SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija?Three Philippine-bred rice varieties are now giving hope for better harvest to farmers in other parts of the world.

Dr. Thelma Padolina, breeder and chief research science specialist of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) here, identified the inbred varieties as ?Talavera? (PSB Rc8), ?Abra? (PSB Rc 54), and ?Tubigan 4? (NSIC Rc 134).

She said these varieties are well-adapted to Philippine conditions based on PhilRice?s research results.

In countries which have adopted them, they also grow, prosper, yield many rice grains, and continue to provide sustenance, she added.

PhilRice is the country?s premier rice breeding center that develops, tests, and recommends rice varieties for commercial release.

Talavera was released in the Philippines in 1992. Introduced in Vietnam in 2002 through the International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (Inger), Talavera was commercially released in Vietnam as ?OMFi-1 rice.?

This variety is for irrigated lowland that grows to a height of 82 centimeters and matures in 108 days. It yields 5.39 metric tons per hectare and its milling recovery is 66.93 percent.

Inger is a global partnership among the international agricultural research centers (IARCs) and the national agricultural research and extension systems (Nares).

Coordinated by the International Rice Research Institute (Irri), the network allows worldwide sharing of rice germ plasm and genetic information.

Abra, named after a mighty river in Abra province, is now called ?Nakroma? in East Timor. It was introduced in 2005 in that country through the Seeds of Life Project funded by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (Aciar).

This variety matures in 113 days and grows to a height of 91 centimeters. The harvest reaches 100 cavans a hectare.

Padolina said the variety is well-suited for general cultivation in East Timor as the climatic conditions there are similar to the Philippines.

Padolina, who is the country?s representative to the Inger technical advisory committee, said ?Tubigan 4? was reported as the overall best yielder across all the 25 trial sites of Inger member-countries.

She said Tubigan 4 is one of the rice varieties highly acceptable in countries where they were introduced and tried.