Dr. Inez H. Slamet-Loedin

The overall objective is to select the lead transgenic line with high dietary Fe and Zn (HIZR) in polished rice, with desirable agronomic performance, suitable for future multi-location trials.

The specific objectives are:

1. To evaluate the agronomic performance and Fe and Zn trait of 10  lines each from 2 High Fe and Zn rice (HIZR) events, previously tested in the confined facility at IRRI in 2018 to 2019 (DOST-BC Ref no. 2018-0314) (November – April 2019). The transgenic events contain  the seed storage protein ferritin gene from Malus domestica-ApFer  (DOST-BC Ref No. 2014-0281), and  Fe transporter/chelator gene from rice- OsNAS2  (DOST-BC Ref No. 2007-0221).
2. To determine the Fe and Zn concentration in the polished grains of evaluated lines.

To select the best lines among the events  for future advancement

The site is inside the TRF of the IRRI ZES. This area has been used previously for confined test of high Fe and high Zn biofortified materials DOST-BC Ref no. 2018-0314). It is a gated facility.

• The confined test area will be accessed only by the authorized staff who are directly involved in the experiment (Annex 9). For additional labor and activities done by IRRI Experimental Farm or other contract workers, a regular, authorized personnel will be present to ensure adherence to biosafety protocols. Only IRRI-IBC approved visitors could access the site.
• Temporal and physical isolation of the materials from the cultivated rice planted in nearby fields will be observed.
• Transgenic material handling such as transfer and disposal will be done in accordance with the guidelines set by IRRI’s Biosafety Office, the IBC and BPI-CPEQS as monitoring arm of the DOST-BC.