REVIEW ARTICLE Sustainable hybrid rice cultivation in Italy. A review Franco Tesio & Maurizio Tabacchi & Sergio Cerioli & Francesca Follis Accepted: 14 May 2013 / Published online: 19 June 2013 # INRA and Springer-Verlag France 2013 Abstract Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the premier food crop in the world, being a major staple food for more than half of the world’ s population. The potential for a further increase in grain yield will be limited in the future, and more food will need to be produced from the same available arable land. Italy has a long history of rice cultivation, but is now facing challenges to develop new strategies to maintain competitiveness of this sector in the global market. To prepare for the inevitable reduction of both rice prices and incentives from the European Community, and market pro- tection, growers are evaluating the potential of hybrid rice cultivation to increase yields and maintain high quality standards for milling industries. Here we reviewed the charac- teristics of the Italian rice sector and the first experiences of hybrid cultivation in north Italy during 2012, using them to project the potential challenges and opportunities for both breeders and rice growers. If well managed this technology can represent a solution for sustainable rice production in Italy and in the other European rice growing countries. With hybrid vigor increased yield are obtained from reduced seed rate, lower nitrogen fertilizer, lower reliance on chemical treat- ments to control diseases, which helps compensate for the increased seed costs. Moreover, partially in contrast with current beliefs, it is shown that it may be possible to produce rice in rather rich countries obtaining a local production. Keywords Hybrid rice . Price reduction . Oryza sativa . Clearfield® Contents Introduction................................ 1 Hybrid rice ................................ 3 Why hybrid rice in Italy? ...................... 4 First experience of hybrid cultivation in Italy ....... 5 Challenges and opportunities for breeders and growers ................................... 6 Conclusions ............................... 7 1 Introduction In terms of foreign exchange, rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most economically important crops in Italy, with a cultivation area that is mostly located in the Po Valley in the provinces of Alessandria, Ferrara, Novara, Pavia, and Vercelli, and to some extent in Sardinia, in the southern part of the Country (Fasola and Ruiz 1996). Altogether these areas are actually the largest rice producers in the European Union, accounting for almost 2/3 of European rice production. Rice grown there is mainly exported to other EU countries within the Mediterranean basin and Eastern Europe (Russo and Callegarin 2007). During the period 2001–2012, the Italian rice growing region reached a peak of almost 247,000 ha in 2010, and then showed a decreasing tendency in 2011 and 2012 (Fig. 1). The trend of rice cultivation is cyclical, with growth periods followed by decreasing ones, and an average duration of the cycle of approximately 3 years, even if with the actual contingency the surface is expected to be reduced in the following years (Ente Nazionale Risi 2013). The steepest surface growth was recorded from 2008 to 2010, mainly due to the positive price conditions and the higher incentives provided by the Community Agricultural Policy (CAP) to rice sector in comparison with other cereals (Frandsen et al. 2003; Rude 2008). The privileges granted to rice producers were due to the multiple benefits of this crop. In addition to its role in providing nutrition, rice cultivation helps F. Tesio : M. Tabacchi : S. Cerioli : F. Follis ValOryza s.a.s.—Corso Gastaldi 55, 13100 Vercelli, Italy F. Tesio (*) Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Turin, Italy e-mail: franco.tesio@valoryza.it Agron. Sustain. Dev. (2014) 34:93–102 DOI 10.1007/s13593-013-0157-6