On Amylose Content of Cultivated Rice Collected in Tanzania, 1988

During the trip from June 30 to August 10 in 1988, 105 seed samples of cultivated rice, Oryza sativa L., and a seed sample of O.glaberrima STEUD. were collected. Those were classified into 127 strains in O.sativa and 2 strains in O.glaberrima, according to the morphological observations. Their amylose contents were reported (Table 1). Amylose contents of endosperm starches of brown rice of O.sativa cultivars collected in Tanzania ranged from 28.1% to 7.2%, with a mean of 21.2%. The highest amylose content was found in varieties collected in Central and Southwestern areas. The lowest was found in the variety collected in Zanzibar Island. Amylose content of endosperm starches of O.glaberrima varied from 25.3% to 25.0%, with a mean of 25.2%. Based on the amylose contents of endosperm starches, cultivated rices of O.sativa collected in Tanzania were classified into 'very low' (below 12% amylose), 'low' (12% to 18% amylose), 'intermediate' (18% to 24% amylose) and 'high' (above 24% amylose) types. Of 127 strains of cultivated rice of O.sativa, 44 strains belonged to the high amylose type, 40 strains to the intermediate amylose type, 36 strains belonged to the low amylose type and only 7 strains belonged to the very low amylose type. No waxy rice was found in the cultivated rices collected in Tanzania. The pattern of geographical distribution of rice with varying contents of amylose was noted to be slightly different among localities