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According to a crude estimate, there were about 100,000 traditional rice varieties in India a hundred years back. Ever since rice research started in this country about a hundred years ago, there were many piecemeal efforts to collect these varieties, characterize them, evaluate them and use them for the improvement of rice varieties. With the advent of high yielding rice varieties in 1960s, these local varieties have been progressively dropped from cultivation in preference to the high yielding modern ones. These traditional types are, however, the genetic wealth of the country as they provide the basic raw material for the improvement of rice crop in future. Therefore, intensified efforts were made to collect and conserve these genetic resources before they are lost forever. Collection, conservation, characterization, evaluation, documentation and utilization demand scientific knowledge and management. This book is an attempt to document all the efforts made during the last one hundred years in this field in India, earlier by the state departments of agriculture and, in recent years, by the agricultural universities and national institutes.

Chapters have been contributed by the rice scientists who are very much involved with the conservation of rice genetic resources in this country and have long years of experience in this field. Dr. S.D. Sharma, the editor of this book, has been associated with the various activities in this associated with the various activities in this field for the last fifty years. He has already edited four books (in association with his colleagues) in his field, namely, monograph on genus Oryza, genetic improvement of rice varieties in India, rice in Indian perspective and Rice: origin, antiquity and history. This is the fifth book edited by him.