‘Sodami’ is a new high quality japonica rice variety developed from a cross between ‘Iksan469’ and ‘Unbong31’ by the rice breeding team of Rice Breeding and Cultivation Research Division, Department of Rice & Winter Cereal Crop, NICS, RDA. This variety is suitable for low level nitrogen fertilizer (LNF, 6kg/10 a) cultivation at ordinary season. The heading date of ‘Sodami’ was August 16th, the same that of ‘Nampyeong’ at ordinary season cultivation. Culm length of ‘Sodami’ was about 81 cm and this variety had 12 tillers per hill and 134 spikelets per panicle. Ripened grain rate of this variety was approximately 86.8%. The spikelet fertility of ‘Sodami’ was similar to that of ‘Sobi’ and higher than that of ‘Nampyeong’ by 26% when exposed to cold stress. ‘Sodami’ is resistant to bacterial blight and rice stripe virus but susceptible to blast disease and planthoppers. The milled rice of ‘Sodami’ exhibits translucent, clear non-glutinous endosperm and medium short grain. It shows lower protein content than that of ‘Nampyeong’ and ‘Sobi’. The milled rice yield of this variety was slightly higher than that of ‘Sobi’ by 3% as about 5.2 MT/ha in LNF cultivation at ordinary season but it was not significantly different and much higher by 9% as about 6.0 MT/ha than that of ‘Nampyeong’ in ordinary season cultivation in local adaptability test for three years. ‘Sodami’ could be adaptable to plain areas of south of Chungcheongnamdo and southwest coastal district of Korea.
