Complexity and adaptability of a traditional agricultural system: case study of a gall midge resistant rice landrace from northern Thailand

Abstract

Adaptability of traditional agricultural systems is suggested by their success over time, but documentation of how this happens is rare. This paper shows how genetic diversity in a rice landrace enables rice farming system of northern Thailand to adapt to a constraint of an insect pest, microenvironments of mountainous landscape and people's different tastes in rice. Resistance to laboratory-reared gall midge varied among accessions the rice landrace Muey Nawng and gall midge populations. Higher rice yield in farmers' fields reflected adaptation to local environment as well as resistance to gall midge. Microsatellite variation of the accessions correlated negatively with their gall midge resistance, but there was also variation in heading time and endosperm starch. Presence of non-waxy endosperm in glutinous rice provides opportunity to select for rice that is cooked into non-glutinous rice preferred by minority groups who live at higher elevations, where the gall midge is emerging as a new threat, possibly because of climate change. These data show how genetic diversity of a rice landrace coupled with seed management by farmers enabled a rice farming system to adapt to the varied microenvironment of a mountainous landscape under the constraint of an insect pest and people's different tastes in rice.

Untapped Endophytic Colonization and Plant Growth-Promoting Potential of the Genus <i>Novosphingobium</i> to Optimize Rice Cultivation

“…However, traditional agricultural practices for the cultivation of local rice for household consumption ( e.g. , without chemical input) also sustain reasonable rice yields each year (10, 13). The sustainability of rice yields involves various environmental factors, particularly soil-atmosphere nutrient cycles by beneficial microbes that occur in the rhizospheres of rice (6, 7, 13–15).…”

Natural and human‐mediated selection in a landrace of Thai rice (Oryza sativa)

“…Twenty accessions of Muey Nawng landrace rice representing 20 farmers' fields were kindly provided and described by Oupkaew et al (). The samples consisted of 12 accessions from Chiang Mai province (MN1, MN3, MN4, MN5, MN8, MN10, MN12, MN14, MN16, MN17, MN18, MN19 and MN20), seven from the Nan province (MN2, MN6, MN7, MN9, MN11 and MN15), and one from the Mae Hong Sorn province (MN3) in northern Thailand.…”

“…Muey Nawng has a large and long grain shape and is therefore normally classified as an indica cultivar (Mackill & McKenzie, ). Different accessions of Muey Nawng show varying degrees of susceptibility to gall midge infestation, ranging from highly susceptible to resistant (Oupkaew et al , ).…”

“…Farmer selection for rice starch traits is a powerful human‐mediated force on this landrace rice. Yet, in spite of strong selection against non‐glutinous rice in the lowlands, interviews with lowland farmers and field observations indicate that the shift from glutinous to non‐glutinous Muey Nawng rice cultivation is quite common (Oupkaew et al , ). We hypothesise that non‐glutinous traits might be introduced into predominantly glutinous Muey Nawng, in particular by the well documented farmer practices of seed exchange (Oupkaew et al , ).…”

More than Yield: Ecosystem Services of Traditional versus Modern Crop Varieties Revisited

“…This applies especially to the nutrient-use efficiency of the crop and the storability of harvested crops. Therefore, landraces should be considered for their production potential in marginal areas and as genetic material for the future, even if modern varieties yield better under optimal farming conditions [30,55,56]. Both landraces and modern varieties have merit, and the right variety choice depends on the site-specific conditions, since it is impossible to find all desired performances realized in a single variety [57].…”