An Overview of Progress On the First CSREES Supported Plant Coordinated Agricultural Project.

RiceCAP, a 4 year CSREES supported project, was initiated in 2005 with the overarching goal to fostered research cooperation among public and private rice breeders and rice researcher molecular biologists in the U. S. The scientific objectives of the project focused on the improvement in two economically important traits to the U.S. rice industry, sheath blight (SB) resistance and milling yield and the underlying QTL controlling these complex traits; the identification and use of candidate genes and other molecular markers linked to these QTL; and the development of molecular markers and tools to identify and validate the function of selected candidate genes. The project also involved an integrated bioinformatics component, a training component which involved conducting a series of biotechnology workshops for rice research personnel, and an outreach component to communicate RiceCAP efforts to the rice community and beyond. The project involved 26 PI’s and was a multi-state multi-institution effort with over-sight provided by both a Stakeholder and Scientific Advisory Board. The project focused on four SB resistance populations and 3 milling yield populations which were selected, advanced, and examined phenotypically and genotypically. Standardized phenotypic assays for sheath blight resistance and milling yield were developed and employed on the populations. In addition, the original RiceCAP efforts were expanded to examine pathogen toxin on sheath blight susceptibility, wild rice sources for SB resistance, and association mapping of U.S. rice germplasm. An overview of the projects accomplishments, the QTL and candidate genes identified, and project deliverables will be covered. For more information on the broader effort, please Google RiceCAP.