Indonesia stambook of rice germplasm

Abstract Stambook was apparently the first documentation system established during the era of rice germplasm collection. Stambooks of Indonesia rice germplasm have been stored and maintained in the Indonesia Agricultural Gene Bank. This study is aimed to explore information contained in these books. The digital files of the stambooks, along with the original handwriting, were observed to describe the initiation of rice documentation. The online rice database from the International Rice Genebank was used as a supporting reference. There were fifteen stambooks documenting rice germplasm from 1925 to 1992. More than 20,000 rice accessions were recorded, consisting of landraces, breeding lines, improved varieties. There is parallel between the rice records and research development at the national and global levels. However, a more holistic view was not unraveled due to several lacks. Several data were not well explored due to some technical obstacles, including the less illegible handwriting style, the use of old spellings and Dutch terms, and the names that refer to historical regions. Despite these drawbacks, digitization need to be continued and data validations need to be conducted to preserve the valuable information about Indonesian rice and unravel the track of rice research and development in Indonesia.