Germplasm: Diversity Panel

To represent the range of genetic diversity found in cultivated Asian rice, we selected 1568 Oryza sativa accessions from around the world. They cover the full geographic and ecological range of rice- from Indonesian paddy terraces, to the harsh upland soils of northern Thailand; from rapidly rising Chinese riverbeds to African mangrove environments.

The 1568 O. sativa accessions represent all five sub-populations of rice: indica, aus, tropical japonica, temperate japonica and Group V (sometimes called aromatic or basmati) varieties. The diverse set of rice accessions also includes a wide range of important economic phenotypes, including varieties known to be resistant to diseases and insects or tolerant to flooding, drought, high salt concentrations, low mineral nutrition. There are also varieties with varying cooking qualities, such as different grain colors, lengths, textures, and fragrance.

The accessions were chosen to build upon several previous studies, including Eizenga, G. C. et al. Registration of the Rice Diversity Panel 1 for Genomewide Association Studies. J. Plant Reg. 8, 109-116, doi:10.3198/jpr2013.03.0013crmp (2014)., Zhao, K. et al. Genome-wide association mapping reveals a rich genetic architecture of complex traits in Oryza sativa. Nat Commun 2, 467 (2011)., Ali ML, McClung AM, Jia MH, Kimball JA, McCouch SR, & Eizenga GCA (2011) A rice diversity panel evaluated for genetic and agro-morphological diversity between subpopulations and its geographic distribution. Crop Science 51:2021-2035 , Garris A, Tai T, Coburn J, Kresovich S, McCouch S (2005) Genetic structure and diversity in Oryza sativa L. Genetics 169:1631-1658. Approximately 200 of our accessions overlap with the 3,000 analyzed for diversity within the internationally-funded Generation Challenge Program (GCP) And 200 overlap with the the USDA-ARS rice core collection.

All original accessions are available from the United States Genetic Stocks - Oryza (GSOR) Collection and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Philippines. The purified stocks generated by this project and used for genotyping and phenotyping are publically available.