Vol. 11, Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Baby Subhashini Kairam and Ranjeet Singh Sran

Abstract:
World population is increasing day by day and it is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. Global food demand is going to get doubled by 2050 due to increase in world's population. Rice (oryza sativa) is staple food for more than 3.6 billion people WorldWide.Sincerice is grown worldwide, it's production is severely effected by biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotic stresses effecting the rice crop production include insects, bacteria, fungus and virus and abiotic stresses include drought, salinity, low temperature and aluminium toxicity. During domestication process from wild rice to cultivated rice selecting desirable traits for higher yield lead to reduction in the genetic diversity of cultivated rice gene pool. Narrow genetic base of cultivated rice is major constraint for rice breeding. Crop wild relatives are useful for broadening the gene pool of cultivated rice because crop wild relatives are the reservoirs of useful genes and QTLs for stress resistance. Molecular markers and QTL mapping techniques are useful to identify the QTLs for stress resistance and to transfer them from wild rice to cultivated rice. This article provides review on importance of crop wild relatives as a source of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in rice.