Status and factors influencing on-farm conservation of Kam Sweet Rice (Oryza sativa L.) genetic resources in southeast Guizhou Province, China

Abstract

BackgroundKam Sweet Rice (KSR) is a special kind of rice landrace that has been cultivated for thousands of years in the borders of Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangxi Provinces of China, and is mainly distributed in southeast Guizhou Province of China currently. KSR has many unique qualities, including strong resistance to diseases, pests, and adverse abiotic conditions, difficulty of threshing, and well glutinous features. KSR germplasm resources are an indispensable material and cultural symbol in the production and daily life and customs of the Dong people. Related studies showed that numerous traditional KSR varieties and cultivation area of KSR decreased sharply from the Qing dynasty to 2015, but many KSR varieties are still conserved in Dong villages of southeast Guizhou Province compared to other areas. However, the number of KSR varieties that are conserved on farms in southeast Guizhou Province and factors influencing the erosion and conservation of KSR genetic resources is unclear. Therefore, this study was an on-farm conservation investigation of KSR genetic resource in China’s major KSR producing areas—Liping, Congjiang, and Rongjiang counties in Guizhou Province and influencing factors analysis of KSR abandonment and conservation.MethodsThe information of KSR conservation status and variety characteristics, typical villages, Dong’s cultural customs, and factors influencing KSR abandonment and conservation was obtained using ethno-biology methods, mainly through field research interviews, including participatory observation, semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and cultural anthropology. The altitude, plant height, awn color and length, hull color, and rice color of 156 KSR accessions in 28 villages were recorded. The variety quantity and cultivation area of KSR were investigated in 33 ethnic villages. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in typical Dong villages to obtain local farmers’ attitudes toward cultivation and protection of KSR. We randomly selected 26 farmers from Sizhai village and 30 farmers from Huanggang village and chose 3 social characteristics including age, gender, and education levels of farmers, and adopted the method of face-to-face interviewing to complete the questionnaires. Then, we analyzed the correlation and determined the significance between farmers with different social characteristics and farmers’ attitudes to KSR development and protection using SPSS 17.0 software.Results(1) On-farm conservation status of KSR: a total of 156 KSR varieties were collected from 28 ethnic minority villages from 13 townships (accounting for 21% of three counties) in Liping, Congjiang, and Rongjiang counties. KSR accessions accounted for more than 90% of local rice varieties in each village. According to local farmers, although the quantity of KSR varieties decreased more than 50% in the investigated villages compared to the past 10–20 years, some Dong villages have still cultivated KSR, accounting for more than 50% of the rice field area in 10 villages. Th...

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Diversity analysis of the Waxy gene in Oryza sativa L. "Guizhou HE"

“…Bao et al [25] detected (CT) 16 , (CT) 17 , (CT) 18 , and (CT) 19 alleles from 56 waxy rice accessions, with (CT) 17 being the most frequent. (CT) 17 and 20 also being the most frequent. These results support the hypotheses that the genetic diversity of "Guizhou HE" is rich and the population structure of "Guizhou HE" is unique, making it different from glutinous rice in other regions [26].…”

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“…As an original ecological rice landrace, "Guizhou HE" has some characteristic of wild rice, such as taller plants, thicker stems, wider leaves, larger spikes, and more awns. Since "Guizhou HE" is susceptible to temperature and light, it should be planted in certain areas to grow normally [17]. Most conserved "Guizhou HE" is glutinous with excellent qualities.…”

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