News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　“NCYU Specialty Rice Presentation and NCYU Tainan Glutinous Rice No. 3 Breeding Technology Signing Ceremony” was organized near the QinXin Pond in front of the Worker Cooperative, Lantan campus, National Chiayi University on Nov. 22nd. During the ceremony, NCYU President Chyung Ay, Yang Hung Ying, Director of the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station, and Liang Chao-Kai, General Manager of Hong Yuan Rice Factory, a major producer of domestic glutinous rice, signed an authorization agreement regarding “NCYU Tainan Glutinous Rice No. 3 Breeding Technology.” Varieties of rice jointly bred by the Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, NCYU, and the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Farm were on display: NCYU Tainan No. 1 (Jia-Nan Zhenxiang), NCYU Tainan No. 2 (Jia-Nan Jingzhu) and NCYU Tainan Glutinous Rice No. 3 (Jia-Nan Nuobao). The processed food products made from the three new rice varieties, characterized by their drought tolerance and high quality, filled the venue with tempting aromas.

　　NCYU President Chyung Ay indicated that rice is one of the three major crops in the world as well as the staple food of the country. As the extreme weather has resulted in frequent droughts in recent years, the water levels in domestic reservoirs hit record low in the past one year owing to lack of rainfall. With the fallow or unharvested area nearing 100,000 hectares, not only the food security of the nation have been affected, the urgency and necessity of breeding drought-tolerant rice varieties have also come to the fore. For the past nine years, the NCYU faculty have been working with the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station to develop high-quality and drought-tolerant rice varieties, and the research results deserve recognition.

　　According to Huang Wen-Lii, Dean of General Affairs and Professor of the Department of Agronomy, NCYU, he and Liu Chii-Dong, Associate Professor of the Department of Agronomy, Dr. Lo Jeng-Chung, former Deputy Director of the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station (now Director of the Southern Region Branch, Agriculture and Food Agency), and Chen Rong-Kun, Director of the station are co-breeders of the three new rice varieties. Funded by the Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan since 2009, they have been cooperating in research regarding selection and breeding of new drought-tolerant rice varieties for the collection and multiple utilization of native land rice seed sources. The three new rice varieties boast four major features. First, it is the first time that an agricultural testing and improvement farm and a university have collaborating in developing new rice varieties in Taiwan. Second, results of the instrument analysis showed that the NCYU Tainan No. 1 is the first rice variety in Taiwan that has ingredients of Thai jasmine rice, one of the world's most popular rice varieties. This characterizes itself from the common taro fragrant rice. Third, the three new varieties have been tested for drought tolerance and good quality. Fourth, the NCYU Tainan Glutinous No. 3, the breeding technology of which was authorized during the ceremony, is the only variety with the appearance of long glutinous rice and quality of round glutinous rice. Also noteworthy is that the NCYU students have participated in the breeding of the three new rice varieties, from eco-friendly farming, drying and milling, to packaging, all on the internship farm of the Lantan campus. This practice-oriented training allowed them to learn by doing, which was a rare learning experience for college students in Taiwan.

　　NCYU Tainan Glutinous No. 3, the first new variety of glutinous rice in Taiwan for both processing and fresh food needs, differentiates itself in the market with full development potential. Today, the research and development team officially signed a technology authorization agreement with Hong Yuan Rice Factory, one of the major raw material supplier of domestic glutinous rice.The Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan has approved it for glutinous rice production in the second phase of the year 2021. The faculty members of NCYU come from a diversity of professional fields. The teachers from the College of Agriculture and College of Life Sciences have collaborated to develop processed foods with the three varieties of specialty rice. The aromatic rice latte and soymilk, made from NCYU Tainan No. 1 aromatic rice and Golden Bead Soybeans, also one of the specialty products of the unversity, deliver an amazing flavor. NCYU Tainan No. 2 is used to produce high-quality sake and distilled white wine with 40 percent alcohol.Old-time oily glutinous rice and soy sauce are made from NCYU Tainan Glutinous No. 3. All these bear witness to the full commercial potential demonstrated by the new rice varieties.