Rice Variety Profile for L-208

Early, high-yielding regular long grain variety.

RES Rice Varieties

Variety: L-208

  • Former ID: 14Y1006
  • Year: 2020
Pedigree and Breeding

The regular long grain rice variety L-208, with former designation of 14Y1006, was a product of a cross made in the summer of 2006 at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, CA, designated as R33132. Detailed pedigree information of L-208 is ‘F1R32425 (05P3310/02Y516)/99Y529’. The female parent was an F1 plant from the cross R32425. The 05P3310 was an experimental designation for an Indica germplasm that was introduced from China in 1996, by USDA-ARS, as PI614958. 02Y516 was a high yielding intermediate height selection from RES. The male parent, 99Y529, was an early maturing selection with high grain and milling yield, developed at RES.

Agronomic Characteristics

The overall grain yield of L-208 across 41 experiments in the SW test averaged 10,340 lbs./acre compared to 10,000 and 9,190 lbs./acre for L-207 and L-206, respectively. Overall yield advantage was 3.4% and 13% over L-207 and L-206, respectively. L-208 is comparable to L-207 and L-206 in terms of overall seedling vigor and lodging scores. It reaches 50% heading about 81 days, 4 days earlier than L-207 and 2 days earlier than L-206. L-208 is 9 cm shorter than L-207 and 4 cm taller than L-206.

Milling and Quality

L-208 paddy rice is slightly shorter (10.07 mm) and narrower (2.36 mm) than both L-207 (10.48 mm/2.41 mm) and L-206 (10.12 mm/2.46 mm). The 1000-grain weight of L-208 milled rice is 20.61 g which is lighter than L-207 (21.63 g) and heavier than L-206 (19.89 g). The length/width ratio of milled rice of L-208 (3.56) is like L-207 (3.57) but higher than L-206 (3.40). Overall, the L-208 grain is relatively smaller and narrower than L-207 and L-206.

Milling characteristics is an important component of the overall quality of a rice variety. The head rice yield of L-208 when harvested at 18-22% moisture was 62/69 (head/total) compared to 62/69 and 58/67 for L-207 and L-206, respectively. The percentage of total rice of L-208 appeared to be equal or slightly higher than L-207 and distinctly higher than L-206. Overall, in all three-moisture range, the L-208 performed better than both L-207 and L207 (Table 4). USDA FGIS milling evaluation of L-208 in 2019 is 72/74 Head/Total compared to 69/73 and 72/74 for L-206 and L-207, respectively.

RVA and Quality Evaluation

The mean apparent amylose content of L-208 is 23.94% compared to 24.25 and 22.16% for L-207 and L-206, respectively. Having moderately high amylose content and intermediate gel type like L-207 and L-206, L-208 cooks similar compared to conventional long grain L-207 and L-206.

L-208 was characterized by having slightly higher peak viscosity, trough, breakdown values, final viscosity value, lower negative setback and equal pasting time compared to L-207. Internal and external cooking and tasting evaluations confirmed the acceptability of L-208 as regular long grains for the market.

Blanking and Disease Screening Test

L-208 had an average blanking percentage of 3% compared to 3% and 4% for L-207 and L-206 respectively, in San Joaquin cold location. Given the general sensitivity of the long grains to cold temperatures compared to short and medium grains, L-208 is recommended only in warmer areas or in those areas where the long grain L-207 or L-206 performed well.

L-208 showed moderate to susceptible stem rot reaction like L-207 and L-206. For blast disease, L-208, L-207 and L-206 showed similar moderately susceptible blast response.

Area of Adaptation

L-208 provides California rice growers an adapted regular long grain rice to grow rice for long grain market. It is competitive in yield, maturity, and milling quality with other adapted RES long grains. It is not recommended in the cool or cold rice producing environments.

Variety Photos
  • River-Sage Tucker

    Plant Breeder Assistant

    River is a plant breeder assistant for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF). He received his BS in History from the Drury University and MS in Education from the Carthage College.

  • Matthew Morgan

    Maintenance and Operator

    Matthew is a maintenance and operator of California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • Justin Valencia

    Maintenance and Operator

    Justin is a maintenance and operator of California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • Randy Jones

    Field Supervisor

    Randy is the field supervisor of California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • Joe Martin

    Plant Breeder Assistant

    Joe is a plant breeder assistant for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF). His primary focus at CCRRF is to assist in the short grain breeding program. He received his BS in Plant Biology from the University of California Davis. He is currently enrolled in the Plant Breeding Academy at UC Davis to help further his knowledge in plant breeding.

  • Davinder Singh

    Plant Breeder Assistant

    Davinder is a plant breeder assistant for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF). His primary focus at CCRRF is to assist in the long grain breeding program.

  • Ravinder Gakhal

    Senior Plant Breeder Assistant

    Ravinder is a senior plant breeder assistant for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF). His primary focus at CCRRF is to assist in the medium grain breeding program.

  • Baldish Deol

    Senior Plant Breeder Assistant

    Baldish is a senior plant breeder assistant for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • George Yeltatzie

    Genetics Lab Technician

    George is the genetics lab technician for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • Frank Maulana, Ph.D.

    Short Grain Breeder

    Dr. Frank Maulana is a rice breeder for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF). He is leading a short grain breeding program to develop improved short grain rice varieties for five market classes, including conventional or regular, low amylose, sweet or waxy, premium quality and arborio or bold grain. The objectives of the program include developing rice varieties with high and stable yield, high milling grain yield, seedling vigor, cold tolerance, lodging resistance, and disease resistance. He received a BS in Crop Science from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi. Then, he worked as a plant breeder at the Agricultural Research and Extension Trust (ARET) for five years. He then went on to obtain PhD and MS in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Kansas State University (KSU), Manhattan, KS. Before joining CCRRF, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter-Rice Breeding program. His research project at LSU focused on implementation of genomic selection in an applied rice breeding program.

  • Gretchen Zaunbrecher, Ph.D.

    Genetics Lab Director

    Dr. Zaunbrecher is the Genetics Lab Director for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF).  The Genetics Lab utilizes marker assisted analysis to provide valuable genetic information to assist the breeders in rice varietal improvement.  In addition, through traditional mutational breeding as well as gene editing, we hope to develop new varieties of rice with enhanced yield, herbicide, and disease resistance, and other agronomically valuable traits.

  • Nirmal Sharma, Ph.D.

    Long Grain Breeder

    Dr. Nirmal Sharma is a plant breeder for the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF), leading the long grain breeding project and incorporating disease resistance, high milling yield, seedling vigor, cold tolerance, and herbicide resistance into future rice varieties. He received his BS in Agriculture and MS in Biotechnology from Bangladesh Agricultural University. Then, he worked as a breeder in the Plant Breeding Division of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) for several years. Next, he moved to the United States to pursue his PhD in crop sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Upon completing his degree, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Noble Research Institute before joining CCRRF.

  • Teresa B. De Leon, Ph.D.

    Medium Grain Breeder

    Dr. Teresa B. De Leon is currently leading the improvement and variety development of CCRRF medium grain project. She previously led the short grain breeding project from 2018-2021. Prior to her employment at the station, she worked as Plant Geneticist to University of California Davis for identification, origin, and prevention of weedy red rice. She developed pre-breeding and introgression lines of Louisiana rice with improved salinity tolerance for Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. As Assistant Scientist and Research Scholar, she has also worked at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and University of the Philippines at Los Banos on disease resistance of rice and other crops. With several years of experience in rice research and development, Dr. De Leon is integrating the use of conventional and molecular tools in breeding for medium grains with high yield potential, high grain quality, wide adaptation, cold tolerance, disease and herbicide resistance, and most importantly, a rice with excellent cooking and taste quality for consumers.

  • Emily Schaaf

    Executive Assistant

    Emily is the executive assistant of California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.

  • Dustin Harrell, Ph.D.

    Director

    Dr. Dustin Harrell has been the Director of the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation Rice Experiment Station since November of 2021. Prior to his current leadership position, he held positions as the Resident Coordinator of the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station, the Extension Rice Specialist for the state of Louisiana, and the project leader for the Rice Fertility and Agronomy Project at the LSU Rice Experiment Station.

  • Kirk Troughton

    Maintenance and Operator

    Kirk is a maintenance and operator of California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation.