Morphological diversity and indigenous knowledge on rice landraces in Benguet, Philippines: towards sustainable conservation and utilization

Cognizant to the global concern of conserving indigenous rice genetic resources, the research was implemented to: collect and characterize germplasm of rice landraces or indigenous rice varieties in Benguet; determine morphological diversity and relationships among the collections; maintain a gene bank of the collected landraces; and identify indigenous knowledge associated with the landraces. Germplasm collection was done in the 12 municipalities of Benguet from July 2008 to March 2009. In-situ and ex-situ morphological characterization and diversity and cluster analysis were performed on the 157 indigenous rice varieties collected. Sabul and Taduy had desirable characters such as long, wide and heavy grains. Pitkikil and Mayok exhibited long roots and many tillers. Low level of diversity was obtained indicating homogeneity among the rice landraces. Most of the rice landraces were collected from the traditional rice growing municipalities and are associated with indigenous farmers' practices. These practices include 'kintoman' (dry season planting) and 'Talon' (wet season planting); the use of traditional instrument 'rakem' in harvesting; the use of wooden mortar and pestle in threshing rice panicles; and the 'soo' method or the traditional way of drying panicles. The different rice landraces are presently being maintained ex-situ and morphological characters are entered in a data base for future use. The information generated in this research will serve as bases for future studies on the improvement of grain quality, utilization of rice landraces for various purposes and the identification of an heirloom rice variety for Benguet. In the future, the indigenous rice from Benguet may also find a niche in the global market. Relative to policy development, the results may serve as benchmark information to generate or improve policies on conservation, production and utilization of indigenous rice in the locality.