Feb 1, 2009
First U.S.-bred Jasmine-type Rice ...
By Dr. Xueyan Sha, LSU AgCenter

The first U.S.-bred Jasmine-type aromatic rice variety ,Jazzman, has been developed at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station and approved for release in 2009. Jazzman was developed through cross-breeding and pedigree selection from a cross made in 1996 between the Arkansas variety Ahrent and the unreleased Chinese aromatic rice line 96a-8, which has the Jasmine-type cooking quality. Jazzman has similar physicochemical properties and cooking qualities to the imported Thai Jasmine. It has low amylose content (14.8%), low gelatinization temperature (with an alkali spread value of 6.1), extremely translucent grains, and most importantly, fairly strong aroma. The cooked rice is soft, sweet, and glossy.  

Jazzman has very high yield potential and very good milling quality. On average, Jazzman yielded 6,961 pounds per acre in multi-location trials conducted in five mid-South states from 2003 to 2008, compared with 7,586 and
6,791 pounds per acre for the conventional varieties Cheniere and Cypress, respectively. The head rice (milled whole grain) yield of Jazzman is similar to that of the best milling conventional varieties, such as Cypress and Cheniere. The average head rice yield of Jazzman was 63.6 percent. For Cypress, it was 64.3 percent, and for Cheniere, 63.1 percent. Jazzman has the maturity and conventional plant height of Cypress but has good lodging tolerance. With its good resistance to sheath blight and blast, Jazzman appears suitable for organic production. The smooth leaf, sheath, hulls, and lack of dormancy of Jazzman makes it more desirable to U.S. rice growers than KDML 105- derived varieties, such as Jasmine 85.

With greatly improved grain appearance and cooking quality, competitive grain and milling yield, a good disease package, and desirable morphological and physical traits, Jazzman will provide U.S. rice growers the opportunity to capture some of the significant and fast-expanding domestic jasmine rice niche markets. A small amount, about 340 hundredweight, of Jazzman foundation seed is available for the 2009 season.  

Dr. Xueyan Sha
xsha@agcenter.lsu.edu