Registration of 'Caffey' Rice

'Caffey' (Reg. No. CV-138, PI 665059), a semidwarf, early maturing, medium-grain rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar, was developed by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center at the Rice Research Station near Crowley, LA, and approved for release by the director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station in 2010. It was developed using the pedigree method of selection from the cross 'Bengal' (PI 561735)//'Mercury' (PI 506428)/'Rico 1' (PI 502969)/3/Mercury/Rico 1//Bengal made at the Rice Research Station in 1999. Caffey originated as a bulk of a single progeny row, 0243350, in 2002. It was evaluated in the preliminary yield nursery in Crowley, LA, in the summer of 2005 with the experimental designation 05SP248 before being entered into the Cooperative Uniform Regional Rice Nurseries in 2007 with the designation RU0702162. Caffey had a rice grain yield of 8.8 t ha(-1) compared with 8.5 t ha(-1) for 'Jupiter' (PI 639742) and 8.6 t ha(-1) for 'Neptune' (PI 655959) over 46 statewide and multistate yield trials. Caffey was 92 cm tall, compared with Jupiter at 93 cm and Neptune at 87 cm. Caffey reached 50% heading in 84 d, which was earlier than Jupiter and Neptune, which headed at 85 and 86 d. The leaves, lemma, and palea of Caffey are glabrous. The spikelet and apiculus are straw colored and the grain is nonaromatic.