Phenotypic variation in upland rice genotypes: A good strategy to increase yield and reduce food insecurity

Rice is one of the main cereal crops and is present in the staple diet of more than 2 billion people worldwide. By 2050, food production is expected to increase by 60 to 110% to meet people's demand for food. One of the main challenges of the 21st century is ensuring that people have access to adequate and nutritious food enough to avoid hunger. In this study we analysed the agronomic traits in 19 upland rice germoplasm under field conditions in order to provide information that can be useful to increase food production to combat food insecurity. There was a considerable variation in the agronomic traits among the germoplasm tested. The number of stem ranged from 286.66 to 360.66, number of panicles ranged from 201.90 to 267.67, hectoliter mass ranged from 148.54 to 171.82 g, plant height ranged from 0.70 to 1.41 cm and yield ranged from 1436.68 to 3859.73 kg ha-1. We present a comprehensive evaluation of upland rice germoplasm for genotypic variations in agronomic traits that will be helpful in selecting and developing rice varieties for high yield in order to increase the food production to combat food insecurity. In the scenario of hungry, economic crisis and growth population, our results contribute to increase the number of rice genotypes with high yield potential that can be used for commercial production to meet the population's demand for food.