Abstract

The varietal diversity in rice crop in Indian Punjab has been increasing at a fast rate due to variable soil and climatic conditions and variable objective functions of the farmers. In spite of the fact that productivity of rice increased over time, as a result of improvement in technology and its fast adoption, the declining resource base, particularly water, soil health and pest resistance, the genetic diversity of rice crop has been able to sustain the yield improvement as compared to wheat crop which witnessed a reverse trend of decline in genetic diversity.

Key words: Indian Punjab, genetic diversity, sustainability, green revolution, basmati rice.