Conservation and successful utilization of landraces for rice improvement

Germplasm is the basis of all plant improvement programmes. The collected landraces of rice possessed high probability of the useful genes for efficient application in the breeding programmes to develop high yielding varieties with quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Those landraces needs to be conserved ex situ or in situ. In the rice repository of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari has about 200 landraces collected from West Bengal, Assam and Manipur. Every Kharif season, they are being cultivated and seeds are collected to conserve since 2008. High variability has been observed among those varieties. Some special characteristics also have been identified during characterization and ex situ conservation of those landraces, such as, long and white sterile lemma, double and triple kernelled spikelets. Important landraces were used as donor in rice improvement. A number of desirable mutants, recombinant lines and somaclones have been have been developed which are in different yield trials. Some pure lines also have been isolated from the collected famers’ varieties.