this month, will now serve as professor emeritus. prices, that’s especially important.” Reviton is part of a chemical family known as PPO inhibitors, which, among
other things, prevent production of chlorophyll and destroy cell membranes. Under the Section 24C special local needs RICEFARMING.COM
