Conserving Traditional Rice Varieties through Management for Crop Diversity

Abstract Background Some 35,000 indentured laborers from India were recruited to work on plantations in Suriname between 1868 and 1916. It is likely that most were familiar with farming before they were shipped to this former Dutch colony in the Caribbean. Around 1900, those who did not return received a piece of land where most of them started growing rice as a staple crop. Agronomists characterized their traditional landraces as inferior and infested with weedy rice and started to ‘purify’ these landraces. No research has been done on whether these ancient rice varieties still exist. We aimed to document the rice varieties (both landraces and more modern cultivars) grown currently or in the recent past by (descendants of) Hindustani smallholders in Suriname, their origin, morphological and agronomic characters, local uses and cultural and spiritual relevance. Given the rapid decline in small-scale rice cultivation in the past 40 years, we wanted to know why people continued or abandoned rice farming and what aspects of traditional practices still survived. Methods We interviewed 26 (former) small-scale Hindustani farmers and asked about the varieties they cultivated and traditional agricultural practices. We collected seed samples, local names and associated information, and compared these to information from agricultural reports from the colonial period. We also interviewed 11 Maroons, one Javanese farmer, and three persons of mixed ethnicity, who were somehow involved in the cultivation of East Indian rice varieties. Results and discussion Hindustani smallholders in Suriname largely lost their traditional rice landraces. Most of the interviewed farmers grew modern cultivars, developed after 2000. Some cultivars from the 1950s were still planted for fodder, but these were heavily mixed with weedy rice and other weeds. Maroon farmers in the interior, however, still actively cultivated varieties with names like ‘coolie rice’, which probably descend from landraces introduced by the Indian contract laborers, although this needs to be confirmed by molecular research. Although traditional cultivation practices seem to have been lost, smallholders still retain pleasant memories of the manual planting, harvesting, and processing of rice, as well as the gender-based practices and beliefs associated with the cultivation of the crop. The oral history of former rice farmers and traditional rice varieties (possibly obtained from Maroon fields) could play a role in museum settings as living vehicles for memories of the descendants of Asian contract labourers in Suriname and Guyana.

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Physicochemical and cooking characteristics of pigmented traditional rice varieties

International Journal of Chemical Studies ◽

10.22271/chemi.2021.v9.i1e.11249 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 335-337

Author(s):

Radha P ◽

A Gurusamy

Keyword(s):

Rice Varieties ◽

Traditional Rice

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Mutation breeding in rice for sustainable crop production and food security in India.

10.1079/9781789249095.0009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 83-99

Author(s):

Vikash Kumar ◽

Anjali Chauhan ◽

Avinash Kumar Shinde ◽

Ramesh L. Kunkerkar ◽

Deepak Sharma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mutation Breeding ◽

Crop Diversity ◽

World Population ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Pests And Diseases ◽

Crop Varieties ◽

The World ◽

Traditional Landraces ◽

Rice Improvement

Abstract With the inevitable risk posed by global climate change affecting crop yield and the ever-increasing demands of agricultural produce, crop improvement techniques need to be more precise in developing smart crop varieties. The rice crop, a staple food for the majority of the world population, has a significant role to play in alleviating the global hunger problem. With the world population burgeoning at an unprecedented rate, limited fertile land resources, climate change, emerging new races of pests and diseases and consumer preferences for quality attributes, it is imperative to increase crop diversity, and this requires better selection efficiency addressing the challenges of future rice production. Mutation breeding is a fundamental and very successful tool helping to increase crop diversity and allowing plant breeders to exercise their skill in developing desirable crop varieties. The induction of mutations has been used to enhance yield, improve nutritional quality and widen the adaptability of the world's most important crops such as wheat, rice, pulses, millets and oilseeds. India is considered to be one of the primary centres of origin of crop species with the concomitant very high genetic diversity in traditional landraces for different agronomic traits of economic importance. Plant architecture, such as plant height, branching habit (tiller number), leaf shape and patterns, floral and grain traits and quality traits such as aroma, amylose content and cooking quality are of tremendous importance for rice improvement programmes. Traditional landraces of rice have premium grain quality, fetching a premium price, but their cultivation is being marginalized due to their tall stature, proneness to lodging, late maturity and poor yield. Mutation breeding technology has been successfully implemented in rice improvement programmes, which have resulted in the improvement of aromatic rice varieties, such as 'Pusa Basmati 1', 'Dubraj and Jawaphool'. Two high-yielding mutant rice varieties, TCDM-1 ('Trombay Chhattisgarh Dubraj Mutant-1') and TKR Kolam ('Trombay Karjat Rice Kolam'), have been released for cultivation in Chhattisgarh and the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Both these varieties possess dwarf plant stature (110 cm), medium maturity (130 days), premium grain quality and resistance to major pests and diseases. Improvement of other traditional rice varieties is underway which will bring these varieties back into cultivation and help in improving the tribal and marginal farmers' economy.

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Improved Livelihoods, Genetic Diversity and Farmer Participation: A Strategy for Rice Breeding in Rainfed Areas of India

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479700016161 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 311-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

D. M. Maurya ◽

A. Bottrall ◽

J. Farrington

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Plant Breeding ◽

Alternative Strategy ◽

Central Feature ◽

Rice Breeding ◽

Farmer Participation ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

New Varieties ◽

On Farm ◽

Traditional Rice

SUMMARYThe present structure of plant breeding and seed multiplication in India is highly centralized. Furthermore, only a small number of new varieties is officially released each year. The system therefore appears inappropriate for the requirements of the large proportion of Indian farmers located in risk-prone and highly diverse environments. An alternative strategy is described whose central feature is close matching of the characteristics of farmers' traditional rice varieties with those of advanced breeders' lines. A selection from these lines is then distributed in small quantities for on-farm trials managed by farmers themselves. If the success of these initial efforts is to be sustained, a more decentralized approach to breeding and multiplication will be necessary.

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Study on cultivation and marketing of traditional rice varieties in Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts, Tamil Nadu

International Journal of Farm Sciences ◽

10.5958/2250-0499.2019.00023.5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 43

Author(s):

S Vijayakrishna ◽

A Rohini ◽

SD Sivakumar ◽

T Senguttuvan

Keyword(s):

Tamil Nadu ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Traditional Rice

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Morphological diversity of Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties “Pachchaperumal” and “Suduru samba”

Open Agriculture ◽

10.1515/opag-2017-0058 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elpitiya Udari Uvindhya Rathnathunga ◽

Sudarshanee Geekiyanage

Keyword(s):

Yield Components ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Morphological Diversity ◽

Hierarchical Cluster ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Sri Lankan ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Grain Width ◽

Positive Correlations ◽

Traditional Rice

AbstractSri Lankan traditional rice varieties consist of more than one accession mostly which, exhibit a wide variation in morphological characters, flowering time and yield. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversity based on days to flowering (DF) and 12 morphological characters of two Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties Pachchaperumal and Suduru samba comprising of 13 and 7 accessions respectively. DF of Pachchaperumal and Suduru samba varied from 60 - 72 and 79 - 99 days respectively. Vegetative morphological characters and yield components also varied among Pachchaperumal and Suduru samba accessions while pericarp colour, grain width, and length were distinct characters between the two varieties. According to the hierarchical cluster analysis, 2 major clusters were identified at the rescale distance of 25 separating accessions of Pachchaperumal and Suduru samba except for accession 3136 of Pachchaperumal, which was located in Sudura samba cluster. Seven clusters were derived at rescaled distance of 5 where accessions of similar quantitative and qualitative morphological characters were clustered together. There were negative correlations between DF and selected yield components in contrast to positive correlations between DF and selected vegetative growth parameters. Our results may be useful in the determination of identity of accessions belonging to the same variety, which could be further supported by molecular analysis.

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Risk Behavior of Farmers Cultivating Traditional Rice Varieties in Erode District, Tamil Nadu

Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension Economics & Sociology ◽

10.9734/ajaees/2021/v39i1030701 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 349-357

Author(s):

G. Kaviya ◽

A. Vidhyavathi ◽

S. Padma Rani ◽

M. Nirmala Devi

Keyword(s):

Risk Behavior ◽

Tamil Nadu ◽

Rice Variety ◽

Soil Health ◽

Risk Attitude ◽

Farm Income ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Natural Risk ◽

Small Areas ◽

Traditional Rice

This study investigates the risk behavior of traditional rice variety growers in Erode District of Tamil Nadu state, using Moscardi and De Janvry approach and Discriminant analysis technique. A well structured questioner was prepared and purposive random sampling was done in three blocks which covers highest cultivable area under paddy namely Gobichettipalayam, Modakurichi and Bhavani in Erode district. Each traditional rice varieties have some unique characteristics i.e some are pest and disease resistant, drought resistant, resistant to waterlogged condition and have medicinal values. The present study was done to identify the major risks, to quantify the risk attitude and to identify the factors influencing risk attitude of the traditional variety growers in Erode District. In the research it was found that the varieties preferred by farmers were Thuyamalli, Kichadi samba, Karuppukavuni, Mapillai samba,Arcaud Kichadi Samba, Poongar, Thanga Samba, Sivan Samba and few other varieties they were cultivating in small areas using organic farming method.The major risk found in cultivating traditional rice varieties were market risk followed by human labour risk, processing risk, input risk, technology risk, institutional risk, natural risk and other risks include transport risk and storage risk. The farmers were grouped into three categories i.e., risk preferrers (63.33 per cent), risk neutral (28.33 per cent) and risk averse (8.33 per cent) based on risk attitude. Once again the farmers in each group was categorized into low, medium, high risk based on nine factors namely, farmers age, major occupation, years of schooling, family size, membership in any of the farmers association, proportion of paddy area to total farm area, proportion of paddy income to total farm income, experience and adequacy of market which were influencing the risk attitude of farmers. In order to conserve the traditional rice varieties from extinction, to restore the soil health, to ensure nutritional security the farmers were willing to take risk.

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Identification of novel resistance source in traditional varieties against major diseases of rice

ORYZA- An International Journal on Rice ◽

10.35709/ory.2020.57.2.5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 116-125

Author(s):

BS Chethana ◽

CA Deepak ◽

MP Rajanna

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Durable Resistance ◽

Sheath Blight ◽

Brown Spot ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Resistant Reaction ◽

Resistant Varieties ◽

Wide Range ◽

Traditional Rice

Traditional rice varieties maintained and cultivated by farmers are the potential sources of resistant donors that can be used for breeding rice varieties with durable resistance. They possess traits potentially adaptable to a wide range of abiotic and biotic stresses. Characterization of these germplasm is essential in rice breeding varieties and provides valued information for developing new rice. In this study, a large-scale screening of 167 traditional rice varieties was carried out to identify resistance sources against blast, sheath blight and brown spot diseases of rice. The mean location severity index (LSI) of leaf blast, sheath blight and brown spot was 6.91,7.14 and 7.84, respectively. Among the varieties screened, five varieties viz., Malgudi sanna, Putta batta, Selamsanna, Sadaholga and Mysuru sanna showed resistant reaction against blast, while only one variety Putta batta showed resistant reaction against brown spot, none of the varieties showed resistant reaction against sheath blight. However, only one variety Bangara sanna-4 showed moderate resistance to the sheath blight disease. The identified resistant varieties can be used as potential source for breeding durable resistant varieties in the future crop improvement programmes.

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