Speakers - 2026

Title: Utilizing rice landraces for adaptation to future climate change

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the world's most important cereal crops and a major source of calories and nutrients for more than half of the global population, particularly in Asia. Rice production, particularly in Asia and Africa, is predominantly carried out by smallholder farmers. Rural communities dependent on small-scale agriculture are highly vulnerable to environmental and socioeconomic challenges, including climate change, and often have limited capacity to cope with these stresses. Consequently, maintaining and increasing rice production and ensuring food security are increasingly threatened by climate change, particularly through water scarcity and rising temperatures. According to climate projections, global mean temperatures may increase substantially over the coming decades, while precipitation patterns are also expected to change.

Climate change poses a major challenge to rice production by intensifying both abiotic and biotic stresses. Climate change represents not only a challenge to increasing global rice production but also a serious threat to the sustainability of rice-based production systems and food security, particularly in vulnerable regions of Asia and Africa. Many modern improved rice varieties were developed under relatively favorable production conditions and may exhibit limited adaptation to the increasingly complex combination of biotic and abiotic stresses associated with climate change.

Rice landraces have been cultivated and maintained by farmers for centuries and represent an important reservoir of genetic diversity. These populations are capable of surviving and producing under a wide range of ecological and environmental conditions. Landraces often exhibit substantial phenotypic variation, and some populations have developed tolerance or resistance to specific abiotic and biotic stresses, including cold stress and diseases. Many landraces are also characterized by relatively stable performance under low-input conditions, including environments with limited weed control or poor soil fertility.

In addition to their high genetic diversity and potential for the development of varieties adapted to diverse climatic conditions, rice landraces may possess important nutritional and quality advantages over some modern improved varieties. Their diverse biological responses to environmental variation have enabled them to persist and adapt to changing climatic conditions, and they represent an important reservoir of genetic diversity. These landraces harbor valuable genes and alleles associated with adaptation to both biotic and abiotic stresses, making them an important genetic resource for rice improvement.

Breeding and releasing improved varieties derived from indigenous landraces is one potential strategy for promoting sustainable rice production and enhancing food security under changing climatic conditions. Rice landraces may also offer advantages over modern improved varieties in terms of environmental sustainability and suitability for conservation-oriented agricultural systems. In addition, local rice varieties often possess excellent cooking and eating quality, as well as desirable aroma, which makes them highly valued by local communities. Therefore, the conservation and utilization of landraces can be effective for adapting to impending climate change and can strengthen sustainable rice production and food security.

Source research interests: Rice breeding and assessment of genetic diversity in rice landraces.