Oryza glaberrima

Oryza glaberrima
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Bambusoideae
Tribe:	Oryzeae
Genus:	Oryza
Species:	O. glaberrima
Binomial name
Oryza glaberrima Steud.

Oryza glaberrima, commonly known as African rice, is a domesticated rice species, less common and less well known than Asian rice, Oryza sativa. African rice is believed to have been domesticated 2,000-3,000 years ago in the inland delta of the Upper Niger river, in what is now Mali. Its wild ancestor, which still grows wild in Africa, is Oryza barthii.

This species is grown in West Africa, and shows several negative characteristics with respect to the Asian rice species O. sativa, like shattering, brittle grain and poor milling quality. More importantly, it consistently shows lower yields than O. sativa, but African rice often shows more tolerance to fluctuations in water depth, iron toxicity, infertile soils, severe climatic conditions and human neglect, and exhibits better resistance to various pests and diseases like nematodes (Heterodera sacchari and Meloidogyne sp.), African gall midge, RSNV, rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) and the parasitic plants Striga.

Scientist from the Africa Rice Center managed to cross-breed African rice with Asian rice varieties to produce a interspecific cultivar called NERICA, which stands for New Rice for Africa.

References

• Oryza glaberrima: A source for the improvement of Oryza sativa
• Carolina Gold
• Identification of a rice stripe necrosis virus resistance locus and yield component QTLs using Oryza sativa × O. glaberrima introgression lines