Conservation and Potentials of Rice Genetic Resources

Abstract

The cultivated areas of rice continue to grow in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Meanwhile, the continual expansion of the modern rice varieties and hybrid ricer throughout the irrigated areas of Asia, amounting to more than 80 million ha, has led to the massive replacement of the traditional varieties during the past two decades. The wild relatives of rice are also disappearing because of various developmental projects. Therefore, the conservation of rice genetic resources is taking on great urgency. In addition, the rising incidence of pests under intensive cultivation and the expansion of rice cultivation into marginal areas call for expanding and continuous use of exotic germplasm to meet rice improvement and research needs and to reinstate genetic diversity in the crop (Chang 1984, 1989a).KeywordsWild RelativeGenetic ConservationGerm PlasmRice GermplasmLand RaceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.