Rice cultivar ‘Saeodae1’ was generated by crossing ‘Saeodae’, which has good taste and a medium-short round grain, and ‘Unbong51’ which has a combined disease resistance and translucent grain. The aim of this was to develop an early maturing rice cultivar with medium-short round grain and high quality rice which adapts to the mid-northern inland plain, northern-middle highland, northern-east coastal region of Korea, and was undertaken by the rice breeding team of Cheolwon Substation, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), RDA, in 2022. In the normal growing season in the mid-northern inland plain of Korea, the heading date of ‘Saeodae1’ was July 25 around the same time in ‘Odae’. ‘Saeodae1’ had a 75 cm culm length, 1 cm longer than that of ‘Odae’, and 75 spikelets per panicle, similar to that of ‘Odae’. The ripened grain ratio (84.7%) of ‘Saeodae1’ was higher than that (72.5%) of ‘Odae’. The head rice ratio (60.9%) of ‘Saeodae1’ was higher than that of ‘Odae’, which is advantageous in securing yield. 1,000 grain weight (25.9 g) was similar to that of ‘Odae’, but it has a smaller degree of white core rice, leading to an improved consumer preference. ‘Saeodae1’ exhibited resistance to blast and bacterial blight (K1, K2, K3 races), but was susceptible to the K3a race of bacterial blight, stripe virus, dwarf and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant-hoppers. The milled rice of this variety was translucent, with a medium-short grain shape. The cooked rice grains of ‘Saeodae1’ exhibited a good palatability index (0.13) and similar amylose content (18.2%) to that of ‘Odae’. Grain milling characteristics, including head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (82.0%) were better than those of ‘Odae’. Average milled rice productivity of ‘Saeodae1’ was 5.59 t/ha at six sites in the normal growing season (Registration No. 10182(2024.5.14.)).

‘Dahongmi’ was developed to enhance the quality of colored rice by crossing ‘Jeogjinju’, Korea’s red-brown colored rice variety, with ‘Junam’, a variety known for excellent cultivation characteristics. ‘Dahongmi’ is a mid-maturing cultivar harvested approximately 15 days later than ‘Jeogjinju’, suitable for the mid-central plains. Each ‘Dahongmi’ plant bears 14 panicles, similar to that in ‘Jeogjinju’ but with an additional 22 grains per panicle and a heavier 1000-grain weight compared to that of ‘Jeogjinju’. ‘Dahongmi’ exhibited superior low-temperature germination rate (85.1%) and a higher percentage of fertile grains at a cold-water irrigated nursery (36.2%) compared to ‘Jeogjinju’. The stem height of ‘Dahongmi’ is 89.7 cm, similar to that of ‘Jeogjinju’. However, ‘Dahongmi’ has a third node height 9 cm shorter than that of ‘Jeogjinju’, enhancing its resistance to lodging. Furthermore, it displayed resistance to leaf blast, bacterial leaf blight (K1, K2, and K3 strains), and rice stripe virus, ensuring stability during cultivation. The protein and amylose content of ‘Dahongmi’ are 5.5% and 18.9%, respectively, similar to that of ‘Jeogjinju’ (5.9%, 18.3%). The levels of antioxidant components such as total polyphenols and flavonoids are comparable to that of ‘Jeogjinju’. However, ‘Dahongmi’ does not exhibit resistance against bacterial leaf blight strain K3a and delphacidae, underscoring the importance of timely and balanced fertilization for effective early-stage management. ‘Dahongmi’ exhibits better yield, straw strength, and plant architecture compared to ‘Jeogjinju’. It has immense potential for augmenting the yield of high-antioxidant-pigmented rice varieties. In addition, it could provide valuable foundational data for the brown rice processing industry (Registration Number: 8680).

‘Alchanmi’, a japonica rice variety, was developed from a cross between ‘Junam’ and ‘Chilbo’ by a rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science and Icheon, Agricultural Technology Center in 2018. The heading date of ‘Alchanmi’ was August 10 in the middle plain area—two days later than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Alchanmi’ had a culm length of 69 cm, 16 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, and 103 spikelets per panicle. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Alchanmi’ was 24.4%. It showed resistance to blast, bacterial blight (K1, K2, K3 race), and stripe virus, but was susceptible to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited a translucent and medium short grain shape. The cooked rice grains of ‘Alchanmi’ had an excellent palatability index (0.7) and showed lower amylose content (18.6%) than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The grain milling characteristics of ‘Alchanmi’ were better than those of ‘Hwaseong’, especially the head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (96.2%). ‘Alchanmi’ showed 5.83 MT/ha of milled rice productivity at 6 sites under ordinary cultivation (Registration No. 8132).

The damage caused by typhoons to rice production has been increasing. To reduce this damage, wind-tolerant rice breeding programs have been conducted at the Yeongdeok substation (YS) of the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS). This study was conducted to examine the effects of these wind-tolerant rice breeding programs. Under the wind-tolerance screening facility (WTSF), the wind-tolerance of 17 rice varieties bred at NICS (usual rice) and 20 rice varieties bred at YS (wind-tolerant rice) were analyzed by evaluating six traits: white spikelet (WS), white panicle (WP), degree of wind damage (DG), ratio of ripened grain (RRG) at control (RRG_C) and treatment (RRG_T), and reduction rate of RRG between control and treatment (RRG_R). Wind-tolerant rice showed more wind-tolerant characteristics than usual rice, such as lower WS, WP, DG, and RRG_R and higher RRG_T and RRG_C. In the principal component analysis, wind-tolerant rice showing a similar direction for RRG_T and RRG_C were located separately from the usual rice. The adaptability tests of wind-tolerant rice were conducted by evaluating eight yield-related traits in the wind-prone areas. Wind-tolerant rice was divided into three clusters by K-means clustering analysis using WP and RRG_T with the WTSF, RRG, and yield in the wind-prone areas. Among the three clusters, YC2 had the strongest wind tolerance performance, followed by YC3 showing moderate wind tolerance, and YC1 the weakest wind tolerance. ‘Sinbo’, a variety belonging to YC2, exhibited the strongest wind tolerance and high yield potential among all varieties. The wind-tolerant rice varieties bred at YS could be used practically to prevent wind damage and utilize breeding materials to enhance the wind tolerance of rice varieties.

‘Jinhan’, a japonica rice variety, was developed from a cross between ‘Cheolwon68’ (IT218244) and ‘Junghwabyeo’ (IT260473) by the rice breeding team at National Institute of Crop Science in 2015. ‘Cheolwon68’ is early maturing and resistant to blast disease, and ‘Junghwabyeo’ is a cold-tolerant and high-quality variety. The growth duration of ‘Jinhan’ in the paddy field was 116 days in the Northern Central Highland in Korea, which was similar to that of ‘Jinbu’. The culm length of ‘Jinhan’ was 61 cm, which was 10 cm shorter than that of ‘Jinbu’. The panicle of ‘Jinhan’ was composed of 66 spikelets. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Jinhan’ was 33.2%. ‘Jinhan’ showed resistance to blast disease, but was susceptible to stripe virus, dwarf and black-streaked dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice grains of ‘Jinhan’ showed an excellent palatability index (0.23) and lower protein content (5.7%) than that of ‘Jinbu’. The grain milling characteristics of ‘Jinhan’ were similar to those of ‘Jinbu’. ‘Jinhan’ showed a milled rice productivity of 5.43 MT/ha at four sites cultivated in the Northern Central Highland (Registration No. 7318).

‘Jungmo1033’, a japonica rice variety, was developed by the rice breeding team at the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 1992. It is derived from a cross between a native variety ‘Jagwangdo’, which has translucent milled rice and medium maturity; and ‘Hwayeong’, which is an elite line with bacterial blight resistance and mid-late maturity. The heading date of ‘Jungmo1033’ was August 10 in the middle plain area of Korea, which was two days later than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Jungmo1033’ has a culm length of 79 cm, which was 5 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, and 105 spikelets per panicle. ‘Jungmo1033’ showed resistance to bacterial blight (K1, K2, and K3 races) and stripe virus, but susceptibility to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf and black-streaked dwarf viruses, and planthoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited translucency and a medium short grain shape. It had an excellent appearance and lower amylose content (19.1%) than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The characteristics related to grain milling were better than those of ‘Hwaseong’, especially head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (94.8%). ‘Jungmo1033’ showed a milled rice productivity of 5.38 MT/ha at 11 sites under ordinary cultivation conditions. (Registration No. 5723)

“Samkwang1,” a japonica rice variety, was developed as a cross between “Samkwang” and F1 of Suwon152 (IT008283), which has a medium maturing and lodging resistance and Samkwang (IT284608), a high quality variety with bacterial blight resistance and mid-late maturing property by the rice breeding team at NICS in 2015. The heading date of “Samkwang1” was August 8 in the middle plain area, which was 2 days early than that of “Hwaseong.” “Samkwang1” had a culm length of 77 cm, which was 7 cm shorter than that of “Hwaseong,” and it had 128 spikelets per panicle. The viviparous germination rate of “Samkwang1” was 2.1%. “Samkwang1” showed resistance to blast, bacterial blight (K1, K2, and K3 race) and stripe virus, but was susceptible to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibits translucent and medium short grains. The cooked rice grains of “Samkwang1” have an excellent palatability index (0.35) and lower protein content (6.2%) than that of “Hwaseong.” The characteristics related to grain milling were better than those of “Hwaseong,” especially the head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (94.2%). “Samkwang1” showed 5.62 MT/ha of milled rice productivity at 11 sites under ordinary cultivation conditions (Registration No. 6798).

‘Yeongwoo’, a mid-late flowering, high dry matter yielding rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar with high feed value and multiple disease-insect resistance, was developed for whole crop silage (WCS) use. It was derived from a cross between a high biomass and brown planthopper (Bph) resistant ‘SR25848-C99-1-2-1’ and high yielding Tong-il type, ‘Yongmun’ which had diseases resistance. This cultivar had about 117 days growth period from seeding to heading, 99 cm culm length, 26 cm panicle length, 11 panicles per hill, 125 spikelets per panicle, and 1,000-grain weight of 23.6 g as brown rice in the central plain region, Suwon. This wide and long leafy WCS rice variety was weak to cold stresses, similarly to ‘Nokyang’ but was resistant to lodging in the field, strong to viviparous germination, and good under low temperature germination. In addition, ‘Yeongwoo’ was resistant to leaf and neck blast, bacterial blight (race K1, K2, K3, K3a), rice stripe virus, Bph, and small Bph. Its average dry matter yield for three years reached 20.0 MT/ha, 32% higher than that of ‘Nokyang’. This cultivar had 5.3% crude protein and 71.7% total digestible nutrients, which was slightly lower than that of ‘Nokyang’. In the Korean peninsula, ‘Yeongwoo’ grew well in the central and southern plain and was could be harvested between 15 to 30 days after heading to improve the feeding value and digestion rate of livestock (Grant No. 6800).

Cheongpum’, a japonica rice variety, was developed from a cross between Yeongdeog45 and ‘Samkwang’ by the rice breeding team at NICS in 2015. The heading date of ‘Cheongpum’ was August 10 in the middle plain area, which was two days later than that of ‘Hwaseong’. ‘Cheongpum’ had a culm length of 79 cm, which was 5 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, and 116 spikelets per panicle. The viviparous germination rate of ‘Cheongpum’ was 27.9%. It showed resistance to blast, bacterial blight (K1, K2, K3 race), and stripe virus, but susceptibility to the K3a race of bacterial blight, dwarf, and black streak dwarf viruses, and plant hoppers. The milled rice of this variety exhibited a translucent and medium short grain shape. The cooked rice grains of ‘Cheongpum’ had an excellent palatability index (0.41) and lower amylose content (18.8%) than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The grain milling characteristics were better than those of ‘Hwaseong’, especially the head rice milling recovery ratio and head rice ratio (94.1%). ‘Cheongpum’ showed 5.36 MT/ha of milled rice productivity at 11 sites under ordinary cultivation (Registration No. 6799).

‘Jungmo1038', a mid-late maturing, high dry matter yielding rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar with glabrous leaf and hull, was developed for whole crop silage (WCS) use. It was derived from a cross between ‘SR24592-HB2319’ with high biomass, smooth leaf and hull and good germinability in low temperature and new plant type (NPT), ‘IR73165-B-6-1-1‘ which had low tillering trait, large panicle, dark green leaf, thick and sturdy stem and vigorous root system. This cultivar had about 125 days growth period from seeding to heading, 99cm culm length, 20cm panicle length, 13 panicles per hill, 119 spikelets per panicle and 1,000-grain weight of 23.3 g as brown rice in central plain region, Suwon. This hairless WCS rice variety was weak to cold stresses similar to ‘Nokyang’ but was resistant to lodging in the field, strong to viviparous germination and good to low temperature germination. In addition, ‘Jungmo1038’ was resistant to leaf and neck blast but susceptible to bacterial blight, rice stripe virus and brown planthopper. Its average dry matter yield for three years reached 17.2 MT/ha, 21% higher than that of ‘Nokyang’. This glabrous cultivar had 6.6% crude protein and 62.4% total digestible nutrients a little low compared to ‘Nokyang’. In Korea peninsular, 'Jungmo1038' grows well in central and southern plain and is good to harvest between 15 to 30 days after heading to improve its feeding value and digestion rate of livestock(Grant No. 5634).

‘Jungmo1024’ is a blast resistant early maturing rice cultivar with high temperature tolerance during grain filling stage. ‘Jungmo1024’ was derived from a sodium azide treatment on ‘Suweon472’, a high yielding japonica elite line which was latterly registered as ‘Namil’. Comparison with the agronomical traits of ‘Namil’, ‘Jungmo1024’ was uniquely characterized as the induced gained function due to the reduced culm length, increased tiller number, strong blast resistance and especially high temperature tolerance during grain filling stage. The high temperature tolerance of ‘Jungmo1024’ was supported by two years experiments by comparing the head rice ratio produced in ordinary paddy field and green house condition. The heading date of ‘Jungmo1024’ was July 29 in central plain area, which was 9 days earlier than that of ‘Hwaseong’. The milled rice yield performance of ‘Jungmo1024’ was about 4.98 MT/ha in local adaptability test for three years. ‘Jungmo1024’ had 69 cm in culm length, which was 15 cm shorter than that of ‘Hwaseong’, 20 cm in panicle length, 16 in tiller number, and 22.3g in 1,000 grain-weight of brown rice. ‘Jungmo1024’ exhibited strong rice blast resistance, but do not have any clear resistance gene sources against bacterial blight, viral diseases and insect fests. ‘Jungmo1024’, nevertheless, would be a useful rice cultivar could be used as a donor line for the breeding programs for developing southern plane adaptable early maturing rice cultivars with enhanced rice blast resistance, lodging tolerance, and especially high temperature tolerance during grain filling stage.

There are farmer’s demands to develop early-maturing cultivar in order to replace Odae variety to mid-northern inland plain and southern mountainous area of Korea. Saeodae was developed by the rice breeding team of Cheolwon Substation, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), RDA in 2012. This cultivar was derived from the cross between Geuroobyeo and Suweon 472 in 2001 summer season, and selected by a promising line, SR27376-2-2-1-3, was selected and designated as the line of Cheolweon 81 in 2010. The local adaptability test of Cheolweon 81 was carried out at four locations from 2010 to 2012 and it was named as Saeodae. The heading date of Saeodae is July 25 in Cheolwon area, which is 2 days earlier than that of Odae. This variety has 66cm in culm length and 77 spikelets per panicle. Its 1,000 grain-weight of brown rice is 26.5 g, which is similar to that of Odae. Germination rate at low temperature of this variety is about 70%, and viviparous germination is 17.7%. Cold tolerance of this cultivar is still not good, just mediocre. It shows strong lodging resistance. And premature heading, occurrence of wilting during ripening stage, and leaf senescence at maturing are similar to those of Odae. This variety shows resistance to leaf blast disease, but susceptible to bacterial blight, virus disease and insect pest. This variety has translucent and clear milled rice kernel without white core and belly rice. The yield potential of Saeodae was about 5.26 MT/ha at ordinary fertilizer level in local adaptability test for three years. This variety would be adaptable to mid-northern inland plain and southern mountainous area of Korea.