Rice landraces of Goa

Rice is the staple food of Goa State. The State had a rich diversity of native cultivars / traditional landraces of rice, distributed in various parts of the State.  From the available sources of information, there are more than 30 landraces of rice used to be grown in the State. They are highly adapted to the region, with varying level of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.  A significant number of Goan farmers still cultivate these landraces.  Popular landraces among them are Korgut, Asgo and Shidde which are cultivated in coastal saline soils (locally khazan lands).  These are known for their tolerances to salinity with yield capacity of 2.0 – 2.5 ha. Similarly, Kendal and Kochri are grown in sandy soils; Damgo, belo and Kala belo are cultivated in low lying areas.  The landrace Kolyo is suitable for cultivation in upland (morod), while Panyo known to tolerate flooding.  These germplasm of rice need to be conserved, evaluated and used for future breeding programmes.