IR8
Variety of grasses
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IR8 is a high-yielding semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the early 1960s. It was developed by an IRRI team Archived 2023-02-19 at the Wayback Machine consisting of Peter Jennings, Henry Beachell, Akira Tanaka, Te-Tzu Chang, Surajit Kumar De Datta, and Robert F. Chandler.
Research
IR8 was the eighth of 38 crossbred rice varieties in a 1962 experiment by IRRI.[1] It was a cross of Peta, a high yield rice variety from Indonesia, and Dee-geo-woo-gen (DGWG), a dwarf variety from Taiwan.[2][1][3] The semidwarf-1 gene (sd-1 or Os01g0883800), which encodes an enzyme in the production of the hormone gibberellin, which affects plant height; this improved its yield.[4][5][6][1] IR8 was well suited to the places it was first introduced. However, it “did not fit most rice-growing situations,” which involve heavy monsoons or deep flooding.[7][8]
Cultivation
In November 1966, IR8 was introduced in the Philippines and India.[1] Promoters such as the IRRI and farmer benefactors of IR8 have called it 'miracle rice', and celebrate it for fighting famine.[3][9][7][8] IR8 dramatically increased the yields of Asian rice from 1 or 2 ton per hectare to 4 or 5 tons per hectare.[10] It played a significant part in the Green Revolution.
