Wild Rice: a review on Health and Nutritional Potential, Genetic Diversity, and Global Challenges

Wild rice is high in protein, minerals, and vitamins but low in fat which warrants its development as a functional food. Moreover, rice consumers’ demand for safe and healthy food expanded dynamically over the past few decades. Wild rice contains a high degree of resistance against stress and diseases due to its natural habitat and therefore provides a rich genetic source for rice breeding which is an efficient approach to advance crop genetic improvement efforts. Most cultivated rice was domesticated from a wild rice gene pool; hence, wild rice populations are considered the basis of the original domestication of rice by humans. However, alarming population growth and climate change resulted in wild rice loss of habitat, and its genetic enhancement traits are exploited for the genomic improvement of cultivated rice. The present review provides information on the nutrition and health-improving effects of wild rice species and summarizes the importance of wild rice conservation and its utilization in rice breeding programs.