Screening of High-Palatability Rice Resources and Assessment of Eating Quality Traits of Korean Landraces and Weedy Rice Germplasms

The eating quality of rice is one of the main concerns of rice breeding programs in many countries, especially in japonica rice cultivation areas. To select new resources with high eating quality from Korean native japonica rice, we evaluated a total of 76 varieties, including 47 native rice resources (26 landraces + 21 weedy rice) of Korea. In this study, all eating quality traits varied widely among the native resources, and some of the native resources revealed a high evaluation score in the palatability, expected eating quality, and physicochemical traits among the tested whole-plant materials. From the results, we selected two landraces (Sangdo and Waebyeo) and three weedy rice varieties (Hoengseongaengmi3, Namjejuaengmi6, and Wandoaengmi6) as promising resources for improvement of rice eating quality. Specifically, Wandoaengmi6 presented potential as a key breeding material for improving the eating quality of Korean rice cultivars, having the best evaluation results in palatability score (PS 0.83) from the sensory test and glossiness value (GV 81.8) from the Toyo taste meter of cooked rice. Given the urgent need to overcome the constraint of the narrow genetic background of Korean japonica rice, the results could be a practical solution for exploring new opportunities for improving rice eating quality through the expansion of genetic resources.