RICE (Oryza sativa)

Chromosome number (2n = 24)

Family – Poaceae

Rice is world’s most important crop after wheat and maize. Rice provides 25-40 % of dietary
protein in 39 countries. It is a warm season crop grown extensively Korea, South eastern Asia
account for 90 % of world rice production. In India, rice cultivated on large scale in Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha, Bengal, Bihar, U.P, M.P, Punjab
and Haryana. The high yielding rice and wheat cultivars led to the birth of Green revolution.
Rice produces mainly in wet tropical climates, the crop flourish in humid regions of sub-
tropical climate and also in temperate climate ex. China, Japan, Spain, Italy, France, USSR and
USA.
In India, total area under production is 43.4 m ha with total production of 104.41 m tonnes
during the year 2015-16.
Origin of rice
According to the latest view the genus oryza includes 22 different species. Out of these 22, two
are cultivated diploids viz. O. sativa and O. glaberrima and rest are wild species which include
both diploid and tetraploid forms.
A large belt extending from north hills in India to the mountain ranges of the South East Asia
and South West China could be the primary centre of origin of O. sativa. While, Niger River
delta in Africa is primary centre of origin of O. glaberrima.
O. sativa is considered as Asian Rice and their centre of diversity are the foot hills of
Himalayas, Chattishgarh, Jeypore tract of Odisha in India and Myanmar, north part of Thailand
and Unan Province of China.
O. glaberrima is considered as African Rice and centre of diversity for this rice are swampy
upper Niger River basin and some areas around Guinean coast of the Africa.
List of different species of genus Oryza.

Botanical name Chromosome No. Genome Origin

O. sativa 24 AA Asia
O. nivara 24 AA Asia
O. meridionalis 24 - Australia
O. longistaminata 24 AA Africa
O. rufipogan 24 AA Asia
O. glumaepatula 24 - America
O. grandiglumis 48 CCDD America
O. glaberrima 24 AA Africa
O. barthii 24 AA Africa
O. australiensis 24 EE Australia
O. latifolia 48 CCDD America
O. alata 48 CCDD America
O. eichingeri 24 CC Africa
O. minuta 48 BBCC Asia
O. punctata 48 BBCC Asia
O. officinalis 24 CC Asia
O. granulata 24 - Asia
O. meyeriane 24 - Asia
O. ridleyi 48 - Asian
O. longiglumis 48 - New Guinea
O. brachantha 24 FF Africa
O. schlechter - - New Guinea

Diploid species of rice has 24 chromosomes, while the tetraploid species contain 48
chromosomes. Genome analysis based on chromosome pairing behaviour and the fertility in
interspecific hybrid have made possible to group it under six distinct genome as A, B, C, D, E
and F.
Relatively inter-compatible cultivars and their wild relative constitute A genome. Cultivated
rice is a secondary balanced polyploidy derived from an ancestral, graminaceous species with
a basic chromosome number of 5. During the evolutionary process two of the chromosome of
that parent were duplicated resulting in the type of species having 2n=14 and 2n=10. The
amphidiploid of cross between this two variant (n=12) resulted in the cultivated rice and its
wild ancestors with chromosome number 2n=24.
Evolution of cultivated rice
The views regarding the evolution of cultivated rice can be grouped in to two classes viz.,
a) Polyphyletic origin - Originated from several species. According to this theory, the
two forms of cultivated rice viz., Asian rice O. sativa and African rice O. glaberrima
have evolved independently in their respective regions from several species.
Common ancestor
O. perennis

South West Asia Tropical Africa

O. rufipogan (wild perrenial) O. spontanea (weedy annual) O. longistaminata

O. nivara (wild annual) O. staffii O. barthii

O sativa (cultivated annual) O. glaberrima

(Indica, Japonica, Javanica)
 b) Monophyletic origin - According to this theory both Asian rice and African rice arose
from a common parent (O. perennis). This view is the most accepted one because both
Asian rice and African rice are similar except in glume pubescence, ligule size and
colour of pericarp which is red in African rice.

BREEDING OBJECTIVES
1. High yield potential - Grain yield of rice is a complex character. It is influenced by many
morphological traits and physiological process. These along with interaction of environment
decide the yield potential. It is necessary to assemble in the rice variety a desirable combination
of genes for those plant characteristics that will enable the rice plant to give higher yields.
To get higher yield we must have an ideal plant type. The ideal plant type is
 Short stature.
 Thick, Stiff culm
 Compact panicle that hold the plant erect.
 Short, narrow, erect leaves to effectively utilize solar radiation.
 high tillering
 Non / low photo sensitivity
 Nitrogen responsive

2. Adaptability and stability of yield - Wide adaptability across locations is desired since rice
is grown over a large variety of agro-climatic zones which are varying. Characteristics
associated with wider adaptability are-
 low sensitivity to temperature variations.
 low sensitivity to changes in light intensity.
 Resistant to wide spectrum of pests and diseases.
3. Early maturity - This character is desired to have multiple cropping. It is also helpful to
overcome terminal drought and to escape from pest and diseases.
In rice the optimum early maturity will be around 105 days. When the duration is reduced still
further, the yield is also reduced correspondingly.
4. Resistant to lodging and shattering - This is also a complex character. Non lodging lines
will have
 Short stature
 Thick strong culm
 Short internode
 Leaf sheath tightly encircling the culm.
Grain shattering is also a complex character. Wild rice are having this character. So while using
wild rice as parents, care should be taken that the desirable trait which is to be transmitted,
should not be linked with this trait.
5. Resistant to Diseases – Disease is one of the major problem in rice cultivation and use of
resistant variety is the cheapest way for managing disease. Major disease of rice are- Blast,
brown spot, bacterial leaf blight, Tungro virus etc.
6. Resistant to insects/pests – Insects/pests cover major loss to the rice crop and is more severe
than disease in some country. Some important insects of rice are - Brown plant hopper, Stem
borer, Rice gall midge, Gandhi bug etc.
7. Improved grain quality – it includes:
a) Grain characteristics - Rice cultivars can be classified based on the size, shape and texture
of the grain.
On the basis of size, extra-long, long, medium, short
Based on shape, long slender, long bold, medium bold and short bold.
Based on texture, opaque and translucent
b) Aroma and Cooking quality - Some varieties give aroma when it is cooked. Varieties like
Basmati scented rice there will be elongation in the cooked rice also. The aroma is due to
certain chemicals present in endosperm. The chemical compound is 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline.
The cooking quality vary with the variety and grain type. Long grain varieties remain dry and
flaky when cooked, while medium and short grain varieties are sticky and chewy. Preference
for a particular variety differs with use. In evaluating rice varieties cooking tests are conducted
for - amylose content, Water absorption properties, gelatinisation test, grain elongation ratio,
protein content, parboiling quality and milling out turn (recovery of head rice)
c) Protein content and quality – high percentage of protein 32-44 % and good quality protein.
Rice is deficient in lysine an essential amino acid. So, breeding to improve the % age of lysine
is very important.
8. Breeding for alternate source of dwarfing gene
All the present day cultivars are result of breeding with dwarfing gene Dee - Geo - Woo - Gen
and there is danger in using the same source as if Dee - Geo - Woo - Gen becomes susceptible
to a new pest or disease, the whole programme will collapse. So it is necessary to seek alternate
sources of dwarfing gene. Efforts are underway to identify alternate source through
conventional and non - conventional breeding techniques.

Breeding Methods:
1. Introduction: All the IRRI Rice varieties from IR 8 to IR 72 were example of plant
introduction only. Other Examples are Basmati from Punjab, Ponni (mashuri) from Malaysia,
CR 1009 (Ponmani) from Orissa.
2. Pure line selection: Ex. Co 9, Co 19
3. Hybridization and Selection (Recombination breeding): It includes pedigree method (Ex.
Mashuri, IR34), bulk method and back-cross method (Ex. Sabarmati and Jamuna) of breeding.
4. Mutation breeding: Ex. Jagannath, Parbhani
5. Heterosis breeding: Ex. CORH 1 and CORH 2
6. Molecular breeding or genetic engineering