Appendix 1 - IRRI

A Report On CRIFC-IRRI Cooperative Exploration and Collection
For Wild Rice Species In Irian Jaya, Indonesia
September 29 to October 9, 1999
Bao-Rong Lu, Germplasm Specialist
Genetic Resources Center, IRRI

Abstract
From September 29’ to October gth, 1999, a CRIFC-IRRI cooperative exploration and
collection mission for wild species of rice was carried out in Irian Jaya of Indonesia by a
joint team. This team was composed of members from Research Institute for Food Crop
Biotechnology (RIFCB), Central Research Institute for Food Crops (CRIFC), Agency for
Agricultural Research and Development (AARD), Ministry of Agriculture, Bogor;
Agriculture Extension Office of Irian Jaya, Indonesia; and Genetic Resources Center,
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baiios, Philippines.
The collecting team had an exploration in certain areas of Jayapura, Merauke, and Jaya
Wijaya districts with reasonable accessibility. The collecting team found and collected
wild species of rice (Oryza) in Merauke district, but no wild rice species were found in
the areas we visited in Jayapura and Jaya Wijaya districts. The local agriculture extension
workers and farmers from Jayapura, and Jaya Wijaya were not aware of any wild rice
species.
Four wild species of rice were collected during our mission; these were Oryza ofjcinalis,
0. Zongiglumis, 0. rufipogon, and 0. meridionalis. The annual and diploid wild rice, 0.
meridionalis that was considered as an Australian endemic species, was first found and
documented in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Traditional rice varieties were also collected from
mountainous region in Wamena. A total number of 38 samples, including some
vegetative samples were collected (see Appendix 1) and has been deposited in the
genebank of IRFCB. Duplicate seed samples of the collection have been hand carried by
Dr. Bao-Rong Lu to the IRRI International Rice Genebank for safe back-up storage, with
the necessary export permit from the Indonesia authority and import permit from the
Philippine authority. The composition of the collections was:
Oryza officinalis 9
Oryza longiglumis 7 (including vegetative samples)
Oryza rufipogon 6 (including vegetative samples)
Oqza meridionalis 7
Oryza sa tiva 9
Oryza officinalis was commonly found in the open swampy lands, dried ponds, and
deserted fields, along the canals, streams, and roadsides. 0. longiglumis occurred
exclusively inside the forests in habitats under shade and with sufficient moisture. 0.
rufipogon were collected mainly in swamps, along canals, and at the edge of the forests
with water logs. 0. meridionalis was found in a wide range of habitats, such as in
swampy low lands, depression forests, along or inside canals, and in farmers’ rice fields.
Farmers from Merauke district had certain knowledge on wild rice species, they usually
called wild rice as “Padi Padian” (means rice occurs in a big mass or wild rice), “Miyang
Padi” (awned rice), Padi Rawa (swamp rice), Rumput (Grass), Padi Hutan (jungle or
forest rice), Padi Rawa Hitam (black swamp rice), and Padi Ketan Hitam (black sticky
rice). The Irianese tribal people (Marind) called 0. officinalis as “Ovall” and 0.
rujpogon as “Hass”, although no specific meanings of these names were indicated.

Farmers also noticed the variation in wild rice populations with red awned and white
awned individuals. These reflect the common occurrence of wild rice in Irian Jaya.
The traditional stable foods for the local tribal people are mainly sago and tuber crops,
such as cassava, sweet potato, yam, and taro. Rice was introduced by the transimmigrants
in the early 1980s and is now preferred by many people including the local
tribal people. More rice varieties, including IR 64 and IR 66, were introduced to Merauke
in a large scale by the Agriculture Extension Office in 1994. Now the rice growing area
in Merauke is about 20,000 hectares, accounting for 2% of the area where the climate
was suitable for rice production (1 million has.), with average yield of about 4.5 ton/ha.
This change made rice become the largest crop, followed by sweet potato. Therefore,
there will be a great potential for rice production in Merauke, when irrigation system is in
place.
The common farming practices by the trans-immigrants are slash-and-bum. As a
consequence, the survival of many wild rice populations occurring in the forests will be
under threat, with the destruction of the forests. Farmers noticed the occurrence of wild
rice species, particularly 0. officinalis and 0. meridionalis, as weeds in their fields, and
they deliberately cleaned wild rices in their fields. The intensive grazing by farmer’s
animals to the wild rice also caused extinction of many wild rice populations in the area.
All these would cause serious genetic erosion of wild rice germplasm in the future in
Irian Jaya. Conservation of wild rice species in a timely manner would be necessary to
guarantee the long-term availability of this important germplasm.
Members of the collecting team
Mrs. T. Sudiaty Silitonga (Team Leader), Head, Laboratory Genebank & Genetics,
Research Institute for Food Crop Biotechnology (RIFCB), Central Research Institute for
Food Crops (CRIFC), Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (AARD),
Ministry of Agriculture, Bogor, Indonesia (for the whole collecting trip)
Mr. Jumanta, Technician, Laboratory Genebank & Genetics, Research Institute for
Food Crop Biotechnology (RIFCB), Central Research Institute for Food Crops (CRIFC),
Agency for Agricultural and Development (AARD), Ministry of Agriculture, Bogor,
Indonesia (for the whole collecting trip)
Mr. Pieter Payuang, Extension Officer, Agriculture Extension Office of Jayapura
Subdivision, Jayapura, Indonesia (Exploration in Jayapura)
Mr. Ridwan, Driver, Agriculture Extension Office of Jayapura subdivision, Jayapura,
Indonesia (Exploration in Jayapura)
Mr. Christian, Driver, Agriculture Extension Office of Jayapura subdivision, Jayapura,
Indonesia (Exploration in Jayapura)
Mr. Agus Tanati, Extension Officer, Agriculture Extension Office of Monokwari
District, Monokwari, Indonesia (Exploration in Jayapura)

Mr. Muhammad Igbal Rimosan, Extension Officer, Agriculture Extension Office of
Merauke District, Merauke, Indonesia (Exploration in Merauke)
Mrs. Erny, Extension Officer, Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke District,
Merauke, Indonesia (Exploration in Merauke)
Mr. Natalis Tany, Technician, Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke District,
Merauke, Indonesia (Exploration in Merauke)
Mr. Yones Betrus Merabano, Field Specialist, Pest and Disease Protection Office of
Wamena, Wanena, Indonesia (Exploration in Wamena subdistrict)
Mr. Usia Payokwa, Technician, Agriculture Extension Office of Wamena subdistrict,
Wamena, Indonesia (Exploration in Wamena subdistrict)
Dr. Bao-Rong Lu, Germplasm Specialist, Genetic Resources Center, International Rice
Research Institute, Los Bafios, Philippines (for the whole collecting trip)
Other principal persons met
Mr. Mahyuddin Syam, IRRI Liaison Scientist, IRRI Office for Indonesia/Malaysia/
Brunei/Darussalam, Bogor, Indonesia
Mrs. Francisca Herjati, Secretary, IRRI Office for Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei/
Darussalam, Bogor, Indonesia
Mr. Bambang Soewilanto, Administrative Assistant, IRRI Office for Indonesia/
Malaysia/Brunei/ Darussalam, Bogor, Indonesia
Dr. Sumarno, Director, Central Research Institute for Food Crops, AADR, Ministry of
Agriculture, Bogor, Indonesia
Mr. Idrus Muhammad, Director, Provincial Agriculture Extension Office of Irian Jaya
and Regional Department of Agriculture, Jayapura, Indonesia
Mr. Indrawan, Head, Agriculture Extension Office of Irian Jaya Subdivision, Jayapura,
Indonesia
Mr. Sulaeman, Extension Officer, Agriculture Extension Office of Irian Jaya
Subdivision, Jayapura, Indonesia
Mr. Bambang Dwiatwoko, Head, Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke
Subdivision, Merauke, Indonesia
Mr. Harsoyo, Deputy Head, Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke Subdivision,
Merauke, Indonesia
Mr. Christian 0. Talubun, Head, Agriculture Extension Office of Wamena
Subdivision, Wamena, Indonesia

Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Ministry of Education,
Jakarta, for giving me this opportunity to assist in training and collecting activities on
field conservation of rice germplasm in Irian Jaya. I am most grateful to CRIFC, AADR,
Ministry of Agriculture, for inviting me to Indonesia to do this important and valuable
work, and to leaders and colleagues from the Provincial Agriculture Extension Office of
Irian Jaya for their great support and facilitation of this collecting trip. My wholehearted
thanks are extended to Mrs. T. Sudiaty Silitonga, Mr. Jumanta, and all the other members
in our collecting team. I really appreciated their hard work, sincerity, and friendship.
There are many nice people from CRIFC, Agriculture Extension Office in Irian Jaya, and
IRRI-Indonesia Office, whose names are mentioned or not mentioned in this report,
contributed greatly to this exploration and collection mission, without their valuable help
this mission would not have been possible.
The collecting mission was funded by IRRI through the Swiss Agency for Development
and Cooperation (SDC) funded five-year project on “Safeguarding and preservation of
the biodiversity of the rice genepool”.
Itinerary (Only including the field trip)
September 29, 1999 Jayapura - Koya -Jayapura - Sere - Jayapura
September 30,1999 Jayapura - Skow Sae - Wutung - Jayapura
October 1, 1999 Jayapura - Merauke
October 2, 1999 Merauke - Wasur - Merauke
October 3, 1999 Merauke - Kurik - Merauke
October 4, 1999 Merauke - Rawa Biru - Merauke
October 5, 1999 Merauke - Jage Bob - Merauke
October 6, 1999 Merauke - Barki - Merauke
October 7, 1999 Merauke -Jayapura - Wamena
October 8, 1999 Wamena - Siopkose - Tulem - Wamena
October 9, 1999 Wamena - Timia - Wamena
4

Background and previous collection for wild rice in Indonesia
Indonesia is rich in wild rice genetic resources apart from its abundant traditional rice
varieties. Seven to eight wild rice species which have been reported to occur in Indonesia,
these are Oryza rufipogon, 0. officinalis, 0. ridleyi, 0. longiglumis, 0. granulata, 0.
meyeriana, and 0. schlechteri (Vaughan 1994). The tetraploid perennial 0. minuta is
probably distributed in Irian Jaya, because some samples of this species have been
collected from southwestern part of Papua New Guinea near to the boarder with Irian
Jaya. Some weedy types of rice were also found in this country.
IRRI has been actively collaborated with the Central Research Institute for Food Crops
(CRlFC), Agency of Agricultural Research and Development (AARD), and other
institution, in exploring and collecting rice germplasm, including the wild species of rice.
At least five cooperative collecting missions have been conducted by colleagues from
IRRI and CRIFC in West Java (Vaughan 1988), South Sumatra (Vaughan 1989a), North
Sumatra (Vaughan 1990), West Kalimantan (Vaughan 1992), and Central Sulawesi (Lu
1998). Five wild rice species, i.e., 0. r@pogon, 0. officinalis, 0. ridleyi, 0. meyeriana,
and 0. granulata, as well as some weedy types of rice, were found and collected during
these missions.
In order to accelerate the SDC funded rice biodiversity conservation project, in which
Indonesia is one of the participating countries, and to collect rice germplasm, particularly
wild rice species in the uncollected areas of the country, a joint collecting mission was
targeted to Irian Jaya by CRIFC and IRRI in 1998. However, due to some difficulties in
Irian Jaya in 1998, this planned collecting mission was postponed to this year (1999).
The traditional staple food crops in Irian Jaya are mainly sago and tuber crops, such as
sweet potato, cassava, yam, and taro. Cultivated rice was introduced to the area in the
beginning of 1980s occasionally by people who moved to Irian Jaya from other parts of
the country. Irian Jaya is a region with large diversity of wild rice species (probably 6-8
species could be found there), but very limited explorations for rice germplasm have been
made. Only a few collections of herbarium specimens of wild rice species were made in
the 19th century by the Dutch botanists in areas between Irian Jaya and Papua New
Guinea. There has never been a collecting trip to Irian Jaya particularly aimed for wild
rice species.
Because of the expected difficulties in culture and language, and identification of the
collecting sites for wild rice species in Irian Jaya, we planned to bring some local
agriculture extension workers along the trip, to facilitate the collecting activities.
However, both agriculture extension workers and farmers from Irian Jaya have very
limited knowledge on wild rices, in terms of morphological identification, ecological
habitats, collecting skills, and other related aspects. Therefore, prior to the collecting
mission, we conducted a two-day training workshop on “field collection and conservation
of wild rice germplasm” in the Institute for Teacher Training (Balai Penataran Guru:
BPG), in Abepura, Jayapura, Irian Jaya, involving local agriculture extension workers
and personnel from other institutes. Mr. Idrus Muhammad, the Director of Provincial
Agriculture Extension Office of Irian Jaya and Irian Jaya Regional Department of
Agriculture officially opened the training workshop. The training workshop was
5

successful and all the participants have gained knowledge on conservation of wild rice
species. Some of the participants joined our collection trips thereafter in different
districts, respectively, in Irian Jaya.
General information of the areas we visited and collecting routes
Originally, we planned to visit five districts, namely, Jayapura, Merauke, Jaya Wijaya,
Monokwari, and Sorong. But due to time limitation and some other difficulties in certain
areas, we were only able to visit Jayapura, Merauke, and Jaya Wijaya districts. Figure 1
illustrates the areas we covered, with approximate travelling routes and the collecting
sites of the rice germplasm. The locations of the collecting sites were captured by a
global positioning system (GPS).
Jayapura - Jayapura lies in the northwest of Irian Jaya, and the majority of the land is
covered by forests. The traditional staple food is mainly sago starch, and in some areas
tuber crops were also grown. The local people were not familiar with rice. We traveled
for two days at the altitudes from a few to 200 meters above sea level in Jayapura,
Sentani, and Muratami subdistrict, specifically to examine the ideal habitats for wild rice,
such as swamps, streams, canals, and lakes (Figure 2), but we did not find any wild rice
species. We interviewed some local farmers in the areas we visited, and no one knew
anything about wild rice (Figure 3). When we showed picture of wild rice species to these
farmers, some of them said that they saw some similar type of grasses in other parts of
Irian Jaya, such as in Merauke and Monokwari. The agriculture extension workers from
these areas did not have knowledge on wild rice either.
Merauke - Merauke district lies in the southeast of Irian Jaya and is facing Arafura Sea,
with latitude between 4” 25’ - 9” 5’ south and longitude between 137” 30’ - 14” 00’ east.
The major area of the district (93.34%) is at the altitudes varying from 0- 100 meters
above the sea level, and a small part of upland area (6.66%) ranging between 1 OO- 1,000
meters. Almost all the areas of the district have topography as plain level. The
temperature ranges between 22.6 “C - 33.2 “C. The average rainfall in the Merauke town
is about 1,350 mm per year. The swampy area has argonosal and alluvial soils and is
periodically flooded, whereas the hilly area has yellow-red podzolik soils. The Merauke
district is composed of 18 subdistricts with a total population of ca. 296,400. The district
is characterized by two distinct seasons. During the wet season (from January to May)
many places were under flooding and land transportation becomes very difficult, but
during the dry season drought became a serious problem. Many fields were cracking
because the moisture content in the soil was tremendously reduced (Figures 12 and 21).
In Merauke district the condition of many roads was very poor and there were only
limited roads extended from Merauke town.
The traditional staple food was sago, cassava, yam, sweet potato, and taro. Rice varieties,
including IR 64 and IR 66, were introduced to Merauke in a large scale by the
Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke in 1994. Now the rice growing area in Merauke
is about 20,000 hectares, with average yield of about 4.5 ton/h, according to the
information provided by Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke. This change made
6

ice become the largest crop, followed by sweet potato. Now rice was grown in 3
subdistricts (Merauke, Muting, and Kurik) out of 23 subdistricts, which accounts for 2%
of the area where the climate was suitable for rice production (1 million has.). Therefore,
there will be a great potential for rice production in this district, when irrigation system is
in place. Merauke district is already self-sufficient for rice supply, rice has been sent to
other districts in Irian Jaya.
The team took Merauke town as a base and used a base camp approach traveled to
different areas around Merauke. Due to the difficult condition of transportation and the
limited extension of roads from Merauke town in this district, the collecting team was
only able to explore in the Merauke subdistrict (Figure l), and no other subdistricts were
visited this time. We expected that wild rice should occur abundantly in the swampy
areas of the entire Merauke district. Four wild rice species were collected in Merauke
(Appendix 1).
Jaya Wijaya - Jaya Wijaya district is a mountainous region in the central part of Irian
Jaya, with latitudes between 3” 20’ and 5” 12’ south and longitudes between 137” 19’ and
141” 21’ east. The average altitude ranges from 1,600 -3,500 meters above sea level, but
in some areas, such as Elelim, Iwur, Betom and Somadai, the elevation is lower than
1,000 meters. The average rainfall is 1,438 mm per year and the temperature varies
between 15.5 - 26.6 “C. The district is composed of 28 subdistricts with a total
population around 400,000, of which 90% are Irianese tribal people, only 10% are from
other part of the country.
The traditional staple foods in Jaya Wijaya are mainly sweet potato, taro, and maize.
Cultivated rice varieties that tolerate cold climate were introduced in recent years to the
swampy and flood plain areas. Most of the rice varieties came from Sulawesi and the
average yield was estimated to be 2 to 2.5 ton/h. The most serious pests there were rice
blast and bird attack. We saw nearly 100% yield loss in some rice field because of the
blast attack. Local farmers did not know blast and they thought this problem was caused
by bird attack. The local people and the agriculture extension workers did not know muc:h
about rice, they didn’t have knowledge at all on wild rice species.
The team took Wamena as the base and spent two days to explore rice germplasm at
different sites recommended by an agriculture extension worker who participated in the
training workshop and a local field specialist from the Pest and Disease Protection Office
from this area (Figure 1). We intended to find the upland wild rice species, 0. meyeriana
or 0. granulata which usually occur in the forests of mountain areas. No wild rice
species was found in Wamena, but eight local rice varieties probably introduced from
Sulawesi were collected from two sites near Wamena (Figure 22, Appendixl).
Wild Ogmz species collected in Irian Jaya
During our field exploration, four wild Oryza species were found and collected from
Merauke subdistrict. These were Oryza ofjcinalis, 0. meridionalis, 0. rufipogon, and 0.
Zongiglumis. But no wild rice species were found by the collecting team in the areas we
7

visited in Jayapura and Jaya Wijaya. Neither the local farmers nor agriculture extension
workers in the areas were aware of any wild rice species. Only traditional rice varieties
that probably were introduced from Sulawesi were collected at the altitudes between
1600 and 1650 meters in Wamena subdistrict.
The four wild Oryza species were found to be very common in swampy areas, along
canals, or inside the forests, occurring at altitudes between 5 to 40 meters above the sea
level. A total number of 29 samples (including seeds and vegetative stocks) of wild rice
species were collected. These wild rice species were reported by farmers and local
agriculture extension workers to be abundant in the Merauke subdistrict, particularly in
the swampy areas. It has been several months without any rains this year in many places,
the areas we visited were extremely dry compared to the other years, which might affect
the occurrence of the wild rice species. Most of the populations of 0. rufipogon and 0.
Zongiglumis we encountered were photoperiod sensitive. Therefore, most of the 0.
rufipogon and 0. Zongiglumis samples collected were only as vegetative stocks. These
samples are now planted in the glass house of Laboratory of Genetic Resources in
Research Institute for Food Crops and Biotechnology, CRIFC.
We were told that the high pick of flowering time for the four wild rice species was
usually from February to April, when there was much flooded water during the wet
season. The best time for collecting seed samples of these wild rice species will be from
the end of March to July. Nevertheless, we were told that the accessibility to the areas
was very poor during that period because of the flooding. Although we were not able to
visit other subdistricts in Merauke, we expected that more wild rice populations could be
found in the swampy areas of the entire Merauke district, particularly the coastal regions.
Oryza offlcinalis Wall. ex Watt
0. officinalis is a diploid (2n=2x=24) perennial wild rice species containing the CC
genome (Vaughan 1989). This species usually occurs in a wide range of habitats, such as
swampy low lands, open or partially shaded depressions, along ditches and canals, at
lakeside, and near or inside farmers rice field. Its distribution started from the foothill of
Himalayan Mountains and southern China, through Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines
extending to Malay Archipelago. One population of 0. ofjcinalis has also been found in
the northern part of Australia. This species is characterized by having open panicles and
small anthers but with a tremendous variation in morphology.
In Irian Jaya, 0. officinalis was found in both non-disturbed and human disturbed
environments, in open flooded lowlands, swamps, dried ponds, in banana woods, along
canals, streams, and road sides, and inside the deserted fields (Figures 3 to 8). Many 0.
ofJicinaZis populations were found in very dry habitats when we collected the samples
and the plants were relatively short (about 70 cm). All of the 0. ofJicinaZis populations
we encountered seemed not to be photoperiod sensitive, so these populations produced
many good seeds at the time when we collected them. The local farmers and extension
staff told us that this wild rice occurred much more frequently during the wet season from
December to May and the plants would be much taller (up to 2 m). The high pick of
flowering time for this species was in April and May, therefore the best period for
collecting 0. officinalis in Irian Jaya would be estimated in June and July. The population
8

size of this species varied largely from 100 square meters to over 10 hectares. The local
farmers call 0. officinalis as “Miyang Padi” (means awned rice), “Padi Padiam” (wild
rice), “Padi Rawa” (swamp rice), or “Rumput” (grass), The Irianese tribal people called it
“Ovall” in Marind language and they knew that this was a kind of rice, although no
meaning of this name was indicated. The farmers who moved from other parts of
Indonesia let their cows, water buffalo, and other animals to graze on this wild rice, some
farmers also harvested the young plants of this wild rice to feed their animals. A newly
settle farmer from Java lived now in the Hidup Baru Village (village of new life) told us a
story that he has tried to mill this wild rice and ate it as fermented rice. He claimed that it
tasted good, but the production of this rice was very low because of the seed shattering
and other reasons. All the messages here indicated that 0. officinalis commonly occurs in
the Merauke subdistrict, and we believed that it is distributed abundantly in the low land
of the whole district.
Oryza meridionalis Ng
Orya meridionalis is an annual diploid (2n=2x=24) wild rice with the AA genome
(Vaughan 1989). This species is usually characterized by its compact panicles, slender
spikelets, long and robust awns, and short anthers (ca. 2 mm). It could be easy to identify
0. meridionahs from its Asian counterpart, i.e. 0. rufipogon and 0. nivara. Noticeably,
0. meridionalis has been only reported as an endemic species to northern parts of
Australia. Our finding is, therefore, the first documentation that 0. meridionalis also has
distribution in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. 0. meridionalis usually occurs in open swampy
areas with shallow water, or along streams and canals.
In Irian Jaya, 0. meridionahs was found in swamps, ponds, along canals, in deserted
fields or inside farmer’s paddy fields (Figures 9 to 13). Like 0. officinalis, most of the 0.
meridionalis populations were not found in standing water, instead were found to grow
on very dry lands (Figures 12 and 13), and the plant height of 0. meridionazis was less
than 30 cm. When we collected samples from 0. meridionalis in Irian Jaya, seeds from
the main tillers have been shattered. We were only able to collect seeds from the later
tillers. The local agriculture extension workers and farmers told us that there were many
populations of this wild rice flowering during February and April, when there was
sufficient water. During the flooding, season the water level could reach as high as 1.5
meters above the land and some 0. meridionalis plants were found floating on the surface
of water. The best time to collect the mature seed samples of 0. meridionalis would be in
May and June. The farmers called this wild rice as “Miyang Padi” (meaning awned rice),
Padi Padian (wild rice), and Padi Rawa Hitam (black swamp rice). They complained that
the plants of this wild rice were disturbing their rice fields particularly during the wet
season when it occurred abundantly everywhere, so, they deliberately pulled the wild rice
plants out and destroyed them. Other farmers complained that this wild rice made a lot of
troubles when they were fishing in the swamps and streams, because the seeds,
particularly the awns of this wild rice were sticking to or getting inside of their pants and
clothes, which caused some irritation. Farmers do not intentionally use this wild rice, but
they told us that their cows and buffalo grazed on the young plants of this wild rice
before they were flowering, also the farmers said that birds like to eat seeds of 0.
meridionalis. The local agriculture extension workers suspected that this wild rice was
9

possibly brought to the New Guinea by some migration birds from the northern part of
Australia.
Oryza longiglumis Jansen
Oryza Zongiglumis is a tetraploid (2n=4x=48) perennial wild rice species in the 0. ridleyi
complex, containing the HHJJ genomes (Aggarwal 1996). This species has its limited
distribution in certain areas of Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea. 0. Zongiglumis has
unique morphological characters, such as narrow and flexous sterile lemmas, and
chartaceous (papery) lemma and palea, which separate it from species in all other
complexes of the genus. This species usually occurs in the forested areas, grows in lowlying
seasonally wet areas such as swamps, water holes of stream-beds in partial or full
shade in organic loamy soils.
In Irian Jaya, we found 0. Zongiglumis to occur exclusively at edge of or inside the
primary forests (under sago and other trees) in partial or complete shade, and with
sufficient moisture, but not to grow in standing water (Figures 14 and 15). This species
was often found near a stream or on dry land. Populations of 0. ZongigZumis we
encountered seemed to have strong photoperiod sensitivity and many of the populations
were in booting or panicle formation stages. Therefore most samples of this species we
collected were vegetative stocks. We estimated that many populations will be flowering
in one or two months, so, the best time for collecting mature seeds of this species would
be in February and March before the flooding season.
Some farmers noticed this wild rice and called it as “Padi Ketam Hitam” (meaning black
sticky rice), Padi Rawa, or grass. They said that cows and birds liked to graze the leaves
or pick up mature seeds of this species. One farmer we interviewed told us that he had
tried to mill and eat this wild rice, but it tasted bad.
Oryza rufipogon Griff.
Oryza rujipogon is a perennial and diploid (2n=2x=24) wild rice species having also the
AA genome (Vaughan 1989). This species occurs mostly in habitats with deepwater and
therefore the length of stems/culm is largely variable, depending on the water depth. 0.
rujpogon is usually found in swamps, marshes, ponds, and lakes, along ditches and
canals, in open grassland, near or inside farmer’s rice fields. It has strong ability of
vegetative propagation through ratooning and high nodal tillering. On the other hand, 0.
ru$pogon usually has comparatively low seed production. In flooding season when water
level is high, the vegetative parts of 0. rufipogon can float on the surface of water and be
carried to different locations. The morphology of typical 0. rufipogon is characterized by
its open panicles, slender grains with usually long purple/purplish awns, and large anthers
(usually longer than 5 mm). This species has a wide distribution from northeast of India,
Nepal, and south parts of China through Myanmar, Thailand and Malay Archipelago
extending to the northern part of Australia.
In Irian Jaya, 0. rufipogon was found in canals, swamps, and swampy areas or low lands
in forests (Figures 16 to 20). There is a large swamp called “Rawa Biru” (meaning blue
swamp) in Wasur National Park in Merauke, with several hundreds of hectares in area,
10

and this blue swamp is extended to Papua New Guinea through rivers. 0. rufipogon was
abundantly found in the swamp and the adjacent areas. Many populations of 0. rujipogon
we encountered also seemed to be photoperiod sensitive, particularly those occurring in
swamps. Many populations were still in tillering and stem elongation stages. Therefore,
many samples of this species we collected were vegetative samples. Local farmers told us
that this wild rice had high pick of flowering time in February and March. We estimated
that the best time for collecting mature seeds of this species would be in April and May.
The local farmers knew quite a lot about this species, they called it as “Padi Padian”,
“Padi Rawa”, and “Padi Hutan (meaning jungle or forest rice). The Irianese tribal people
(Marind) called it as “Hass”. They also told that wild animals, such as deer and kangaroo,
liked to eat this wild rice, apart from the fact that the local farmers commonly harvested
plants of 0. ruJipogon to feed their cows and buffalo. They indicated the abundant
occurrence of this wild rice during rainy season, also noticed the variation of red- and
white-awned populations.
Some notes and considerations of wild rice in Irian Jaya
Irian Jaya is a unique diversity region for wild rice germplasm, particularly in the
swampy area of Merauke district. However, due to limited information and exploration to
this area, our understanding of wild rice germplasm, such as the exact number of species,
morphological variation, geographical distribution, and diversity patterns of the wild rice
species in this region is very limited. It is important to emphasize the future conservation
and study of wild rice germplasm there. The limitation of transportation and difficulties
to travel to remote areas at this moment hampered our intention and activities to collect
more information on the related knowledge. More exploration in the mture by local
agriculture extension workers or scientists is needed to meet that goal.
It is necessary to conserve the existing wild rice germplasm in a timely manner. During
our travel to different places in Irian Jaya, we observed “slash-and-burn” as very common
and widely adopted practices for agriculture farming (Figure 23). Forests were burned
down for agriculture development, which caused severe deterioration of forests in some
areas. This will largely threat the survival of those wild rice species, such as 0.
longighmis and 0. rufipogon, which inhabit in the low land or swampy areas in the
forests. In the flood plain and open grassland areas, the habitats for some wild rice
species, such as 0. officinalis and 0. meridionalis were changed into farmers rice fields
or fields grown other crops. In this case, farmers deliberately eliminate wild rices
occurring in their fields or near by niches. This happening heavily threatened the survival
of these wild rices. Also, the intensive grazing by farmer’s animals to the wild rices will
soon eliminate them from the areas.
11

References
Aggarwal, R. K., D. S. Brar & G. S. Khush, 1996: Two new genomes in the Oryza
complex identified on the basis of molecular divergence analysis using total
genomic DNA hybridization. - Mol. Gen. Genet. 254: 1-12.
Lu, B. R. 1998. A report on RIFCB-IRRI joint expedition and collection for wild Oryza
species in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. IRRI trip report. Los Baiios, Philippines.
Vaughan D. A. 1988. CRIFC-IRRI joint collection for wild Oryza species in West Java.
20 May to 14 June, 1988. IRRI trip report. Los Bafios, Philippines.
Vaughan D. A. 1989a. Wild Oryza collection in Southern Sumatra. CRIFC-IRRI
collaborative collection, 5’h - 20th June, 1989. IRRI trip report. Los Bafios,
Philippines.
Vaughan D. A. 1989b. The genus Oryza L.: current status of taxonomy. IRRI Res. Pap.
Ser. 138, IRRI, Los Banes, Philippines.
Vaughan, D. A. 1990. Wild rice collecting trip to North Sumatra and Riau provinces,
Indonesia. BORIF-IRRI germplasm collecting mission 3 June - 15 June, 1990.
IRRI trip report. Los Bafios, Philippines.
Vaughan, D. A. 1992. Rice germplasm in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. BORIF-IRRI
collecting mission, 9 June to 24 June. IRRI trip report. Los Baiios, Philippines.
Vaughan, D. A. 1994. The Wild Relatives of Rice: A Genetic Resources Handbook.
IRRI, Manila Philippines.
12

Figure 1. A map of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, showing approximate collecting routes and the sites for Oryza species

Figure 2. The collecting team is exploring a river bank for wild rice
Figure 3. The collecting team is collecting information on wild
rices from local farmers

Figure 4. One Oryza officinalis population is found in a banana woods
Figure 5. Panicles of Oryza officinalis found in a open grassland

Figure 6. Mr. Natalis Tany is collecting seeds from Ovyza
officinalis plants found along a road
Figure 7. Mrs. T. Sudiaty is collecting seeds from Oryza
officinalis plants found in a dried pond

Figure 8. A large Olyza officinalis population is found in a dried swamp
and local agriculture extension workers helped to collect seed samples
Figure 9. A Oryza meridionalis population is found in an open grassland

Figure 10. A close up picture showing the compact panicles of Oryza
meridionalis with long awns
Figure 11. A medium sized Oryza meridionalis population is found in a
swampy low land inside a forest

Figure 12. Oryza meridionalis populations are usually found in very dry
niches this year
Figure 13. Farmers helped to collect seed samples from Ogza meridionalis
plants occurring in their field

Figure 14. Otyza Zongiglumis is exclusively found in forests under
partial or full shade
Figure 15. A panicle and some mature seeds of Oryza Zongiglumis
found in forests under full shade

Figure 16. A Oryza rufipogon sample was collected from a swamp in
forests with the help of local farmers
Figure 17. A close up shot of Oryza rujipogon panicles, showing the
open panicles and long awns

Figure 18. Vegetative samples of Oryza rufipogon are
collected from a swamp
Figure 19. A Oryza mfipogon population with strong ratooning
ability is found in a swampy area in forests

Figure 22. The team is collecting traditional rice varieties in Wamena
with the help of local farmers
Figure 23. Slash-and-bum is a common farming practice in Irian Jaya

Appendix 1
Passport data of wild and cultivated rices collected in Irian Jaya, Indonesia
(From September 29 to October 9)