Characterization of Selected Drought Tolerance Rice Landraces: A Case in Kerala, India

Rice is a staple food of more than half of the world’s population. The successful cultivation of rice depends on a variety of climatic and soil conditions. There are lot of factors both biotic and abiotic, which affect the growth and yield of crops. Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses, which leads to drastic decline in the production of rice worldwide. In the present situation of severe climatic change, the scarcity of fresh water is diminishing at an alarming rate. Due to the sensitivity of rice crop and the enormous requirement for optimum yield, drought affects rice when compared to other food crops. Rice germplasm is endowed with scores of varieties and landraces that are reservoirs of genes which is capable of withstanding various abiotic stresses. These landraces can be used to tackle this abiotic stress and can fulfill the increasing demand of food.