Observation of promising tungro resistant rice lines in West Sulawesi

Abstract Food needs, especially rice, are a priority for agricultural businesses in Indonesia. The development of the world population in general and Indonesia in particular encourages a rapid increase in rice productivity. So it is demanded to have variety of rice that is resistant to disease and has superior rice productivity. Efforts to increase rice yields can not be separated from the efforts of assembling new superior varieties that are disease resistant as well as high yield potential. One of the plant breeding activities is observation activities. To explore the potential of rice strains after the screening stage, it is necessary to evaluate the germplasm or selected rice strains so that genotype can be screened which gives a positive response to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Tungro disease is generally the main problem in efforts to increase rice productivity. Tungro disease can attack rice plants from seedlings, vegetative stadia leaves through the host of green aphrodisiacs (Nephotetix vieressens). In vulnerable rice and supportive environmental conditions, this disease can cause farmers to fail to harvest or ‘puso’. The use of resistant varieties is the most practical and economical ways of controlling tungro disease. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the resistance of the rice breeddings lines to tungro disease. The research was conducted during Planting Period II in 2019 in the endemic area of Tungro Kalukku, West Sulawesi. The genetic materials tested as many as 26 strains from the group of researcher germplasm of Tungro research station and resistant check varieties namely Inpari 36 and comparison production namely Ciherang. The results showed that the strains tested had a diversity of different resistances that showed varying responses to tungro disease. Rice breeddings the best from checker varieties Ciherang and Inpari 36 namely: Strains No.2, 10, 12, 16, and 19 can be recommended for used further testing.