Visit to the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center

The Gramene Genetic Diversity curator, Genevieve DeClerck, traveled to USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center (DB NRRC) in Stuttgart, AR June 15-17, 2009. Genevieve's visit included presenting a talk (PDF here) about what's new with the Genetic Diversity module and how it can be used to mine data important to rice breeding projects. Another focus of the visit was to learn about the U.S. Rice Genetic Stocks (GSOR) "Core collection" maintained by the DB NRRC, who supply rice seed stock for the National Small Grains Collection (NSGC) and germplasm information to the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Gaining deeper understanding of germplasm collections, both U.S. and international, is imperative as Gramene intensifies its focus on genetic variation and genotype-phenotype association data in the Genetic Diversity module. A finer-grained treatment of germplasm, genotype (alleles), and phenotype (trait measurements) will in turn be of great utility to plant breeders whose work has always focused on some or all of these data types.

The DB NRRC is situated in the heart of a highly productive area in Arkansas and the U.S. for rice farming. Arkansas annually pulls in about half of total U.S. rice harvest, followed by Texas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri (see arkrice.org for more info). Currently, about 50% (down from 100% 10 years ago) of the rice acreage in the U.S. South is planted with public cultivars developed by U. of Arkansas (Wells), LSU (Cocodrie), and DB NRRC (including Rondo and Dixiebelle for the parboiling industry, Presidio and Carolina Gold Select developed for organics, and Sierra and JES, which are aromatic rices).