Research to create new heat-tolerant and herbicide resistant rice strains is being conducted this summer at Southeast Missouri State Universitys Rice Research Greenhouse in Malden, Missouri, and at the Missouri Rice Research Farm in Glennonville, Missouri.Southeast Department of Agriculture faculty will be on hand to highlight this work at the Missouri Rice Councils (MRC) annual Rice Field Day Aug. 22 at the Missouri Rice Research Farm. Other topics to be addressed will include emerging technologies, row rice, markets and remote sensing.Dr. Christian De Guzman, agriculture research fellow and rice breeder at Southeast Missouri State University, said Missouri rice yields declined several years ago due to extreme heat. That growing season, along with climate change discussions, prompted De Guzman to begin developing a heat-tolerant variety to be available in the near future and capable of producing significant yield.Preliminary screening of U.S. varieties and a heat tolerant line from Asia, N22, indicates high fertility rates in the heat tolerant line compared to southern U.S. varieties when tested at higher temperatures. Testing was done in a heat chamber and showed the Asian heat tolerant variety capable of producing grains and higher spikelet fertility rates at temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius (about 104 degrees Fahrenheit), De Guzman said.Testing began last year and is continuing as cross breeding is done with more rice varieties and with some of the rice breeders elite lines, he said.While preliminary screening occurred in the greenhouse setting, rice is now being tested in the field at the Missouri Rice Research Farm. It is serving as the test group, under natural growing conditions, and will then be compared against that grown in a controlled setting in the greenhouse. De Guzman said he hopes to know the results later this fall.The goal is to release a heat-tolerant variety in Missouri that also can be sold in other states. About 50 percent of the grain produced will be exported outside the United States, he said.Meanwhile, De Guzman also is focusing his research efforts on breeding rice with Clearfield herbicide resistance and is finalizing an agreement with BASF to breed for rice with Provisia herbicide resistance. Both herbicides control for red rice weed, he said. Clearfield is an acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor, while Provisia is an acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) inhibitor with a different mode of action.Developing a rice with Provisia herbicide resistance will provide farmers with an alternative in areas where Clearfield is not effective, he said. These herbicide resistant varieties have not yet been tested.Those attending Rice Field Day can learn more about De Guzmans research, and anyone with an interest in rice production is invited to this free event. The Missouri Rice Research Farm is located about eight miles west of Malden, Missouri, on Highway J in northern Dunklin County.The day begins at 8 a.m. with presentations and tours. Lunch will be served at noon.Missouri Sen. Wayne Wallingford will serve as the luncheon keynote speaker. Wallingford currently serves the 27th Senatorial District.He serves as vice-chair of the Senate Education Committee, as well as serving as a member of other committees, including Appropriations; Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment; Small Business & Industry; Veterans and Military Affairs; Ways and Means; and several other Join Committees and Commissions.Various field presentations will be discussed during the tours, includingfurrow irrigation, rice breeding and variety development, enhanced efficiency fertilizers in rice production, how aerial imagery data can help real-time crop management, rice marketing, remote sensing in rice, rice entomology, and plant pathology in rice.Presentations will also cover Southeast Missouri State Universitys Department of Agriculture and Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Councils (MRRMC) new rice variety MM17, a semi-dwarf, mid-season, medium grain variety with excellent yield potentialthat is bred in southeast Missouri.Speakers will include Dr. Michael Aide, soil scientist, De Guzman, rice breeder, and G. Byron McVay, instructor of agriculture, all with Southeast Missouri State Universitys Department of Agriculture; Andy Chronister, Unmanned Aircraft Systems coordinator at Southeast Missouri State University; Steven Cromley, agronomist with Koch Agronomic Services; Steven Son, regional vice president of the Mississippi River Delta with TerrAvion; David Reinbott, agriculture business program with the University of Missouri Extension, Southeast Region; Gordon Jones, field specialist in agronomy with the University of Missouri Extension, Southeast Region; David Dunn of the University of Missouri Soil Testing Laboratory; and Dr. Gene Stevens from the University of Missouri Fisher Delta Research Center.Members of the Missouri Rice Council will also be in attendance.The Missouri Rice Council is hosting the annual Missouri Rice Field Day with support from Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri- Fisher Delta Research Center.