Polizești-19, a New Rice Variety Created in the Pedoclimatic Conditions in Southeastern Romania

Rice is an extremely important crop in the balance of agri-food products used by mankind. This crop feeds over 66% of the world's population and responds favorably to zonal cultivation conditions around the world. In Romania, rice is a perspective crop in the context of diversifying the agricultural production and of the need to find solutions to reduce import of agricultural products and to increase the country’s food security. There are few crops such as rice, which can provide in optimal production conditions over 8-10 tons of good quality agricultural food product, usable in human food after relatively simple processing, or which allow to obtain a wide range of food products by industrialization. The creation of new varieties and hybrids through breeding activities is important for the fact that, in the economy of a crop, a new variety contributes to the increase of productivity by 5-10% compared to the varieties in the crop. In addition, the acclimatization is better and the behavior of new varieties against stressors is improved. Hence, plant breeding, including in rice crops, is the main method of progress and efficiency of agriculture and it must be further developed in Romania. This paper presents the new Polizești-19 rice variety, obtained at Brăila Agricultural Research-Development Station, located at the northern limit of rice cultivation in Romania.