Rice Science Center, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen, at the 24th Kamphaeng Saen Agricultural Fair

Thursday 12 November 2020

Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, held a press conference for the Kamphaeng Saen Agricultural Fair on 1–10 December 2020, with the theme KU HELP HEALTH. Dr. Jongrak Watcharinrat, President of Kasetsart University, spoke about the overview of this year's fair under the slogan “Kasetsart Kamphaeng Saen Follows the Father's Footsteps, Continuing the Science of the Land”. Prof. Dr. Apichart Vanavichit, Director of the Rice Science Center, joined the press conference for the 2020 Kamphaeng Saen Agricultural Fair, announcing a new fragrant, soft, high-yielding rice variety this year. #HomMaliMan

New fragrant soft rice variety, Hom Mali Man rice

To increase the efficiency of producing fragrant soft rice, the Center of Excellence for Rice Breeding for Food Security, Quality and Nutrition, a joint unit of the Rice Science Center, Kasetsart University, and the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, has selected fragrant soft rice lines for disease and insect resistance, flash-flood tolerance and high yield under sufficiency cultivation and sustainable cultivation, resulting in new short-duration, high-yielding fragrant rice varieties reaching the market.

Hom Mali Man rice is a fragrant soft rice with a high-level aroma even when grown in the irrigated Central region, with very slender, long grains up to 7.9 mm. The milled rice is clear, with a short harvest age (110 days transplanted, 95 days broadcast), easy to grow, and adapts well with moderate disease and insect resistance at field level. Hom Mali Man rice is being promoted for growing in the Central and Eastern regions to open the market in China and compete with Vietnamese fragrant rice. However, when compared with the yield of ST24 rice in transplanted organic rice fields at the Rice Science Center, ST24 yielded half as much as Hom Mali Man rice and has shorter grains, with a similar aroma. ST24 is therefore unlikely to be an important competitor to Thai fragrant rice.

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