Journey of domesticated water rice

British scientists discovered the process of introducing wet rice cultivation from a wild plant species, contributing to further clarifying the history of human species in ancient Asia.

The process of domestication of water rice

According to UPI, a research team at the University of Manchester, UK, on ​​November 6 announced the results of its research on the school's website, claiming to have found the process of forming rice plants today in Asia.

Research indicates that rice has been domesticated three times separately in history. Thereby, people in different places choose the rice variety that best suits them to cultivate, thereby creating three main types of rice in the world.

The first is the long-grain Indica rice with long seeds from the low-lying areas of Southeast Asia. The second famous rice variety is Japonica, a round grain rice used to make sushi. And finally, Aus rice, the type of rice with high drought tolerance, is grown in Bangladesh and India.

The new study shows that rice was domesticated 10,000 years ago.(Photo: UPI).

To this day, scientists still believe that rice is only domesticated once or twice in history. Most people agree that Japonica rice has been domesticated separately from about 10,000 years ago. However, there are still disagreements regarding whether Indica rice is a hybrid of Japonica rice.

The group analyzed the genes of 446 samples taken from wild rice species across Asia and compared them to the genomes of purebred rice. The group pays special attention to the most different parts of the genome of purebred rice compared to wild rice, which is made up of the selection of dosmetic sweep .

This selection process shows the characteristics of the rice that ancient farmers chose when growing wild wild rice varieties. These characteristics include stronger growth, high density planting or drought and pest resistance.

Scientists also discovered that the advanced properties of rice are now available in wild rice samples in South Asia. This further strengthened the group's assumption that the ancient people tamed wild rice independently and separately in many parts of Asia.

"This conclusion fits perfectly with archaeological evidence of the origin of wet rice civilization , " said University of Manchester scientist Terry Brown. "We also hope that the results of this research will open a process of effective combination of genetics and archeology, especially studies of rice culture."

The process of domestication of rice is an important part of human civilization history not only in Asia but also worldwide. Stability in food supply is the basis for humanity to move towards larger, more advanced social organizations. Brown and his colleagues say they will continue to support early studies in human history in Asia.