INDIGENOUS RICE VARIETIES

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Context

As many as 12 folk varieties of Indian rice examined by researchers can supplement the nutritional demand of important fatty acids in undernourished mothers, a recent study has claimed.

Fold Rice varieties

In India, many folk varieties like Athikaraya, Dudh-sar, Kayame, Neelam samba, Srihati, Maharaji and Bhejri are known in folk medicine to enhance milk production in lactating women.
Other traditional varieties like Kelas, DudheBolta and Bhutmoori are rich in iron and can be included in diet of mothers to treat anaemia.
High-yield hybrids pushed out indigenous rice varieties and many of these varieties, called landraces are nearing extinction in India.
Tilak Chandan is a thick, small-grained rice famous for its fragrance and cultivated in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnore and Rampur.
Bindli, a once famous rice variety of Uttar Pradesh.
Kalanamak, a scented rice variety grown in Uttar Pradesh, is fast going out of cultivation.
Bao-dhaan (red rice) from Assam was sent to the US in March 2021.
The iron-rich red rice is grown in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer.
Seven rice varieties of North East India — Meghalaya lakang, Chingphourel, Manuikhamei, Kemenyakepeyu, Wainem, Thekrulha, and Koyajang — has the potential to resist leaf and neck blast disease in rice plants.