The improvement project financed by the CDTI has been completed, and co-financed with ERDF funds. The general objective of the project is to obtain improved lines for three deficit traits in Spanish varieties: yield, tolerance to Pyricularia and tolerance to cold in germination.

At the end of last year 2020, the project called “OBTAINING IMPROVEMENT LINES AND GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PERFORMANCE, PYRICULAR AND COLD TOLERANCE IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L)” has finished. The project is financed by the CDTI and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Multi-regional Operational Program for Smart Growth 2014-2020 ”(CDTI IDI-20170652).

The general objective of the project has been to obtain improved rice lines for three deficit traits in the varieties currently grown in Spanish rice-growing areas: yield, tolerance to Pyricularia and tolerance to cold germination

Once the project is finished, all the objectives sought have been achieved, highlighting among others:

• The QTLs responsible for the high number of grains per panicle in the Copsemar 8 variety have been identified, and may be used in the future to obtain new varieties with this character.

• A series of QTLs present in European varieties responsible for various components of productive performance have been identified.
• New rice lines have been generated through QTLs obtained in this project with a better response to germination in low temperature conditions.
• The study of the combination between local japonica rice varieties and a high-yielding foreign indica variety has been initiated in order to transfer this characteristic through targeted breeding.