Asian rice

The Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.) accounts for ~79% of the collection conserved at the RBCA, which includes ~ 49% of indica and ~ 30% of japonica. Most of the African sativa accessions originated within Africa. The Asian rice was probably introduced first into West Africa at the beginning of the 16^th century and adopted by farmers living in the Upper Guinea Coast who had previous experience in growing the African rice². However, most African sativa varieties have limited resistance/tolerance to locally endemic abiotic and biotic stresses in Africa²⁶. The African sativa has been extensively studied by various researchers and some of the publications have been cited in our recent studies^25,27,28.