A database of wild rice germplasm of Oryza rufipogon species complex from different agro-climatic zones of India

Rice is a staple food for the people of Asia that supplies more than 50% of the food energy globally. It is widely accepted that the crop domestication process has left behind substantial useful genetic diversity in their wild progenitor species that has huge potential for developing crop varieties with enhanced resistance to an array of biotic and abiotic stresses. In this context, Oryza rufipogon, Oryza nivara and their intermediate types wild rice germplasm/s collected from diverse agro-climatic regions would provide a rich repository of genes and alleles that could be utilized for rice improvement using genomics-assisted breeding. Here we present a database of detailed information on 614 such diverse wild rice accessions collected from different agro-climatic zones of India, including 46 different morphological descriptors, complete passport data and DNA fingerprints. The information has been stored in a web-based database entitled ‘Indian Wild Rice (IWR) Database’. The information provided in the IWR Database will be useful for the rice geneticists and breeders for improvement of rice cultivars for yield, quality and resilience to climate change. Database URL: http://nksingh.nationalprof.in: 8080/iwrdb/index.jsp