In Kashmir’s traditional rice, clues to a journey from East Asia

For many generations, Kashmir’s farmers have cultivated traditional varieties of rice — and a new study by researchers at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Kashmir), Srinagar, has found that these varieties carry a unique genetic history.

According to the study, published in The Plant Genome, Kashmir’s traditional varieties carry cold-tolerance and other locally adapted genes that modern varieties have partly lost, making them potentially valuable as climate change increases stress on crops.

The genetic analysis also indicated the varieties are more closely related to those from the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China.