Rice occupies a significant acreage in Nepalese agriculture and is the main staple food
crop in Nepal. Fine and aromatic rice varieties have significant commercial value.
Allozyme electrophoresis has been a reliable technique in estimating the genetic
variation in crops. We surveyed isozyme variation of 40 aromatic/non-aromatic,
fine/coarse and cold tolerance rice varieties collected from Nepal and abroad including
Chhomrong land race as a check. SL"C enzyme systems were analyzed for allozyme
variability that detected distinct 14 isozyme loci and 33 alleles including null alleles.
The polym01phic enzyme systems: esterase (Est) revealed 12 phenotypes following
peroxidase (Prx) with 11, malate dehydrogenase (Mdh) with 7, alcohol dehydrogenase
rAdh) with 6 and, 6- phosphoglutanate dehydrogenase (Pgd) and acid phosphatase
fAcp) each with 4 phenotypes based on the combination of presence and absence of
alleles. All six enzymes !lystems were polymorphic among test varieties. Dendrogram did
not indicate any clear pattern of divisions of these varieties into definite clusters.
However three groups were detected at 58 % of similarity among 40 accessions. All
.Vepalese varieties except Lumle 2 clustered in a group for cold tolerance including
Chhomrong landrace.

Rice occupies a significant acreage in Nepalese agriculture and is the main staple food
crop in Nepal. Fine and aromatic rice varieties have significant commercial value.
Allozyme electrophoresis has been a reliable technique in estimating the genetic
variation in crops. We surveyed isozyme variation of 40 aromatic/non-aromatic,
fine/coarse and cold tolerance rice varieties collected from Nepal and abroad including
Chhomrong land race as a check. SL"C enzyme systems were analyzed for allozyme
variability that detected distinct 14 isozyme loci and 33 alleles including null alleles.
The polym01phic enzyme systems: esterase (Est) revealed 12 phenotypes following
peroxidase (Prx) with 11, malate dehydrogenase (Mdh) with 7, alcohol dehydrogenase
rAdh) with 6 and, 6- phosphoglutanate dehydrogenase (Pgd) and acid phosphatase
fAcp) each with 4 phenotypes based on the combination of presence and absence of
alleles. All six enzymes !lystems were polymorphic among test varieties. Dendrogram did
not indicate any clear pattern of divisions of these varieties into definite clusters.
However three groups were detected at 58 % of similarity among 40 accessions. All
.Vepalese varieties except Lumle 2 clustered in a group for cold tolerance including
Chhomrong landrace.