New rice varietyImagine you can eat platefuls of rice and only a fraction of it isconverted into sugar. Your dream may come true with a newvariety of rice being produced by a local university.

New rice varietyImagine you can eat platefuls of rice and only a fraction of it isconverted into sugar. Your dream may come true with a newvariety of rice being produced by a local university.

ATEAM of UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia(UKM) scientists have

successfully produced a varietyof rice which not only increasespaddy yield but also has a lowgylcaemic index suitable fordiabetics.

It is a new paddy variant G33named UKMRC9which canincrease local red rice produc­tion.

The research has been carriedout by Prof Dr R WickneswariRatnam who is a plant genet­ics and biotechnology expertfrom the Faculty of Scienceand Technology with a teamof 14 other scientists fromUKM with the cooperationof the Malaysia Agricultur<.tlResearch and DevelopmentInstitute (MARDI), UniversitiPutra Malaysia (UPM), MalaysiaNuclear Agency (MNA) andUniversiti Malaya (UM).

Prof Wickneswari describedit as a superior red rice devel­oped through conventionalbreeding involving controlledcross-breeding between culti­var MR219 and wild rice Oryzarufipogon.

It involved the transfer ofgenes of the wild type to thecommon paddy produced byMARDI now extensively culti­vated in the country.

Prof Wickneswari said thecross-breeding was donemanually.

"We did not make anymanipulation. We took pollenfrom the wild rice and pol­linated it with the modernrice and used genetic markersto determine whether it wascross-bred or not.

"This was because there wasa possibility that the cross­breeding would not material­ise. We also wanted to knowhow much of the wild ricegenes was transferred to themodern rice that we eat today,"she said.

The initial research, sheadded, was aimed at increasingyield so that enough rice couldbe produced in the country forits own consumption, but the

red rice was found to be suit­able for diabetics.

She said the agronomic fea­tures of UKMRC9 include beingof intermediate plant height, agrowth duration of 125 days, aphenotypic appearance with ahigh grain yield of 5.5 tonnesper hectare, is blast diseaseresistance and slender in shape.

The research received a gov­ernment grant of RM840,OOOfor the first phase which tookthree years from 2002 andinvolved scientists from UPM,UM, MARDI with scientistsfrom UKM as the lead research­ers. A second government grantof RM1mil was received underthe Ninth Malaysia Plan until2010.

"We have to bear in mindthat around 2002 there was ashortage of rice and the pricewas high in the market so thegovernment launched a pro­gramme to ensure we haveenough food supplies:' shesaid.

"The main issue that wehad to confront was how wecould increase the yield of ricethrough research. At that timeresearch on rice was alreadycarried out in China and theUnited States using the wildrice, Oryza rufipogon whichoriginated from Malaysia:' sheexplained.

She said red and black ricecalled huma rice is planted byfarmers in Sarawak.

"For our red rice, it wasplanted on an experimental /basis at the MARDI Station inSeberang Perai involving threeof five varieties besides eighttypes of white rice which alsogave high yields and could beplanted in our rice fields.

"We asked people to cookand eat the red rice and foundthat the digestion is a bit slow.The rice is retained longer inthe intestines so there will beno spike in the level of glu­cose:' she said.

Prof Wickneswari said theydid not specifically intend toproduce the red type rice but ithappened by chance as control-

led pollination was done fol­lowed by backcross breeding.

On the wild rice, Oryzarufipogon, Prof Dr Wickneswarisaid it could be eaten and is awild relative to the normal riceconsumed daily.

"Rice has nine types of'genome' all having their owntraits. The ones cultivated inthe tropics are different fromthe type grown in temperateareas. In Africa the farmers usea variety derived from Oryzaglaberrima:' she added.

The final phase of theresearch project was the com­pletion of all its documentationlast November. It was now timeto market it, she said.

"The commercialisationrights of the red rice hasalready been given to UKMTechnology, where an agree- )ment has been signed with acompany specialising in pro­ducing seeds for testing," saidProf Wickneswari. - UKM newsportal

A new paddy variant named UKMRC9 which can increase local red riceproduction.

Prof Wickneswari holding a packet of the rice which not only increases paddy yield butalso has a low gylcaemic index suitable for diabetics.