‘Seongsan’, an early multi-resistant japonica rice cultivar developed from a cross between ‘Jopyeong’ and ‘Jungmo 1012’, was developed by the rice breeding team of the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration. The average heading date at the ordinary planting was July 25th in seven test spots. In response to physiological stresses, premature heading rate was very low and viviparous germination rate was relatively low (15.7%). In response to biotic stresses, ‘Seongsan’ showed resistance to bacterial blight pathogen K1 to K3, rice stripe virus, and blight leaf. The milled rice of ‘Seongsan’ was translucent with relatively clear non-glutinous endosperm and medium short grain. The cooked rice had good palatability compared with that of ‘Chucheong’. The milled rice yield of this variety was approximately 5.52 MT/ha in a three-year local adaptability test. ‘Seongsan’ was an early maturing multi-resistant rice with good grain quality, and it was expected to be used as a representative for maturity diversification of rice cultivation area (Registration No. 7277).
‘Baegilmi’ is an extremely early maturing rice variety that can be harvested within 100 days after transplanting, and also exhibits strong blast resistance and good grain appearance. From a mutant population of ‘Koshihikari’ treated with ethyl methanesulfonate, a promising line, ‘Suweon 559’, was selected through pedigree breeding and yield trials, and subsequently registered as ‘Baegilmi’. According to the 3-year (2012–2014) regional adaptability tests, the average heading date of Baegilmi in ordinary planting was July 14th, which was 23 and 9 days earlier than that of the check varieties ‘Hwaseong’ and ‘Odae’, respectively. The milled rice yield of ‘Baegilmi’ was 4.53 MT/ha in ordinary planting (83% and 98% of ‘Hwaseong’ and ‘Odae’, respectively). ‘Baegilmi’ had a culm length of 75 cm (10 cm shorter than ‘Hwaseong’), a panicle length of 21 cm (similar to ‘Hwaseong’), and 12 panicles per plant (two fewer than ‘Hwaseong’). The brown rice of ‘Baegilmi’ was slightly more slender than ‘Hwaseong’, with a 1,000 grain weight of 20.6 g and length/width ratio of 1.92. The milled rice of ‘Baegilmi’ was translucent, with a protein content of 8.4% (1.7% higher than ‘Hwaseong’) and an amylose content of 18.6% (similar to ‘Hwaseong’). ‘Baegilmi’ exhibited strong blast resistance, but was susceptible to bacterial blight, viral diseases, and insect pests. The release of ‘Baegilmi’ is expected to provide a useful early-maturing rice variety that can be used in diverse cropping systems in paddy fields (Registration No. 6805).