Appendix 1 - 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.