Deepwater rice is the name for different species of rice that grow in deeper water (of 50 centimetres (20 in) to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). These varieties have adaptations that allow them to keep their leaves outside the water: Either they have longer leaves, or they float on top of the water.
More than 100 million people in Southeast Asia including Northeastern India rely on deepwater rice for their sustenance.[1] Two adaptations permit the rice to live in deeper water, floating rice and traditional talls. Traditional talls are varieties that are grown at water depths between 50 and 100 cm (20 and 39 in). They have developed to be taller and have longer leaves than standard rice. Floating rice grows in water deeper than 100 cm through advanced elongation ability. This means when a field where rice is growing floods, accelerated growth in the internodal of the stem allows the plant to keep some of its foliage on top of the water. The O. s. indica cultivar is the main type of deepwater rice, although varieties of O. s. japonica have been found in Burma and Assam Plains.[2][3]
Usually, rice is grown in shallow water, using paddy fields.
- ↑ Bhuiyan, Sadiq I. (2004). Rice research and development in the flood-prone ecosystem. Int. Rice Res. Inst. p. v. ISBN 978-971-22-0197-4.
- ↑ Hans, Kende; Esther van der Knaap; Hyung-Taeg Cho (1998). "Deepwater Rice: A Model Plant to Study Stem Elongation". Plant Physiology. 118 (4). Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory: 1105–1110. doi:10.1104/pp.118.4.1105. PMC 1539197. PMID 9847084. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
- ↑ Catling, p. 110.