Rapid Generation Advance

(RGA)

Joseph C. Beredo, R.N.

Assistant Scientist
Irrigated Breeding Team for South East Asia
Plant Breeding Division
 What is RGA?
• Breeding approach/aspect/technique
• Used in conjunction with SSDStress factors
that hasten FLW
• Production tool for breeding and set seed
earlier than field
• Faster production of fixed lines
• Breeding procedure where segregating
populations are raised in an environment
Low N input
using close spacing, high temperature,
and (short days)to minimize growth
duration and make several generations
per year. (Vergara et al., 1982)
 What is Single Seed Descent

• The classic procedure of having a single

seed from each plant, bulking the
individual seeds, and planting out the next
generation
• Seeks to advance crosses to
homozygosity as rapidly as possible while
maintaining maximum genetic diversity for
future selection (Brim, 1966)
 Why RGA?
• It speeds up the breeding cycle (F2 - F5
or F6 in one year)
• High throughput (40,000+ lines in an
area of 400 m2)
• It can increase plant protection effects
• Labor distribution can be controlled
• Reduces breeding costs
• Faster variety release
 Disadvantages

• Lack of information on potential of

individual or population during RGA
processing
• Possible genetic drifts
• Decreased population size per
generation – needs seed
multiplication at end of target gen!
 Some highlights (past & present)
• RGA was first used at IRRI in 1977 by Dr.
Ikehashi (Heu et al., 1982)
• Nippon-bare (released in 1963) was the first
variety bred by RGA with SSD (Maruyama,
1987) - Collard (2014)
1. Budget constraints (FCR)
• Since late 2012, IRRI’s
2. Changes irrigated breeding
in PBGB
pipeline was3. redesigned
Change of philosophy
by using RGA as
4. High demands on IRRI breeders
the main driver
5. Ratefor line development.
of genetic gain <1%/year
• From 2013 to end of 2015, around 50,000+
lines comprising of 100+ crosses were
advanced by the current system
 Pedigree method (Collard, 2014)
F2
YEAR 1

Blast nursery
F3
Visual selection
F4
YEAR 2

BB, blast, BPH, GLH, quality

F5
Quality

F6
YEAR 3

BB, blast, BPH, GLH, quality

F7
BB, blast, BPH, GLH, quality
YEAR 4

F8

FIELD TRIALS
>20,000 lines per season
 Rapid generation advance (Collard, 2014)

F2
YEAR 1

F3
YEAR 1

F4 NO TRAIT
F5
SELECTION • Plants grown at high
density
Selection is
YEAR 2

• Low fertilizer
delayed until F6!
YEAR 2

F6

FIELD TRIALS
 The RGA cycle
- average 90-105 days (or 3-3.5 months)

Preparation

Seed
Seeding
processing

Harvest Maintenance
 Preparation

• Soil sterilization
• Minuro tray preparation
• Mixing of basal fertilizer to soil
• Soil to minuro trays
 Seeding
• One seed is placed on each cell in
principle following SSD, but in
practice 2-3 seeds are seeded to
ensure 95-100% germination and line
survival
• Thinning to 1 plant is done 10 DAS
• Seeding is currently done in
staggered manner (in smaller
batches) to reduce bottlenecks
 Maintenance

• Topdressing application (21 & 42 DAS)

• Water level monitoring
• Integrated pest management
• Recording of days to flowering (FLW)
and days to maturity (MAT)
• Tiller pruning (main tiller is retained)
 Harvest
• 2 types of RGA harvest:
– bulk (standard breeding) and
– plant specific (for genotyping: RILs dev’t)
• Panicles are taken from each plant
• Panicles are carefully stored in a
plastic box or paper bag
• In case of plant specific harvest,
each panicle is stored in a separate
container
 Seed Processing
• Sorting of panicles/seeds per population
• Breaking of dormancy
• Preparation of seeds for next RGA cycle
• If target generation is reached: the
panicles are either stored in the cold room
or threshed to be returned to the customer
for seed multiplication
• For Irrigated-SEA, populations from RGA
are planted in the field for LST, OYT, PYT,
AYT and MET trials.
What about the remnant seeds?
• F3, F4, F5 seeds
• Temporarily stored in cold room
• Storage depends on customers
requests
• Backups seeds in cases of severe pest
pressure
• Usually disposed when the F6
population goes out of RGA  Line
Stage Testing
 CCRD/FCR IRSEA Core Breeding

Cross
Customers
prediction/HB

Breeding4Rice
Materials and data
RGA
flow in RGA
data
Target generation reached NO YES

Preparation
phase End generation?
End generation?

Seed processing
Seeding phase
phase RGA
cycle
(90-105
days)

Maintenance
Harvest phase
phase

Advanced materials

Seed increase step

(panicle rows)
1. LST 2. OYT 3. PYT 4. AYT 5. MET
 Short Day treatments
• Not yet done for current RGA system
• Almost all of the current materials are
photo-period INsensitive
• There are plans for photo-period sensitive
materials in the future
• Prototype for temporary darkroom (use of
black cloth)
• Impractical to do for a large number of
breeding lines – logistics!
 Molecular-assisted selection
(MAS) in RGA

• Starting to being implemented to

reduce populations sizes before
going to the field
• Would serve as the main selection
• Plant specific harvest
Problems encountered and
solutions made

Sensitive to
biotic and
abiotic stress

RGA  SGA
 Insects
• Common greenhouse insects: Ricebugs,
whiteflies, thrips, cutworms, GLH & BPH (nasty!).
• Weekly to monthly pest monitoring
• Basic sanitation (low humidity)
• Sticky traps (yellow sticky cards and tapes)
• Tiller pruning and removal of dry leaves
(eliminates microenvironment)
• UV light traps (use with caution!)
• Spot spraying (non-pyrethroid sprays)
• Use of organic pesticides
• Blanket spraying (if population is high)
• Shutdown period of at least once a year
• Greenhouse should be RGA exclusive! (no field
materials)
Hopperburn
in RGA

Cutworm damage
 Pending
evaluation and
upcoming
experiment by the
Entom group (Dr. Currently in use!
Buyung Hadi)
 Panicle sterility
• Caused by heat stress at 35˚C and beyond
during reproductive stage
• Heat induces early flowering (good) but too
much of the heat – no harvest
• Use of shading curtains (not enough)
• Use of ventilator turbines so hot air could
escape
• Use of blower fans to circulate the air and
reduce hot spots in the greenhouse
• Fertilizer is also adjusted to compensate
during hot days
 Vertebrates:
Birds and Rodents
• Immediate action on the earliest sign of
damage
• Completely sealed greenhouse /
screenhouse – any possible entry points
should be covered ASAP!
• Use cover nets on matured populations
• Use of rodent baits and snap traps
• Ask assistance from the rodent experts
 Developed operation protocols

Not yet final! NO private

companies please!
Demo poster
IRRI officials, NARS partners, and visitors
 Current status and future activities
• Currently around approximately 30,000 lines for irrigated
materials + some customers (seeded at BG-09 Annex)
• On-going: 4-generation experiment with different
treatments (RCBD, 2 reps)
• Will be implementing 1 week+ shutdown period (CS-08B)
to break pest cycle (late July to early August 2016)
• Will soon be announcing RGA as FCR service (internal
clients only!) after the shutdown
• Currently seeding new batch of irrigated materials (from
LxT) for 2017WS LST
• More experiments to further improve the system (for
discussion)
• Fully implement MAS and GS in RGA (in coordination
with GSL)
• THINK FACTORY! – Continuous improvement philosophy
 THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!
Rapid Generation Advance
 Rhulyx
Joseph

Dr. Rafiq
Herman
Dr. Bert
Mark

Edwin