Background Rice is one of the most important staple food crops in Asia. Since the first green revolution beginning in 1960s, high-yield semidwarf modern rice varieties have been widely planted; however, traditional rice varieties with tall plant type are still grown in many countries due to their good grain quality and adaptation to local climate and environment. Siputeh, a local rice variety mainly planted in Java and Sumatra islands of Indonesia, produces long grain rice with good cooking and eating quality. However, the variety has low yield with tall plant type and long growth duration and is highly susceptible to biotic and abiotic stress. Results Siputeh as the recurrent female was crossed with the donor line WH421, an elite paternal line of hybrid rice containing the sd1, Wx b, Xa4 and Xa21 genes, followed by backcrossing and self-pollination. TS4, a BC3F4 line derived from the breeding program, was obtained through marker-assisted selection for the sd1, Wx b, Xa4 and Xa21 loci. TS4 has semi-dwarf phenotype and short growth duration. TS4 conferred disease resistance to multiple Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) strains collected from different countries around the world. TS4 achieved higher grain yield than Siputeh in two field trials conducted in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Lingshui, China, respectively. Finally, TS4 has better grain quality than Siputeh in terms of degree of chalkiness and amylose content. Conclusion An improved rice line, designed as TS4, has been developed to contain semi-dwarf gene sd1, low amylase content gene Wx b and bacterial light resistance genes Xa4 and Xa21 through marker-assisted selection. TS4 has semi-dwarf phenotype with reduced growth duration, produces high yield with good grain quality and provides broad-spectrum resistance to Xoo strains. The development of TS4 enriches the diversity of local rice varieties with high yield potential and good grain quality.

This research was aimed to determine the effect of tillage and varieties on rice growth and yield. This research used a Split Plot Design (SPD) where the land was cultivated (T) as the main plot and rice varieties as subplots (V) repeated three times. The main factors as the main plot consist of three levels, namely: without soil tillage (T0), minimum soil tillage (T1), and perfect soil tillage (T2). The second factor is 5 level varieties, namely: Tinggong (V1), Ciherang (V2), Cibogo (V3), Inpari-13 (V4), and Situ Bagendit (V5). Data were also projected onto principal component analysis (PCA) to observe differences and affected factors related to the soil tillage system. The results showed that the system of tillage had a very significant effect on the yield per hectare. There was no significant difference in yield between the minimum tillage and the perfect tillage. Variety had a very significant effect on plant height at eight weeks after planting (WAP), the number of tillers at 8 WAP, panicle length per clump, the amount of grains, percentage of full grain per clump, percentage of empty grain per hill, the weight of grain per panicle, weight 1,000 grain and yield per hectare. The Cibogo variety gave the highest yield, namely 4.86 ton/ha. Based on PCA analysis, plant height, the total amount of grain, and filled grain are highly affected by the soil tillage system.

Drought-flood abrupt alterations (DFAA) is a condition in drought season when sudden rain inundate rice plants. These events are due to the high frequency of extreme climate events that might pose a threat to rice productivity. DFAA causes cumulative stress on rice which affects crop growth and alters dry matter accumulation. This study aims to understand the effect of DFAA to dry matter accumulation by assessing six rice varieties under DFAA. Three treatments were provided such as continuously irrigated as non-water stress (NS) as a control; drought to water stress -35 kPa (DFAA1) followed by sudden flood; drought to severe water stress -70 kPa (DFAA2) followed by abrupt floods; repeated until harvest. The study found that the alteration of dry matter accumulation was determined by root length, root weight, shoot length and shoot weight. Only varieties that are able to increase root depth under water stress fluctuation will be able to maintain the yield. The results of study showed that root depth was positively correlated with shoot length (r = 0.68), shoot weight (r = 0.62), root weight (r = 0.57), percentage of filled grain (r = 0.55) and number of filled grain per hill (r = 0.49). Shoot length was positively correlated with shoot weight (r = 0.83), root weight (r = 0.75) and the number of filled grain (r = 0.62), while shoot weight was only positively correlated with root weight (r = 0.88). This means that only root depth and shoot length can increase the seed setting rate and the number of filled grains per hill. Furthermore, at DFAA2, the percentage of filled grain was highest in Sipulo followed by Bo Santeut, Sanbei, Towuti and Situ Patenggang, which mean that varieties with deeper and heavier root dry weight can maintain higher yields than shallow and low root dry weight. The result of the study may allow to select rice varieties that are resistant to multilevel water-stress and able to maintain the potential yield, by looking at root depth, root dry weight, and through their grain yield in general. These traits could become key indicators for resistance to DFAA stress in rice. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fluctuation of soil water content in critical phases, especially in the reproductive phase and grain filling

Barangan Merah is a potential type of banana to be developed under in vitro condition. Acclimatization is the final stage in the propagation by in vitro culture. The use of acclimatization medium from organic materials in the surrounding environment can be an alternative in acclimatization process. This study aims to obtain the optimal organic medium in acclimatization process for the growth of Barangan Merah banana seedlings resulting from in vitro culture. The planting material used plantlets from in vitro regeneration of banana cv. Barangan Merah from Tissue Culture Laboratory, Agricultural Faculty, Universitas Syiah Kuala. The experiment used the individual pot technique with the application of organic medium types, namely husk charcoal, sand, leaf litter compost, and oil palm fruit bunches compost. The results of this research showed that the highest number of seedlings that were still survive until the end of the acclimatization process was found in the husk charcoal medium (71.43%). The best seedling growth according to the increasing of leaves number, leaf size, and plant height in the acclimatization process was found in leaf litter compost medium.

This study aims to examine the effect of the number of ducks on the growth and yield of paddy. This research was conducted in Paloh Village, Samalanga District, Bireuen Regency. This research started from July to November 2021. This study used a non-factorial randomized block design with three replications. The treatments of this experiments were the number of ducks per hectare, namely control (without ducks), 1,200 ducks.ha⁻¹(3 ducks/Plot), 1,600 ducks.ha⁻¹ (4 ducks/Plot), 2,000 ducks.ha⁻¹ (5 ducks/ha Plot), 2,400 ducks.ha⁻¹ (6 ducks/Plot), and 2,800 ducks.ha⁻¹ (7 ducks/Plot). The experimental plots size were 5.0 m x 5.0 m and each plot was fenced with plastics. The observation parameters are plant heights, number of tillers, weight of ducks, weed population, number of snails, panicles numbers, panicles length, filled grain weight, empty grain weight, 1000 grains weight, yield potential, and rice yield. The results of this study showed the number of duck on paddy crops had a very significant effect on the parameters of plant height and the number of tillers at 30, 45, and 60 days after planting, filled grain, yield potential, rice yield, duck weight, number of snails, but had no significant effect on the plant biomass (dry weight) parameters, panicles number, panicles length, empty grain weight, and 1000 grain weight and was able to suppress weed populations accurately.