** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** CURRENTLY FLAVOR FORWARD CROP VARIETIES ARE HAVING A LOT OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS IN THE U.S. FOR EXAMPLE, OLDER CONVENTIONAL CROP VARIETIES SUCH AS THOMPSON SEEDLESS GRAPES AND CASCADE HOPS ARE OFTEN SOLD FOR FAR LESS (I.E. < $1 AND < $3-11 A POUND, RESPECTIVELY) THAN NEW FLAVOR FORWARD CROP VARIETIES SUCH AS COTTON CANDY GRAPES AND CITRA® HOPS WHICH COMMAND MUCH HIGHER PRICES (I.E. ~$3.33-4.99 AND ~$15-34 PER POUND, RESPECTIVELY) (SOURCES: HTTPS://TINYURL.COM/CCGRAPEPRICE AND HTTPS://LUPULINEXCHANGE.COM/). SIMILARLY, RICE BEING IMPORTED FROM THAILAND AND INDIA HAS A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THE U.S. RICE INDUSTRY, AND U.S. RICE IMPORTS ARE PROJECTED TO REPRESENT ~32% (OR ~1.98 BILLION USD) OF DOMESTIC RICE USE IN 2022/23 WHICH IS AN ALL-TIME HIGH.OVERALL, THIS IS BECAUSE FLAVOR PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN CONSUMER PREFERENCE, AND CONSUMER DEMAND HAS GROWN FOR ASIAN AROMATIC VARIETIES SUCH AS JASMINE FROM THAILAND AND BASMATI FROM INDIA.TO COMPETE EFFECTIVELY WITH THE IMPORTED JASMINE RICE MARKET, U.S. RICE BREEDERS NEED TO DEVELOP CULTIVARS WITH SIMILAR BUT SUPERIOR AND POSSIBLY NOVEL FLAVORS. GC-MS/MS ALONG WITH SOME OTHER TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE VARIATION IN THE VOLATILE/ NONVOLATILE PROFILES ACROSS A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT RICE CULTIVARS FROM MANY DIFFERENT U.S. BREEDING PROGRAMS (UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, AND THE CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE RICE EXPERIMENT STATION) AS WELL AS SAMPLES FROM THE USDA-ARS WORLD RICE COLLECTION AND SUBSETS OF GENETICALLY DIVERSE GENOME-MAPPED ACCESSIONS. AFTER ANALYZING THESE DIFFERENT VARIETIES MULTIVARIATE STATISTICS WILL BE USED TO SELECT A COLLECTION (~10-20) OF THE MOST DIVERSE SAMPLES FOR SENSORY ANALYSIS. IN THIS WAY, WE WILL ESTABLISH A TOOL SO THAT BREEDERS CAN BETTER DESIGN FLAVOR-FORWARD AROMATIC RICE VARIETIES AND SET INDICATORS FOR THE KEY PERFORMANCE OF U.S. AROMATIC RICE PERFORMANCE. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO ESTABLISH INFRASTRUCTURE TO FACILITATE THE EVALUATION OF THE CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN CROPS WHICH ARE IMPORTANT FOR DRIVING UNIQUE FLAVOR CHARACTERISTICS IN A COST-EFFECTIVE MANNER AND THE RESULTS OF THIS SEED PROJECT WILL HELP TO DEVELOP NEW RELATIONSHIPS WHICH WILL LEAD TO OTHER FUTURE PROPOSALS WHICH WILL BE SUBMITTED TO USDA AFRI PROGRAMS SUCH AS A1141 PLANT BREEDING FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.

University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

Investigators