IR8 is a high-yielding semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the early 1960s. It was developed by an IRRI team Archived 2023-02-19 at the Wayback Machine consisting of Peter Jennings, Henry Beachell, Akira Tanaka, Te-Tzu Chang, Surajit Kumar De Datta, and Robert F. Chandler.
IR8 was the eighth of 38 crossbred rice varieties in a 1962 experiment by IRRI. [1] It was a cross of Peta, a high yield rice variety from Indonesia, and Dee-geo-woo-gen (DGWG), a dwarf variety from Taiwan. [2] [1] [3] The semidwarf-1 gene (sd-1 or Os01g0883800), which encodes an enzyme in the production of the hormone gibberellin, which affects plant height; this improved its yield. [4] [5] [6] [1] IR8 was well suited to the places it was first introduced. However, it “did not fit most rice-growing situations,” which involve heavy monsoons or deep flooding. [7] [8]
In November 1966, IR8 was introduced in the Philippines and India. [1] Promoters such as the IRRI and farmer benefactors of IR8 have called it 'miracle rice', and celebrate it for fighting famine. [3] [9] [7] [8] IR8 dramatically increased the yields of Asian rice from 1 or 2 ton per hectare to 4 or 5 tons per hectare. [10] It played a significant part in the Green Revolution.