BACKGROUND Samples of 226 new improved and 21 indigenous rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties were collected from the rice fields in three climatic zones of Sri Lanka and concentrations of 18 trace elements (Li, B, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Sr, Mo, Cd, Ba, Pb and Bi) were measured giving particular emphasis on Se, Cd and As using ICP-MS. The two way multivariate analysis of variance (...

Background: Genetically Modified (GM) foods are produced using genetic engineering. This survey attempted to identify the presence of GM rice varieties among some imported rice samples in Iran. Methods: From May to July 2016, a total of 50 samples of the imported rice to Iran were obtained, including 20 bulk rice samples from Bandar Abbas custom, Southern Iran and 30 retail rice samples from s...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) can successfully germinate and grow even when flooded. Rice varieties possessing the submergence 1A (Sub1A) gene display a distinct flooding-tolerant phenotype, associated with lower carbohydrate consumption and restriction of the fast-elongation phenotype typical of flooding-intolerant rice varieties. Calcineurin B-like interacting protein kinase 15 (CIPK15) was recently...

Rice is the staple food and rice production consumes about 50% of the fresh water resources in China. In addition, drought is one of the most important constraints in rice resulting in large yield losses and limiting the average yield increase of the country. There is an urgent need to enhance water-saving (W) capacity or drought resistance (DR) of rice. WDR varieties can be developed through i...

Arsenic (As) finds its way into soils used for rice (Oryza sativa) cultivation through polluted irrigation water, and through historic contamination with As-based pesticides. As is known to be present as a number of chemical species in such soils, so we wished to investigate how these species were accumulated by rice. As species found in soil solution from a greenhouse experiment where rice was...

Based on both morphological and physiological traits, Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) can be classified into two distinct subspecies, indica and japonica. To better understand the differences between the two subspecies, a proteomic approach was used to profile proteins present in the yellow seedling stage of 10 indica and 10 japonica rice varieties. We report the discovery of a new prot...

In rice, amylose content (AC) is controlled by a single dominant Waxy gene. We used Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9 (Cas9) to introduce a loss-of-function mutation into the Waxy gene in two widely cultivated elite japonica varieties. Our results show that mutations in the Waxy gene reduce AC and convert the rice into glutinous ones without ...

Phytochemicals in red and purple bran rice have potential health benefit to humans. We determined the phytochemicals in brans of 32 red and purple global rice varieties. The description of the origin and physical traits of the whole grain (color, length, width, thickness and 100-kernel weight) of this germplasm collection are provided along with data of total flavonoid and total phenolic conten...

In this paper, an algorithm for identifying five different varieties of rice, using the morphological features is presented. The proposed algorithm consists of several steps: image acquisition, segmentation, feature extraction, feature selection, and classification. Eighteen morphological features were extracted from rice kernels. The Set of features contained redundant, noisy or even irrelevan...

Attempting to achieve long-lasting and stable resistance using uniformly deployed rice varieties is not a sustainable approach. The real situation appears to be much more complex and dynamic, one in which pathogens quickly adapt to resistant varieties. To prevent disease epidemics, deployment should be customized and this decision will require interdisciplinary actions. This perspective article...