Objective An aromatic soft rice with the texture in between those of Indica and sweet rice was bred for an added market choice.

Method Premium ‘Meixiangzhan 2’ was crossed with the aromatic soft rice ‘Hongyou 7’ by means of pedigree and shuttle breeding 9 generations in various regions for 6 years. Grain quality, rice aroma, crop yield, and stress resistance of the offspring were determined.

Results In 2019, the high-quality, high-yield ‘Wendao 30’ was finalized for further field testing. In the two-year regional trials in Yunnan Province from 2020 to 2021, the average yield of Wendao 30 was 9735.0kg·hm⁻², which was 4.9% higher than that of the reference ‘Wendao 11’. Impressively, the similar yield of 9433.5kg·hm⁻² was 15.5% higher in comparison to Wendao 11 in the 2021 production test. With its second level national grain quality and outstanding overall resistance to stress, Wendao 30 was approved as Dianshendao No. 2023016 by Yunnan Provincial Crop Variety Certification Committee in 2023. Genetically, it inherited from the parents 16 alleles of high-yield genes Gn1a/OsCKX2, LAX1, PTB1 and OsSPL13/GLW7 as well as aroma gene Badh2 and blast resistance gene Pi-d2/Pid2 providing a concrete molecular basis to pass on those highly desirable characteristics.

Conclusions Wendao 30 inherited 16 elite alleles related to the highly desirable agronomic traits on yield, quality, resistance, and phenotype of an aromatic soft rice. It was considered a promising new variety for extended cultivation.