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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crops of India for more than 2/3rd of its population. Considering the importance regarding the training needs assessment of the respondents, the present study was conducted in Keirao Bitra subdivision of Imphal East District, Manipur. Ten independent variables were selected regarding the socio-personal, psychological and communication characteristics of the respondents. Out of 38 villages in Keirao Bitra sub-division, 4 villages viz., Angtha, Top Chingtha, Nungbrung & Yambem were selected through random sampling method and a total of 120 respondents were selected for the study. The selected respondents were interviewed personally using pre-tested well-structured questionnaire schedule. Correlation analysis between training needs areas of the respondents and the independent variables revealed that out of ten independent variables, three independent variables i.e, cropping intensity, attitude towards pesticide used and economic motivation were found to be positively significant at 0.01 level of probability whereas age, education, extension contact and mass media exposure had negative correlation significant at 0.01 level of probability. Further the respondents were classified into three categories as low, medium and high training needs, based on the score of their training need areas of rice cultivation. Majority of the farmers had medium level (58.33%) of training needs followed by low level (23.34%) and high level (18.33%) of training needs. The major areas in which farmers were considered to be high priority areas in respect of training requirement were water management, weed management, sowing and transplanting, nutrient management and seed selection and treatment. Therefore, it may be concluded that there was a need to impart scientific knowledge to the farmers by way of training to enhance their knowledge regarding improved paddy production technology to increase the rice production.

Chakhao Poireiton, Chakhao Sempak and Chakhao Amubi are the three most popular traditional non-Basmati-type black scented rice of the state of Manipur in India. These varieties have long statured (135-145 cm height) plants which have high anthocyanin pigment on sheaths, leaf blades, nodes and internodes. They are characterized by late heading (115-120 days) and late maturity duration (145-150 days). The lemma and palea of grains are of purple colour with strong fragrance. The agro-morphological characterization of Chakhao Poireiton, Chakhao Sempak and Chakhao Amubi was done at College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, India during the wet (Kharif) seasons of 2017 and 2018 following the DUS test guidelines for the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority (PPV & FRA). DNA extractions were done using SDS method and a CAPS marker for the OSB1 gene was used to discriminate rice seeds governing white and black colour. We validated the usefulness of this marker in three varieties of black scented rice and in a white local landrace as well as their crosses with the white local landrace.

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