A note on taxonomy and genetic resource potential of Oryza meyeriana var. Indandamanica, a rare wild relative of rice from the Andaman Islands Pradheep K1,*, Parimalan R2, John K Joseph1, Nissar VA Muhammed3, Jaisankar I4, Thirumalaisamy PP1, Latha M1 1ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Regional Station, Thrissur, Kerala, India 2ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India 3ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, Kerala, India 4ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India *Author For Correspondence: k.pradheep@icar.gov.in
Online Published on 21 February, 2024. Abstract The narrow endemic taxon, Oryza meyeriana (Zoll. & Moritzi) Baill. var. indandamanica (J.L. Ellis) Veldkamp, was often merged with either O. meyeriana (Zoll. & Moritzi) Baill. or O. granulata Nees & Arn. ex Watt. or all three taxa were subsumed to O. meyeriana. A critical analysis of protologues, herbarium specimens and earlier taxonomic works pertaining to these three taxa coupled with the detailed morphological study of germplasm (IC641181) of var. indandamanica, which was originally collected from the Saddle Peak National Park of the North Andaman Island, was undertaken. Morphological studies indicated that var. indandamanica fell well within the circumscription of var. meyeriana. However, chloroplast genome sequence data reveals its closeness towards var. granulata, compared with var. meyeriana. Our views agree to the merger of all these three taxa into one are presented. Also, the genetic resource potential of the studied accession is discussed. Top Keywords Andaman wild rice, Chloroplast genome sequence, Oryza meyeriana complex, Narrow endemic taxon, Saddle Peak National Park. Top |