The Rice Germplasm Collection of Embrapa consists of approximately 10,000 accessions. This study aimed to establish a core collection using the currently available information data for those accessions. The strategy Core Collection (CN) was introduced in the management of plant genetic resources with the main purpose of improving the use of these resources. CN should be selected in order to preserve the genetic variability of the whole collection (CI), with minimum redundancy. The accessions within the rice collection were classified into three strata: a) landraces from Brazil (VT); b) breeding materials from Brazil (LCM); and c) introductions (LCI). The landraces were further classified according to crop system (uplands, lowlands and facultative). These three strata were represented in the Core Collection, but more emphasis was considered in representing the landraces, which are represented by 308 accessions. The accessions were allocated, for each crop system, proportionally to the product of the logarithm of the number of landraces by the Shannon Diversity Index (a measure of genetic diversity) within each crop system. Curators and breeders, supported by a Geographical Information System (GIS) made the selection of the accessions. The final Brazilian rice Core Collection consists of 550 accesses.
Oryza sativa; GIS; genetic diversity; genetic resources; uplands; lowlands
