Rice

Article By:

Rutger, J. N. Department of Agronomy, University of California, Davis, California.

Chang, Te-Tzu International Rice Germplasm Center, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines.

Templeton, George E. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Uebersax, Mark A. Department of Food Sciences and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Last reviewed:January 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.589400

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• Rice, published September 2015:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

An annual cereal grass plant (Oryza sativa) cultivated for its carbohydrate-rich grain. Rice is the major source of food for nearly one-half of the world's population. Asian rice (Oryza sativa, family Poaceae, order Poales), simply referred to as rice throughout much of the world, is overwhelmingly the most popular form of domesticated rice (Fig. 1). African rice (O. glaberrima) is grown to a limited extent in western Africa, but it is being replaced by the Asian variety. In China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, India, and other countries of Asia, rice is far more important than wheat as a source of carbohydrates. In some countries, the consumption of rice per capita is estimated at 90–180 kg (200–400 lb) per year. In contrast, the yearly per capita consumption of rice in the United States is only about 3.6 kg (8 lb). The most important rice-producing countries are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand, but rice is the leading food crop in many other smaller countries. In the United States, rice production is largely concentrated in selected areas of Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. See also: Agriculture; Carbohydrate; Cereal; Domestication; Farm crops; Grain crops; Grass crops; Poales

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