[P4] Crop Genetics and Physiology

[P4-20] Assessment of Indica Rice Cultivars for the Use of Whole Crop Silage

Yoshikage Goto, Junko Yamagishi, ^○Naohiro Aoki (Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Japan)

Whole crop silage (WCS) is a fermented roughage for which the whole plant of grass species, including panicles, leaves, and stems, are harvested at the late ripening stage and used for silage preparation. In Japan, the cultivation of WCS rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been promoted from the viewpoints of more efficient use of paddy field, improvement of self-sufficient ratio of livestock feed, and promotion of integrated farming system of rice cultivation and cattle raising. Thus, breeding of new rice cultivars for the use of WCS has grown attention to researchers and breeders. In particular, it would be useful to select genetic resources on the basis of WCS-related traits. Here we report an assessment of two indica rice cultivars, 'Calotoc' and 'Anjana Dahn', as for the use of WCS. These two indica cultivars and existing WCS cultivars, 'Tachiayaka', 'Tachisuzuka', and 'Leafstar' were grown in paddy fields in the Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services, The University of Tokyo, Japan, and compared in light of biomass production, lodging resistance, spikelet number, sugar content, and water content, all of which are traits related to WCS aptitude. From the results, we found that 'Calotoc', rather than 'Anjana Dahn', has some traits suitable for WCS, and could be a genetic material for WCS breeding.