Poverty is a critical issue that is stagnating the development of Afghanistan. In 2007, more than 42% of the population of the country was reported as being below the poverty line, but until 2014, 78.2% of households even in the urban areas were still dealing with food shortages. The agriculture sector is the backbone of the country’s economy and contributes as the key sector to the revival of the well-being of people in Afghanistan. Rice is the second staple crop after wheat and plays a key role in food security, nutrition, and caloric intake. However, Afghan farmers have suffered from the low quality of grains and yield which has resulted in the serious malnutrition which is occurring in the country. Insufficient breeding techniques for new rice cultivars with high yield and acceptable quality, mismanagement of agronomical practices, and unprogressive milling and processing thus can satisfy only 50% of the country’s demand. Accordingly, Afghanistan has been compelled to import a huge annual amount of milled rice from Pakistan, India, and Iran. Although active efforts have been made by the government, research institutes, and international collaboration on rice research, production, and agricultural credits during the last 10 years, the deficit of milled rice in Afghanistan in 2018 is estimated to be 270,250 metric tons. This paper highlights the current situation of rice production in Afghanistan and suggests solutions for food security and sustainability in rice production to promote farmers’ income, consequently strengthening the country’s economy.

Attempts regarding the improvement and development of novel rice with better quality and higher productivity have been increasing. Among approaches, mutation is a direct alteration on the genome and considered as one of the most beneficial routes to acquire new beneficial traits in rice. An experiment was carried out to explore the effects of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) mutation on the antioxidant activities, phytochemical compounds, and momilactones A (MA) and B (MB) in rice. Two rice cultivars, K1 (an original cultivar DT84) and K2 (mutated DT84), were examined. Antioxidant activities, phenolic compounds, and momilactones of the rice grain, husk, and straw portions were measured and quantified. Antioxidant activities were higher in grain and straw of K2, whereas K1 showed greater antioxidant activity in rice husk. Additionally, K2 displayed higher total phenolic contents (TPC) in grain and straw as well as lower of it in the husk, but these variations significantly differed only in the straw portion. An increase in total flavonoid contents (TFC) was observed in the husk of K1, while K2 significantly enhanced TFC in straw. Both MA and MB, two compounds obtaining antidiabetes, anticancer, antimicrobial, antigout, and antiobesity properties, were detected and quantified in grain, husk, and straw of K1 and K2 samples. Generally, the contents of MA were higher than MB in all tested portions of rice crop. MA and MB were higher in straw followed by those in husk and grain, respectively. K2 contained higher amounts of MA and MB in straw and husk, but lower contents in grain compared with those in K1. This study illustrates that MNU mutation can improve grain quality and enhance bioactive compounds in straw, husk, and grain of rice. This approach has the potential to develop functional foods from rice, and therefore help farmers in developing countries to improve value in rice production.

Mutation technology has been applied more in recent decades to achieve novel products that are not commonly found in nature. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of an N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) mutation on the growth, yield, and physicochemical properties of rice. Seeds of two rice cultivars (K1: DT84, and K3: Q5), along with their mutant lines (K2: mutated DT84, and K4: mutated Q5), were sown, and the established seedlings were transplanted to an open field. Ten hills per plot were randomly selected to evaluate growth parameters, yield, and components. Physicochemical attributes, including protein, amylose, and lipid contents, as well as taste score were measured by a quality tester device. The results showed that plant length, tiller number, and panicle length were higher in mutant lines than those of their cultivars. Furthermore, mutant lines took longer to reach heading and maturity stage. The highest panicle number, spikelet number, repined ratio, 1000 grain weight, 1000 brown rice weight, and grain yield were obtained in mutant lines, as compared to cultivars. The greatest grain yield was obtained in the K4 mutant line (11.6 t/ha), while the lowest was recorded in the K1 cultivar (7.7 t/ha). Lower amylose, protein, and lipid contents were observed in mutant lines compared to those in cultivars. The taste score, which increased from 67.7 to 73.7, was found to be correlated with lower amylose, protein, and lipid contents. The mutation approach increased the grain length but decreased the grain width of tested varieties. This study highlights and suggests the importance of MNU mutation in terms of rice yield improvement with preferable quality.

Background: Rice is a staple food for majority of the world’s population. Biotic and abiotic factors can affect its growth, yield and quality attributes. An open field experiment was conducted during the rice-growing period from March to October 2015 to identify the effects of different planting densities and planting spacing on the growth attributes and yield performances of a high tillering capacity Indica rice variety (IR-28). Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted under lowland condition in the research farm of Tsukuba International Center, Japan with four different planting densities and three replications in a randomized complete block design. Four different planting densities were selected as high density (15x20cm), standard density (15x30cm), medium density (25x25cm) and low density (30x30cm). Rice growth traits including plant length, tiller number, SPAD value and leaf color; yield and yield components consisting of panicle number per unit land area, spikelet number per panicle, ripening ratio, and 1000 grain weight were compared. Findings: The greatest grain yield was obtained from high planting density which was 6.5 ton per ha and the lowest (5.8 ton/ha) was from medium planting density. Low planting density increased plant length, tiller number per hill, SPAD value (chlorophyll content), leaf color beside panicle number per hill, spikelet number per panicle and percentage of ripened grain. Conclusion: This study clearly elucidated the effects of planting density on rice crop and helps farmers in the achievement of optimum yield. Thus, to obtain a satisfactory yield, planting density must be considered based on soil type and production requirement.