Rice description
 Source : INRA | Rice is a grass "autogame", a tall crop, that is grown more easily in the tropics. Originally rice was probably cultivated without submersion, but it is believed that mutations led it to become a semi aquatic plant. Although it can grow in diverse environments, it grows faster and more vigorously in wet and warm conditions. This plant develops a main stem and many tillers and may range from 0.6 to 6 meters (floating rice) in height. The tiller bears a ramified panicle that measures between 20 and 30 centimeters wide. Each panicle has 50 to 300 flowers (floret or spikelet), which form the grains. The fruit obtained is a caryopsis. Rice presents a great capacity for ramifying. |
| a: tiller b: narrow leaf c: inflorescence (panicle), more or less wide and dense d: spikelet of a flower that contains only one grain (caryopsis). | |
Source : LAROUSSE
Rice is a source of magnesium, thiamin, niacin, phosphorus, vitamin B6, zinc and copper. Some varieties have iron, potassium and folic acid. White rice is one of the poorest cereals in proteins; some improved varieties however may provide 14g of protein per 100g.
In the beginning rice grew wild, but today most countries cultivate varieties belonging to the Oryza type which has around twenty different species. Only two of them offer an agriculture interest for humans:
- Oryza sativa: a common Asian rice found in most producing countries which originated in the Far East at the foot of the Himalayas. O. sativa japonica grew on the Chinese side of the mountains and O. sativa indica on the Indian side. The majority of the cultivated varieties belong to this species, which is characterized by its plasticity and taste qualities.
- Oryza glaberrima, an annual species originating in West Africa, covering a large region extending from the central Delta of the Niger River to Senegal.
- Oryza sativa: a common Asian rice found in most producing countries which originated in the Far East at the foot of the Himalayas. O. sativa japonica grew on the Chinese side of the mountains and O. sativa indica on the Indian side. The majority of the cultivated varieties belong to this species, which is characterized by its plasticity and taste qualities.
- Oryza glaberrima, an annual species originating in West Africa, covering a large region extending from the central Delta of the Niger River to Senegal.
It is believed that rice cultivation began simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. The first crops were observed in China (Hemu Du region) around 5000 B.C. as well as in Thailand around 4500 B.C. They later appeared in Cambodia, Vietnam and southern India. From there, derived species Japonica and Indica expanded to other Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia. Japonica is an irrigated rice of temperate zone, with medium or short grains, also called round grain, and is a rainfed lowland rice of warm tropical zones. Indica is an irrigated rice of warm tropical zones, with long, thin and flat grains.
The Asian rice (Oryza sativa) was adapted to farming in the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe around 800 B.C. The Moros brought it to Spain when they conquered the country, near 700 A.D. After the middle of the 15th century, rice spread throughout Italy and then France, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694 rice arrived in the South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish took it to South America at the beginning of the 18th century. Between 1500 and 800 B.C., the African species (Oryza glaberrima) propagated from its original center, the Delta of Niger River, and extended to Senegal. However, it never developed far from its original region. Its cultivation even declined in favor of the Asian species, possibly brought to the African continent by the Arabians coming from the East Coast from the 7th to the 11th centuries.
Rice is the world's most consumed cereal after wheat. It provides more than 50 percent of the daily calories ingested by more than half of the world population. It is so important in Asia that it influenced local language and beliefs. In classical Chinese, the same term refers to both "rice" and "agriculture". In many official languages and local dialectics the verb "to eat" means "to eat rice". Indeed, the words "rice" and "food" are sometimes one and the same in eastern semantics.