TY - JOUR AU - S, VELPRABAKARAN PY - 2020/06/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - 4. DIVERSITY OF TRADITIONAL RICE VARIETIES AND THEIR MEDICINAL BENEFITS FOR HUMAN BENEFITS by VELPRABAKARAN S1, RAJESWARI S1 AND BRINDADEVI S2 JF - LIFE SCIENCES LEAFLETS JA - LSL VL - 124 IS - SE - Review DO - UR - https://petsd.org/ojs/index.php/lifesciencesleaflets/article/view/1481 SP - 20 TO 25 AB - <p>Rice is one of the most important food crops of the world. Among all the Asian countries, India is the prominent rice growing country accounting for about 1/4<sup>th</sup> of world’s rice production. It ranks third after wheat and maize in terms of worldwide production. Rice is also a good source of vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and dietary fibres, but it is unfortunate that rice does not supply the essential minerals adequately. It has to be made productive through several achievements in rice breeding programme, especially in sustainable food grain production with quality concern. Rice exists in different colors such as white, purple, black, red and brown. Although white rice is the most widely consumed rice, pigmented rice is considered as enriched rice for taste and health benefits due to the presence of anthocyanins. Cereal grains play an important role in meeting the nutrient needs of the human population. The quality of cereal products is determined by a variety of characteristics which may be assigned different significance depending on the desired and use or type of product. Rice is undoubtedly the most important cereal of the world providing 21 per cent of global human per capita energy and 15 per cent of per capita protein. There is future need to expand the genetic base of the rice crop by introgressing genes from diverse sources.</p> ER -