Rice is one of the most important plants for humans. It is the second most popular crop after wheat. This plant has been cultivated for thousands of years. Historians estimate that it was domesticated in China 13,000 years ago.
Morphology
Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) is an annual plant from the cereal family (Poaceae). Comes from Southeast Asia. It is the second most commonly grown cereal crop in the world, after wheat, and is the basis of nutrition for 1/3 of the world's population (mainly for the inhabitants of eastern and southeastern Asia). 95% of the world's rice crop is used for human nutrition. There are many varieties that are adapted to different environmental conditions. This cereal crop has become popular and is grown in areas with a strong population density, as it requires labor-intensive procedures - planting, irrigating fields, harvesting.
Description of rice seed:
- Stems - numerous, dense with a height of 50-150 cm.
- Flowers -collected in panicles up to 300 mm long, consisting of one-flowered spikelets. The flowers consist of 2 wide lemmas with an awn in spinous forms, painted in red, yellow or brown, 2 perianthous films - lodicules, a one-seeded ovary and 6 stamens.
- Leaves - up to 100 cm long and 15 mm wide. They are linear-lanceolate, long-pointed, up to 50 cm - green, purple or reddish. Closer examination shows the indentation of the leaf blade of rice.
- Fruit - contains 30-100 grains. They are 8 × 4 mm in size, edible, rich in starch.
Varieties
There are two types of rice:
- Indian rice (Oryza sativa indica);
- Japanese rice (Oryza sativa japonica).
Rice Types:
- white rice, the most popular variety, undergoes a so-called polishing process that causes the grain to lose most of its nutrients;
- brown rice - lacking only the inedible husk around the nutrient-rich grain, it has a distinctive nutty flavor;
- steamed rice - white rice is exposed to high pressure steam, which does not lose vitamins and nutrients;
- black rice (Indian rice) - rich in antioxidants and vitamin E, has a nutty flavor;
- red rice - rich in nutrients and fiber.
Eating
Partially cleaned grain is calledbrown rice contains about 8% protein and a small amount of fat. It is a source of thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, iron, calcium. During cleaning (polishing), the seeds are completely freed from adherent films and acquire a white polished surface. Such rice has a white break, it is odorless, with a mealy, slightly sweet taste. Rice is sometimes fortified with iron and B vitamins.
A fully refined grain, the so-called white rice, is largely devoid of valuable nutrients. Before meals, it is cooked and eaten as a separate dish, or used to make soups, main courses, and toppings, especially in Eastern and Middle Eastern cuisine. Flour, cereals, grains are produced from rice seeds, it is also a raw material in the production of alcohol - rice wine.
Pharmacological properties
For specialists and workers involved in the cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plants, as well as for pharmaceuticals (pharmacognosy), sowing rice is of great importance. After all, its decoction has a great nutritional value, known for its softening, enveloping and wound-healing effect. This cereal is a raw material for the production of starch, which is used as a powder and coating agent. Bran from it is used to treat a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B1 in food (beriberi). Rice oil is the main component of medicinal ointments. Sowing rice is included in the Global Fund, i.e., in the list of medicinal plants of domestic origin included inPharmacopoeia of Russia.
Other uses
By-products, i.e. bran and powder, resulting from the processing of waste from the grain polishing process are used as animal feed. The oil obtained from bran is used for food and industrial purposes. Crushed grains are used in the preparation of beer, distillate alcohol and the production of starch and rice flour. Straw is used to make bedding, animal feed, roofing material, and to make mats, clothing, packaging, and brooms. Rice is also used in paper making, wickerwork, glue and cosmetics (powder). Rice is processed into starch, vinegar or alcohol.
Cultivation
Rice is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world. In the sixties of the twentieth century, during the so-called green revolution, when the efforts of scientists were aimed at preventing famine, many new, improved varieties of cultivated plants were released, including rice. The new variety was characterized by high disease resistance, increased yields and the formation of short, strong stems, which made the plants less fragile. However, its cultivation did not develop on such a large scale as expected. Due to the high demands on the soil and the need for intensive fertilization, it became available for cultivation only to we althier farmers.
Growing Requirements
Because of the high requirements for providing the necessaryamount of water rice is grown in floodplains, river deltas, mainly in the tropical climate zone. Depending on the variety of rice, it is immersed in water by 5-15 cm.
Wet rice varieties require high growing temperatures - around 30°C until April and up to 20°C during ripening. Dry rice does not need a flooded substrate to grow, but it must be in a humid climate. Only 18°C required during ripening.
Depending on the variety of rice, the growing season lasts from 3 to 9 months, so that the crop can be produced several times a year. It can be grown in a variety of soils, but is best grown in clay soils as the crop does not absorb large amounts of water and lose nutrients.
Production
The largest amount of sown rice is grown in China (95% of irrigated fields), India, Japan (rice cultivation accounts for more than half of arable land, mainly in river valleys and coastal lowlands), Bangladesh, Indonesia (10-12 % of area), Thailand (a significant increase from 4.5 million during World War II to 21-22 million) and Myanmar. The most important producers are also Vietnam, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines and the USA. Since the end of the 20th century, about 363-431 million tons of rice have been produced annually. The cultivation area is about 145 million hectares.
