Joanne D. Caguiat
Philippine Rice Research Institute,Philippines
Biography
Dissemination and adoption of developed rice varieties are crucial in order to achieve self-sufficiency and security in rice-dependent countries. In the Philippines, different farmers’ varieties (FV) are being planted across different regions which may either came from seed exchange between farmers and from commercially available released varieties (RV). This study aim to characterize the farmers’ varieties to identify the authenticity and duplicity of these lines to RV; A total of 350 FV were collected at farm-level and were genotyped using 7 K Cornell-IR Rice LD Array along with RV. Genotyping results revealed that 110 FV had at least 95% genetic similarity with 42 commercially released varieties. Majority of the farmers’ varieties were either identified as or closely related to famous released varieties PSB Rc 10, PSB Rc152, NSIC Rc 222, NSIC Rc 240, NSIC Rc 286, NSIC Rc 294, NSIC Rc 328, and NSIC Rc 422. Diversity analyses revealed narrow genetic diversity among FV and RV with an average of 77.72% pairwise similarity. Average marker genotyping statistics supported the findings: major allele frequency (MAF) of 0.814, gene diversity of 0.258, and heterozygosity of 0.074. Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses and Bayesian population structure modeling revealed closely clustered genotypes and subgroupings among the RV and FV. Established genetic identity of the FV has proven the adoption of RV which will aid in solving the shortcomings in the seed supply chains. In addition, genetic analyses emphasized the urgent need of diversification in breeding in order to improve performance and resilience.