Unravelling marker trait associations linking nutritional value with pigmentation in rice seed.

While considerable breeding effort has focused on increasing the yields of staple crops such as rice and the levels of micronutrients such as iron and zinc, breeding to address the problems of the double-burden of malnutrition has received less attention. Pigmented rice has higher nutritional value and greater health benefits compared to white rice. However, the genetic associations underlying pericarp coloration and accumulation of nutritionally valuable compounds is still poorly understood.

Exploring the genetic diversity within traditional Philippine pigmented Rice.

Background: The wild ancestors of domesticated rice had red seed, white rice being the result of a mutation in the rice domestication gene Rc. Many pigmented rice landraces are still grown by ethnic communities for their nutritional and cultural value. This study assesses the genetic diversity in a collection of pigmented rice accessions from the Philippines.