Breeding of a new rice cultivar, "Churahikari", with blast resistance and excellent eating quality

"Churahikari" is a new rice cultivar developed at the National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, NARO, and was registered as "Norin 3eo" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in 2003. It was selected from the progeny of a cross Hitomebore/Ouu 338, aiming at a new cultivar with highly partial resistance to blast and excellent eating quality. "Churahikari" is a middle to late maturing cultivar, much like "Hitomebore", but the culm is shorter and lodging tolerance is higher. "Churahikari" has true resistance genes to blast, "Pia, Pii", and the partial resistance of "Churahikari" to leaf and panicle blasts is higher than that of "Toyonishiki", a cultivar classified as a high partial resistant variety in Japan. The cool weather tolerance of "Churahikari" during the reproductive stage Is high, similar to that of "Hitomebore", and the seed dormancy and bacterial leaf blight resistance are moderate, respectively. When compared to "Hitomebore", the grain yields of "Churahikari" are slightly higher, the eating quality is almost the same, and the grain quality is slightly lower. Highly blast-resistant varieties such as "Churahikari" can be easily grown without chemicals or with minimum chemicals, so they can be used for organic farming. "Churahikari" is adapted to the lowland areas in the Tohoku region and the southern parts of Japan. It was released as a new recommended cultivar in Okinawa prefecture.