A New Rice Cultivar with High Grain Quality, Adaptability to Reclaimed Saline Soil and Multi-Disease Resistance, “Cheongho”

Cheongho is a new japonica rice cultivar developed from a cross between Iri407 and Iri417 at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, in 2004. This cultivar has a short grain shape and about 123 days growth duration from transplanting to harvesting under the reclaimed saline area of the south-western and the mid-western coastal plain and Honam plain of Korea. The culm and spikelet number per panicle of Cheongho are similar to those of Nampyeongbyeo, while the filled grain rate is lower than standard variety. This cultivar has medium size of brown rice, and shows resistant reaction to bacterial leaf blight, leaf blast and stripe virus disease but susceptible to other virus diseases and planthoppers. Cheongho has translucent and non-glutinous endosperm. Protein and amylose content of rice grain are 6.9% and 19.2%, respectively. The palatability of cooked rice of Cheongho is better than Nampyeongbyeo. The milled rice yield is about 5.53 MT/ha under the standard fertilizer level of the ordinary transplanting cultivation. Cheongho would be adaptable for the reclaimed saline area of the south-western and the mid-western coastal plain and Honam plain of Korea.