Biomass production and lodging resistance in 'Leaf Star', a new long-culm rice forage cultivar

Abstract

Biomass production and lodging resistance in the new long-culm forage cultivar 'Leaf Star', developed using a precise evaluation method for lodging resistance, were evaluated by comparing these properties with those of its parents and recently improved forage rice cultivars. Leaf Star had a higher biomass production of above-ground parts than its parents, and its straw yield was 13 t ha-1. The bending moment of the basal internode at breaking in Leaf Star was three times higher than that in Koshihikari, owing to a large section modulus and a high bending stress. Biomass production of above-ground parts of Leaf Star did not differ significantly from that of other forage cultivars. However, Leaf Star had the highest straw yield of all forage cultivars. Leaf Star accumulated a large amount of starch in straw. Bending moment of the basal internode was the highest among forage cultivars owing to a large section modulus. These results show that the traits related to lodging resistance such as culm thickness and culm stiffness could be introduced into long-culm cultivars by using the precise evaluation method for the traits related to lodging resistance. The results also show that Leaf Star has a large biomass and high quality, which are suitable properties for feed and biofuel production.